Cleaning out my music attic

Oysh, it's been a hell of a week in Amberland. We had a bad hacking gurgly cold running through the household while I was in a migraine cluster. Some fun here, I can tell you.

I resolved to use my days in bed (hacking and gurgling) to listen to music that I haven't played in iTunes yet. The plan was to listen to things I haven't heard in a long time. In practice, I was feeling sorry for myself and mostly listened to things that I have listened to a lot recently, but just not since I started using the iPod and iTunes. Comfort music.

So today, I went down the list of things that have a big blank in the iTunes play count field to see what exactly is in there that I really haven't listened to in a long time. It's a real mixed bag.

Some of it really has me scratching my head. Wynonna Judd? I like country. And western. But full-on Nashville big-hair CW? That is so not my taste. I have a vague memory of getting this, but I can't dig up the dust of a shadow of a memory of why.

I do remember that someone gave me Arrested Development. And then, in a flash of brilliance, concluded that since I had Arrested Development, that meant I would like Dionne Farris. I must have listened to them at least once each, but I can't remember anything on them. That means at least I didn't outright hate them, but I'm not even clear exactly what kind of music they are. Or why I have carried them with me through so many moves.

I do remember the Clannad / Enya phase. I still like the music, but I can't sit through a whole album of it straight through anymore. I also remember buying Andy Summer albums, although the ones I like the best are the ones that I lost in my bad breakup.

I remember buying Johnny Clegg & Savuka. I even remember the store I bought it in. I listened to it again a few months ago and I can't imagine that I was ever moved to buy it. I don't hate it. There is nothing wrong with it. I just does not speak to me at all. It's the same with Live. I have several of their albums, because I knew I ought to like them and kept trying, but they never clicked for me.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was the victim of my irk at someone else who told me that I would love it but completely mischaracterized the music. I actually special-ordered this one and then put it away in a fit of pique. I should probably listen to it again with fresh ears.

Buggles was a gift. So was Stone Temple Pilots and Soul Asylum. I like them all okay, but I probably wouldn't have bought the albums for myself. I know I have listened to them each more than once, but I can't remember the last times

Some of the albums are particular old favorites that somehow fell off my radar: Bonnie Raitt, David Allen Coe, Robbie Robertson, Lou Reed, Jerry Harrison. I definitely have to put those back into my soundtrack. Maybe Michael Penn, too.

I simply have no idea where the Murmurs or Zap Mama came from. Likewise the Texana Dames and King's X. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians. I guess it's better to find strange CDs in your rack than to wake up with a stranger, but it's harder to explain. Dropped into my place by sylvan elves who had to clear space in their bowers for all I could say.

Perhaps I should have a yard sale.