Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

New Year Music Binge
One of the things I had hoped to do over the holiday period was to head down to Penguin Music at McCaul & Queen and pick up some used CDs. I didn't manage to head there over Xmas-time, but I had the opportunity tonight and I decided to head over there after work. They generally have a good selection of stuff – low signal-to-noise ratio in terms of interesting alterno-music of one sort or another.

I ended up finding a number of things I have been meaning to get. With a couple of exceptions they were all new, but at least Penguin's "new" prices tend not to be as high as at more typical music stores.

So, here's what I picked up:

• The Chemical Brothers – Come with Us
• Pixies – Complete 'B' Sides
• David Sylvian – Everything and Nothing
• Radiohead - Amnesiac
• The Velvet Underground - VU

The Chemical Brothers CD has a few tracks I have been seeking, and pretty much rounds out my collection of their stuff. Have been looking for the Pixies CD since I heard the hypnotically slow rendition (the "UK Surf" version) of "Wave of Mutilation" on an Alan Cross radio show a while back, plus it has some other tracks that's nice to have, such as "Winterlong", the Neil Young cover. I've been on a real Pixies kick of late, re-listening to all of the albums I have of theirs. Have also been listening to more Radiohead, and Amnesiac fills in the remaining large gap I had of their most recent material, which I what I find I gravitate to.

The Velvet Undergound album VU has a bit of a history for me. I originally came across this release in vinyl format at CFRC when it was originally released sometime in the late 1980s. It was a real treat because when it came out it was new, and could be played to fill our new music requirement. But it was also classic alternative rock, and I remember playing plenty of its tracks on my radio show of the time. So when I saw this used version of the CD, I had to pick it up.

The CD that caught the attention of the store's owner was the new David Sylvian CD, which I picked up because it is essentially a comprehensive "best of". There are a few tracks on this which I have only had on vinyl or poor-quality downloaded MP3s. Turns out that the tracks on this disk have also been fully remastered, and the same is also being done to Japan's previous album releases, and the store owner showed me a couple of them. Was tempted by the remastered version of Japan's Tin Drums, which was the first album of theirs I owned, but passed on it this time since I knew I was already spending a bundle this time around. Perhaps next time, if it is still there.

As I write I am ripping the tracks from the CDs for ultimate downloading onto my iPod, which has become my listening medium of choice these days. Just wish the battery life was better...