Computers have changed record collecting so profoundly

marky · Post by **marky** » Fri May 14, 2004 7:08 am

I know I usually go on far too long about musical matters, but tonight I'm just going to share my sudden realization about just how much computers have changed this hobby/obsession called record/music collecting.

I recently ordered a CD of an album from the late 70's by Tim Blake that I didn't even know existed until now, despite hearing a song from it in '86 or so that I taped off the radio and fell in love with. I mean, I knew this song must be off some album somewhere, but back then (and this is the point I'm trying to make) if you couldn't find it in any of the record shops, it just simply DID NOT EXIST. That was that. If you didn't personally know someone who would know about such an obscure artist, you were kept completely in ignorance about such an album's existence. You had no way to find out any information about such an artist, nor hear the album.

I will just say this: it astounds me that there was a time before computers. It astounds me that WITHOUT a computer, I would never have heard this album. It astounds me to find out that this guy (Tim Blake) was actually intermittently in Hawkwind and Gong and was from the U.K. and that I would never have KNOWN these things without a computer. Now all a person has to do is type and click and wallah. Not to mention the relative immediacy of downloading.

The whole thing is just amazing. I can't imagine what life was like without a computer.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu May 20, 2004 6:43 pm

hawkwind made a live record in Liverpool. Back in the days of silver machine and sonic attack.

marky · Post by **marky** » Sat May 22, 2004 7:13 am

Well it wouldn't surprise me. Hawkwind have so many albums, and a lot of live albums besides. I don't know what "Sonic Attack" is, but "Silver Machine" is great and The Church even covered it. One day when I am 50 years old, I will probably finally fully investigate Hawkwind.

One more thing to add to this topic: it seems to me in the computer age, things are a lot more overwhelming. No sooner do I find an artist/album I like, then I find one I like a little more and then one even a little more than that and a lot of really great music gets inevitably abandoned by the wayside in favor of the best of the best of the best. It makes me sad that I feel I don't have the time for even music that is really honestly great because inevitably, there will be music which is excellent. Tim Blake is a casualty here, for example. So are Broken Social Scene. I can imagine a universe where these artists would have completely entertained me on their own and I would have been perfectly content if it weren't for artist X or Y that just happen to be a little better (Cluster, Bees, Beta Band, etc.)

As I said, the computer age has changed this thing called record/music collecting profoundly. Today it's only the best of the best of the best, for better or worse. Can't stop technology, can you?

Nick Carraway · Post by **Nick Carraway** » Thu May 27, 2004 8:45 pm

No doubt computers have helped spread music. If it wasn't for computers I would still be listening to early nineties' alternative music...