Missing the Bells

We're updating our iPods a bit for the upcoming trip. Trimming out some stuff that we no longer want. Cathy, for example, begged me to remove the Grease OST and the Best of Abba. I'm still going through mine. I could probably stand to curb some of the Tori Amos I have on there. And there are a couple of other albums that I tend to hit skip when they come on that should probably go. But I always give records a lot of time to grab me. It can take weeks or months before something grabs me. For example, I think it took about three months for Neko Case's Furnace Room Lullaby to grab me. I very nearly sold it at Fred's. And if I had, I would have lost one of my favourite records.

I'm also adding some Christmas music for Cathy. It'll go as soon as we come back next month, but she likes having some Christmas music to listen to during the holidays, which makes sense. Her main one is Roger Whittaker's Christmas with Roger Whittaker. And yes, I can see a few of you going "What the hell?", but it was the record her family listened to every year at Christmas, so I understand the memories that go along with listening to 'Darcy the dragon."

Alas, I wasn't smart enough to pack my favourite Christmas CD - The Bells of Dublin by The Chieftains. I have so many Chieftains CD and I had to make some choices when we moved up here. I didn't want to add it to my iPod, but didn't want to bring up the CD because we were desperate for space (we brought up no CDs at all). So it stayed behind.

And yet I find myself craving that CD. I even went to iTunes, figuring if it was there I would drop the $10. It is there, but for unfathomable reasons, only two of the 24 songs are for sale, which is kind of moronic. I've even tried poking around on torrent sites to see if it's there. Ethically I would have no problem downloading it, since I already own it. It's just in storage in St. John's. Alas, as I expected, the Chieftains don't have a whole lot of torrents available online. Good news for the band, I guess. Bad news for me in this case.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky in Florida and find a copy. I kind of doubt it, though.

My other bit of musical news is this pretty handy list from The Scope. It's some of the best releases in Newfoundland in 2007. We've been out of the loop musically for so long and I do like supporting Newfoundland artists whenever I can. With no Sean Panting, Colleen Power or Mark Bragg releases this year, I'm kind of at a loss what to get.

Having looked at the list, theFeast of Cohen: Live is the one I want the most. That would be followed by The Coast Guard, Chris Picco, Sherry Ryan and, of course, The Wonderful Grand Band re-release. The Fables and Patrick Canning are maybes. And hey, if anyone else has a recommendation, I'm all ears.

Granted, this is all far too late for Christmas. But I do have a birthday next month....

Last Five
1. Presentation cheque - Sean Panting
2. The littlest birds - The Be Good Tanyas*
3. Cloud on my tongue - Tori Amos
4. Rene and Margritee - Paul Simon
5. Sea lion woman - Feist