And The Tradition Continues

I have an on going tradition that has been alive since I've had the ability to drive as well as play cd's in my car. Even before that really, as sometimes I'd copy my cd's over to cassette so I could blast them in my first car that I drove to and from high school. (See From The CD Shelf, Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines)

This tradition involves the purchasing of new albums, immediately unwrapping them in the store parking lot, rolling down the windows, weather permitting, and taking the long route home to give my new purchase(s) the loud justice they deserve.

The tradition has taken a back seat lately as my cd purchasing has been few and far between with this lack of job crap. You know, this whole trying to be responsible stuff which I'm not doing to well with considering I don't even have a job. But my thirst for new music can't be held off too long and I'm the kind of person (apparently the rare kind of person recently) that likes to buy music and hold the album in his hand rather than download on the internet, whether it be legal or illegal.

I made the mistake of tempting myself a bit too much yesterday as I figured I'd change things up by getting out of the house for once. After filling my gas tank, I headed to Best Buy to kill some time. Being a media freak, whether it be music, movies, video games, or computers, Best Buy is one those places I could waste half a day (which is why I applied for a job there). If I happen to waste half of the day there, it's hard to come out empty handed. As was the case yesterday.

Earlier I had rummaged through my wallet and I found an old gift card that ended up having about $20 left on it, so I reasoned with myself that it was ok to pick out a cd or something else that was $20 or less. I took my sweet time picking something out, long enough where I got asked if I needed help 3 times, twice by the same guy. (Some people may see that as annoying but I say that's good service!)

Since Wii games are usually in the $50 price range I settled on a cd after my third trip through the section. (Each time I passed through I kept telling myself just because I had $20 it didn't mean I had to spend it.) Nothing really popped out except for the deluxe edition of the new album by Hinder titled "Take It To The Limit". I'm not a huge fan, but I really enjoyed their first album and they also put on a pretty good live show as KJ and I caught them when they played in Orono, Maine a couple of years ago.

If you haven't heard of Hinder, they are the epitome of the sex, drugs, and rock & roll rockers. This is not just evident in their songs like "Use Me" off this latest album and their hit "Get Stoned" from their first album, but also their album art.

I was given a little suprise when I tore open the package to the album in the Best Buy parking lot. I slid the cardboard case out of the outer cardboard sleeve and folded it open to be introduced to album art that is nothing short of pornographic. Nothing raunchy in my mind (Americans as a whole are a little prudish if you ask me) but there is plenty of female nudity and party pics with the band throughout, truly showcasing their I-don't-give-a-crap attitude about their perspective on rock & roll.

(What does a pineapple with sunglasses have to do with anything? I don't know, I just wanted another picture and I'm stupid.)

I guess I should have taken the adult content label a little more seriously when I picked it up but overall I think it's kinda funny and you gotta salute the band for doing it despite the controversy that it could bring. This album is definitely staying on a high shelf for when my kids decide they want to take a look through my music collection, when that time comes.

Overall, "Take It To The Limit" is a decent album. Upbeat tunes balanced with some touchy ballads, great melodies and the raunchy kind of writing that you'd expect from the band. (I can't say it's any worse subject-wise than what Nickelback has been putting out the last couple of albums.) It was a little chilly so I kept the windows mostly up for this long drive home but even with a full tank of gas and the long route home I still didn't get through the 17 tracks on this deluxe edition.

It probably won't be for a while but I can't wait for my next album purchase so I can keep the tradition going strong. Rock on!

From The CD Shelf, Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines

I like so many things about listening to music. Aside from the sheer joy of listening to tunes I love, I revel in the feeling that a track or a whole album envelopes me in. Especially a tune or album that I haven't heard in quite a while. It really is a great feeling to queue up a song that takes you back to when you first heard the song, or maybe even the point in time you had that album constantly spinning.

So I decided to venture down the stairs to the living room and peruse my cd collection to see what tickled my fancy. My collection is getting quite large, stalled lately with my lack of a job, but there are many albums that haven't seen the inside of cd player for quite a while. My eye caught on "Spiritual Machines" by Our Lady Peace, as I've mentioned before, my favorite band. It was easy for my eye to catch on this one because OLP has their own little section that is separate from the rest of the alphabetized masterpiece that is my collection.

I wanted to get this one spinning more than any other album on my shelf because this album imparticular transports me back in time more than any other. Released in 2000, "Spiritual Machines" came out when I was a senior in high school. This is when I had finally started driving and I really started to develop my passion for music.

The album itself is a concept album based around the book "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil. Between many of the tracks Ray quotes experts from his book. I don't think a lot of people really got the point, but really, I didn't need to, the music and everything with it just spoke to me. As I listen right now, the intro that leads into the song "Right Behind You (Mafia)" transports me directly behind the wheel of my mother's 1990 Pontiac 6000LE on one of my autopilot drives back home from school.

(You know what I mean about driving on autopilot, right? It's when you start driving and then basically blank out for a certain amount of time only to realize you're almost home and you don't remember a thing from the last couple of miles. I think that was what a combo of OLP and crappy high school did to me.)

The funniest part was that I couldn't even spin the album in my inherited car because it didn't even have a cd player, just an in-dash cassette player. I did the common thing back then to make my music portable; record my cd over to a cassette tape. I made many a blueberry raking mix for my Sony Walkman this way but this tape was strictly for OLP and my drives to and from school.

I was obsessed with the album that whole year. Out of their 6 studio albums to date, it was their least commercially successful album but it didn't matter to me. In fact, anyone who didn't like the album can bite me. From the first single "In Repair" to "Life", "Middle Of Yesterday", "Made To Heal", and "Everyone's A Junkie" (big green monkey everyone's a junkie), I was hooked. Of course, I'm biased, so I can't blame the critics, I guess. (Bite my tongue.)

I'm sure I was caught in my singing bubble more than once by passing drivers like I mentioned in my post "Cutting Back Costs In Hard Times By...Not Singing". But hey, if I looked like an idiot, I didn't care. This album was truly my age 17 anthem and it will always be remembered for that.

On top of all this, the summer of 2001, a couple of weeks before I graduated from high school I got to see OLP live in concert for the first time (I rummaged out the ticket and it's pictured on the right). This further cemented this album as a turning point in my musical maturation.

(I've seen OLP once more since then and can't wait for their new album "Burn Burn" to drop so I can hopefully see them again. Come to Kansas City OLP!)

As you can tell, there are a lot of memories associated with "Spiritual Machines" and close to every album on my shelf does the same thing. I'm sure to some extent there are tunes out there that do the same thing to you too. Feel free to comment with some songs that take you back in time.

I feel like I'm talking as if I'm much older than 25 and reminiscing about days long gone, maybe I've even over dramatizing it, but I won't be when I stick this album in 30 years from now and remember this all over again.

I just had to include the video for "In Repair" below. It really encompasses the whole concept of the album. Enjoy.