Several excellent tracks here, and one that’s not so great.
- “Bhinna Abhinna” by Sheila Chandra (from The History of Indipop)
- “Bird on the Wire” by Leonard Cohen (from The Best of…)
- “Donegan’s Gone” by Mark Knopfler (from Shangri-La)
- “Evelyn (The Song Of Slurs)” by No-Man (from Dry Cleaning Ray)
- “Insomnia” by Faithless (from Reverence)
- “Last orders for Gary Stead” by Saint Etienne (from Tales from Turnpike House)
- “Nine Shades To The Circle” by the Legendary Pink Dots (from 9 Lives To Wonder)
- “Somebody To Love” by Queen (from Fantasic 70s)
- “Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues” by Tom Paxton (from The Best of…)
- “Ways & Means” by Snow Patrol (from Final Straw)
There’s a lot of really great stuff here. If you’ve never heard “Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues”, nag your friends until you can find a copy. Tracks like “Bird on the Wire” and “Somebody to Love” are classics, and deservedly so. “Insomnia” is one of the best by Faithless: Maxi Jazz’s quietly insistent rapping pulls you into his sweaty nightmare. And I love everything by No-Man (what Steven Wilson does when he’s not leading Porcupine Tree).
And then there’s the track from that Mark Knopfler album, Shangri-La. I bought it from iTMS without previewing all of the tracks: I was hoping for something as good as Golden Heart or Sailing To Philadelphia. Unfortunately it really didn’t work for me. Shucks.
But this leads me to a question. Suppose you buy an album via download from iTMS or some other service, and then you decide that you don’t really like it after all. With a physical CD (complete with jewel case) you can sell it, or pass it on. But with a download, what do you do? Delete it? But do you back it up first? In which case, have you really got rid of it…?
Odd, innit?