h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday I borrowed library copies of "The Grateful Dead" and Paul Simon's "Graceland." I going to buy copies of both when I see used copies in a store.

Best of the dead is the double album "without a net", if you ask me

Graceland is a classical masterpiece!

I requested some library copies of CDs. Eight of them arrived today, so I picked them up: "The Essential Cindi Lauper," "Lionel Ritchie: Definitive collection," "Very best of Olivia Newton-John," Pink Floyd: "Dark side of the moon," Sting "The best of 25 years," Genesis: Turn it on again," "The very best of Jethro Tull," and "Phil Collins...Hits."

I've heard the last two so far. Phil Collins is enjoyable and worth buying. Jethro Tull starts out a bit boring, but improves. The flute is a nice touch; gives the songs an Irish flavor.

I first got to know Jethro Tull about 1970, almost at the same time I learned of Santana. I loved both bands to pieces!

I recently heard that self-taught flautist Ian Anderson's daughter started studying playing the transverse flute - and then went and told her father that he played it completely wrong!

Whereupon her father took upon himself the task of learning the flute all over again, correct this time!

Considering the fact that he had played the flute for half a century (and doing very well for himself) this is a remarkable task. We learn best when we are 4 to 5 years old and once you've earned millions playing the flute 'wrongly' it takes a lot of self-disciplin to learn the thing all over again.

I think it's admirable that he tried - realizing that he could do so much more with the flute if he played it correctly

Lionel Richie and Olivia Newton John are keepers. Cindi Lauper isn't, though I rather liked "Time After Time." Oh, well, I'll go crazy if I try to buy every CD that has one song I like. It's the title song of a movie that I enjoyed, so maybe there's a soundtrack CD available somewhere.

I just received some CDs I had ordered. One was a compilation of hits by The Byrds [including "Mr. Tambourine Man."] Another contained Sammy Davis Jr.'s greatest hits. An amazing CD! I haven't listened to the Harry James CD yet.

I hear Bob Dylan's newest album got some very great reviews, so I'm going to get it

I saw one of those reviews. Go for it!

I continue to move down the list of popular artists. I've placed reserves on library CDs by Bon Jovi, Chicago, and Eagles.

My brother is promoting the idea of using an iPod. That doesn't really work for library CDs, as far as I can tell. My objective is to hear the library Cds, decide whether I likje them well enough to hear them regularly, and then return them. I plan to buy used CDs through Amazon or eBay, hopefully at a tiny fraction of their original cost.

Good idea. But once you've bought them you can *also* listen to them on an iPod or the like

I just bought some new in-ear-headphones (Argon) for half the original price - and there sound is about ten times better than what I've been used to!

In-ear-headphones? I'll have to keep that in mind.....

and I'll have to keep in mind to spell 'their' instead of 'there'

I didn't even notice your typo. My eyes must be going downhill almost as fast as my ears.

Ouch, I hope you keep your hearing for many years to come

My hearing is better than I thought it would be.

Today I listened to CDs by Julio Iglesias, Chicago, The Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. I'm going to buy copies for all but Chicago.

Wikipedia classifies The Eagles as a rock group, but I hear country music when I listen to them. "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is my favorite of their songs. I consider it the quintessential country song.


What I'm finding is that almost every group or singer I hear has done at least one song I already know. This astonishes me, because I rarely listen to pop radio stations. I'm guessing that a lot of these songs were used in movies that I saw.

I am listening to Beach Boys' album "Holland" at the moment

Apart from one number (Clifornia) it doesn't sound like classic Beach Boys music at all - but it is excellent

I heard "Barbara Ann" on the school bus radio when I was a teenager. I enjoyed other Beach Boys hits as I got older. My outreach chorus sang a slew of their songs about ten years ago. One of our singers was a Catholic nun who felt a little funny about singing such stuff.

I'm halfway through a pile of library CDs that arrived for me yesterday. Iglesias, Eagles, Chicago, and Fleetwood Mac are the ones that I listened to yesterday. Today or tomorrow I will hear CDs by Otis Redding, Prince, Bon Jovi, the Police, and Paul Simon [Rhythm of the Saints].

In general, I'm pleased with how the pop music is working out. There are a lot of singers [Iglesias, Richie, Bowie, Clapton, etc.] who are easy to listen to. The only ones I can't take are the ones that pound away relentlessly. That's why Chicago got on my nerves after a few tracks. I'm a little leery about the heavy metal category. I don't want to totally exclude it, though, so after awhile I may look for an anthology that samples the best of that category. I will do that with rap music as well. The only rapper who might work out is Queen Latifah, whom I enjoy immensely because of her wonderful movies.

You may discover that the original crew of Fleetwood Mac (formed in 1967) played blues, while the younger crew (formed 1977) played pop

Both crews earned a lot of respect - and for good reasons too, I should think! - but they are very different. I suggest you give both a chance. The early crew may need a chance or two more, but I find it totally worth it!

I don't remember who but some of the great bluesguitar players once said that Peter Green was the best ever to come out of white England

Fleetwood Mac is fine, Pierce. It's Chicago that got on my nerves -- not all the songs, but enough that I lost patience with them. Someday, I may go back and give a second chance to ones that I didn't warm to at first. There are so *many* to listen to, and I'm not always up to hearing them.

I was probably unfair to U2. The first song on the greatest hits disc turned me off so much that I turned off the player and sent the copy back to the library. Bono is said to be their lead singer. He sang in "Across the Universe," and was fine.

This evening, I have Bon Jovi, The Police, Pink Floyd, Prince, and otis Redding to hear. At the moment, the Jethro Tull CD I bought is playing. It's tempting to try to go too fast, so I probably should schedule periods of classical music between the pop cds.

I find Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" to be a great song. First time I got hooked by a horn section! Their rendition of "I'm a Man" is also great. "If you leave me now" is a great pop-song. A bit too much pop to my liking, but cleverly done

U2 never really caught my interest, but Bono's duet with Frank Sinatra "Under my Skin" is interesting - and I like his political views. Bono's, that is, not Sinatras

Right now I'm listening to some solo cantatas by Dietrich Buxtehude. When that's finished, I'll give Bon Jovi a try.

Buxtehude is very well known in Denmark, where both he and his father w*rked as organ players in Helsingborg and Helsingør (known to the English speaking world as Hamlets hometown Elsinore)