Then came the Olympics and I took a break from box-relocating to watch the closing ceremony, a tremendous selection of music from my childhood and more recent times. One ELO track caused me to break out my two ELO albums which I listened to in the car en route to and from work. Then I looked at my CD towers and thought "How many of those discs have I actually listened to in the last year. In fact, the last 5 years?" I set myself a task to work my way through all of my CDs and listen to them all.
I organise my discs alphabetically by artist. I will add that Gordon isn't in my main rack as I can't fit them all in. I have something like 250 CDs, not that many in my view, but my towers only hold 170. Being really systematic and organised I did the obvious thing...start at L and work backwards...
Then I will start at M and work more conventionally...I have rediscovered some gems, things I had completely forgotten about, some things I decided had really past their best and which I have donated to charity, and I am not halfway through yet. I heard an Yngwie Malmsteem track that sounded like Eddie van Halen, a Heart album that I immediately got rid of, some classic Free with Paul Rogers amazing vocals and Paul Kossoff's sublime guitar playing. I have yet to revist my Rush, Mike Oldfield (though that gets well aired), Santana...
Then there are the classical CDs.
I suppose the upshot of all this is that it struck me how easy it is to forget the "familiar" that is under my nose, music which I have not listened to for a long time and which comes back fresh and even showing new textures or associations.
Apart from the occasional bit that really was best left forgotten
