Your opinion, please: 366-band, 411 track 1981 box set

Glad you like it, Joel.

Media mail is supposed to be 4-7 days. Tomorrow makes a week. So with any luck. . . : )

I should've made it more clear that U.S.ers can opt for something faster than media mail if they want to pay for it; but I figured 7 days max wasn't too bad.

Utterly incredible...

Awesome! Somebody ought to do a marathon for charity or something where they try to listen to all 21 hours consecutively!

Let's see---the 9 mixes make 12 hours--has anybody made it to the mp3-CD (the one with the briefcase-esque logo)? That bit may have been overkill--but there's a lot of great stuff that just didn't suit the mixes!

Also I'm rather happy to see Club Tango on there. I have that 7", really like that song a lot. Nice to see Mass and Urban Verbs too!

I'm not sure how much stuff on there qualifies as obscure. Probably some, but then again, none of it is *that* hard to find or I wouldn't have found it. Some of the obscure stuff is thanks to Chuck W or PhilT.

I admit, that Necessaries track is one of my very few cheats. They released an album in '81, then rereleased it under a different name with a few different tracks and a different mastering job the next year. The track you have is from the rerelease--but I think it was *recorded* in '81. Basically, it's far and away the best track and features Arthur (Russell) most prominantly--without his influence, they're a decent but sometimes middling pop-rock band. He's just magic (though I can't say much for the one solo track I knew to have been released in '81--it's a very, very minor sketch---gosh how I wish "A Little Lost" or something like that had been released in '81).

Ah! The penny drops, I was wondering why the voice sounded so familiar. Obscurity is all in the ear of the beholder, m'friend -- certainly the vast majority of the songs and bands are very familiar (hell, I'm listening to Robyn H's "Love" right now and I saw him the other night!), but not all, and I'd be lying to say if I had!

haha I've lost all perspective on this stuff, it's imprinted on my brain--but push me forward to '85 or back to '75 or just about anywhere else, and plenty of stuff that would be well known to ILMers is probably obscure to me. I didn't mean to specialise, and in terms of time spent listening I don't really--but for a project like this, it's kind of required : )

It's very exciting to me that people are hearing stuff that's new-to-them with this thing--hopefully it'll cause more than a few legitimate purchases!

Got to get this, before the fall box set...

The music reaffirms my faith in people in a way, so it's fantastic that putting it all in one place can do the same. Fantastic : ) The queue is so deep, I don't know if I'll get to second helpings, but I'll try!

Yeah, I'd have to echo that. A labor of love and then some -- if the whole enterprise can be summed up in one word, it would be 'generosity,' from everything to getting the music to presentation and forethought and explanation.

The response of the 2nd round has been really quick! 12+ copies will go out today at lunch. The "+" can mean you, if you got an email from me yesterday and are able to respond in the next few hours. Thanks!

You're good, thanks--your copy will head out in a couple hours!

Thanks!

As said upthread, obscurity is definitely in the ear of the beholder - I'm a nave in ILM-land so this is my first exposure to many of these artists and songs.

12 more copies went out this afternoon, should be arriving all next week.

ASTONISHING.

this sets the bar so amazingly high for any kind of personal mix project. I am in awe. It's just such a goddam beautiful thing to hold in your hand. Listening to disc 1 now.

Yes, definitely. In fact, I think you asked the same question a while ago? Just email me at the address below. Thanks.

I'm trying not to re-read the tracklisting, to surprise myself with it later...

listened to only the first two discs, so far. great fun.

thanks, very much, I.M.!

I don't have the list in front of me, but I'm pretty sure I have, and I've already sent you your copy. I'll make sure, though.

Sven ---

Made it in word/pagemaker/photoshop, printed at a local reprographics shop, folded/stapled myself.

RJG ---

Cool, glad it got there.

I got it from www.ioproducts.com. A slightly bootleg looking website, but I haven't had any problems buying from them.

Finding those CD-Rs made me really happy, too. I've had maybe two failed burns in over 1,500.

The whole thing is kindof like those zines, in that the aesthetic was partly a product of my material limitations.

Why yes! Please read upthread. :-)

So far I'm finding that about 10% of it is stuff I'm very familiar with by some of my favorite bands. Another 10 or 20% is stuff I'm pretty familiar with but haven't heard for years. But the great part is of course the 30 or 40% of it that are songs I've never heard or artists I've never heard of but want to hear more immediately. I'll add some more in-depth thoughts later when I've had more time to digest.

I hope you aren't finding the stuff you don't know to be substancially lower quality than the stuff you do know.