Back in Bellingham again, I snagged 3 more John Renbourn CDs. What's up with this rampant consumerism? Well, there was an internet rumor flying around last year that record companies were shifting all their efforts to downloads, and that 2012 would be the last year they'd manufacture and distribute physical compact discs. THAT turned out to be false, but a recent Rolling Stone article suggests it's not that far off. It may not happen in 2012, but 2015 as the target date doesn't seem too far-fetched. All you have to do is check the aisles of Best Buy -- CDs (and even DVDs) continue to shrink as they make more room for games and Blu-Ray discs.
So I finally sat down with my notebooks (yes, plural) of CD wish-lists and listening suggestions and managed to whittle it down to maybe a dozen titles, and even that will shrink, I'm sure. So when I DO find something I'm looking for, no more hesitation, I'll snap it up.
Which brings me to the last round of Renbourn. These are late '80s, early '90s Shanachie reissues, so they don't have any bonus tracks, though true to Shanachie's nature, "The Hermit" features guitar tablature (which was a nice feature in the LP era, but for CDs makes the booklet a little chubbier than usual.) "The Hermit" was John's first album after Pentangle broke up, and it's a grab-bag of styles similar to his previous solo albums. "The Black Balloon" sticks mostly to traditional early music and Celtic tunes, very much in the vein of his earlier "The Lady and the Unicorn". "Snap a Little Owl" is a duet album with Stefan Grossman, so add a little ragtime and jug band influence. It's also a 'best-of', drawn from their two late-'70s recordings.
Next: my autographed Michael Hurley CD arrives! (I hope...)
Nice post, David. Some things to think about for sure. About Renbourn....I was fortunate enough to have seen him in Everett several years ago and he was great. Opening the show was Isaac Guillory (RIP) who, among other things, was a musician on Al Stewart's "Past, Present and Future" album.
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