So I saw this article in the Globe the other day. If you don't feel like clicking over, it basically says how things were better in my day, a whole generation is missing so much of the music because they own songs that have been compressed into MP3s, etc. etc. Apparently the compression process makes the Damned's "New Rose" "nearly unlistenable" on an ipod.
Funny, I listen to that song in MP3 form probably once a week and haven't suffered much. Audiophiles are annoying. I mean, sure, music sounds better uncompressed and booming out of high-end equipment, but most people don't have high end equipment. And a whole generation grew to love rock and roll listening to it primarily on AM radio and those flip-top record players. The sound was absolute crap, but the songs were good and the performances were energetic, and that comes through even when the sound isn't great.
I think lots of musicians spend all this time in the studio layering tracks and tinkering with the drum sounds until they have a soulless, dead performance that sounds perfect coming through those amazing speakers they have in recording studios, when if they'd just concentrate on writing good songs and playing the hell out of them, they'd probably be making way better records. When you think about all the amazing songs that were recorded live in the studio, it's kind of amazing that so few people actually record that way anymore. I guess the studios have all these toys, and it must be difficult to avoid the temptation to use them. But recording live would be cheaper, faster, and probably better. I rarely find myself humming a good drum sound.
