Soot and Stars
I AM SOOT!
OF
In whatever format what are those albums whether it be vinyl that you've wanted for the longest time but had a long journey getting whether it be price range or difficulty in obtaining due to it becoming a rarity! Personally I've got every major purchase I've wanted since college this past year and while I have plenty of music I want to buy I have no milestones left at this point! I feel accomplished and happy but in some ways it always felt cool having that one last album to reach for! The first three rarities I ever bought that broke my purchase threshold were in college (with a college budget at that) when all I bought almost everything associated with the New Radicals including two Gregg Alexander solos that were out of print and a Danielle Brisebois as well who had worked with Gregg on both the New Radicals and on her solo albums. The three recent albums I knocked off of the top of my bucket list were these three. Keep in mind my idea of a good purchase isn't as finicky as a brand new unopened copy as long as it's in good condition.
Tori Amos-The Bootleg Collection
The first one I knocked off of my list and the one I was the second hungriest for before buying it. Tori is my second favorite music artist of all time and I've bought every Tori album, EP, Single, Remix Single and Box set I could muster and think I havea near perfect collection honestly. I have more of her albums than any other artist even including The Pumpkins which includes the solo projects from SP members as well. It helps that Tori's consistently put out a body of work with no real breaks. Anyway, this was about real bad timing. It came out as a limited release when I was fresh out of college and more concentrated on finding a steady job and getting a place. I saw it in the store once and I still didn't have my own computer at that point so I was unaware of all the details behind it's limited nature. I just knew it wasn't going to be there forever. I knew it was awesome with 12 disc and a lot of covers that weren't released in any form prior. The choices of covers were very unique and each disc had an interesting variation setlist wise. Any fan would want this!
I decided it wasn't wise at that point to plop down between $200-$300 at the time and I never saw it again aside from online purchases. I really wanted it and would check all the stores I went to just in case there was a drought of Tori fans and they were trying to sell that one last copy. Who'd of thought NH had avid Tori Fans. The set went up to $300 and beyond online and that's a hard chunk of change and there's always a reservation to buy from individual sellers. Finally I found an Amazon seller selling the closest I've seen to the original price and while it was opened and used they gave details about the superb condition. I've been in a great financial state the past year so I took the gamble. It paid off and the condition was great even having the original collectors components like the stickers
that'll never come into play but still make for a proud complete purchase! Danielle Brisebois-Portable Life
This is perhaps the one I'm most happy with finally getting. When Napster came out it was my first time using the internet for discovery and finding that unraveling six degrees of.... with music artist. New Radicals produced my favorite pop album ever while in High School. That album still holds that milestone to this day. Now with band members I was keen in finding the individual counterparts but with pop artist I had never developed that need for identity. My knowledge for everything New Radicals grew. When they broke up that same year I discovered that album in High School I was more bummed out than when any other artist retired or Hell even died. Still that sting has not been matched.
So after exploring I found out the singer I was hearing did nearly everything on that album and I was really a fan of Gregg Alexander himself as much as the project he dubbed The New Radicals. After exploring tracks through Napster I discovered this artist had two solo efforts overseas. I loved the material and you could see the insane bubbling of eccentricity and unique audio stamp that would make it onto the future New Radicals album. In a lot of ways those albums were rawer, darker and sexier in nature. So looking at Gregg Alexander I found an amazing duet with an artist named Danielle Brisebois. The duet, Promise Tomorrow Tonight, was an adorable yet sassy ballad between two lovers. It was a perfect pop song. It turns out that Danielle was the voice behind the female vocals on the New Radicals album and that the the song was on an album of hers. Gregg Alexander who was involved with her worked on her album, Arrive All Over You. It had Greggs stamp on it but a female vocal especially with Danielle's sass and bite was the perfect stamp for Gregg's brand of sound. The album was a precursor to Alanis's angry girl sound but stayed true to it's pop sound.
I made a three album run after creating an E-Bay just for the occasion buying Gregg Alexander-Intoxfornication one month and then his album "Michigan Rain" which for between 40-50 bucks a pop even had overlapping songs. I didn't care though. They were great! So the last one I made was Danielle Brisebois-Arrive All Over You which was in the same price range. I loved it but there was still one loose end. Danielle had a fully created album that never saw the light of day exceeeeept for some promo copies. It angered me because it was an even better album IMO. It has one of my top three songs by her, "I've Had It" and not a clunker of bad pop on the album. To buy the other albums I had to stretch it out over months to afford them. No way I could afford nearly $300 bucks for an album. I was hoping for the cult following I was seeing to finally get this album an official release by ANY label. Until then I downloaded tracks and the full album multiple times from disc to finally my I-pod. About five years ago Danielle had a compilation type album released which I bought and a digital version of "Portable Life". That's not what I wanted at all.
Portable Life was an album I checked online every chance I got and in used c.d. bins. Finally I shelled out $60 bucks for a good copy and I love it. It doesn't even have a booklet but it looks and sounds like a treasure! It felt like a victory!
Y Kant Tori Read
It's funny that the last piece to my Tori puzzle is her first album. I've wanted this one since college as well and while a lot of it is 80's cheese there are some great tracks that have plenty of Tori in them. It's a great collectors item and great for Tori fans to hear the genesis of her transition from big poofy haired rock to the sage for all thought provoking piano chanteuses. I just got this two days ago for a steal of $30. It's in great condition and may not be the original release. I don't care though. It's rerelease extras have some vintage early Tori material so it's even better. It's rare enough that only being sold among the individual sellers!
These are all albums I will keep until death. I won't baby them. I have no interest in the money they are or will be worth. I will play the shit out of them and I'm ****ing stoked to have them within my grasp!
