A Big Task Ahead of Me.

Several things occurred on the evening of Monday 11th November 2013 that led to me starting this little project, but one in particular was not finding the Beta Band’s first and eponymous album where it should be on my CD shelves. It wasn’t the first time they’d come up in conversation, and it wasn’t the first time they’d come up in conversation with my housemate, and it wasn’t the first time they’d come up in conversation with my housemate on the evening of Monday 11th November 2013. But it was the first time that the visual aid of the actual physical copy of The Beta Band (1999) was desired.

But it wasn’t there. It should’ve been there, between my third (or was it fourth?) replacement copy of The Three EPs (1998) and second album proper, Hot Shots II (2001). It had been apparent to me for some time that I needed to sit down and have a good session with my CD collection. They’re in a right state.

In the main, they gather dust. Occasionally, I’ll slide an album out because it’ll be faster to check the spelling of Florian’s surname (Schneider) by glancing at the back of Kraftwerk’s Computer World (1981) than by looking it up on Wikipedia. But if I’m going to listen to music, it’ll probably be Spotify, or iTunes, or Grooveshark, or even vinyl before I even consider getting the CD out.

But I couldn’t get the CD out because it wasn’t there, so I couldn’t draw my housemate’s attention to its cover’s striking similarity to Jimmy Shand’s Step We Gaily (1960). It was then that I resolved to give my CD collection a good sort. There are records that I know I’m missing, but there are plenty more that I presume are not missing but very well might be. This cannot be tolerated.

I searched through the collection, scanning for all the dark spines because The Beta Band spine is dark. I paid a great deal of attention to the tottering tower of CDs that I hastily transferred to an iPod before a long haul flight to Peru. It must be there. Or at a friend’s house. Or someone came into my house a maliciously filed it away with the soundtracks or compilation albums.

In the end it doesn’t have a dark spine, but a light cream one. And it wasn’t in any higgledy piggledy piles, or in a totally far-flung place, or at a mate’s house (sorry for the late night text, Oggy). It was just two places out of order, in between Bjork’s Debut (1993) and Volta (2007). As I said, the collection is in a right state. Where’s Vespertine (2001), for God’s sake?

I’m going to write about my entire CD collection. Right after I’ve put them back into some kind of order.