Friday 19 April 2013

Chop's CD Roulette - Introduction

One of my New Year Resolutions was to Blog a little less. It's not that I don't enjoy it but sometimes my demanding*1 one post a week regime means my posts aren't always*2 as well written as I'd like. I've hit that point in the year where I've not got any top fives ready to go and time is at a premium so I've had an idea for a new regular interactive post that might help fill the gaps. [*1 not demanding, *2 ever]

We decorated our front room over the Easter Holidays and that meant I had to empty my CD rack to move the shelves while we painted, then refill them afterwards. As I was tramping up and down the stairs, and repopulating my collection (in alphabetical order of course) I began to realise how much music I own that I've not played for ages. I figured I could get Chop's Top Five readers to pick a CD using the reference system below. I'll then play that CD and blog about it. What could be simpler?

Here's a picture of my CD shelving.

A is the top row.

K is the bottom row.

There are approximately 68 slots from left to right so number 1 is the left side and 68 the right side.

If you pick a letter from A to K and a number between 1 and 68 I'll play the CD that corresponds to.

Leave a comment on the blog, or contact me via Twitter or Facebook or down the pub and I'll let you know when I've posted you're selection.


There are some spaces (in a vain attempt to allow me to add CDs in order) but if you land on one of those I'll round it up or down to the next nearest album.

The narrow rack on the right isn't included. That's where Mrs Top Fives CDs live.

I should also probably point out there are some pretty big sections devoted to Marillion, Fish (out of Marillion) and Status Quo. You might want to avoid those.

Also the rack pretty much represents my CD buying years which roughly ran from 1987-2002. There's not much new stuff (those CDs sit in an unordered mess in my bedside cabinet) nor some of my earliest loves (which are on cassette or vinyl in the loft).

I mentioned this on Twitter the other day and already have five albums lined up. To give you a bit of a sighter here are the references and what they picked.

@Sidaway1 selected A9 - "Winter Words: Hits & Rarities" by All About Eve.

@sonikkicks selected B25 - "The Black Light" by Calexico

@maffrj selected B37 - "Unchained" by Johnny Cash

@iancpeacock selected G57 - "So Far ... The Best Of Sinead O'Conner" by Sinead O'Conner

@jhoburgh selected H33 - "Presidents of the United States of America" by Presidents of the United States of America

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9 comments:

Ollers said...

J11

Ollers said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Chopper said...

Got it Andy - I'll let you know what it is when I'm home. I'm guessing ...

... something by R.E.M.

bereweber said...

this is a fun post! Could you please play K9 in honor of my childhood dog, I am really curious of what CD will come out.... and

B2, my first name starts with a B and for a while I was B2 among my friends, curious too!

you seem to have a great collection, in more than one sense...

lately, I've been dusting my old CDs too, I've been playing Spiritualized, older Radiohead albums, and some grunge era stuff, as Stone Temple Pilots

Chopper said...

Hey Berenice,

B2 is Leisure the debut album by Blur

K9 is the more recent Fever To Tell by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs

It might be some time before I post a blog but keep an eye out and I'll let you know via Twitter when I do.

Chopper said...

Just for completeness - Ollers pick of J11 was Sugar by Copper Blue.

bereweber said...

it turned out like being a great selection! Your idea is so much fun! Thank you!! As I mentioned on Twitter, the first weekend of the Coachella festival, they were webcasting and I saw Blur's re-union and complete set, I really like them! and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were there too!

Chopper said...

Cool, glad you like it Berenice. The posts may be few and far between (depends a little on how many top fives I get through).

Oddly, despite having all their albums, I've never seen Blur live. Might have missed the boat on that one now!

bereweber said...

I never saw Blur live either, only on the Coachella webcast two weeks ago, when I listened to them a lot, I was living in Mexico City, back when no 'international' musicias played there (except for U2, and well I saw Bowie :)))) on '95) so I had no hope of ever seeing them...

Since you are music fan, I have a video of an amazing cover by Tel Aviv musicians of Radiohead's Karma Police for you, it's awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Xt4ObtKas