Worldwide Like The Nike Swoosh
It's not my usual practice to laud the giants of corporate America but just as sometimes you find yourself craving the golden arches despite all logical reasoning, you have to admit that sometimes they get it right. Indeed you could argue that they are such capitalist behemoths because of the very fact that they know how to get it right. But what, pray tell, has this got to do with anything musical? Well, in a word, Amazon.
Don't get me wrong, I am as keen as the next beat head on spending an afternoon searching for that obscure break or US import, and much love to the independent stores who fight the good fight daily. However, there are benefits also to an online market place with a seemingly infinitely abundant stock room.
My tale involves a search for Masta Ace's criminally over-looked opus "A Long Hot Summer". I had a burned copy way past its sell-by date, jumping on the immense "Good Ol' Love", but could I find a brand-spanker anywhere? Could I buggery! And so, on to the great CD rack in the (cyber-)sky. Two days later through the door drops my soundtrack to this and any summer. And to top it off, I also picked up Ace's oft-ignored classic "Disposable Arts" as well as Little Brother's "The Minstrel Show" which I am shamed to say I previously knew nothing about, but was recommended to me by the Big Brother of Amazon.
Three classics for slightly more cashola than it would cost for just one on the high street. Cynical software it might be, mutating and capitalizing on the internet's community ethos in order to market products to you personally, but there is also a great deal to be said for the recommendations of like-minded souls, who may be in Bognor or Bosnia for all it matters. Many suggestions you will already own or know to ignore but just occasionally it throws up a gem and for that any music lover has to be grateful.
Oh and don't think you've heard the last about Masta Ace, because we all know that someone who starts a tune ("Jeep Ass N*gguhz") with the couplet "Braniac dumb-dumbs, bust the scientifical, Approach to the coarse and the force is centrifical", has to be worth more of our attention.
Don't get me wrong, I am as keen as the next beat head on spending an afternoon searching for that obscure break or US import, and much love to the independent stores who fight the good fight daily. However, there are benefits also to an online market place with a seemingly infinitely abundant stock room.
My tale involves a search for Masta Ace's criminally over-looked opus "A Long Hot Summer". I had a burned copy way past its sell-by date, jumping on the immense "Good Ol' Love", but could I find a brand-spanker anywhere? Could I buggery! And so, on to the great CD rack in the (cyber-)sky. Two days later through the door drops my soundtrack to this and any summer. And to top it off, I also picked up Ace's oft-ignored classic "Disposable Arts" as well as Little Brother's "The Minstrel Show" which I am shamed to say I previously knew nothing about, but was recommended to me by the Big Brother of Amazon.
Three classics for slightly more cashola than it would cost for just one on the high street. Cynical software it might be, mutating and capitalizing on the internet's community ethos in order to market products to you personally, but there is also a great deal to be said for the recommendations of like-minded souls, who may be in Bognor or Bosnia for all it matters. Many suggestions you will already own or know to ignore but just occasionally it throws up a gem and for that any music lover has to be grateful.
Oh and don't think you've heard the last about Masta Ace, because we all know that someone who starts a tune ("Jeep Ass N*gguhz") with the couplet "Braniac dumb-dumbs, bust the scientifical, Approach to the coarse and the force is centrifical", has to be worth more of our attention.
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