Father's Day Fallout

Lots of gifts, lots of thoughts.

I go through this debate every so often. It goes like this - do I want to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and hotels to head down to Madison Square Garden to see an important show or do I just wait for the DVD? This happened during the Cream reunion, and more recently when Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood toured. Seems Clapton is always involved in this. I always choose the DVD.

Now that I have entered the modern age of 52" LCD Samsungs and Blu-Ray players with sound system attached, it is highly unlikely I'll ever head to a giant show that I can buy later on. Now, my biggest debate is what preset to click on - the sports setting is best as concerts are, after all, live action. To watch and listen to Clapton-Winwood, with better views and better sound than actually being there, is infinitely more preferable. As to the show itself, it's a marvel. Their take on "Voodoo Chile" is monumental, Clapton fully aware of the big shoes he's filling, his serious concentration during this take a vast cut above his performance on any other tune. The best parts are the Clapton-Winwood guitar battles. Winwood more than holds his own when the pair go toe to toe during "Dear Mr. Fantasy."

I also got the 40th Anniversary DVD of Woodstock. A triumph of packaging, with multiple discs, memorabilia, and booklets, all encased in a suede fringe box. I can assure you, I would much rather watch on Blu-Ray than have been sloshing around in the mud.

I'm loathe to admit that I never owned Love's Forever Changes. It's a seminal album, and I'm all about the seminal, but you can't hear 'em all, or read 'em all, or see 'em all. I got the Collector's Edition, 2 CDs worth, one of the original LP, the other of an alternate mix. While I knew some of the songs, the album blew me away. I am, admittedly, heavily into psychedelia right now (Moby Grape, early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett solo stuff), and it seems this is the right time for me to dive head first into Love.

There are several LPs I don't own, but heard to death in younger days. Television's Marquee Moon is one that I eventually got on CD. I never owned Joy Division discs, which I regret. My 13 year old loves Joy Division and telling him how great they were just wasn't cutting it. He went so far as to make his own album from YouTube clips. So, for Father's Day, he got me Unknown Pleasures and Closer. Closer is another one of those Collector's Editions, this time the original album joined by a live set.

Now, with all this new stuff, I'll never get outside. Not that that bothers me. I tend to be a hermit anyway. Oh yeah, I also got The Complete Munsters Series, over 30 hours of DVD viewing pleasure. Does that make me a Herman's Hermit?