Shouldn't you be asleep? I know I should.

Please keep in mind that we're not 'there is no good music anymore,' Resident Loser types. I think it's a matter of keeping things in context. I'm usually on the other side of this argument, and I'm not one to believe that any one creative work can be empirically 'better' from individual to individual. You will end up banging your head against the wall because a kid will prefer Fall Out Boy to Bob Dylan, or because someone else will prefer Crunk to Beethoven. It's the individual response of the listener that matters, so I have no quarrel with that, though I am not afraid to make my own judgments.

I do think a pretty strong case can be made that nobody in the last 50 years of popular music did as many things as they did as often as they did, as well as they did it, for as long as they did it. Thus my point about how they managed hits in spite of being ahead of their time. It's a point I do think is worthy of thought even though I know damn well hits don't necessarily have to mean anything. But it means something in this discussion, because it's the one thing that separates them from so many other artists who did so much great work for so long and were ahead of their time. You can deny the importance of this by pointing to any general top 40 list at virtually any given time to make a case that it's all crap, but it does mean something. And it means a lot here.

The thing is, I don't usually harp on it & I don't remember the last time I wrote posts that actually took a defensive posture on the subject. It's not necessary because everyone is entitled to their likes & dislikes & there's absolutely nothing superior in that I think I hear something that someone else may not. I also know damn well that everyone posting on this board is going to hear something I'm not in a given favorite recording.

I was listening to Paul McCartney being interviewed on the Howard Stern show this morning. He has a record out, Fireman. Sounded darned good, especially considering how little he's put out in the past 30+ years that didn't eat donkey dung.

nobody, I'm getting off a disc to you asap. PM me if your info has changed.