three for five (a musical return)

it’s nice to see the cyclical way music goes, not just in style but mediums…

…allow me to explain.

recently ozzy’s new album dropped, hitting the number one spot on billboard’s top album, top rock & alternative, top rock, top hard rock, top current album sales, taste maker album, and vinyl album sales charts simultaneously. it’s available streaming, of course, but also in multiple cd versions, lp, and cassette. while lp’s have literally never gone away, they now dramatically outsell cd’s and i’m constantly surprised that new stuff comes out with multiple cd versions but since it constantly happens i guess the demand is there? and i knew cassettes were starting to become a thing again. i still have hundreds if not thousands of all of the above mediums in my collection.

but there used to me more.

when i was in junior high (about to date myself here) i was a member of the columbia record and tape club. it seemed like a good deal – you got twelve albums (or cassettes) for a penny (plus shipping, which was around fifteen bucks) and then you had to buy five or eight more at “regular price”, which was about fifty percent more than you’d find shit for at your local record store, and you had to be on top of sending those little cards back refusing the selection or the month or they’d get you with those, but i’ve always been pretty detail oriented and stayed on top of my shit, so i balanced out nicely.

back then, though, there was no streaming or MP3’s…just LP’s…and cassettes…and CD’s (barely)…and eight tracks (a surprising amount of those)…and reel to reels (mainly classical, but at the time there were more options that way than CD). of course those last two have faded to complete obscurity, but who knew the other three would be holding on forty years later?!? it should also be noted that in said first shipment back when i got the tape for ozzy’s debut, blizzard of ozz, which was a new release at the time! nice to see him come full circle, and get his well deserved number one debut!