SCORING THE ESSENTIALS

Scoring the Essentials

Years ago in high school English, while watching a Shakespeare documentary, I took note of how a British Shakespeare professor described how individuals who have read and cherished the exalted playwright for years envy those who encounter his plays for the very first time. I encountered a similar attitude in The Penguin Guide to Jazz: the editors envying the magic of being introduced to Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five's "Wild Man Blues" or "Tight Like This."

Songs, symphonies, tracks that everyone should experience – we are fiercely insistent on our personal nominees. Opinions abound: "1001 Albums You Need to Hear Before You Die", Pitchfork’s "Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present,"Gramophone’s "100 Greatest Recordings," andRolling Stone’s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

I have been enthusiastic about such lists since, at age 17, I came across a CBC guide to discovering classical music, listing not only the masters’ great works to aquire, but also the recordings that the critic deemed of ‘demonstration quality.’ I would check the album number on the spine to make sure I was getting the correct recording: Rubinstein recorded Chopin’s Polonaises more than once, and I wanted to get what I presumed to be the best session.

In university, I can still recall stumbling upon theRolling Stoneissue that made me aware that 200 people, including musicians, industry people, editors and critics, had compiled none other than the top 500 albumsof all time. ‘Of course!’ I thought – I knew I had been missing out on the best – if I had heard Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye and The Who before, I could not name the sound with the name of the band, and here was the chance to educate myself. To get the rock n’ roll education I felt I had missed out on.

Critics lists, I’ve found, are disliked by anyone who prides themselves on being a free thinker: ‘Listen to what you love, you have to make yourowndecisions.’ And yet, I have already made my decision on how I am to avoid missing out on the transcendental experience of discovering great music that has been cherished by those whoknow. It is distressing to me that mortals can coast through life without once listening to "Exile On Main Street" from beginning to end, Beethoven’s late string quartets, or Louis Armstong and his Hot Five and Seven recordings. These essential lists are imperfect; everyone who reads them will invariably see that their favourites are not included. The winning attitude is to give them the benefit of the doubt.

When I decided to start on this ultimate collection of music, I knew I would have to find guides on classical, jazz, and rock n’ roll. Rolling Stone’s "Top 500 Albums of all Time" list included hip hop and country music, so I felt secure that I wasn’t missing out on the essential music I hadn’t enthusiastically considered, but felt compelled to get aquainted with. I admit that ‘world music’ has not figured into my strategy, though the recent Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack seems to be drawing people into a wider musical oeuvre than the narrower Western mindset that I have adhered to. The Penguin guides to classical music and jazz are massive yearly publications that award stars to albums, highlighting key or core recordings that belong in everyone’s library. Penguin also published a guide to blues, though it seems to have been discontinued.

It took four years to amass every album on "Top 500 Albums of All Time." About half of the albums were purchased new or at used record stores, or lately, on iTunes Music Store. The rest were downloaded –pirated –from torrent sites, or burned from library discs. The sheer volume of music to be absorbed and collected makes it difficult to afford to purchase. For those who have developed a tolerant view of illegally downloading music, supplementing purchased music with downloaded music seem to be the only way to aquire a great percentage of the music libarary.

Many bands have decided that the reality of downloading is to be accepted, and choose to concentrate on the business of live music. The downside to not buying physical albums, aside from the money that never makes it to the artist, is not having the CD notes and cover that are an important companion to the disk. A collection of music in an iTunes list does not have the same interest without the album art to flip through in a CD binder. The best solution seems to be to find the album art on Amazon, print it in colour, and insert it in the CD binder – as if you own the disk. It is a difficult thing to come to terms with – stealing, and yet at the same time, a practice that perhaps millions take part in.

I sometimes try to imagine how many albums it will take to approach a decent collection of the essentials of music from the Renaissance to today. As of today, my iTunes has 38,958 tracks, divided into 20 playlists, playing everything I have in a loop. After I play a track, It takes months for it to come around again. Assuming the average CD has, say, 15 tracks…that’s 2,597 albums, and I estimate that it will take another 300 albums to complete the music collection that I have in mind. And of course, there will always be the best albums for every year in the future, including not only popular music, but new interpretations of music from centuries passed that will make contemporary ideas about how Bach and Mozart are meant to be played seem quaint.

I would like to offer some final ideas about listening to a newly-aquired music library of thousands of albums. Sometimes, hearing a great piece of music for the first time is a magical, rewarding experience to be envied. Other times, however, it can take a dozen encounters before it hits you. Try to give everything a good chance before deleting, and you’ll become more accustomed to the peculiar sensation of shivering at the perfect riff.

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