No, not the book. The album by Tasmin Archer. I look at the packaging and realised that it was produced in 1992. I have no memory of actually buying it, although I had not forgotten it was in my record collection. I expect I mosied along Streatham High Road one Saturday afternoon, and found myself perusing the racks in Woolies or Virgin and bought this on the basis of what seemed at the time to be a reasonably good single, Sleeping Satellite, I guess.
Taking this out of the case i immediately take a dislike to the packaging. An inlay card that contains lyrics. Generally, including of lyrics with a CD is there to aid understanding and thus enjoyment. I have nearly perfect vision, with my spectacles it is perfect. I really can't be bothered to read these, though. Tiny pitch, faint ink and worst of all total absence of capital letters. Pretentious tosh. Why write something and then make it difficult to read? Rudeness.
So, onto the music. Well, it's harmless and non-irritating. There are tunes. Not great or memorable tunes, but tunes. Too much computer-generated instrumentation and mindless dull repetitive drumbeat. She has a voice. A weak insipid voice but one that basically holds a tune.
I expect I shall play this again in about five years time, but I can't say that buying it, possessing it, or playing it has improved my life in any sense. Actually, it's quite irritating. I vowed when I started this nonsense all those years ago that I would play every record in my collection. No avoiding skipping or missing. And it is a matter of honour and integrity that I do so. It has struck me that - being fair and balanced - she has written these songs as a very personal outpouring of her emotions and experiences. I suppose for people that share those experiences this a very touching record, and I acknowledge that often music is a very constructive way of working through issues. But if one doesn't have those experiences or emotions it can be very alienating. Too harsh to say 'so what'. If it were great music and/or great poetry, the greatness would transcend the individual. But they're not so they don't. But maybe they hold meaning for other people. And that's good. Perhaps at the time I bought I was wanting to understand other people's lives and thought that disposable pop music was the key. And now I know it's not. Unless it's my life I need to understand. In which case there are more suitable pop artists.
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