Fuzzy - Grant Lee Buffalo

It is a sign of modern times that we measure the passing of time, not by the phases of the moon or by significant personal events, but by the passing of technological phases. Some of these are so massive that it's a life changing event whilst others are so slight that it's not always obvious at the time. Music has seen its fair share of technological advances; vinyl, cassette, DAT, DCC (remember those), CD, Minidisc and of course MP3. Each one brought with it leaps forwards and steps backwards.

Although it's taken for granted now that we can 'plop' (I think that is the correct term) a CD into a computer and almost instantly a track listing will appear, along with other pertinent information. At the click of a mouse that CD can be ripped into a computer file. Fantastic, almost fictional stuff. If it had been on 'Tomorrows World' only twenty years ago it would be be consigned to the same box as jet packs, robot servants and tea pots that pour properly.

But before Gracenote and it's ilk became reality did we really have to wander in the information wasteland? Sure we could play a CD in a computer but what was the point in that? And what does this have to do with Grant Lee Buffalo? Get to the point. OK. Sorry.

Well for some reason a gap in the market was identified. And solved. You see some clever spark released software that would recognise which CD was in the PCs drive and then would display the track listing. "But didn't you just say this was before Gracenote?" Yes it was but there was a simple and ingenious way around this minor problem. All you has to was type in the track listing by hand. Song by song. You only had to do this once and the clever software would remember it for the next time. Hurrah for the software boffins. Another one of humankinds problems solved. And, as it was my latest purchase at the time, 'Fuzzy' became the first entry into my fledgling CD database. It was a momentous occasion. With my PC plugged into my hi-fi I was all set to rule the world.......well the living room anyway.

Needless to say this grand experiment did not last long. About thirty CDs in it dawned in me this was a rather massive and, it has to be said, pointless exercise. So I stopped. Thankfully. I say thankfully because, through Gracenote (CDDB), a database of over one billion pieces of information has been built from submissions from users. One billion. That would've taken me a while.

As far as this album goes, I bought it on the recommendation of Michael Stipe and wasn't disappointed. It's a fine album, although a little serious in places, with some fine tunes; 'Fuzzy', 'The Shining Hour' and 'America's Snoring' being three of the memorable tracks - despite not having heard this album for many years these immediately sprang to mind when I slipped the MP3 file into the PC software...... my haven't times changed. I still went to the trouble of reading the CD liner notes whilst the file was decompressed, converted into analogue and played through my surround sound system. Some habits die hard. If at all.

So the next time you 'plop' a CD into your PC and a track listing appears before your eyes don't take it for granted and just wonder, even if it's for a little while at least, at the marvel of the internet and the power of collective effort. The things that we can achieve if we all work together are only limited by our imagination. Now if we could only sort out a decent tea pot design we'd be onto something.....