A Day For Treating Myself...

I've never really wanted for anything. Well, I suppose there is always something that you would like to own but if you actually asked me at this moment in time to name something it would be difficult to give you a specific item.

It may be boring but I really do put health and happiness first. I do get pleasure out of the most simple things possible.

It would be wrong for me to say that I never done without but I'm not sure that I could give a for instance. I seem to remember being given treats as a child whether a comic or some sweets. I would get a "single" record if we went somewhere special perhaps to Newcastle Upon Tyne by train and whilst I am unsure that I always came home with a toy, I do know that I would always visit Fenwick's and have a look around the toy department which was as big as any and more so to me when young. Was I spoilt? No, I don't believe so, only by being given lots of love and having a happy childhood. Maybe that's why even though I seem grumpy occasionally in reality I am content. My worry is that little I have may be squeezed still further as time and circumstances change but I suspect that is the same for many.

I don't think that I will have walked the streets of Newcastle for over 25 years.

I think the truth is I have been happy with what I have been given and though sometimes it seemed to take longer to have what others did, in time I knew that we would.

In reality, we probably were not that far behind others but put it this way BBC2 started in 1962(I think)and we did not start seeing it until 1969. I think we purchased our first colour television in 1973(though the colour service was introduced on a grand scale, I would think in 1969)

I remember how important it seemed to get a stereogram and our's was an HMV. They were more like a piece of furniture.

I think I had my first proper Hi-Fi around 1978 and it was purchased at Comet and manufactured by Pioneer but the important thing was to get a pair of speakers of made by Wharfedale. They were beautiful and big...they had to be big. Size is always important...right?

What I have neglected in the last 20 years or so is the buying of cd's and music. Some of that boils down, I suspect to listening to more speech radio, not living in a town that offers the widest choice of artists and music as I may find in a large town or city and I have not really started to download(more likely if I get broadband)and more sites offer more than chart music but probably because when I do get into a large music store I am so spoilt for choice but watching what I spend I actually avoid buying. In some cases to buy a cd is a big expense for me. Especially if I am then disappointed.

I am always thinking if I buy this, can I afford it and...will I need the money I have spent for something else.

Having seen a concert of her a few years ago(on television)I noticed Diana Krall's new cd on the shelf and what do you know it has 13 tracks all produced with lush strings and solo instrumentalists accompanying her vocalising and piano playing and every song a classic.

Madeleine Peyroux...and amongst some self penned material she has included some oldies written by Irving Berlin and Johnny Mercer. But also Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. I decided to buy after hearing only 30 or 40 seconds of her in a tv commercial. I know nothing about her. It also helped that the cd was being sold with approx £3 off the the price.

Tony Bennett and his Duets album and again produced to such a high standard. Many, probably all the songs have been sung by him over his long career and again for me not a duff song on the cd(and enclosed it details of a series of four other cd's)that have been released offering the best of his work. I am seriously thinking of acquiring these. He appeared on the X Factor last weekend and comparing him to those in the contest trying to sing with a large orchestra and not wail but to actually hold and control their notes you realise just how many today will never be as great. So many of today's artists sound alike. I may look into other Diana Krall recordings.

Finally, a new vocalist, again I know little of him but he does seem to be very popular across Europe, Patrizio Buanne.

The point is that all the above are able to sing, it does not seem to be an effort for them and because they sing properly I expect that their voices will last for years(Tony Bennett proves it)they don't shout, scream or strain their voices. I like all kinds of music but this brings me back to my argument that radio and television over here only want to give those in the charts exposure most of the time and lots of music is neglected.

That's not strictly true because these cd's are in the charts or will be so their is obviously a big audience for it and even though its not being played its making mega profits for the record companies and selling in big numbers. So the demand is there. And these artists are prepared to go back and revisit the great songs that we and they know and have grown up on and are willing to put them alongside the newer material.

Its not going to happen but I would love to be in the position where I could walk into an HMV/Virgin or specialist store with maybe £1,000 in my pocket, be frivolous and just walk out with whatever I want. I am sure that there are many of us who imagine just once being able to spend without having to think of the consequences. After all I have something like 25 years to catch up on. I can remember going into a store and buying 3-4 cd's of Julie London(they were well priced but contained two original albums on each)

I was in so much debt I wondered if I could pay back what I had spent as I was paying the minimum amount on my credit card but I so wanted them.

I did buy them and they were worth it but I have never been in debt since. They weren't the reason but pushed me over the edge. If I cannot afford it or pay in cash, I won't buy. When I use my credit card, I now leave a sum of money sitting there and remain in credit and if I use the card I know that the money is there to cover what I purchase. Rather than paying afterwards.

Its dangerous to recommend cd's to others but if you like something well produced and easy on the ear I think that you may enjoy some of the above.