Me: "Random Access Memories is Number 1 on iTunes in about nineteen countries!!!"

Joy: "I guess people miss the Doobie Brothers."

The previous night I'd played her "Fragments of Time",  fanfaring it as "my favorite track on the record".

Did not go down well. Was received with no little disgusted incredulity. 

She hasn't heard any of the rest of  RAM. Dread to think what she'll make of "Touch" and "Motherboard"...


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Like this idea of Geeta Dayal's in her Slate piece  of Random Access Memories as the next logical step in sampling,  i.e. reconstructing the entire matrix that generated the sort of things you'd previously liked to sample:

"Here they’ve “sampled” the vintage production of their favorite records, using the same analog equipment, techniques, and musicians. Instead of sampling Chic, they brought in Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers to play guitar on two tracks. Instead of sampling Quincy Jones’ productions for Michael Jackson in the 1980s, they brought in the actual session musicians who played on the albums—including John J.R. Robinson, a drummer on Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, and the guitarist Paul Jackson, who played on Thriller."

Part of that reconstructed matrix is mental too: the Analogue System mindset, with its belief in the possibility that the Album you're working on could become an Event. A level of ambition that causes every sonic decision to be freighted with momentousness.

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My reaction to RAM album on a track by track level is uncannily close to Mark Richardson's

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Lots of information in this Rolling Stone interview