I'll be enjoying new (to me) music for quite a while, thanks to my brother, my son, and his lovely wife.
Top row from left: Guns & Roses "Use Your Illusion I", next to it is Titus Andronicus "The Will To Live", The Jesus And Mary Chain "Psychocandy", and Madison Cunningham "Revealer".
Bottom row from left: GnR "Use Your Illusion II", Porcupine Tree "Closure/Continuation", The Staples Jr. Singers "When Do We Get Paid" (1975!), and Spell "Tragic Magic".
My son and daughter-in-law had gotten me the two GnR records but also this latest release from Metallica, "Hardwired...To Self Destruct" in a cool box set of 3 LP's, with lyric sheets and 4 individual 12" square artwork prints of band members. Elsewhere I had also mentioned how a couple days before Christmas I went to my dealer and bought two of the limited edition Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs "Ultradisc One-Step" records. I got No.002344 of 40,000 on the Michael Jaskson "Thriller" and No.001758 of 10,000 on the Eagles "One Of These Nights". I now own a modest collection of 452 LP's, but those two are in another world of sound quality. I own and original pressing of the Thriller one and CD's of both, but the One-Step records sound SO CLOSE to a live performance that they leave me aghast.
A paradoxical range of emotions with this holiday season, given the loss of my daughter's boyfriend (36, pulmonary embolism), and my son's father-in-law being hospitalized, yet this music will give me respite and solace. I am grateful for that.
Be well, all, and treasure those around you.