By Larry Jaffee – Editor Colonial’s Physical World Magazine
It’s been a rough five weeks for Baby Boomers who grew up with rock music since the late 1960s. A flurry of unexpected deaths – David Bowie, The Eagles’ Glenn Frey, Motorhead’s Lemmy, Jefferson Airplane’s founder Paul Kantner and original lead singer Signe Anderson (those two on the same day!) – have jolted our collective consciousness.
You almost dread to peruse Facebook to find out, who today?
Music is a touchstone for our generation, and unfortunately many of us often want to hear favorite albums of yesteryear when the musicians responsible have passed, not while they’re still alive. What’s that about? The royalties aren’t going to help much at that point, well maybe their heirs or estate.
In any case, good luck finding a CD of Ziggy Stardust, Hotel California or Volunteers to buy at retail these days.
The exception was days following Bowie’s passing on Jan. 10 I found at a Manhattan Best Buy about two dozen CDs of his just released swan song, Blackstar, and it was the only album of his deep catalog that was in stock. It must have been a rush order, and one assumes DADC must have been cranking them out upon learning the news.
Of course, I had bought Blackstar on vinyl, which cost three times the price of the CD on his birthday, two days before he died. The LP, by the way, sold out its first pressing, and it’s on back order. In any case, Blackstar was Bowie’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts and Best of Bowie hit No. 4; it finally dislodged Adele, who, with perhaps Taylor Swift, represents the platinum record business that we used to know. Three other Bowie albums also made the Top 200.
A week after Bowie’s death, I also attended a tribute concert featuring his longtime producer Tony Visconti and Ziggy drummer Mick Woodmansey, which had been touring that act known as Holy Holy with other musicians for about two years already, with Bowie’s blessing.
And it was nice to find Holy Holy’s double CD of a London concert that you can’t buy anywhere else at the merchandise table. My friend Gaetana commented, “You always buy a souvenir when we go to a concert.”
She’s right, physical media is in my blood, and it might be a good time to visit my physician for a checkup.