And so it begins (rather later than anticipated)...

"What was the first album you bought?"

Always a popular discussion amongst music fans. Mine was, as previously mentioned, The Stray Cats' debut album. Not a 'Revolver' or 'Dark Side Of The Moon', but equally, not a 'One of those Top Of The Pops covers albums that had a bunch of chart tunes covered by session musicians and a scantily clad woman on the front' either.

Semi-respectable middle ground.

I was 14, so I was a bit late to the party, discovering-music wise. Up until that point, we had two radio's in our house - Dad's 'Music Centre' in the living room, and Mum's transistor radio in the kitchen, both of which had been welded to Radio 2, and the tuning controls removed.

Well that's what it felt like anyway.

So the late 70's passed me by. Punk overthrowing the old order was something I read about years later. In 1977, when the revolution was taking place, I was walking to school humming tunes by Cilla Black, Jack Jones, Crystal Gale and the like.

And then in March 1981, I got a Binatone Galaxy MkIII for my birthday, discovered Radio 1, and my world changed for ever.

All of which is getting off the point.

First albums is what we were talking about. So what was my first Shuffleman album? Did Mr Holmes look at the five choices presented to him and choose the most epic, the coolest, the best of the bunch?

No.

I started with 'The Spitting Image Record'.

Cheers mate!

(For anyone who doesn't remember Spitting Image, you can read about it here.)

And you know what? It wasn't bad. Sure there were lots of songs on it*, but many were short, and the vast majority were still very funny, even after all this time.

DSP rating : 6

After that, Matt had some sympathy and chose (presumably) what he thought was the best of the bunch, and gave me Blur's 'Modern Life Is Rubbish'.

Ask many people what Blur's first album was, and most will say 'Parklife'. A few will tap their nose in a knowing fashion and say 'Modern Life Is Rubbish, actually'. Hardly anyone remembers that it was in fact, 'Leisure'. Anyway, I digress. This is what Shuffleman is all about. MLIR is a fine album. I've had it for donkeys years. And apart from the classic single 'For Tomorrow', I don't think I've heard anything else on it.

So I listened. And it was good.

DSP rating : 6

I think I may have had to go and do some work at this point, as I only got one more album on the first day : 'Bryan Adams - Waking Up The Neighbours'.

Mr Adams, or 'the groover from Vancouver' as DJ's love to call him, is Rock-lite, but he does have a way with a tune. Pick up the 'Reckless' album - it's a corker.

However, my heart weighed heavy as I dialled round to W on the iPod. For WUTN has a millstone around it's neck. Basically, it's 14 songs, plus 'that one from Robin Hood that was at No.1 for 16 weeks'.

'Everything I Do (I Do It For You)'. How many couples walked down the aisle, or had their first dance to that song?

In July 1991 is was a pretty good song. When it was still at No.1 four months later, you had to wonder who was still out there buying it.

But despite this, it's actually a good, solid album. A bit long maybe, but I hadn't heard it for ages, so nice to hear it again.

DSP rating : 6

So three albums that, in all likelihood, I wouldn't have selected for myself.

A good start!

*When Shuffleman presents you with an album that you are unfamiliar with, the first thing you check is 'how many tracks are there, just in case it's awful'. Stupidly, I've tended to import many boxed sets as one album, rather than 'CD1, CD2, etc'. A fact which I came to regret bitterly, fairly soon...

Discovering the other 98%

It's fair to say that I like music.

A lot.

Since purchasing the debut album by The Stray Cats, way back when (1981 actually - thank you, Wikipedia), I've never looked back. My tastes haven't changed in the intervening 28 years, so much as broadened. So while I still like a lot of what I started out liking, I now listen to a huge range of music.

Or do I?

To be strictly accuarate, I now own a huge range of music. But I don't listen to it all.

I'm sure I read somewhere an article where a psychologist, or psychiatrist, or someone within an interest in the inner workings of heads, said that neural pathways can get reinforced. Or in English, the more a choice is made, the more likely you are to make the same choice next time.

So when I look down the list of albums on my iPod, I'm far more likely to pick something that I know than something I'm unfamiliar with.

How can I be unfamiliar with it? It's my album, right?

The problem goes back to 27 years ago, when I got a job.

When I bought an album with pocket money, there was a good chance that I wouldn't get anything else for weeks, or more likely, months.

So I played that album to death!

I'd sit there and listen to it over and over again. I'd pore over the sleeve, I'd learn all the lyrics.

I can still recite the track listings of a lot of those early purchases, whereas an album I bought six months ago?

I may not have played it yet.

The trouble with having money in your pocket is that you can go and buy two or three cd's at once. Or indeed on one memorable occasion, 34 cd's at once. Which is how I ended up with 2500 cd's in my spare bedroom.

So when Matt came up with Shuffleman, it gave me a way of rediscovering some of that music that I'd missed, forgotten or simply ignored.

I've found some gems. I've found some clunkers.

And I've made Matt listen to some terrible stuff!

Result!