And finally…

This is a bit of a collector’s gloat. No apologies for that, when I set this site up originally it was supposed to be much more about collecting than what it’s become, which is a sort of rambling audio/visual smorgasbord. And there’s the problem that it’s increasingly hard to find things to actually collect. But this week I’ve had a minor triumph.

A long time ago, I complained about the impossible bootleg. This was a Japanese production in a set of 5 total, beautifully produced as CD-Rs with lovely covers and interesting selections of music that comes up regularly on Yahoo Auctions Japan.

I had managed to buy the first four via Buyee, but the last one was incredibily elusive. Buyee prohibited bidding, as did my alternate choice, Celga, Japanese friends bid and had their bids cancelled, absolutely nothing I tried worked.

The seller just didn’t seem to want to sell.

Then a few weeks ago, the name on the items changed, and joy of joys I was able to bid and win and everything apparently went through. The CD duly arrived a few days ago after a nailbiting customs delay, and finally I have the full set of “Circle Music” CD-R bootlegs. It’s not, as you can see, a particularly special or rare set of songs, but somewhere deep in the reptilian collectors brain stem, a completism nerve has stopped jangling, and I can rest a little less feverishly for a day or two.

I do recommend these CDs incidentally, just because of the care and elegance of the packaging. They are absolutely beautifully done. The music suffers from a bit of odd equalisation though, you buy them as objects, not as audio.

It would be lovely of course to find a copy of “Live at the Town and Country” on Temple of Sound records in an original format, but the Orient is gradually giving up its treasures.