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Introduction

I had completely forgotten about blogger as a platform. Bad Craig. Anyway, A couple of weeks ago I decided to sort out my CD collection and make sure that they were all ripped to a reasonably high quality FLAC and that the CD's were in some sort of order (I went with alphabetical although autobiographical also crossed my mind). Then I decided that I would listen to every album. While some have become all time favourites (I'll flag these when I come to them), many I had only bought for a couple of singles - and more often than not ended up liking some other track on the album more. Then of course there are some which I haven't listened to (at least not in their entirety) and have been sitting for years gathering dust.

While we have a cheap Sony mini hi-fI in the kitchen which can play CD's most of my music listening is done either on my iPhone or through one of the Amazon Echos. But for this project I felt something a bit more special was required. So, I dug out my old FiiO M9 DAP and my Bowers and Wilkins headphones (I think they are the old P3's) and settled down to do some intentional listening.

Just as an aside you may be wondering why a DAP and CD’s? Simple. I would love to do this project with Vinyl and a good quality Hi-Fi Separates system but I’m not allowed to have one. So this setup gives me good quality music that I can fit in my pocket and take anywhere. If I complete the project then I may give myself an upgrade on the headphones - and maybe even the DAP.

My CD collection is also starting to grow again, based on the recommendations of Paste Magazine on their monthly round up of new albums. So I have a lot to listen to and I neeed to crack on. First up, right in the corner of the collection…International Velvet by Catatonia.

As an aside, if you're thinking this is going to be a review of the artist and albums it's not exactly that format. For each album there will be a track listing and my thoughts for each track. While some of these maybe a review of sorts, it will also contain the memories that the tracks evoke, perhaps vignettes of my life when I first listened and as I mentioned above, a more autobiographical stance on each of the albums.
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