butterflypolite's posterous

A-Z

ZZ Top are not a band I think about particularly often.  If I should win pop-master, and be presented with ZZ Top as a three-in-ten to win the digital radio, the digital radio is safe (“Erm… Legs ... Gimme all your lovin’… erm erm “), but they are a good marker for ‘alphabetically last’.  “From ABBA to ZAPPA” the World Records mail-order brochure proclaimed, but we all knew that ZZTop were last in there (Sharp Dressed Man, 12” picture disc. £11), not Zappa. Thinking about it though - stylistically ABBA to Zappa is a very long jump, so maybe that was the point they were making.

 

Anyway, ZZ Top have a Greatest Hits album … costing £6.47 on Amazon, and the same set of songs is available on DVD for the Greatest (video) Hits, costing £6.99.  So, an extra 52p to have the videos as well.  Is that the ‘value’ the videos add, retrospectively?  (about 5p per song – which is seems fair enough given the videos are only glorified averts – like a DVD of a film that comes with a ‘trailer’ as the only ‘extra’).

 

Back at the other end of the alphabet, ABBA ‘Gold’ is sitting similarly priced at £6.79 on DVD or £4.99 for the CD version.   The £1.80 difference meaning each video adds about 10p per song – but hang on…  what’s this?  The CD version at £4.99 is actually the CD+DVD version.  Which includes the DVD too.  So in this case the audio only version is actually devaluing the videos!  That’s a damning testimonial of your artistic output … it devalues the work of the director who produced a 3 minute promotional advert for it!

 

Amazon also sell mp3 versions of these albums.  Care to take a punt at the cost?  …Ok, pens down, times up!  ABBA Gold costs £6.49 and ZZTop Greatest hits will set you back £7.49.  In both cases the mp3 versions are more expensive that the CD versions.  It seems having a sleeve with your name and/or photo on it makes your CD worth about a pound less than just the music is on its own.  Perhaps the pound should be seen as the cost of convenience in having it pre-ripped for your portable mp3 player.

 

Ebay shows the second hand resale value of these CDs (should you choose to sell them when you realise you can’t tolerate the sleeve at all) is about £2 for the ZZ Top, and about £4 for the Abba. I can’t find a second hand price listed for the mp3 versions.  Just saying.

 

Both DVD titles are available to rent from Lovefilm.  Perhaps that’s your better bet.

Pining.

ButterflyPolite may have been quiet, but Andy had been noisy.

As well as recording/writing some solo songs in secret*, he has recorded some of the songs for The Pinocchio Show, a play that he's taking to The Edinburgh Festival. http://herricktheatre.bandcamp.com/ have got the demos for anyone who is interested.  The eagle-eared will notice that Sarah lends her vocal pipes to these recordings too, along with Kate (violinist with ButterflyPolite) and Howard Rose.  On a technical note, the basic instrument recording (of glockenspiel and guitars) was done live using a mid-side technique.  If that sentence meant nothing to you, do not feel you are missing out.

*it's not particularly secret, but he will let you hear them when he's good and ready, okay?

Short Notice.

Tonight (19th August), Sarah & Andy are popping along to The Musician (Clyde St, Leics) to do a short ButterflyPolite set (a set-ette?) at the 'Here Come The Girls' event.

We'll be on about 10pm.  Come along and mention today's secret word ("BumbleBee") to receive a free hug.  (From Andy)

Demos.

Spent the day composing and demoing new song ideas today.  Whilst there is something pleasing about finishing a piece, and having something to say 'this is my thing that I have created for the world'*, there is something absolutely magical about where the germs of ideas come from.  Does one have a finite number of melodies and chord progressions to draw upon, and can this run dry?  Does the development of skills and knowledge as one composes means that whilst the well is being taken from, it is also being filled up from other directions?  I do not know.  I do know that I am pleased with 'Accouterments & Ephemera' (working title) and, for now, that is enough.

*I suspect this is akin to raising a child, or leaving a rabbit dropping.

Facetweet.

Just a quickie.  We've got a new facebook page for you to 'like' and you can follow our rampant tweeting at @butterflypolite because social networking is apparently 'the modern way' (of wasting time).

If you are so inclined then both our twitter and this site generate RSS feeds you can use in your favourite reader.  If you don't understand this sentence, then do not worry - it just means you may have friends and a social life instead.

Years ago I used to make band newsletters using a typewriter, scissors, glue and trips to a photocopy shop, or use my hand cranked Gestetner mimeograph, that I would post to people on a real mailing list.  Happy inky-fingered days.