Casparcritique: CDs in the post-modern age (part 2)

One of my first blogs for CasparSongs dealt with the question if we should hang on to our CDs, now that online streaming of music is gaining strength. The blog dealt with the way we choose our tunes, the quality of the sound, and vinyl albums as an example of how old music carriers might be en vogue again in the future. Last night I had an interesting conversation about this with my friend Maurits. He pointed out that there is also a technical side to this from the part of the sustainability. Apparently, CDs might run the risk that its coating wears down. Does this alter my advise to hang to your CDs?


It is certainly true that bloggers and other media have written about this problem. (for example: http://rense.com/general52/themythofthe100year.htm) Much has got to do with the quality of the product. In many ways, manufacturers have sought options to make it cheaper, experimenting with coatings that might wear down after a while. So, there is a real problem there. From what I have found out, it is likely that some CD-Rs are better than others. We should not take our chances that way, and let's not rely too much on the long-term saving qualities. Personally, I do not see too much problems arising with original CDs, as you can see what are good quality CDs, and what are not. Do not rely on cheap CD-Rs, or copied vinyls from unknown labels. Most of the information we find on the net tells us that the 30 year period is sort of the minimum CDs should be able to last. Interestingly, it has been 30 years now since CDs started to replace vinyl. That means that soon we will found out for ourselves.

Still, we do run the risk of losing some special ones along the way. As Maurits told me, his very first CD, Bob Marley live, is not audible anymore. The black spots you can see on the photo is where the coated paint that was used when manufactured has worn down. That is a real bummer. And, it got me thinking of course, if I could remember my first one, and what it's state would be like... Not an easy one, mind you. I believe the first vinyl I bought was The Joshua Tree by U2. As far as CDs are concerned, there are two possibilities. Either it was Freaky Styley by the Red Hot Chili Peppers which I got from my brother as a gift, or else Robert Cray Band with their second album called Bad Influence. Luckily, they're both in mint conditions, bearing dear memories for me. Some silvery discs I will never dispose of. That was not what Maurits thought: just the other day, he got rid of his complete collection...

Casparcritique #9: interviewing John Frusciante (1994)

It was May 1993, the biggest popfestival of the Netherlands (at the time) Pinkpop was on it's way, and I was watching it on the telly. One band called Thelonious Monster got on stage and within no time the singer did all sorts of crazy stuff. Trying to cellotape his gitarist, lying on the floor pretending to be dead (or something like that), and finally he climbed into the high side of the stage on top of the speaker boxes. About to break his leg when he fell of, I just remember thinking what kind of drugs he would be on, and remembering absolutely nothing from the music itself.

Shortly after, VPRO television aired an interview they did with former Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante. He had left the band about two years before and hadn't been seen for some time. Immediately you realize why: the man was completely addicted to heroin. Now that I watch the interview again, I realize that back then I was just absorbed by what horrors drugs do to really talented men, that I just didn't pay attention to what they were saying, or the music they were making. Frusciante talks about leaving the band and makes complete sense explaining the reasons why. He talks about Kurt Cobain's death, and calling him stupid for not wanting to see his child grow up. I mean, he is completely lucid, intelligent and straight forward about things.The music he still composes sounds lost in space, off tune, lacks structuring. This way, the documentary is essential stuff for anyone interested in, let's say, rock music from the eigthies, or drug abuse in the music scene.

A real treat of watching the interview comes after as a sort of a bonus track. The interviewer discovers that Frusciante contributed to a short movie made by the singer of the band Butthole Surfers, and a young actor called Johnny Depp. The movie is called Stuff, and is basically a filmed tour around a completely messy, chaotic house, that apparently burnt down shortly after the movie was made. What I enjoyed about it, was that Frusciante's music all of a sudden makes complete sense! It fits like a glove when the camera swings through piles of dirt, slowmotion filming of the graffiti on the walls and ending up filming Frusciante lying on a couch thinking about what it would be like being dead, flowing around space and his words in his scrap book making sense, finally.

Bram van Splunteren is the journalist from VPRO who documented RHCP already in the 80'ties, he made this interview with Frusciante, and afterwards, with Frusciante back in the group doing the stadium tours he so detested, he again filmed and interviewed the band. This way he has become the axis filmmaker on the band. You can watch his own compilation on youtube. But my suggestion is to watch the Frusciante interview still available on www.hollanddoc.nl. My rating would be 4 out of 5, and a half for the bonus track!