Today, I have mostly been listening to Lush live bootlegs and a download of the Boo Radleys' Ichabod and I. As only 500 copies were released and there's no way to get a legal copy under £100, I don't feel bad about not paying for it. It's wonderful, shoegazy, dubby and pop all at the same time.
But enough of them until the time comes. Next on the list is Beethoven. Luckily for you, most of my collection's on vinyl, but I have the symphonies on CD. What can I possibly say? Firstly: not boring. Dynamic, tempestuous, driven, sometimes obsessive, never mannered or mimsy - the problem with classical music in this country is that posh wankers have stolen it, and everybody else therefore ignores it. The wigs and stuff make us forget that people like Wolfgang were avant-garde troublemakers, hated by the establishment. But if you're in the mood for emotional extremes, Beethoven's your guy. All his symphonies are brilliant, but try the 9th - it towers over everything else for scale and daring. And he composed the whole thing while completely deaf.
Here's the whole thing (Karajan's old-fashioned but good recording) - skip around, find the bits that get you going. "Ode to Joy" is in the fifth clip.
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