50-vc. fallout and follow-up
Heartfelt thanks to all who bought my new 50-song package on its first day in the world yesterday. We enjoyed a pretty vigorous sales day, though some unanticipated snags came up. Primarily: five or six people did not receive a link to the zip file (is that an acronym like ZIP code and therefore capitalized?) after buying, for the reason that the e-mail providing that link got filtered as spam. John quickly r-emailed links, and, to address the problem systemically, changed the server from which that piece of mail is sent. I think everyone who didn't have the music yesterday has it today -- if not, please let me know, and of course the same to all future buyers who might encounter any problem. We (I should really say "John") prepared pretty meticulously for the launch, but it's a new way of delivering and selling, both for us and I believe mankind, and I appreciate the patience and understanding of those who were yesterday drafted into guinea-pighood.
One listener asks what the titles of these songs are, and another wants to know who the hell is playing on them. All this information is right here -- look to the right and click "50-vc. Doberman." Whether title info can be embedded in a zip file I don't know*, but I believe the songs load in alphabetical order and so should follow the order in the credits and descriptions here at the site, with "Angela" first and "You Never Were Lonelier" last.
It's always interesting and a little surprising to find out, after releasing a bunch of songs, what gets singled out for positive or negative attention. I had a good inkling of what might stand out from the dozen-odd people that heard the album in advance. Some of these friends (and one blood relation) offered playlist recommendations for the site, and you can see from them that five or six tracks ("Guess I Got It Wrong," "No Girls Allowed") pop up fairly consistently, with the rest being a blur of personal, unaccountable taste. There are maybe a dozen that seem to excite no strong reaction at all. I am grateful for the lack of revulsion; though I know a harshly negative reaction is a potential augury of artistic singularity, I've received enough of that to know that I'm more content obediently giving listeners what they expect and enjoy than dodging death threats and spittle. My own impression of this giant heap of recordings is that there are two CDs' or 100 minutes' worth of A-grade and another 100 minutes of passable entertainment.
On the question of recommended sequence I am doggedly mute. I've tried to arrange these songs by style. Didn't work. Then I tried what you might call the roman fleuve approach, a running order that might flow across the lushly varied musical landscape with grandeur and natural force. Naah. It's just too many songs. You can't avoid repetition, randomness, or sheer fatigue if you try consuming this monolithically. At least I can't. So hit shuffle, or make your own order.
*Update: Webmaster John tells me the track titles are in fact in the file.
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19 comments
Robbie, I think I hear a resemblance in Church in the Wildwood to a song that might be called Little Joe found on the Double Door bootleg. Is Little Joe one of yours as well? It's that song about the little boy and his dog, very sad.
Hey Kirb,
Thanks for the comment. They're both old songs of uncertain vintage, Little Joe as far as I know brought into the country songbook by Bill Monroe and Church by the Carter Family. Both 8-bar forms, chords dissimilar, melodies similar I guess, metric shapes pretty close. A lot of those old country tunes are pretty close. - RF
Hey Robbie, are you making the release known more widely to sites that track such stuff? (I sent a note to some such site, but I don't have the bookmark handy at work. Of course, I said it was only available here and only for download.)
It was listed on the weekly e-mail I receive from the site Pause and Play. It's the go-to site for new music release dates (or at least mine).
http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm
I haven't hired a publicist or done much on my own except provide what I can when asked. I think as far as sites like pauseandplay, pitchfork, etc., word will spread patchily, and that's fine.
Hey Robbie - Great stuff! Doberman is providing countless hours of pure entertainment. Any significance to the Doberman title? By the way, the downloading was a snap. Worked great. Thanks.
Yup, it was plug & play. It even listed the guests in the order I specified. Am I part of the street team yet?
Well, I must be the dunce of the group, 'cause I can't get anything to plug or play. I have managed to unzip the files, but can't get them to play on Itunes or Windows Media. Anybody else have this problem?
Tracy,
Have you tried dragging the folder of MP3s onto the iTunes window? It should import them.
Cheers,
John
Bob you are officially provost of the e-street e-team. Thank you Duffy. The album title is a pretty meaningless reference to a Texas comedian called Mincemeat who had a bit with a Japanese guy trying to buy a Doberman. Tracy, are you a woman or a man? Because these files are men only. Seriously though, write back if that doesn't work.
John, I did try that, and Itunes acts like nothing happened. And I tried "add file to library" and "add folder to library" which were also unsuccessful. Maybe it's my gender? I knew I should have been born with balls -- will try harder next time.
Aha, got it fixed. Somehow screwed up the unzipping the first time, but it worked the second. Perhaps I'll be more tech-savvy in my next life.
Glad it's fixed.
Robbie, is it weird to know exactly how many copies of the "package" you sold on each day?
I see the "sampler" is available on emusic. Will the whole album find its way there too in coming days?
Thanks!
Well, this ain't going too well.
When I try to buy Doberman I get a "Cannot display the web page" message.
Will try again later...
That was weird.
The problem persisted until I listened to a couple of sample tracks. Then I tried the download again and it worked!
Now playing lots of cool music from Robbie.
Hey Robbie?
Where was 50 voice Doberman recorded and who engineered?
Boy that's a lotta songs! They sure sound good.................
Hey Robbie ! just finished listening to doberman. GREAT STUFF ! looking forward to seeing you at shank hall.