Well, I wasn't going to get into this, but clearly that's not working for me. Here we go.
I blame your post, WC, mainly because it made me think about all these things. I still think you're cool. Your post is both accurate and saddening. This argument comes up every time something "special" happens. It inevitably gets recorded-- people have become (for lack of a better word) smart enough to bring recorders to special stuff by this point. They know they want to hear it again and they know other people want to hear it. Supply, demand, it's that simple. I am, at least, thankful that nobody's ever tried to sell recordings of "special" shit. (Yet?) At least we have the courtesy to give it away to fellow fans when the "special" shit gets recorded.
Should it have been unrecorded? Should the inevitable recording have languished, forgotten on a hard drive? The general rule of thumb is to hold on to any live recordings with unreleased songs, out of courtesy for the fact that they may turn up on future albums. That doesn't really apply in this case as the unreleased songs are all old Sweden-era pieces that don't really fit with what tMG is doing currently outside of occasions like this. So I think there shouldn't be any fear of releasing this because of the unreleased material. But that's not why there's a stigma against releasing things like this.
The stigma is the idea of the event as a "special" moment (or set of moments) that outside of that instance should not be repeated because they are lacking in that "special" temporal quality. So let's take a look at possible reasons why we should be able listen to this despite that "special" temporal quality, whatever it may be.
Firstly, there's the argument that "I would have been there if it weren't for logistics." This could be honestly said by anybody for a number of reasons. Maybe you're JohnP (not singling anybody out other than for example purposes) who would never be expected to travel to San Francisco from Ireland on short notice for a one night gig. Maybe you're Mtn. Girl, who has kids to take care of and wouldn't be expected to leave them to fly across country for the same thing. Maybe you're me, who couldn't make the drive home to SF due to final exams. Maybe you actually even live in San Francisco but you couldn't get off work that night. They're all legitimate reasons. But for every example like this, there's a counter. Maybe you're Caliclimber, who did drive up from LA for this. Maybe you're Jots, who flew down from Seattle for this. Does their dedication mean that they deserve more to hear it? No, it doesn't mean that they deserve more, but it does mean that they actually heard it. That's a leg up, right there. But that also doesn't mean that by virtue of being there that they deserve a recording of it to hear again, not more than any of the rest of us.
There's also the argument of "I can't resist! The new songs are right there!" I'm not going to spend much time on this one. Maybe you feel this way. That doesn't mean you're a terrible person, but this argument is crap. JD's said it and we all know it. You can resist. You absolutely can. You have chosen not to. I don't mean to be sanctimonious, but using myself as an example: I've never downloaded HaFG. I've never listened to it outside of two songs that I've gathered from legitimately released live shows. I've "resisted." And my life is still okay. The HaFG analogy is especially apt here since a number of those songs were played last night, and because of how that album relates to Sweden, which generally agreed upon, is a real gem (among gems) of the tMG catalog. If you're saying to yourself "I can't resist" and you downloaded this, that's fine, but you need to justify it to yourself a different way. Saying "I can't resist" makes your choice external. It's not your fault if what you did was wrong. If you download it, okay, but at least accept that you chose to do that.
Well, what if we were to download it and replicate the experience as much as possible; ie. by only listening to it along with watching the movie, as was originally intended in the experience? This is my favorite option, and if I decide to listen to the recording, this is how I'll do it. Is it perfect? No. Far from it. But it's the best I can do, given all the circumstances. This too may be prohibitive. The DVD is available, but it's not widely available. I haven't checked to see if you can order a copy directly from Kino (they put out a number of silent dvds, this one included) but I know that you can get it on Netflix. This assumes that you have Netflix, and you're willing to put up with the queue wait that has been reported. All more barriers to enjoyment / instant gratification, if that's what you're looking for.
But now to address the issue of "special," which I've been saving for last. Was this event "special"? To us tMG fans, absolutely. It's a one of a kind event working not only with older material and unreleased material, but also in different instrumentation than we're used to, and in conjunction with another medium: a film. But what does that "special" mean? There's two ways of looking at this next fact, but the point is, no matter how big fans we may be, no matter how it affects you, it's still just music. We can all agree that JD's been more than generous to us-- not just in released material, but unreleased material as well. There's a massive treasure trove of tMG material that you can turn to if you need your fix. This is just a small set of songs from that, in a very limited set of versions of those songs (of which we have many more, for most of them). So, as I said, there's two positions to go with from here. One: it's only music, I don't NEED it. Two: it's only music, so what's the big fuss? I won't say which one is "right" or "wrong" because everybody's in a different situation and there's a different perspective for every person.
What have I done? I'll admit, I've downloaded the track. I haven't listened to it yet, though, and whether or not I will remains to be seen. I need to think about it more, but I think I've done enough talking for now.
TL;DR? No, fuck that. It's a complicated issue, and if you want to debate it, I'm going to have to ask that you consider what I've said. Sorry, I'm an ass.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2010 11:27PM by shlack.
December 15, 2010 09:53PM | Sir Arne's Treasure Recording
