This. This is why I love the internets.

Proper post coming later, but this needed posting immediately. One of the perks of this project is occasionally hearing from folks who enjoy the same music that I do. I've gotten a couple of e-mails from people who read about my acquisition of Projector Head, one of the two (I thought) early Josh Joplin Band cds. Since Josh himself (I always like mentioning that part) told me that the best way to acquire his old stuff was to try to find it through file sharing, I had no problem sharing the songs in mp3 form.

Well last night, I had the sharing repaid to me twice over. I got an e-mail from Ryan who just happened to find all three Josh Joplin Band cds at a reasonable price (as opposed to the $40+ each they usually go for.) Three Josh Joplin Band cds? I didn't even know there were three! From Ryan's awesome e-mail:

You obviously know about Projector Head and Boxing Nostalgic, but what you may not know is that Useful Music was originally released as a Josh Joplin Band album. It was then re-released under the Josh Joplin Group name. Surprisingly, this fact isn't well documented on the internet. If you already knew this, then please feel free to ignore the following wall o' text and skip to the end.

Here is a quick list of the differences in the JJB release of Useful Music vs. the later JJG version:
-It does not contain Camera One or I've Changed [Alternate].
-It has the song Far Away.
-Matter is radically different.
-Phil Ochs is somewhat different.
-Superstar is mainly spoken word rather than singing.
-Gravity, Here I Am, and Trailways have subtle, but noticeable differences.

As far as I can tell, Undone, I've Changed, Who's Afraid of Thomas Wolfe?, Human, and Dutch Wonderland are the same on both releases, or the differences are extremely minor...

...Okay, enough of my rambling. I ripped the Boxing Nostalgic and original Useful Music albums to mp3 format and uploaded them here:http://www.sendspace.com/file/chuifj

Enjoy!

-Ryan

Holy carp! The elusive Boxing Nostalgic and the heretofore unknown earlier version of Useful Music just dropped into my lap! The Internets is awesome. Thanks so much Ryan!

If you are a Josh Joplin fan, or would like to be, here are links to the collected (and no longer commercially available) Josh Joplin Band cds:

Boxing Nostalgic (1998) and Useful Music (1999)
Projector Head (1998) (This file also includes a few songs from Boxing Nostalgic, which, thanks to Ryan, you'll no longer need to squirrel away.)

If you'd like to know more about Josh Joplin music you can check out, his personal site, or the website for his new project (with Garrison Starr) Among The Oak & Ash.

Finally, if you'd like to purchase any of the Josh Joplin Group or Josh Joplin solo cds that are still available, you can click here.