'It Gets Really Lonely When You're by Yourself'

This section of my CD collection is a wonderfully odd jumble, from mellow to funky to poppy to traditional. At work today, I listened to KT Tunstall's "Eye to the Telescope" and Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled debut at work today, both so talented and, again, CDs I should listen to more after this exercise is complete. While great for work, both CDs are a little mellow for a newly pitch black drive home, so I was happy to see that my drive would be accompanied by The Partridge Family.

My brother and I used to watch the show in the afternoon during high school. I think I'd always known about "The Partridge Family," I knew who Shirley Jones was thanks to musical emersion in elementary school, knew of David Cassidy and vaguely remember the cartoon (it took place in the space-age future for some reason), but the show wasn't on when I was younger, overshadowed by the far inferior "Brady Bunch."

We had so much fun watching the show, bought used records dirt cheap at Rhino and read David Cassidy's memoir when it came out. A few years later, I went to see David Cassidy in "EFX." Even though I watched the show on its third run (at least), the show, and it's music, is nostalgic for me. It's all a more than a bit cheesy but it's fun and makes me smile.

That same feeling has maintained during my travels through my CDs. It's amazing how many moments can be stored up inside of a collection of songs.

Here's what I've been listening to the last few weeks:

Ryan Adams
"Gold"

Linda Rondstadt
"The Very Best of Linda Rondstadt"

BBMAK
"Sooner or Later"

Ashlee Simpson
"Autobiography"
"I Am Me"
"Bittersweet World"

Robbie Williams
"The Ego Has Landed"
"Escapology"

Daniel Lanois
"Shine"

P!nk
"M!ssundaztood"

Television
"Marquee Moon"

Simon & Garfunkel
"The Best of Simon & Garfunkel"

Sheryl Crow
"The Very Best of Sheryl Crow"

Neil McCormick
"The Ghost Who Walks"

The Pogues
"The Very Best Of …"

Pearl Jam
"Ten"

Lionel Hampton
"Golden Vibes/Silver Vibes"

Various Artists
"Metal Mania – Stripped"

Natasha Bedingfield
"Unwritten"

Damien Rice
"9"
"O"

Original Soundtrack
"Saturday Night Fever"

The Dave Brubeck Quartet
"Time Out"

KT Tunstall
"Eye to the Telescope"

Corinne Bailey Rae
"Corinne Bailey Rae"

The Partridge Family
"The Very Best of The Partridge Family"

I've listened to 345 CDs since March and have just 69 left. That last bit includes James Blunt, Fall Out Boy, Amy Winehouse, Adele and, as the grand finale, U2.