15 Years of BB - Crystal Blog Occasion

BB Chronicles 15th Anniversary

Well, here we are, another year has gone by and it is April once again, and what do you know, it is now the 15th anniversary of this old blog. That's right 15 whole years of BB Chronicles, quite amazing. And traditionally, the 15th Anniversary is the Crystal Anniversary, so this is our (singing) 'Crystal Blog Occasion'.  Fifteen years, hard to believe when I started this that it would still be going 15 years later, but the days, weeks, months, and years pass by much quicker now as I get older. It's been a pretty good year, both for music and for the blog (but not for most everything else outside of that). 

So, over these past 15 years a whole lot of great music has been talked about and presented here, of many different styles, all from artists that I personally enjoy very much, and hope that others will also enjoy. I try to present a variety of music that may be hard to find or not readily available elsewhere. I also try to provide some background and context to the music and artists, as well as my own commentary, reviews and rankings, to give those new to these artists some perspective and history, to explore the music further. Previously, I've been able to say that most everything I posted here was still available, but unfortunately, that is no longer the case, as all the Solidfiles links are now dead (which amounts to some 30-40 GB music files. Solidfiles had been a bit sporadic over the past year, going down occasionally and sometimes for extended periods, but now seems to be gone for good. Well, we've weathered the demise or closure of several other filesharing sites previously, and we'll survive this one as well. But until I find another somewhat reliable free filesharing service, I don't have anywhere to re-upload the missing files to, thus these probably will not be replaced anytime soon, and will take quite awhile even after finding a suitable home for them. But if you have a pressing need for something that is not currently available, let me know and I'll see what I can do about re-upping it. I'm trying out Uloz.to.disk now, but not sure if that will work out - we'll see. You also may have noticed that I've moved to more different kinds of posts, such as album reviews and rankings, and commentaries of various types, which is something I've been wanting to do for awhile now, and necessary since i am just not collecting live shows much anymore, so have less of these available to post. Hopefully, you will find the new content interesting and useful. (and I welcome comments regarding any of this content). And so I want to thank all of you out there who take the time to peruse this blog, download (and perhaps even read the commentary), and possibly provide comments or feedback, for making this endeavor worthwhile for me to continue.   

Anyway, once again, as I have each year at this time, I also want to take this time to thank and celebrate all the others out there who have made so much of this great music, and those that have made it freely available for others. I am only able to offer these downloads because others before me have made them available. So, to all the other bloggers, tapers, forum posters, and music fans that have collected these recordings and made them available over the internet, and most importantly, to all the great artists and musicians out there that have created and performed this wonderful music and allow these recordings to be freely exchanged, I offer a huge and heartfelt Thank You. And again, I implore everyone to purchase all the official releases of your favorite artists, as well as, wherever possible, go see them live in concert. The music and commentary here serves to supplement, not replace, all of their officially released music. They are supported by fans like us. 

As for the blog itself, I have a few special things planned for this month in honor of the 15th anniversary. next up will be a rundown of my 15 favorite albums of all time. I'm also planning a ranking of all The Kinks albums. The Kinks were the very first artist I featured on this blog 15 years ago (but have not done an album ranking of them yet), and this year is also the 60th Anniversary of The Kinks very first record in 1963. 

So, I will continue to carry on here, pretty much as I have, and I hope there are things here that are of interest that will keep you coming back for more, and always excited about all the great music all around us. Thanks.