too much of a good thing?

i think i may have begun coming to terms with the fact that i need to start exanding my musical favorites.

it's been coming on for awhile, but it really hit home this afternoon, as i went out on a business-related shopping trip (read: want new work clothes, spend money and justify it by starting a new job - forget that i already worked the job before and have clothes for it). as i found nothing that thrilled me, i turned instead to my beloved pure pop, where i knew i'd find at least one or two things of the musical variety i'd fancy.

sure enough, pick up a couple of things, all is good. and then i see it. my favorite musician, sprawled out on the street, the rooster at his head. yep, the import single for "the remedy."

now i have no reason to buy this. it's my least favorite mraz song now, it's a single that features two versions of it (studio single and live) and a live version of "tonight, not again." i have these songs. i have numerous versions of these songs. but for some damn reason, the "import" label and the amusing photo makes me say to self, "aw, screw it," and i pick it up with my other selections and head to the register.

so i buy, i run other errands, then i hop back into my car. i decide to put it in and skip the single and go to the live version of "tonight, not again." i'm listening, thinking it sounds awfully familiar, then realizing that it's the WBOS version that i already have (and actually listen to on a regular basis, as i think it's the best version i've heard anywhere).

bollocks! so i skip to the live version of "the remedy." yep, WBOS too. have it.

now, when you're able to listen to an import single for the first time and identify the live versions offered on it, it's time to start listening to other things, at least a bit more. i've come to terms with this. or he needs to put out the new album now - but that won't happen and that's not my point.

anyway. it's fortunate that i've realized this now, though, as i have started finding some new music (or new to me, i should say) that i'm getting into. for example, stereophonics' "you gotta go there to come back" has been a delight (i wish i could get to either boston or montreal to see them with howie, but they're both in the middle of the week so road trips prove tricky) and i'm getting back in touch with my belle & sebastian side. i've been hearing some names that i want to check out. for some reason i'm feeling like rocking out more lately. it's odd - i haven't been that way in ages. ryan adams' "rock n roll" has been in frequent rotation.

now i well know that mraz is going to stay at the top of my musical favorites list ... how could he not? but wow ... my all-too-engrossed-in-the-mraz-music self startled me and it's time to take a breath and look around ... see what else is out there.