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Great post Joe.

loved your post Joe. I too will wait for the new album to be in my hands to listen quietly to it. I have listened to Almost Like the Blues but waited awhile as I wasn't sure I wanted to. I like it very much but still will wait. I was asking a friend today about streaming as it seems to be the first year I am aware of it and am not sure what to think. Ah but its all good as the times have changed but I too am nostalgic sometimes.
Great to read your post and have some smiles. Thanks!
Leslie

I have my special memory of ordering 'new skin' from my local import record store because they censored the cover for Aussie release. However that store is long long gone.

Although I too feel your nostalgia Joe and love the image of you waiting to savor this latest offering, I don't have your patience. Those days are gone and there are advantages in the present, this place for one, and people who share our enjoyment. I have Old Ideas on vinyl but mainly play digital music now so my daughter has most of my vinyl collection. I see no difference in listening to the album now or waiting for my iTunes download. With good headphones plugged into my iPad and a cup of tea I feel like the present is a fine place to be.

It does feel like my birthday every time a new album comes out and this one is no exception. In fact, in a crazy tea-induced moment, it felt like 'did I ever love you' had been written for me and ... it doesn't really matter because I'm just thankful.

What a beautiful post filled with meaningful references, Joe.
Makes me wish I hadn't listened to it [once]... but I didn't have the quality to be able to listen well.
Now, having read your post, it reenforces my plan, which I'd stated as, "Can't wait until 09/23 when I can buy the commercial version and listen to it full force!"

I didn't want to listen to just a few isolated tracks , out of the context of the whole album , still less just 30 second snippets of the songs .
Streaming of the whole album , though ,in high quality has been an unexpected gift , a process essentially no different in terms of the final purpose of hearing the work from i - tunes downloading or putting the cd into a player.
It will still be special to receive the physical cd , and - if i had chosen- perhaps more special to receive the vinyl album ( grateful that choice is still there ).
Understand the nostalgia for the days when there were lots of record stores and all we could do is go there and buy the vinyl....but it's 2014 now ...

Finally ordered in the uk from WOW HD , which i thought( or assumed ) is a uk company .
Got the cd 4 days after release - posted in Hong Kong .

WOW HD>>? my first and only order !

The delay wasn't that 'serious' since i had listened to the stream

In Australia the CD wasn't available until the 26th September (other places seem to have been a week or more earlier which I don't understand) and iTunes.aus synchronised with that date too so the streaming helped me wait too.

I bought the CD at our local JB HiFi (not a place I like going to, full of so much stuff I'm not interested in) and downloaded it from iTunes in case I couldn't get it (because that was always my experience in the time before he toured and became a legend) so I've bought it twice (only for Leonard!).