Photo: Judith Burrows

The Editor's Box Ian Anderson's comment column

I was quite a latecomer to the wonders of iPods, mainly because I’m not a great fan of isolating myself from the world around me, inside headphones. But confronted with a party that needed a lot of music sorted for it (but definitely not me to be tied to some decks) and – sucker that I am for the marketing department’s wiles – rather bewitched by the classic black model when it came out, I eventually succumbed last summer and bought one. Then I realised how clever I’d accidentally been over the past decade, because every time I’d grabbed good tracks off new releases to play on fRoots Radio or other shows, I’d also burned them as compilation CDs for the car. So there they were, pre-selected and ready to en-pod. Then add to those all the tracks that I’d used on released compilations I’d assembled, plus a few favourite albums by artists who fall outside fRoots’ remit, and just in the course of the very first day of ownership I had it loaded with its initial 1500 tracks. At which point I discovered that ‘shuffle’ mode is a fabulous invention…

At a stroke, it partially dealt with a problem that had bothered me for many years: that all I ever did was listen to new releases. The amount that constantly shows up is overwhelming, and of course pretty much all the meagre amount of radio given over to our music tends to focus on the new as well. It disturbs me that I have a room that is shelved floor to ceiling with CDs, but they hardly ever get played: on the few times I’d make a conscious attempt to go and pick something older I’d get paralysed with indecision about which to choose. Too much stuff! But now, when I get some time off at home for good behaviour, the iPod’s plugged into the kitchen stereo and away it shuffles – constantly throwing up great artists and pieces of music which I might have otherwise forgotten about.

And the point? Well, there’s a parallel with that old truism that you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you came from. Only listening to new music in isolation can give you a false sense of how good it is: it really helps your critical faculties – and enjoyment – to have that reference backwards. And it works the other way round too: sometimes you hear old stuff in a completely fresh way in the light of a later experience or a wider range of listening.

Two things occur. Firstly, we can’t be far from the possibility, for us eccentric mega-hoarders of too much music, of being able to plug a similar device in and have it streaming live over the net, the specialist music anorak’s 24 hour a day shuffle radio show with no end – if there could be a way to do it legally and reward the music makers. And secondly, have you played through your collection of 15 years’ worth of fRoots CDs recently? I’m rather amazed by how much good stuff we’ve given you that’ll more than bear a re-listen.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this issue’s fRoots 31 CD, intriguing selection of features and all the great summer festivals that are about to hit. After the double issue break, we’ll be back in September with… even more!