Totally Gourdgeous & Penelope Swales

Well I am totally chuffed! This CD is due for release on 2006-01-16 and I have it early. Yay! I had to add the album details to the Grace Note library. This is only the second time, in all the hundreds of CDs I own. There does not seem to be any method in iTunes to add the CD cover details. This is the first CD I have imported where I have set all the tracks initially to 4 stars. Usually they only get 3 stars.

Brian's recommendation - Buy while you can. (disclaimer - Brian is not a stock broker or licensed financial adviser. This advice does not count as official financial advice. His musical skill is more defined by intent to play well rather than real skill. But he knows good music when he sees it.)

In iTunes, you can set songs you like to play more often, but it takes quite a few play lists to do so. I have 2 star tunes (for radio podcasts and the like) set to play once only, 3 stars play more often, 4 stars play twice as often as 3, and 5 stars place twice as often as 4. Normally tunes start at 3 stars. If when playing, I really like the tune, I increase the star rating by one. Though down from three means one. To do this you need to use the smart play lists. Create a play list which is capped in number of play times for each star level. Currently I have 1, 3, 6 and 12 play times for 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars respectively. Then you create a composite play list, from the other play lists using the OR function. (In the previous play lists you needed to use AND.) Set the play list to random playing. This feature relies on the fact that you are constantly restarting the play lists. I do this quite regularly as I download radio station and other content from the podcasts.

Penelope is one of my favorite singers, from a song writing view a bit like and Australian Bob Dylan, though the style is contemporary Australian Folk. This band has a stronger Jazz influence. You can hear some samples, though they have been compressed too much and sound tinny. There are also a few mp3 files at mp3.com.au. This is where I first heard Penelope. The tracks on the CD have a much better quality (of course). Now that I have learned that they (Totally Gourdgeous) have two other albums (maybe marketing is not their big point), I will have to get these.

Penelope is from Emerald. How I pine for the Dandenongs with their huge forests, now that I live in suburban Sydney. Previously I lived in Kallista and Upwey. Emerald is somewhere I wanted to live... :(.

Find out more at www.totallygourdgeous.c...