(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 81: Sanity Check

I’m burning myself out. I think the stress of work, my only child being away in college and the attendant stress with that, along with the self-imposed commitment to get a 2025 review in every day was just too much this time, and I found myself not enjoying the process like I did last year. These next few days the plan is just to relax and let the music just be music, not a box to check off or a pile in my office to shrink. So I’m going to move a little slower, a little more deliberately. I don’t want to one of those people who want to write but all they ever write about is the fact that they’re not writing; I’m doing this for myself, and I find the best way through is just to keep writing. Which hey: I just did.

This week is a very random suite of stuff that’s ben keeping my head and heart afloat this week.

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52 Reasons Why

Wanted to do something different today. It’s my birthday, and I already built a playlist last week celebrating a bunch of great music that came out during the year of my birth. But the music of 1973 isn’t what made me into who I am now – that’s an ever-growing, ever-evolving store of musical moments and memories. And so I wanted to make another playlist, of the songs that inspired me, moved, me, marked significant moments of my life.

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(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 45: I Am Your AI DJ…

I’m rushing this one out because I’m about to leave for vacation and just want to shut the world out. So I went over to Apple Music and saw they had a “Station For You”. Station for me? AI algorithms it is. Let’s see what the machine powers think I want to hear at 3:30am because I can’t sleep due to crippling anxiety over every minute detail of getting to the airport, getting through security, getting on the plane, getting to my designation, getting through Customs and finding a way to my hotel. Maybe I’ll edit this later once I’m in a saner frame of mind…

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pink floyd - live at wembley pool

Pink Floyd: Live At Wembley Empire Pool (1974)

To be clear, this is NOT the standalone release The Dark Side Of The Moon Live at Wembley 1974 that came out in 2023, which I THINK was taken from the November 15-16 shows and is just the Dark Side of the Moon part of the show. Live At Wembley Empire Pool is the full show (with a mammoth bonus up front) presenting to my ears Pink Floyd at their absolute best: this is not only my favorite live recording of the band; it’s grown to become my go-to album anytime I want to listen to Floyd – at least the post Syd Barrett era of the band. Full of gargantuan solos and massive jams that almost but never lose sight of the fantastic song structures the group were known for it’s a fascinating document of the band not only playing with established classics but exploring the breadth and scope of songs that would become classics on future albums.

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(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 42: The Answer (To What I’ve Been Listening To This Week)

I’m a nerd who listens to prog…of COURSE I also love Douglas Adams. So when episode 42 reared its head I needed to add some kind of acknowledgement. It’s been a rough week, and I’m still dealing with some sizable mental and emotional duress, so I did what I usually do in those circumstances: ignore the problem and buy a lot of music. I kid (kind of); I did buy way too much music this week but I’m also looking at more healthy options and outlets to work through it, like these shambling, error-filled review I’ll try and clean up (I did fix the Steven Wilson title, thanks, Jon). I’m also going to my first concert of 2025 tonight: the final – and hometown return – of Dream Theater’s 40th anniversary tour with Mike Portnoy at Radio City Music Hall. Yeah, more nerd stuff so let’s just get to the playlist, huh?

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