Music -- a Great Christmas Gift

We didn't really make much of a big deal about Christmas at my house this year. My brothers and I are all 21+ and the parents support us by paying phone and car insurance bills and the like, so they feel (and I agree) that that's better than buying us something we won't use on Christmas. However, my brother Craig exchanged gifts with both me and Brandon (the third brother) and we in turn pool together to get him one (the BBC's Planet Earth in Blu-Ray).

Craig got me "Billy Joel: The Complete Collection 1973-1997". Basically, it's three volumes of Billy Joel's greatest hits and a fourth volume of some live tracks and a Q&A with Joel. Craig already had it, but I didn't and his CDs are scratched to hell so they aren't of good quality to rip from. It was nice to get my own copy of these discs and to have them ripped to my computer without odd sounds because of scratches.

He also gave me a $25 iTunes gift card. After much deliberation, here is what I purchased:

• The Fame by Lady Gaga
• Ladyhawke by Ladyhawke
• The Orange Album by Stefy
• "Beat Control" by Tilly & The Wall

I got the Ladyhawke album because it was Popjustice's #1 album of the year and I follow Popjustice near-religiously.

Lady Gaga has, of course, been making quite a noise in the pop world. Popjustice hasn't really talked much about her, but that's because her stuff is just coming out now in the UK. "Just Dance" sits at 3rd on downloads alone in the latest UK Singles Chart, so I'm sure they'll be talking about her soon enough. It's a little bit more R&B than their (and my, usually) tastes, but I've heard a bunch of the songs and I like them all.

Originally, I was just going to get "Chelsea" from Stefy, but the album was only $6 and the rest of the songs seemed quite good in their own right so I thought, "What the hell?" and picked it up.
Beat Control is just a fun song that I had a great time dancing to at a club in London, so I picked it to round me up to $24.96. Not bad for $25 if I do say so myself.