Sitting In My Hotel

A couple of days ago, I had lunch with a friend, and over chips and salsa, I tried to explain to him my thoughts about the album-listening-process. I started off by saying "Man, I think listening to CDS is so weird sometimes." With a sincere look of confusion on his face, he replied, "Really, even after all this time?" It made me laugh, but I went on to explain that I still find myself surprised by the way my perception of a song (or an album) changes over time.

In the same way that the listening process still surprises me, so too does the feeling that comes over me when I find a song or record that I’ve been searching forever for.

Tonight I went to the new Backspin Records location on Airport, which is in the same exact location as the CD Warehouse I used to work at, not to mention, the same location of Austin’s long lost and much beloved A,B,C,D’s. It’s strange to go in there now and see the same stage that I used to sit at and listen to CDs at when it was A,B,C,D’s; the same stage that I would years later clear off to assemble a speaker system for an in-shore performance at Cd Warehouse. There’s a lot of good memories in that building for me, and I’m glad it’s once again a record store. Since Backspin opened up last year, I’ve had really great luck there, and tonight was no exception.

Three or four years ago, I bought a Kinks record on vinyl for $0.99 in Round Rock called "Everybody’s in Show-Biz." It was released in 1972, and contained a lot of radio-ready 70’s rock that, I think most would agree, is a far cry from the Classic Pop sound of the 60’s Kinks. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either, and I’ve held onto it for the longest time because of a single track, "Sitting in my Hotel."

From the opening airy vocals of Ray Davies, to the keyboard heavy chorus, to the backing trumpets, "Hotel" is a melodic comfort for me. For years, I’ve have searched the internet for a download of the track. I’ve looked for the album to download as well, but I have never been able to find it.

Tonight I found the album at Backspin for $5.99, the Cd case was old and scuffy, and it had the old Rhino logo on the side. On the back, the previous owner had placed 2 white stickers next to the track-listing, in which they wrote the track-lengths on (it probably belonged to a disc-jockey).

That was about an hour ago, and now I’m posting the song for you. I don’t if anyone else will like it as much as I do, but if they do, they will at least have some place to download it from.

Sitting In My Hotel (mp3) -- The Kinks

To download, follow link to Mediafire, wait a second for it to load, then hit "Click here to start download."


--Popkoff