Join Tracks on iTunes

One thing that has perplexed me over time is how to join songs in iTunes so that they always play together when I’m listening in “Shuffle Mode.”   For example, most of the second half of the Beatles’ Abbey Road is a medley, but when shuffled, each song stops abruptly before the next random song is played.  This is often abrupt, as the songs include transitions that are part of each song.  It's just not good listening.

• Queen's "We are the Champions" without "We Will Rock You?"  
• Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" without "With a Little Help from my Friends?"
• Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner" without "Threshold?"  
• "Space Intro" without "Fly Like an Eagle?"  
• Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" without "Eruption?" 
• Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage" without "Eclipse?"  Possible, but so much better together.   

You get the point.

A reasonable user expectation is that you should be able to join the songs within iTunes.  Not finding a solution, one might, as I did, search Google terms that might include "segue," "merge" or eventually "(expletive) iTunes!!!"  The answer is out there, but search options give varied results, and some solutions are for earlier versions of the software.

Here's the key.  Currently, you can't do this after your songs are imported.  The only way to join songs is BEFORE the songs are ripped from a CD or otherwise imported. The instructions below are current as of this date and version 12.9.5.7 of iTunes.  Apple has announced that iTunes will be broken up into a separate musical player, so perhaps other options will be included.

But for now, here's an example.  Alan Parson's "Eye in the Sky" is a good song.  It becomes a great song with the opening instrumental intro"Sirius," is merged with "Eye."

From the import screen, you can see that I've selected certain songs.


Next, highlight the songs that you want to join then click the gear at the upper right.  The drop down box shows "Join CD Tracks."



 After importing, you'll see the link below showing that the two have been merged. 

Just from an awareness point, the two songs have literally been joined into one music file, and iTunes will rename the song(s) accordingly.

The Musical Box–Live at Center Stage

This was my second concert by The Musical Box, the last being a full presentation of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in 2012. I don’t get excited about seeing cover bands, but if you like music enough, and the original band isn’t around to play it anymore, AND no one else plays their songs, you accept the passing of time and pay tribute by seeing a tribute band.  And, of course, music played in concert, when played well, is very enjoyable regardless of who is kicking the drum or picking the strings. 



The Musical Box is a Genesis cover band – not the 1980’s Phil Collins pop schlock stuff (fine for radio I suppose) but rather the 1969-1975 Peter Gabriel era, equally embarrassing in another way – lyrics that were silly or non-sensical, but to a degree “expected” for prog rock.  In any case, the music was often fantastic, and when you ignore the words and accept Gabriel’s voice as an instrument in the mix, it works just fine.

Interestingly, Wiki notes that The Musical Box is the only tribute band that is “approved” in a sense by the original band, as evidenced by warm comments by original members, an occasional sit-in during performances and the loan of costumes and back screen videos.

Lamb Lies Down on Broadway costuming

A Gabriel era costume by an eager fan

The band started the show with two albums into the Phil Collins-as-vocalist period, when the band was still creating longer form music rather than pop songs.  This tour is called “The Genesis Extravaganza,” stretching the era of the songs to be included and less focused on a specific album.  Lead singer Denis Gagné has a credible Collins voice, but as a starting point, this was “nice to hear” music rather than what the crowd came to hear.  And it was nice to hear.  They then played several songs from a Trick of the Tail, and they were off and running for the remainder of the show.

Sound quality was only average for a Center Stage show, due to an underwhelming audio mix of the lead electric guitar.  As much of their best music involves lengthy solos by keyboards and guitar, this was a big negative in that it could barely be heard if other instruments were playing.  In that regard, the keyboards, bass and drums were amped up – fully enjoyable with the “loudness” one expects in concert.

The Musical Box encore

The band played a number of songs that were surprising choices, “Looking for Someone” (with perfect Gabriel voicing) and “Seven Stones” chief among them, both superbly played.  I would rather have heard more from their earlier work, as Lamb was overly sampled, all things considered.  Other highlights included the Ian Benhamou’s keyboard solos for “The Cinema Show” and “Firth of Fifth,” deserving fan favorites representing the best of what Genesis accomplished musically.  And musically, the band did impress, displaying a versatility beyond their lead instruments.  Overall, a very good show, and I’d see them again when I get the Genesis “itch.”

Kudos!

Setlist:



The Wind’s Tail

• In That Quiet Earth, Robbery, Assault and Battery, Wot Gorilla? – Wind and Wuthering
• Blood on the Rooftops – Wind and Wuthering
• Dance on a Volcano – A Trick of the Tail
• Entangled – A Trick of the Tail
• Los Endos – A Trick of the Tail

Broadway Melodies (all songs from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway)

• Fly on a Windshield
• Broadway Melody of 1974
• In the Cage
• Back in NYC
• Hairless Heart
• Counting Out Time
• The Carpet Crawlers
• Lilywhite Lilith
• The Waiting Room

Before the Ordeal

• A Place to Call My Own – From Genesis to Revelation
• Time Table – Foxtrot
• Seven Stones – Nursery Cryme
• Can-Utility and the Coastliners – Foxtrot
• Looking for Someone – Trespass
• Firth of Fifth – Selling England by the Pound
• After the Ordeal – Selling England by the Pound
• The Cinema Show / Aisle of Plenty – Selling England by the Pound

Encore

• The Musical Box – Nursery Cryme

Kayaking Little River

Who wouldn't want to kayak this?  It's right in the heart of suburban Atlanta, and you wouldn't know it.  And better, it's right in my backyard.

You can click on any picture to expand it.

Why chainsaws are a big help

Before:  A zigzag that was likely to push us against a tree if we didn't zag correctly.

After:  Clear sailing straight through.  An easy job compared to most.

Why we keep at it.  Clear stretches that promise much, including future work based on tree angles.

No before picture, but we got this.

Again:  Why we do it.

Before: A tree pretty well lodged in at and below the water line.  You can see a floating ball in the distance - we had to clear a lot of accumulated sticks, plastics, and limbs to even get to work on the tree.

After: Much better.  Not hard work, but it takes time.

Before:  The kind of stuff that environmentalists complain about.  Point conceded.

After:  A major rehab.

A word about bamboo.  At the heart of several of the blockages lie one or two bamboo poles.  I think they grow at a golf course upstream and get trimmed to prevent a scourge upon the land.  Still, bamboo is fairly incredible.  Hard and somewhat flexible, it's the perfect beaver tool to start building a dam.  They just stick and begin to catch stuff.  That said, they're also helpful for leveraging other logs or limbs that are stuck into the river as well as punching openings for accumulated debris to pass through the initial blockage.  I'd rather it not be there.

KatanaBoy and bamboo - a killer combo

You can see where we tried to cut through the log to the left with the Katanaboy saws.  This was surprisingly hard pine.  John came around with a chainsaw to top off the right side of it on his trimming trip.

You can see how shallow the river became.  KatanaBoy came to the rescue shortly after this.

All of that was 2018.  So, with low water levels, the river laid in wait for 2019.  It was an extremely wet winter, with the river flooding far beyond its banks on four occasions - this usually happens once a year if at all.  What does that mean for our project?

Beautiful isn't it?

Before:  Ugh.  But it's a fun kind of Ugh.  We've been here before and can do it again.

Problem solved

Hey, what's that ahead?  Just awesome.  Another flipping problem.