I got a parcel from Amazon today with a load of goodies to keep me occupied.

First of all there is a CD by Amadou and Mariam called Dimanche a Bamako. They are a couple of Malian singers, who have collaborated with Manu Chao for their new album. I first heard about it on Councillor Bob Piper’s blog (although all mention of it seems to have vanished from there now) and then started seeing reviews all over the place. It does sound more like a Manu Chao album than anything else, but from the quick skip through I have had it sounds great.

The next item in the package was the new album from Kraftwerk which is a 2 CD live album from last year’s tour, called Maximum-Minimum. Again, I had a quick skip through it, and it all seems in order. Like the concerts, it contains tracks from all their previous albums, although it mises out one of my all-time favourites (Showroom Dummies).

The last goodie was the new DVD from Jean Michel Jarre. It is a live film of his concerts in China in 2004 and had 2 DVDs: one of a show in the forbidden city and one of a show in Tian’anmen Square. The second show is only short, but had a long documentary on the disc too. On top of that there is an audio CD of highlights. The films are filmed in high definition and its all THX certified.

Unfortunately AV equipment is not THX certified, but it all sounds pretty damn good played in old-fashioned DTS digital sound.

All of that is going to keep me nice and busy for the forseeable future. I shall play the films while I rip the CDs onto the PC and copy them across to the trusty iRiver to listen to on the train next week.