I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about music. What a surprise, huh? Anyway, she was telling me that she hadn't bought much of anything in 2006. She just hadn't found much that excited her. I countered that there were already some records that excited me. My five faves so far in 2006: Neko Case, Mission Of Burma, Sparks, Jon Auer, and Gnarls Barkley. She countered that none of them are new artists – and she's right – three of them are old to ancient (Auer is ‘old' I suppose and MoB and Sparks go back more than two decades), and I'll concede that. And although Gnarls Barkley is ostensibly new, its members are vets -- DJ Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo.

She then asked me if there were any new artists who really excited me. I mentioned the local band Office, though excitement might be putting it strongly. They are really good, but that's because they firmly represent the values of a lot of the music I used to play during my college radio days (1982-86). I did point out that it was only a couple of years ago, barely, that bands like Franz Ferdinand and Futureheads got me very excited. Yes, they were playing with old influences, but they had some substance, trying to write about things that mattered to them and marrying that to cracking good tunes.

The bottom line is, there isn't really anyone new out there who is exciting me that much. However, there is always music that is exciting me, even if it's from bands that have been around since I've been in grade school. Of course, at age 40, with my tastes well established, maybe I'm not being open enough to new genres or styles. Maybe I'm not visiting Pitchfork enough -- then again, if the good, but not great, Tapes ‘n Tapes are the creme de la creme of 2006, then I don't think that I'm at fault.

Earlier this year, I wrote that I was starting to get into jazz. And that's true, but as winter turns into spring, which in Chicago lasts two or three weeks, and heats up into summer, I'm back to more of a rock and pop mood. Lately, I've been spending my CD money on compilations. I'm definitely heading back to my high school days. In one case, it was a desire to check out a band that I only knew a bit about.

I plunked down $15 for the new two CD Judas Priest compilation, part of the Sony/BMG Essential series. This comp covers the band from 1976 to present, completely ignoring the years the band soldiered on with Ripper Owens in place of singer Rob Halford. A good idea, for sure. I think exposure to VH1's Metal Mania got me hankering for a little old school metal, and I always liked the commercially accessible side of the Priest. Every song that got play on my local AOR stations is on here -- "You've Got Another Thing Coming" (which has a killer melodic bridge), "Hot Rockin'", "Breaking the Law", "Headin' Out to the Highway", and, of course, "Living After Midnight". Those songs still sound pretty fun.

The question was, how much of the other stuff would I like? And I was surprised to find that only a few songs were so turgid or overdone that I couldn't take them. Generally, they whip up a good racket without too much of the plodding that I associate with ‘70s metal. Halford has an amazing voice, even when he gets to the range that only dogs can hear. He's not my vocal ideal, but he's a pretty definitive metal singer. And as their ace cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Green Manalishi" shows, they could really pull of a sinister vibe. I'll have to be in a certain mood to listen to this, but that mood will surface from time-to-time.

That's not quite the mood that I'll have to be in to listen to Foghat's greatest hits. Whereas I don't mind that the Judas Priest set was all studio versions, because anyone who digs them should own Unleashed In The East, I can't fathom why the Foghat comp is all studio stuff. This is most galling with their version of the blues standard "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" -- the live version was the hit! It should be on the greatest hits, dammit. Oh well. I only paid $4 for this used, so I'll live. That's just the right amount of scratch for "Driving Wheel", "Fool For the City", "Slow Ride" and a few others. I like their Chuck Berry cover. Indeed, based on some of the lesser known cuts here, which are filled with pointless dual lead guitars, Foghat should have done 50 percent Chuck Berry covers throughout their entire career.

Speaking of artists who should do covers, man, the late Robert Palmer sure knew how to pick songs. Other than the stillborn version of Cherelle's "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", Palmer had a great track record doing other people's songs. Back in the ‘70s, he was not well-liked by critics of the Rolling Stone persuasion, the guys who were too scared to like punk and instead embraced the Police, and hated the Doobie Brothers, even though most of these critics looked like them (particularly Jeff "Skunk" Baxter). Palmer was considered too much of a supper club blue eyed R & B singer. He didn't sweat enough for them.

But picking up last year's single disc comp of Palmer's Island years, it's pretty evident that this is one of the things that made his music age so well. In a manner analogous to Lou Rawls, Palmer usually played it cool, but could turn up the heat where needed. This underplayed vocal style worked well on the variety of material he recorded over the years. By no means an innovator, Palmer liked to dabble in R & B, reggae, funk, tropical music and riff rock, and even broke out tinkertoy synthesizers in 1980. On his early records, he was backed by the guys from Little Feat, and most of his early material always had a nice earthy feel.

It's a testament to his talent that he could slip into so many types of songs -- the crooning vibe of "Every Kind of People", the temperate version of Moon Martin's "Bad Case of Loving You", the hard synth-funk cover of The System's "You Are in My System". All great songs. While he wasn't a brilliant songwriter, he had his fair share of gems. "Johnny and Mary" is a nifty minimalist synth-pop delight, and his low key vocal is perfect. Then there's "Pride", a calypso jape at a woman who's so busy exercising, she doesn't have time for him. I dig the clever humor.

Of course, he exploded with "Addicted to Love". Yes, it's an obvious song. It would have been a hit without MTV, no doubt, but the sexy sexist video made it ubiquitous. Should we blame Robert for that? I think not. Yes, I dig this comp.

I wasn't surprised that I also dug the most recent compilation of Erasure singles from a few years ago. I was surprised that the second half of the collection was not as much of a drop off from their early synth-pop brilliance as I would have anticipated. Moving back in time, I got the new Roy Orbison two-CD comp. The first CD has all of his hits from the ‘50s and ‘60s and is as swell as you could imagine. The second disc has a few duds, but the compilers hit almost all of the right songs. And it was only $10 used.

This is why I don't fret about a lack of something new and exciting at any given moment. If anything, it gives me a chance to catch up on some older stuff, and that's a very good thing. Next up, an April Wine comp, and Huey Lewis's greatest hits. Yes, I have no shame or guilt...

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