My Amazon pre-order of Smokey Robinson's THE SOLO ALBUMS, VOL. 6 - which comprises 1980's WARM THOUGHTS, currently #2840 on the AM top 3000 albums list, and 1981's BEING WITH YOU, a Bubbling Under album - finally arrived on Thursday. Which meant that I now had, in one form or another, 2,999 of the current top 3000 albums on CD. (As regular readers of this forum know, I own a few of the more aggressively out-of-print albums on the list in the form of anthologies that contain all or nearly all of their contents.)

The only one left was the impossible-to-find-on-CD RUE DE SIAM by Marquis de Sade. Now, I was aware that Amazon - believe it or not - had the album available for purchase as an MP3 download, but as regular readers also know, I have always been a physical-product person. I had to have everything on CD.

But the idea of completing Project 3000 was just too tantalizing to pass up. I installed the Amazon player and purchased (and listened to) RUE DE SIAM. Mission accomplished!

Two people influenced my decision, and their names are Abel Tesfaye and Christopher Francis Breaux. Who, you may ask? Well, Tesfaye is the man behind The Weeknd, and Breaux is better known as Frank Ocean. When the next AM site update occurs in 2012, there are going to be two albums in the new top 3000 that exist -only- as downloadable digital mixtapes, The Weeknd's HOUSE OF BALLOONS (which seems destined for the top 1000, if not higher), and Ocean's NOSTALGIA, ULTRA. (I got Ocean's album from datpiff.com; that site also has HOUSE, but I downloaded it from The Weeknd's own site.)

As Bryan Ferry once sang, this brave new world's not like yesterday, and the success of this new model ensures that there will be more digital-only acclaimed albums in the future. Right now, there is one top 3000 album for which I don't need to find more physical space. Come the next update, there will be three. That number will grow.

Now I need to see about replacing some of my "cheats." I've finally gotten around to buying an actual copy of JOHNNY BURNETTE AND THE ROCK'N'ROLL TRIO to replace the anthology that contained all its tracks in scrambled order. I've just learned that ROMAN GODS by the Fleshtones finally came out on CD earlier this year (I have an anthology containing 10 of its 11 tracks). And I'm seriously considering purchasing the newly released box set of original albums from Phil Spector's Philles label, solely to get the heretofore-unavailable PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES FEATURING VERONICA (the old BEST OF THE RONETTES has 10 of 12 cuts).

So the hunt is over for now. But the quest is never-ending...

Congrats on accomplishing this cool (and expensive) feat.
And couldn't you just burn the album onto a CD to have the full set?

Well, yes, and I could (and probably should) do the same with HoB and N,U as well. For the moment, I'm just happy to have it. Thanks!

Congratulations! This is some mean feat. I can't imagine how many stacks of CDs you must have lying at home. A music nerd's dream.

Congratulations are indeed in order for you, Harold.

How long until you start going after all of the bubblers now?

Guess it's time for a top 5000, now.

You need another challenge haha

Congratulations Harold!

Congratulations Harold!

What are your feelings about an extention to 4000 or 5000 albums in a coming update?

Congratulations man, incredible achievement!

Thanks, Henrik (and everyone)!

As for an extension, I've actually been speculating about that, Henrik. In fact, given that the next update is going to incorporate two years' worth of new albums and songs, I kind of assumed that an expansion of the lists might be forthcoming as well. I would welcome it, and I would welcome the challenge!

(Although I think 4000 would be somewhat more manageable - for you and me both! - than 5000.)