Handel's Messiah

Christmas is coming, and aside from the goose rapidly gaining adipose tissue, Handel's Messiah has re-emerged as a b🔥rn🔥ng issue at The K Manse. Jacqueline has begun to play the Hallelujah Chorus regularly...often right after "Jungle Boogie," which is just about the perfect counterpoint...and talks about her church choir performing it at Christmas Eve mass. So I was kind of excited when I saw

for sale at Half-Price Books. For a mere $1.99. (And Le-ah-nard Bern-urn-stein no less.) So I picked it up and continued to look for more stuff that I probably shouldn't buy, definitely didn't need, but really really wanted. I don't usually get down on the floor to look at the Super Cheap vinyls, but for some reason I did this time. And it took about a minute to spot a boxed set of Handel's Messiah. Complete. 

I took each of the three records out of their sleeves, examined them front and back. They looked perfect. Shiny, even.

And the price?

Needless to say, I put the Highlights record back and bought the boxed set. And am listening to it even as I write these words. It is incredible. I think if you listened to Handel's Messiah on a regular basis it'd be a lot easier to tolerate Christianity. It is just so uplifting, so glorious, so inspiring. It makes you stop focusing on the daily ignomies of the religion and see the pure heart of it, the part which only wants to make life better for people. The part that is often left out of the daily worship equation.

Want one?

Well...I doubt that you'll find this for 50¢, but Amazon has one for $3.19 + $3.99 Shipping...and three other copies for a bit more, the last of them $21.99 + $3.99 shipping...but it'd be worth it. And this is mos def the way to do it if you can't actually go to a performance...not a cd, not a digital download, not a streaming event. You just don't take sacred music and chop it up into digital fragments, so leave that Frankenstein Monster music for things of lesser import. It's all about analog, baby.