Some very good points, James

I usually try to avoid speculating and commenting, altho I sometimes can't help but do that. For me, part (most? )of the excitement of a new album is no more there, simply because the information is so readily available. Also because there's a lot of time between official announcements and the actual release, the speculation and anticipation and (over)analysis inbetween just kills the "freshness" of the album - it's almost like I'm supposed to be disappointed with the album even before I've even heard it. Also the surprise element is in a way dead before it could even be born... I mean that if there are a few surprise/rare songs, people are gonna say it's only right and there should be more. If there aren't any, it's the same old discussion about why BJ won't take risks or include some rarities/surprises/whatever. Also, to me it seems like the two new songs don't even have enough space to breathe before they're suffocated with all the negativity/analysis/discussion...

It's only understandable that we all are excited about the album and want to discuss it, and want to weigh all the different possibilities etc... But to me personally that takes a lot of the aforementioned "freshness" away from the album.

I don't know if I can do it for real, but I'd like to keep away from most speculation/information about the new album (I haven't read most posts on it anyways, including the official and semi-official information). I'm trying to get back that feeling I used to have when buying a new BJ cd - being excited when it's finally in my hands, not knowing exactly what to expect or how I should feel about it even before having had a listen... And then listening to it for a few times before starting to form an opinion on it.