Donation item at https://archive.org/details/joeparadisocds

from Joe Paradiso:  "I’ve always been driven to seek out interesting and unusual music. Although the centroid of my collection is heavily biased towards prog and avant-garde rock (it’s probably one of the world’s best collections there), it also veers heavily into jazz (especially edgy jazz and fusion), electronic, computer, and ambient music, neo and classic psychedelia, space rock, and classical music (especially 20th century and academic genres). I often travel in my profession, and whenever I’m in a new city, I find time to locate and visit venues where I can find interesting music, hence this collection hearkens from all corners of the globe. Most have been garnered via niche mail-order outlets, shops tucked away in back streets, the merch table at amazing concerts or festivals across the world, or even at the occasional flea market or from street musicians. It also veers into soundtracks (especially evocative or other-worldly ones), and even crosses into more mainstream hits from my childhood, or music I’ve enjoyed with my own children as they were growing up or that I’ve grabbed from some of our favorite TV shows. Some come from obscure LPs, tapes, or live DVDs that I own that weren’t yet released on CD (which I lovingly de-clicked, de-noised, and/or blocked into tracks). Every piece of music I’ve collected has meaning to me, and brings me to special places both musically and through memory of how, when, and where I found the album or CD, or what life was like when it was on my frequent or fresh listening queue. In so many ways, this collection is a representation of who I really am."

Notes from Professor Paradiso's class on Prog Rock taught in January 2018: