I do write lengthy missives on Facebook, but I do prefer the idea of my own space, that is not messed around with by the Silicon Valley mob.
Continuing a thought from WAY back, when I talked about school and Tubular Bells, I’m going to continue to tell the story of my musical development. We are at about 1975/6 now.
I’ve got two older brothers. This is important, and it’s important because without them I really don’t think my music taste would be what it is now.
As I’ve mentioned, there was plenty great music in the house, and in particular my eldest brother John had some excellent albums on constant rotation. Tubular Bells, Pink Floyd’s Meddle and Dark Side, Focus II and Genesis Live stand out in my memory (as well as Floyds “Atom Heart Mother” which I still think is pants!)
Just for a taste – check out this absolutely nuts clip of Focus on “Midnight Special”
I’d migrated from my parents “radiogram” to the record player in my brother’s room. It still had the spindle mechanism to play more than one single (even if the motor gave up if there were more than 3 singles on there!) and just a couple of stereo speakers mounted on the front of the cabinet but I was obsessed – I loved the thing!
So while John and Dave were out I would sit in Dave’s room, listening to Gilmour’s solos, and Focus yodeling….yes I was about 6!
I loved Genesis Live, and when a “record voucher” landed in my lap as a birthday gift, off I trotted to “Tony Greenwood Music” in Wilmslow and purchased my first record. Not the Bay City Rollers or Top of the Pops compilation
...but Nursery Cryme by Genesis. I don’t want to dwell on the significance of this TOO much, really I was simply intrigued by Genesis Live (Musical Box in particular) and wanted more, and the nice man at Tony Greenwood recommended it, but as the world was about to go disco and punk, six year old Ian bought a 1973 progressive rock classic!
If you don’t know, or need reminding, this is the nuts (and possibly quite inappropriate) type of thing.
The fascination did not last too long …only about a year later I sold the album to one of my brother’s friends and bought a number of singles with the proceeds.
Where things went from there gets really interesting…more next time, but a footnote that bears telling.
When MY son Marcus sat as a young toddler in his car seat, he became absolutely obsessed with…..yes….Musical Box from Nursery Cryme by Genesis. I always tried to vary the music as much as possible, but the “now, now, now” climax (possibly pun intended) of the song caught his attention, and, as kids do, he asked for it to be played again and again – genetics? History repeating? Strange whichever way you look at it.
So lets hear from you as well....what was your first album, can you remember any background as to why you bought it?
More soon....(promise)
Great to see you are back in the blogging driving seat Ian. I agree that having a blog allows you to share longer posts without Mr Zuckerberg choosing who gets to see it and who doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI have a confession to make - I have never seen that video of Focus! Utterly amazing. How did he whistle through his teeth in tune??
Actually I had not seen that particular Musical Box video either, so that was interesting.
As for my first album... to be honest I don't think I actually bought an album myself until much later. If we can talk about singles, I remember buying Under The Moon of Love by Shawaddywaddy. That was my first single (1976 that, just checked). No! I tell a lie! I was obsessed with the song, but by the time I had persuaded my parents to take me to a shop to buy it, it had dropped out of the charts so I had to settle with "When", which was nothing like as good.
As for albums, I was hugely influenced by my brother too. The albums that he used to play undoubtably developed my own musical interests. I remember: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd, 1975), Caress of Steel (Rush, 1975) and various Genesis albums (Selling England (1973) in particular, but also Nursery Cryme, The Lamb, Live). I spent many a happy night banging on my bedroom wall to try to get him to turn them down whilst I went to sleep!!
It was only when I met Andy that my musical taste broadened a bit more (there's got to be an irony in there (sorry Andy!)). The first album I can hand on heart say that I went out specifically to buy myself with my own money was Crises by Mike Oldfield (1983).