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| Milton Bradley© - "The Fun's Just Started!"™ ©Foam-O-Graph Watermark Removal Dept. |
We can all make lists of Greatest Classic Iconic Albums, and we're likely to have some in common, but listing the albums that actually have a deep personal connection - for whatever reason - may give more interesting and varied results. Music that's part of your D.N.A., not critical analysis of artistic quality. Albums that evoke a particular time or moment in your life, comfort music maybe, or albums that you love in spite of their faults. Old friends who are always there for you, that never grow old.
Let's avoid a relative ranking from "most loved" to "least most loved" or whatever - a random order is better than a meaningless 1 to whatever. Your list can be as long as you like, or as short (shorter is better - ask my wife!), but the music should be part of you, not just critically respected or simply enjoyed. If you want to say why the album is your lifelong pal, you get extra points. And remember - being hip here means being hip to yourself, man. It's your trip, baby!
Thanks to Blythe "Bitsy" Halliburton-Whitney [left - Ed.], Senior Diversity Development Officer at Milton Bradley©, for donating [and inflating! - Ed.] this week's Grand Prize!
Please note your prize will be delivered pre-inflated. Delivery charges applicable.
Here's one, to get this ball o' wax rollin!
ReplyDeleteBing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Billy May "Fancy Meeting You Here". Probably the first album I was aware of, from my parent's poverty collection. Total immersion (although nobody knew what that was back then) in classic Hollywood production values, audio and visual. Soundtrack to a mind movie that's still being screened.
I’ll start here
ReplyDeleteSince the early 60s, there’s something about Thelonious Monk’s albums ‘Monk's Dream’, ‘Monk's Music’ and ‘Brilliant Corners’ that never cease to, enhance my mood, make me smile and entertain me.
Much more to follow….
Here's a bit of synchronicity for yez - those are absolutely my three favoritest Monk albums! (apart from the overdubbing)
Delete*cracks knuckles*
ReplyDeletePink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. Tripping companion. Pretentious? Nah. Just something different, and pastoral-perfect.
My go-to tripalong album was It's A Beautiful Day. Not so much for the music as for being able to stare at the cover in wonder for its entire duration.
DeleteAlbum covers made as much impression as the music, and some of them have attained a mythic presence - I'll take George Hunter's cover over any painting in any gallery in the world, thank you, with the note-perfect typography and the old Capitol logo. Size does matter - no CD cover has ever made a similar impact.
DeleteThere are quite a few, but Aja is particularly special. Plus the Stones After-Math.
ReplyDeletePlus Pet Sounds and there's one that I play, from the end of the 70s, Rupert Holmes "Partners in Crime' Intelligent lyrics and no filler at all..
Delete"Intelligent lyrics ... no filler" - does this establish an emotional bond? It's like loving someone because they're good talkers and don't waste time.
DeleteIt does indeed. It's like loving someone who at the time, I was about to embark on an almost 40 year adventure with. In the late 70s, we were young and happy. And then the big C happened. One of the things that attracted me was her ability to not talk too much, but what she did talk about was worth listening to. That's the wonderful thing about loving music. It puts us in a time and place and my long term memory is excellent. Cannot recall yesterday though.
DeleteThe Beatles - I’m not a big Beatles fan, but there are three mid-60s U.S. releases that I love, they are 'Rubber Soul', ‘Yesterday And Today’ and ‘Revolver’.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Beatles CDs were first released, they were the U.K. versions, so they were just ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver’. The problem was, all three albums were so part of my D.N.A, that the running order of the songs bothered my brain. At one point, I made my own U.S. versions on cdr.
When these albums were current they were the soundtrack to what I was doing in ’65 and ’66, when the world was a very different place, and the possibilities were endless. These days, I still love the albums and the memories they evoke.
Rubber Soul has been transformed for me by Prof. Stoned's brilliant new stereo mix. @ profstoned.com
DeleteBabs says, "the running order of the songs bothered my brain." I've had the same experience, maybe US versions, but also favorite cassettes people recorded for me, that has a track omitted to fit on one side of a C90.
DeleteIsn't it interesting, how some albums are so entrenched in our psyche?
DeleteElective affinities.
DeleteA few Pop/Rock albums I have an emotional attachment to
ReplyDeleteVan Morrison - 'Veedon Fleece'
Neil Young - 'After the Gold Rush'
Tom Waits - 'Rain Dogs'
The Rolling Stones - 'Aftermath', 'Beggars Banquet', 'Some Girls' and 'Goat's Head Soup'
Paul McCartney - 'Ram' I'm not a big 'Macca' fan but, this one is so dumb, it actually good, or something like that.
The Grateful Dead - ‘Working Man’s Dead’, ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Blues for Allah’
Steely Dan - ‘Can't Buy a Thrill’ through ‘Gaucho’
Donald Fagen - ‘The Nightfly’
Led Zeppelin - ‘Led Zeppelin I’ through ‘In Through the Out Door’
Elton John - ‘Tumbleweed Connection’
Joni Mitchell - ‘Hejira” and “Hissing of Summer Lawns’
Much more to follow….
Howdy Partner! Glad to see this corner of the all out back is back. I'll pass along some of the faves from my formative years and still in rotation here at the ranch today. In no particular order;
ReplyDeletePearls Before Swine - Balaclava
Nico - The Marble Index
George Harrison - Wonderwall Music
Morton Subotnick - The Wild Bull
Eno - Here Comes the Warm Jets
Faust - So Far
Sun Dial - Other Way Out
Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
John Cale & Terry Riley - The Church of Anthrax
Silver Apples - Silver Apples
As ever,
Billy Gates of the Double X Ranch.
Didja check out th' pimped Saucerful? Huh? Didja? Huhdidja?
Deletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2022/11/ineluctable-audacity-dept-great-god-pan.html
Why no, I didn't I will have to give a read and a listen, since we got nothing but tumbleweeds out here at the ranch for the remainder of the season.
DeleteBilly Gates, Double X Ranch.
Mott the Hoople - All The Young Dudes
ReplyDeleteMott the Hoople saved my life.
I saw them around their first album, very powerful.
DeleteGet Happy - Elvis Costello and the Attractions
ReplyDeleteKing of America - Elvis Costello
With These Hands - Alejandro Escovedo
Hejira - Joni Mitchell (thanks for the reminder, Babs)
Alejandro Escovedo - A Man Under the Influence
Graham Parker and the Rumour - Heat Treatment
London Calling - The Clash
Freedy Johnston - This Perfect World
VA - Beat Merchants
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick (my early teen years)
I'm going to ponder this one some more . . . --Muzak McMusics
How could I have forgotten? . . . Mink DeVille - Return to Magenta to be continued . . . -Muzak McM
DeleteGood to see Heat Treatment (good to hear it, too ...)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo it hasn't.
DeleteDoh!! Where'd it go?? Anyway, was trying to type on my phone, but 'coc of eyesight and fat fingers, I keep hitting the wrong keys!!
DeleteAnyway, my "personal connection" albums are ..
Hawkwind "Xin Search of Space"
Can "Tago Mago" - 1st album!!
Love "Forever Changes"
David Crosby "If I could etc. etc."
Neil Young "On the Beach"
New Riders etc etc. "1st Album"
..may come back later to add, but gotta go now!!!
For "Anonymous" above, read "Songkhla Steve"!!!
DeletePet Sounds/The Beach Boys (My grandma died in 1966)
ReplyDeleteUncle Meat/MOI (high-school days)
Vol.2/Soft Machine
Happy Trails/QMS
Sweet Child/Pentangle
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere/Neil Young
Loaded/VU
The Academy in Peril/John Cale
Procol Harum/Procol Harum (first with AWSOP)
ReplyDeletePlenty of favorites missing here. I could easily make a list of fifty. But here’s ten of my go-to comfort albums, that I’m also very emotionally attached to. Seems like a total nostalgia-trip (and it sort of is), but eight out of ten albums here were released before I was born. No order:
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Scott Walker - Scott 3
Popol Vuh - Nosferatu
Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
Klaus Schulze - Mirage
John Coltrane - Olé Coltrane
Françoise Hardy - Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp...
Pearls Before Swine - The Use of Ashes
Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon
Electric Light Orchestra - Time (I was seven when I discovered it in my parents record collection. Seriously blew my mind:)
Btw: both the Kate and Joni-albums included are not my actual favorites by them.
This thing about "connected" albums not necessarily being the artist's best is at the heart of it, and thank you for noting it. My Joni would be Blue, which is her Dark Side Of The Moon in terms of commercial success, but it's the one that got into my blood.
DeleteThe Shadows: my Mum took me to see them when I was 13
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles first: Teen and in love and took it to my 14 year old girlfriend to listen to
Paul Butterfield Blues Band 1st: blew me away with intensity of Mike Bloomfield and Paul on Harp
Jimi Hendrix Experience1st: All along the Watchtower bursting out of the speakers,mindblown!
Rolling Stones 1st:sounded authentic and loved the tight sound of a well rehearsed band by then and the bass was infectious.
Jeff Beck Group1st and Led Zep 1st: head to head at party for first time someone had some very nice Afghan and it was so good to hear these albums smash previous ideas of rock records.
Almann Bros Live at Fillmore:fell in love with Duane and the band for a very long time after very stoned weekend
10cc The original Soundtrack,wandering around a garden with fellow
trippers over a weekend this was hilarious.
John Mayalls Blues Breakers A Hard Road: just for Peter Green
Fleetwood Mac 1st on Blue Horizon,played for weeks just loved Peter Green guitar and vocal,had a mate since passed on we would sit for hours listening to English import Albums.
Marvin Gaye: Whats goin on: my wife and I loved it ;)
Little Walter:anything: hence my nom de plume.
A few for starters...
ReplyDeletesoundtrack to the movie Heavy Metal = a cassette recording of this helped me get through a period of stress-induced insomnia. I played the tape as softly as possible and focused on hearing the music. It worked - I'd typically be out before the end of the fourth song. (For anyone not familiar with the album, it's not all heavy metal music. That's simply the title of the comic that was made into the movie. Among other things, the soundtrack includes Donald Fagen's "True Companion" and two tracks by Don Felder.)
Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme - great memories of a particular trip from long ago, hanging with a group of friends who played this album repeatedly. I later used it as background music when studying for professional exams, as it was just under 30 minutes in length. Two times through the CD and then take a break.
Harmonium - Si On Avait Besoin d'un Cinquieme Saison - I picked this up on a road trip in Montreal shortly after it was released on CD. Played it almost continuously the rest of the trip. Great trip, great album, great memories. Now it's getting some much deserved recognition as a classic of prog rock.
Telephone - Dure Limite - I'll just say her name was Valerie...
Hawkwind - the albums Levitation and Live Chronicles - these were my secret weapons for late night drives. Both albums were from the period when guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton had returned to the nest. Levitation also featured Ginger Baker on drums.
Marillion - Seasons End - seeing Steve Hogarth on vocals in concert for the first time on that tour was an unforgettable experience. They were already one of my favorite bands, but I became a die hard fan after seeing this tour live.
(Side note: later they signed with the Red Ant label, which went bankrupt, forcing them to cancel a U.S. tour. They broke the news to the American fans via internet chat. Some fans asked if they'd still come if we funded the tour ourselves. The band didn't take it all that seriously at first but said "um... I guess so, sure." It ended up being the first known instance of crowdsourcing by a major band. Marillion recorded some of the shows and released one as a special live album just for the tour fund donors.)
Grateful Dead - Madison Square Gardens, 9/10/91 - not really an album, but the way we traded tapes back in the day, it might as well be. I drove many miles with this show as my traveling companion. Bruce Hornsby was a member of the Dead that year, and Branford Marsalis joined them for this particular concert. Not too many Dead shows from the 1990s rank among their all time classics, but this one is one of them. Fun memory is that during the holidays one year, I made several copies of a single-CD "highlights" version of it. Whenever I saw a dancing bears or other Dead-related bumper sticker in a parking lot, I left a copy of that CD on the windshield to spread the holiday cheer.
Bonepony - Jubilee - picture yourself in a crowded sports bar in the southeast US on a fall Saturday, having some food and passing the time enjoying a college football game. Suddenly the guy sitting next to you reaches down, opens a case at his feet, pulls out a violin and starts playing Flight Of The Bumblebee. Yeah... something you don't see every day, and something you're not likely to forget.
The guy with the violin was Nick Nguyen, multi-instrumentalist wizard from the band Bonepony, who were playing at that bar that evening and just waiting for the game to end so they could set up to play. Nick played acoustic and electric guitar, bass pedals, bass guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel, violin, cello and stomp board during the show. If you put strings on a cantaloupe, he could make it sound good. Apparently he decided the third quarter of the game was a good time to get in a little practice.
The memory/music interface, right here.
DeleteIn no particular order
ReplyDeleteAnother Music In A Different Kitchen - my "coming of age" - if we could get on our own
Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits - every emotion laid bare
Leave Home - speed, fun! (to this day Pinhead sounds like nothing on earth)
Jungle Book Original Soundtrack - childhood
White Light / White Heat - struck a nerve, scratched an itch (c. 1976)
Leggo Dub - 1st "proper" dub purchase - OTT in all the good ways
Sun Sessions - the point around which all my musical tastes swirl
A Date With Elvis - mucky humour
Suicide - scary
jade warrior released , hawkwind in search of space, osibisa the dawn,grateful dead aoxomoxoa, anthem of the sun,carlos santana/buddy miles live, pink floyd atom heart mother, gong pot head pixies all seem flawless to my ears
ReplyDeleteNo-one I know will disagree, but flawlessness is not what we're after here. This isn't a quality survey. The interest is in emotional attachment, which often bypasses flawlessness, or at least doesn't depend on it.
DeleteStevie Wonder - 'Songs in the Key of Life'
ReplyDeleteThis was originally released as a double LP, plus an EP, and contains zero filler. I've listened to 'Songs in the Key of Life' regularly since its release in 1976. This was one of the albums that saw me through a very sad time of loss in my life.
Sparks, Propaganda - I’d loved their previous three UK singles, but this was the first album I bought by them.
ReplyDelete10CC, The Original Soundtrack - An aural movie? I played this a lot, when I had only a few records, but I really don’t like the last track.
ELO, A New World Record - Similar to the above, played this a lot as a kid.
Steely Dan, Gaucho - My ‘hi-fi wanker’ album. After leaving home I bought a relatively expensive hi-fi, this album reminds me of how good music can sound and my independence at that time. (See also Thomas Dolby, Aliens Ate My Buick)
Cardiacs, On Land and in the Sea - After seeing the extraordinary Cardiacs live I bought some of their albums, this was their second, (however they had already released many cassette albums). It may not be their best album.
Sandy Denny, The Best of Sandy Denny (1980’s CD) - This CD and The History of Fairport Convention, inspired a deep love of English folk music, and The Cropredy Festival.
Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden - A regular album played after a night out, enhancement may have been involved.
Viv Stanshall, Sir Henry At Rawlinson End - At the end of a long evening with friends I’d often put this album on, many of my friends loved it, but some would make their excuses and leave. Maybe time for just one more doobie?
Zappa - One Size Fits All - for three weeks I carried this vinyl with me round Europe. We were mainly camping and travelling by train, somehow it survived the journey from Freiburg in Germany, back to England.
"this album reminds me of ... my independence at that time" Nice.
DeleteMississippi John Hurt - 'The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt'
ReplyDeleteIn 1968, my husband Jerry (then boyfriend) introduced me to the Country and Delta styles of The Blues. I can remember the first time I heard this album like it was yesterday. Jerry dropped the needle on this one, and lit a joint. I was taken aback by the warm vibes of John Hurt's voice and his finger picking style.
Van Morrison - 'Astral Weeks'
The first few times I heard 'Astral Weeks' I wasn't crazy about it. After hearing it a few times, it "clicked", and became a favorite then, as now.
'The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt' and 'Astral Weeks', were two albums Jerry and I played late at night, sometimes coming down from Acid.
Well.here's a few:
ReplyDeleteLove - Forever Changes
Paul Butterfield - East West
Blues Project - Projections
Al Stewart - Bedsitter Images
Doors - First album
Donovan - whichever one had Retired Writer In The Sun on it
Fever Tree - Fever Tree
Bert Janch - Transatlantic Cheapo Sampler
Fairport Convention - What We Did On Our Holidays
Fairport convention - the first one with Judy Dyble
Fairport Convention -Liege & Lief
Fairport Convention - Full House
Matthews Southern Comfort - Second Spring
Richard & Linda Thompson - all their albums, even Sunnyvista which I rate...
I seem to be in a bit of a rut here...
Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun
Here endeth the first part.
Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
ReplyDeleteHendrix - Electric Ladyland
Rolling Stones - Fingers and Exile
Beatles - Abbey Road
Beach Boys - Smile
Cream - Fresh Cream and Wheels of Fire
John Mayall and Clapton - Bluesbreakers
Bert Jansch first album
Byrds - 5D
Chicago - CTA
Al Stewart - Year of the Cat
Richard Thompson - Hand of Kindness
BB King - Blues is King
Paul Butterfield - First two
Masters of Reality - ST
BOC - Everything
Little Feat - anything with Lowell
Steely Dan - everything
When I was a very young boy, my father bought three albums and played them to death. I enjoyed those albums then and still do. But these albums provide me with more than just their musical content, but memories of my childhood and my Dad.
ReplyDeleteThe albums: The Chad Mitchell Trio's "Mighty Day on Campus," "At The Bitter End" & "Singing Our Mind."
Gbrand
"more than just their musical content ..." It's that extra ingredient we're interested in here. Thank you.
DeleteAny of Dexter Gordon's Blue Note albums, but I will specifically mention "Doin' Alright"
ReplyDeleteJohn Coltrane - "Impressions" (The track "After the Rain" always elicits an emotional reaction from me).
Gbrand
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
ReplyDeleteBeatles - Revolver
Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
Incredible String Band - 5000 Spirits
Incredible String Band - Wee Tam & The Big Huge
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn
Gordon Lightfoot - Sit Down Young Stranger
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request
Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits
Paul Revere & The Raiders - Midnight Ride
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Donovan - Sunshine Superman
Jethro Tull - Benefit
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood
The Fugs - ST (Second Album)
Paul McCartney - Ram
Pearls Before Swine - The Use Of Ashes
Elvis Costello - Armed Forces
Moby Grape - First LP
The Doors - People Are Strange
Cream - Disraeli Gears
All magical, at least to me. I'm sure there are more but I'll stop there for now.
Childhood :
ReplyDeleteBeatles For Sale - bought for me by my Dad and played to death as it was the only pop record I had
Oklahoma soundtrack - my parents
Ronco : 25 Rocking Rolling Greats - my sisters
Teenager
Elton John Honky Chateau
Slade Alive
Barclay James Harvest Live
Rod Stewart Never A Dull Moment
Yessongs
Pink Floyd Obscured by Clouds (&DSOTM)
Greenslade Bedside Manners are Extra
Strawbs - Grave New World
Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits - the red one
Doors Weird Scenes inside the Goldmine
History of the Bonzos/Fairport
Bert Jansch First
Kevin Coyne - Marjorie Razorblade
Procol Harum Exotic Birds and Fruit
Lindisfarne Fog on the Tyne
King Crimson Islands
BBC In Concerts taped off the radio :
Procol Harum
Caravan
London Wainwright
Neil Young
Student Years :
Kevin Coyne Dynamite Days
Neil Young Decade
Jam - All Mod Cons
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
Penetration - Moving Targets
Ian Dury - New Boots & Panties
John Peel's 40th Birthday taped radio show
UB40 Signing Off
Misty In Roots live at the Counter Eurovision 1979
Augustus Pablo Original Rockers
But mainly - loads of post punk 45s
Married Life :
Blood on the Tracks/This Years Model/ Rab Noakes - Never too late - my wife had never heard these before but quickly became firm favourites in our courting days.
Jonathan Kelly - Twice Around the Houses
Mr Fox - The Gipsy
Richard & Linda Thompson - Bright Lights
Roches 1st album
Pogues Rum Sodomy and the Lash
Alabama 3 - Exile on Coldharbour Lane
Kelly Joe Phelps - Sky Like A Broken Clock
Right that's my listening sorted for the night.
These five are the DNA albums that formed the way I listen to music today.....
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles - The Beatles. This record taught me that every kind of music can coexist on the same record.
Pink Floyd - The Wall. I loved the surreal story telling of a mentally messed up guy. Like Me.
The WHO - Quadrophenia. Not as surreal but same as above.
YES - Tales From Topographic Oceans. Why? Because,,The audacity to put out a double LP with only four songs on it! Why not.
Sex Pistols - The Great Rock And Roll Swindle. My intro to punk. Just adore the humour and the rage.
I had one of those Phillips cassette recorders (with that three-way toggle switch you had to stick a pencil in to rewind) and I'd point the mic - about the weight of a ballpoint pen - at my transistor radio and, through the miracle of futuristic technology, make my own free copies of music off John Peel. If I still had that cassette, it would work the magic we're talking about, even without being played. That plasticy rattle, the paper label ...
ReplyDelete...and the cassettes recorded over many times with little snippets of past glories at the end of the tape where a previous lp was slightly longer than the current one... and the midnight pips coming in after grinderswitch fades out at the end of peelies show..and the announcer telling us that radio one and two are joining up again...small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts....marvellous...now read on...sorry got carried away there.
DeleteMeanwhile back at the plot
Mark Almond (first side only of course)
Abraxas
Pink Floyd - Relics
Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon Three
Relics is a good choice - doesn't appear on anybody's most iconicest albums list, but means a lot to you (why, you're not telling us, but okay).
DeleteMy father bought the exact same Philips compact cassette recorder when I was a boy. Yes it's the same one with DIN connectors. I wish I still have that one...
DeleteCassettes and their players had a very appealing mechanical feel. Lovely clicky/clunky sounds.
DeleteSome tracks on cassette mix-tapes that friends recorded for me are so sub-consciously embedded, that I might hear a song on the radio and I then expect to hear the song that followed on that old tape, Blinded By The Light by Manfred Manns Earth Band should be followed by Why by Uriah Heap recorded from a very crackley 45 for instance.
DeleteI taped Peel on my Phillips 4track Reel to Reel. But through the line-in, not the crappy mike. Still got the tapes, posibly even the machine. A certain record label wanted one of the sessions for a reissue - I let them have it, but in return they had to transcribe all my tapes onto CDs. Which they did! So I've got about 20CDs of all the stuff I had on reel to reel tapes, all nicely labelled and cased. Thank you Mr Record Label, and I have huge pity fo the lowly guy that had to spend hours doing the work. The record label went bust some time ago.
ReplyDeleteI had a 4 track reel to reel tape recorder. 2 different tracks in mono on one side. Flip the tape over and you got two more mono tracks. My father used to get me buckshee reels of tape from work. He was working on some sort of tape guided machine tooling. Pretty cutting edge stuff at the time.
DeleteI'm amazed they managed to find a suitable machine to do the transfer!
You guys with your 4 track reel-to-reels. Fuck off.
DeleteThe sound quality must have been crap - but it sounded OK to me at the time. The wider the tape being recorded on, the better the quality. Analogue recording uses one inch tape.
DeleteGee ... I wus happy wit' me cassettes 'til youse bums showed up ... now I is subsumed by a palpable malaise ...
DeleteThis was pre-cassette!
DeleteGo on, make it worse ...
DeleteThis'll make it worse. I used to strap my Phillips 4 track REEL TO REEL onto the chrome luggage rack of my Gold and Black Lambretta GT200 and take it around to my mate's houses so I could record their latest record purchases. For the Beach Boys my pal Dave used to buy the US issues from a basement in Soho called TransAt Imports. The Lambretta, which was originally Blue and White got stolen from near Dobell's Jazz Record Shop - I went in to buy a Lionel Hampton album and my lovely scooter was no longer there. It was recovered a month or so later, trashed, but i had it sorted and resprayed gold and black on the insurance. I used to wear a parka ex-army coat with "My Little G.T.O." emblazoned on the back. Happy Days.
DeleteYou are a man of wealth and taste!
DeleteHearing about a 4-track strapped to a luggage rack reminds me of another amusing story - tie this one to Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells".
DeleteIn the 1980s I had a Fostex four track cassette recorder that I used to make demos or record whatever crappy bands I jammed with in those days.
The "Tubular Bells" connection is that one very late night I was working on a demo of the opening (the famous Exorcist part) using a couple of synths. I had the keyboards feeding into a mixing console that I had bought from a bar that upgraded their sound system, from there to a Roland amp, out to the four track recorder, and I listened on a pair of headphones.
I was getting some kind of crazy noise, very faint, but difficult to isolate and hard to describe. It wasn't feedback, wasn't a 60-cycle hum, wasn't pink noise or white noise - though kinda close to white noise. Muting any or all of the keyboards didn't kill it. Bypassing the amp section of the mixing board didn't kill it. Nothing killed it other than completely turning off the volume to the headphones - which was pointless because it simply stopped me from being able to listen.
It was a true ghost in the machine kind of thing, which I thought was hilarious considering that I was trying to record a version of the theme from The Exorcist. (Yes, I was easily amused at the time, for reasons you might suspect...)
Finally I decided to go the other route and see if I could boost the mystery noise. The only actual sound output was through the headphones, so I could crank everything up to eleven, so to speak, without disturbing any neighbors.
After turning up a few faders, I started hearing voices. Nope, not hallucinating... I checked.
And when I boosted the output more, I found myself listening to the news. I was picking up the BBC relay station in Antigua. Some part of the circuitry in the signal chain was acting as a tuner, like on an old crystal radio, and the series of cables worked as an antenna.
That blew my mind. I was listening to a broadcast coming from bloody ANTIGUA and I didn't even have a bloody radio! How cool was that!!
I gave up on recording and just listened to the BBC until something like 5am, and the next afternoon I ordered a portable shortwave radio.
And the connection to the luggage rack... a few months later I was driving across Texas with a cargo carrier strapped to the luggage rack on the roof of the car. The Roland amp mentioned above was in the carrier, with the Fostex snugly wedged in next to it.
The part of the car where the hooks connect on one side came loose - not the hooks, but the piece of the car that held the hooks. So the cargo carrier had cables holding it in place, but those cables no longer had anything holding their hooks in place. And in the middle of nowhere in west Texas, the cargo carrier went airborne off to the side and onto the shoulder of I-10, taking at least one good solid bounce before skidding to a halt.
The full weight of the amp (probably a good 60 pounds or so) crashed down on the four track. The Fostex didn't have a chance - though it held its own by putting a gash in the side of the amp in retaliation.
So I no longer have the amp or the four track. I do still have one of the keyboards, and the shortwave radio is around here somewhere.
I also got hooked on Australian Rules Football from listening to that shortwave, but that's a whole different story.
*Elks Club applause*
DeleteThe New York Rock And Roll Ensemble - 1st (1968)
ReplyDeleteWhen my mother was cleaning up my room (I was 15), she accidentally bumped the LP , it fell to the floor and a piece broke out. I was close to a nervous breakdown. The very next day I bought a new copy. Even my mother, now 93 and dement can still remember that incident.
Et Cetera (Wolfgang Dauner) - 1st (1971)
Classification impossible, sometimes called Kraut-Jazz, still one of the craziest records I've ever listened to.
Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971)
The first time I heard "One Of These Days" I was about to sell my soul to the devil to own it. Things haven't changed that much ever since. ;-)
Chicago - 2nd (1970)
(Not just) a memory on my first year in college.
Rufus Zuphall - Weiß der Teufel (1970)
The band members are simply personal friends of mine and it's one of the best German records of this era. The guitarist once told me, that when they recorded the album, the track "Freitag" was the last to be taped and at the last takts of the song the amplifier went literally up in smoke. (This is "listenable" on the record.)
Dave Dee, Dozy , Beaky, Mick & Tich - Hard To Love You (1966) (45)
When I was walking home with a friend from guitar lessons, this song came on the radio and I was excited. It was the first time ever I perceived beat music.
I will spare you with another few hundreds .......................
Please do continue, Dr. Chu - this is gold dust.
DeleteNYRRE AF-F© -
https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2020/05/kamen-over-to-my-place-dept.html
MEDDLE AF-F© -
https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-muddle-that-was-meddle-roger-waters.html
Hi Farquhar,
Deletean hour or so ago I have written a comment, that could not be published with the explanation "comment too long". Any idea what to do?
Cheers
Paul
Think of it as a pizza and serve it up in slices. Type it up somewhere else first, then copy-paste into as many comments as it needs.
DeleteWell, in this case ................... Part 1
DeleteThe Animated Egg - (only album)
Aside from this being one of my first purchases, which means it's nostalgic as can be and I can still enjoy listening to it (like all of the afore mentioned), there is a story about it I like to tell. I wrote the following article for a friend a few days ago, because he had started an argument with me about a complety different matter (long story, too long), just to show what sophistry can mean regarding a crazy record freak like me. (We are still friends ;-))
Please note: I originally wrote this in German and I took the freedom to translate it with https://www.deepl.com/translator So, there maybe passages you may at. ;-) Here we go:
Well, in this case ................... Part 2
DeleteThere is an LP released in 1969 with the title "The Animated Egg", which sounds like a band name, but is not one. Rather, the LP was recorded by the famous LA session musician Jerry Cole with buddies, for which he received a one-time not too large obulus from the equally (even in Germany) famous millionaire David L. Miller, his sign cheap record company owner. The record was released on many cheap labels, in this country (Germany) on EUROPA, so everybody bought it, me too (cost only 5,- DM). Up to this point, these are all FACTS, which have never been disputed by any of the parties involved (affidavits are available to the author in the form of gossip. But now there is one FACT concerning this LP (and we now only consider the said German edition on the EUROPA label), which I have never heard or read about anywhere (astonishing, since the matter is otherwise quite well documented by psychedelic freaks), and that is established by me personally by listening with my ears and looking with my eyes, namely: there are two different editions of this LP. How so? Years ago, after my first purchase was long lost, I found a copy at a friend's house and bought it from him. At home listening posts occupied and aah nostalgia pure, um, not quite: there are missing instruments (?), strange strange, but I did not get behind it. For it it was now nevertheless already too long ago. Some time later I found another copy on the flea market. Bought, listening posts occupied and aah nostalgia pure, this time purest wo je gob. Such behavior of semi-living matter now cried out for a scientific comparison, whereby the following turned out. My memory was pretty much in order. The one I bought from my friend was probably the original recording, the one from the flea market was overdubbed like my first purchase with "swoosh mumbling" on some tracks (what I had called a missing instrument in the first attempt). Oddly Strange. At a cursory glance both LPs look identical, cover, label, order no., strangely odd, but where does the observant professional look? Right, to the matrix no. ! This is stamped or scratched next to the empty groove at the end of the music of each LP side and serves, in addition to the order number, the clear identification of the present pressing (possibly the entire production process). And there was the crux of the matter. One was stamped as "E 316 A1/B1" (probably the first pressing ever without overdubs) and the other as "E 316 A2/B2" (the one with overdubs, which was/is the one I personally am familiar with). Matrix no. A/B on the front/back side of the record. What is now with US or UK pressings or others from exotic countries, I can not say. A few years ago the LP has finally been released as a CD in new design and twice as much music (as I said: Jerry Cole was a session musician and has made lotsa recordings, not only for Mr. Miller. On the CD reissue the one I recognized as the original version was used. "Recently" a CD box with 3 CDs has been released, which contains among others this LP, again the first version.
So far may original text.
Well, in this case ......................... Part 3
DeleteWell, all of you know the record. And just in case there's another one like me
specialized in "most unnecessary" details, who may think he knows "the riddle's solution", I can reply in advance: No, my overdubbed version is not the "101 Strings - Astro-Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000", that is basically the first "Animated Egg" version, but with different overdubs.
This text may be used (scattered over the Internet) free of charge by anyone who is interested in the matter (which, however, I consider doubtful).
Nevertheless, so much for today (it's 4 o'clock in the night over here and I now go to the night meal)
Greetings from the outer west of Germany
Paul (formerly known as "The Snail")
http://schnickschnackmixmax.blogspot.com
You should get some kind of award for this, but not the Inflatable Twister©.
DeleteVery kind of you! And I'm so glad to be informed of not getting the Grand prize, because I have already so much needless stuff lying around in my house, I wouldn't rather find enough space for it. What about the girl who donated it. I can see indications ..................... 😁
DeleteI knew there was a reason why I kept coming back here. Now I feel redeemed
Delete... but not renamed.
DeleteThe Animated Egg album got a later release. Same tracks but all retitled, and the album became "A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix" by the Black Diamonds.
DeleteAlso released in Sweden with the title "Fire Music".
DeleteSomeone sure got their money's worth out of that recording.
DeleteSee what I mean by "crazy record freaks". This is the least important matter on earth and there are still people, who have to say something about it. Ain't that cute? 😊
DeleteSteve Miller Band: Sailor: was working in mining area a very remote part of Western Australia.Met a now lifelong friend who had just started work.We were in one room transportable accommodation.Extremely hot conditions.invited him over one night,I had a stereo and lots of vinyl.we had both been puffing after work.As he knocked on my door "Song for our Ancestors" began.Water lapping,Ships foghorn in distance ethereal organ is rumbling,tension building,guitar gently eases tension,then builds as cymbals emphasise drumbeat,my friend was freaked out totally by now and needed to lie down.Every time I play this track I am back in that small room in the middle of nowhere with Paul being taken on a journey into space.Thanks to Steve Miller and some potent erb.
ReplyDeleteme n the reeds now in strong contention for that inflatable Twister©.
Delete(Swell album, too.)
Rolland Kirk - 'The Inflated Tear'
ReplyDeleteThis June, I will have listened to this album for fifty-five years. I've lost count of how many times I wore the vinyl out, and bought it again and again. There's something about the intro to the title track, that affects me in a very deep and personal way.
I love it when you gaze wistfully out of the rain-streaked window like that.
DeleteI think I need to go and give that a try, Babs, can you recommend a good record shop where I can spend few of your american 'bucks' as I believe you call them.
DeleteI can recommend, 'Babs' Records Tapes Leather Works & Smoking Accessories' located in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/hHEQQVR8CMR
I have heard nothing but good reports about that establishment. The clientele always seem to exit with a smile. I must remember to pop in when next in the area.
DeletePlease give her my regards and heartfelt thanks all the way from Blightyland.
Sounds like 'Babs' Records Tapes Leather Works & Smoking Accessories', should offer a UK franchise, I think it would be very popular.
DeleteAnd since I was already so kindly asked to continue, here are a few more ..............
ReplyDeletePop & Blues Festival '70: Live (1970)
This DoLP perfectly embodies the mood at the (small) festivals of the early 70s, of which I attended quite a few.
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails
Sometime in the late 60's I was "through" with the usual beat-pop gadgetry and was looking for something new, of which I had an idea how it should sound, but no idea where to start looking. Then one day a progressive DJ played a complete radio show only with music by QMS, who were practically unknown here in Germany at that time. Among other things there was the complete second side of the "Happy Trails" LP to hear and that was exactly what I had been looking for all the time without knowing it. Great until today!
Don Ellis - At Fillmore (1970)
Also one of the indestructibles from my college days and one of the ones I was "allowed" to listen to ALONE because no one but me ...............
Nucleus - Elastic Rock (1970)
The same thing I wrote about the Don Ellis Fillmore applies here.
Four for Jazz & Benny Bailey - A Land of Dolls (1970)
I was familiar with jazz quite early (being the only one from my circle of friends) and I don't know how often I listened to this double album. One of the LPs I wouldn't want to miss under any circumstances.
Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk 2 (1972)
I also bought it when it came out. When I suffered a stroke in 2013 and was in the hospital for weeks, I listened to this LP (as a CD) umpteen times on my discman. Maybe it saved my life at that time?
Albums with a personal meaning. 'Slider' by T.Rex. My very first album some 50 years ago and my addiction to round things with music on them began.
ReplyDelete'Metal Guru is it you,
Metal Guru is it you,
Sitting there in your armour plated chair....'
Nearly 10,000 albums ( and over 4,000 singles and tens of terrabytes more in media files to boot) later its clear there is no rehab for vinyl junkies
I prefer sophistication in my men and my music
ReplyDeletelike this: https://workupload.com/file/yBJ4k8s3U4r
Brandi Snifter
I gots sophistimacation out th' ass, sweetpants! *belches "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"*
Delete(link to Mr. Scaggs - wotta co-inkydink! Next piece is Scaggs-era Steve Miller.)
Are you going to connect this to Ben Sidran, the slickest thing to come out of Racine,Wisconsin since Johnson wax?
ReplyDeleteBrandi (not suggesting johnson wax as a grooming tip ;^)
Oh, okay -
Deletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2020/01/siddown-its-sidran.html
Where is MrDave? Anyone seen MrDave? Paging MrDave!
ReplyDeleteHere I am!! Slowly trying to catch up and contemplating this weighty task of tracing the soundtrack of my social and emotional arc from angsty teenage LA punk to weary Florida suburbanite.
DeleteGood to see you, MrDave.
DeleteColosseum - Live (1971)
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought the LP in 1971, I came home with it, where my mother was busy ironing. I put the record on and listened to it through (very cheap) headphones. It was as if I was floating a meter above the ground. Never experienced it again after that.
Thrice Mice (only album 1970)
One of the most underrated albums by German Rock Groups (perhaps too many wind instruments?). Just a few days ago I listened to it twice.
The Incredible String Band - Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending (1971)
From a time when I bought almost everything with songs that were one side long.
The Velvet Underground - 1st album
"Waiting For My Man" I first heard in a German TV movie, in a scene where an older student and his girlfriend are sitting on the roof of their school shooting down teachers in the schoolyard with machine guns. Nobody would dare to broadcast something like that nowadays.
Pink Floyd - Tour 72
I've made peace with "Dark Side At The Moon" in the meantime, but when it comes to listening, I still prefer the "Tour 72 Bootleg), if only because of the live atmosphere.
The Morells - Shake and Push
ReplyDeleteNRBQ - At Yankee Stadium
Hot Tuna - Burgers
The Mothers – Fillmore East - June 1971
Taj Mahal – The Real Thing
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Stormin' Norman & Suzy – Fantasy Rag
The Young Adults - Helping Others
Stormin' Norman & Suzy !!! Love them. Well, love Suzy. A great performer and ridiculously sexy.
DeleteVarious Artists - California Sounds Of The 1960’s
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/fr/master/114751-Various-The-California-Sound-Of-The-60s
The album that started it all. One of the frist Cds my dad ever bought. First exposure to the Byrds and the Beach Boys, two of my future favorite bands of all time.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Working Band
The Traveling Wilburys – Vol. 1
If I think of my early musical education, these two albums come to mind because these were runningall the time on the recently bought CD player. Not the worst choices. No wonder I grew up to be a big Country Rock/Americana fan. Thanks, dad !
Various Artists – « The Great American Songwriters »
https://www.discogs.com/fr/master/1541364-Various-Die-Grossen-Amerikanischen-Liedermacher
Found in my dad’s record collection. Introduced me the concept of singer-songwriters, poetry in songs and Gordon Lightfoot, hero of my sensitive teenager years.
Marc Cohn, radio concert live Hamburg 1998 (there was a bootleg of it out there but I never could find it)
I always liked Cohn’s first record, but this great concert (that I taped from the radio) showed that he was a very good storyteller as well. This is where I first heard of Frederic Edwin Church and Olana. Almost twenty years later I would name my daughter after the song. « How sweet the sound »
R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
My favorite album of all time. There are ghosts in these songs, old ones. Find me a better three-song finale than Man on the Moon, Nightswimming and Find the River. I dare you, I double dare you.
Foy Vance – The Wild Swan
My Covid/lockdown album. It lifted my spirit in dark times, and it still does, every time. Also : This maybe has Automatic beat for best group of songs to end an album on. A personal top three record.
Eno 'Ambient 4: On Land' and 'Music for Films'
ReplyDeleteTangerine Dream 'Atem' and 'White Eagle'
Weather Report 'Night Passage' and 'Heavy Weather'
Can 'Soon Over Babaluma'
Holger Czukay 'On The Way To The Peak Of Normal'
Main 'Hz' and 'Firmament II'
Scott Walker 'Scott 4' and 'Climate of Hunter'
Einstuerzende Neubauten 'Malediction' and 'Tabula Rasa'
Bowie 'Station To Station' and 'Aladdin Sane'
Jack DeJohnette 'Special Edition' and 'Inflation Blues'
Jan Garbarek 'Places' and 'Afric Pepperbird'
Terje Rypdal 'Waves' and 'What Comes After'
Eberhard Weber 'The Following Morning' and 'Fluid Rustle'
Jack Bruce 'Monkjack' and 'Shadows In The Air'
Last Exit (ie Laswell et al) 'Last Exit' and 'Iron Path'
Goldfrapp 'Seventh Tree'
Metheny 'As Falls Wichita...' and 'New Chautauqua'
Magma 'Hhai/Live'
Henry Cow 'Legend'
Miles 'In A Silent Way' and 'Agharta'
Paul Bley 'The Paul Bley Quartet' (PB, Surman, Frisell, Motian)
ELO 'Secret Messages' and 'ELO' (1971)
I've lived with all of these for at least twenty years and they still keep coming around, hence their making this cut.
Some fine choices here Fanny. I haven't played my copy of Einstuerzende Neubauten 'Tabula Rasa' for about twenty years, I didn't get on with it at the time, I'll play it this week. Also I must listen to As Falls Wichita again.
DeleteWow! Ambient 4 and Rypdal's Waves were in my list too. Very glad someone feels something special about them. A4 I listened while reading Lovecraft. Really Spooky.
DeleteRypdal took me into imaginary scandinavian trips with Waves.
Others:
-Eno- Buddd The Pearl and Ambient 2 the smell of winter
-Chrome " Half machine lip moves" we were expelled from almost every house with this.
-Jon Hassell "Last night the moon..." I hear it in my dreams.
-Style Council "Cost of loving" First beers (late starter)
-Fagen's "Kamakiriad" years of money, refined and explosive parties,
-He Said's "Hail" I just never quitted listening to it.
Just to name some...
Bat
Chirping Crickets, still great
ReplyDeleteHave Twangy Guitar will travel, the reissue with "The Walker" added. A sucker for minor key instros with a touch of menace
Mingus Oh Yeah - launched a million R & B with horns groups
Chico Hamilton Man from 2 worlds - I promoted this album to John Marshall when I was hitchhiking and he gave me a lift. Tapped out the solo from Forest Flower on his dashboard.
I had a Tandberg 3041X reel to reel. Still do axerly.
Deep Listening Band - s/t (influenced my own music making)
ReplyDeleteAbdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya - Ekaya (a perfect record? music makes the world soul go round)
Moby Grape - s/t (granted me the minimum cred with a muso pal in 10th grade
for him to then open the doors wide open)