Author Archives: Vinyl Connection
NO WAY STREET
It has taken a while, but I have landed on an album that captures 2020. It was released in 1979. Walk tall walk straight, spit the world right in the eye The stronger the wood, the straighter the arrow The eccentric 10CC formed in the UK in the early 70s, producing off-kilter pop music that […]
TURNTABLING THRU TIME
Not long after I took up residence in my first home alone (late starter, but that’s another story); as I say, soon after moving into a modest workingman’s cottage in inner city Kensington with a collection of gifted and thrift shop furniture and some of my mother’s cast off kitchen kit, I was listening to […]
WHAT’S MY THEME #5
Unless there are loud cries of ‘More!’ from the crowd, #5 will be the last in this series. What links these albums? If you think you have the answer, please translate it into Arabic so others an have a crack. Thanks! DIFFICULTY LEVEL: HARD/DIABOLICAL
WHAT’S MY THEME #4
Well, folks, it seems this particular idea doesn’t have legs. Having taken photos for five progressively more challenging editions, however, I intend to push on relentlessly just in case someone out there is a glutton for punishment. What links these albums? DIFFICULTLY LEVEL: HARD
WHAT’S MY THEME #3
After two ‘EASY’ trials, we’ll progress to the next level. Withholding answers reduced the immediacy of the game, so there will be no editing this time. If you want to read the answers/comments of others, they are there for the reading. If you want to avoid sighting others’ answers, don’t read the Comments! What links […]
WHAT’S MY THEME? #2
Another easy one. [This second trial is so I can try ‘holding’ the comments to give folk in different time zones a chance to answer. If I can somehow remove spoilers, I’ll let the comment through immediately.] So, what links these albums? *** *** *** *** LEVEL: EASY
WHAT’S MY THEME?
A new Album Cover Quiz is coming very soon. But first, here is something new. I’ll post some album covers with a connection between them. The task is to discover the theme. Notionally, there are four levels of difficulty: EASY MODERATE HARD DIABOLICAL This debut What’s My Theme? is more a test run than a […]
1970 COUNTDOWN | NUMBER 1
It’s 1970. Although The Beatles have disbanded, no-one is lazing about. Surprisingly, Ringo’s was the first solo LP in the shops, followed by Paul, Ringo again, George, then John (with Yoko) in December. It is the quiet Beatle we are celebrating here. All Things Must Pass, a three record set, came out the day before […]
1970 COUNTDOWN | NUMBER 2
2. SANTANA — Abraxas What keeps a half-century-old LP fresh? Lots of possibilities, but in the case of Santana’s second LP, it is the superbly blended mix of different styles and influences that propels the record like an eternal multi-cultural street festival. Many know the infectious blues-rock interpretation of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman” or […]
1970 COUNTDOWN | NUMBER 3
3. MILES DAVIS — BITCHES BREW It shimmers, it growls. It moans and howls. There is glowing radiance and dirty work. With this double album—sometimes mesmerising and occasionally jolting—Miles Davis changed both jazz and popular music. Having done cool, modal and progressive (all that restlessness!), Miles and producer Teo Macero engineered this vast work from […]
1970 COUNTDOWN | NUMBER 4
4. CROSBY STILLS NASH AND YOUNG — Déjà Vu “Carry on” begins with purposeful strummed acoustic guitar before the voices enter, harmonising like a heavenly hippy chorus. Some slithery electric guitar creeps into the next bridge, instruments fall away for a sublime vocal refrain; here’s a little organ, a two word snap of Steven Stills’ […]
1970 COUNTDOWN | NUMBER 5
5. NEIL YOUNG — After The Gold Rush How did Neil’s nasal voice and the sparse country-ish feel of much of this album so capture the young man I was? Slumped under uncomfortable headphones in the Record Lounge of the Student Union Building day after day; lost, but listening. Neil’s voice is mixed way forward […]
