Category b) Seventies [1970 – 1979]
HOT CROSS SONGS
There are certain sounds and rhythms that grab you tight and shake. Think The Kinks ‘You really got me’ with that distorted, snarling guitar or the irresistible loping boogie of ‘On the road again’ by Canned Heat. The first pop song I ever clocked as having a reference to religion combined – or perhaps appropriated […]
CAMEL CUTLETS
There is a very special feeling when you miss a joke and realise – alas, too late – you have appeared as thick as a brick. I was responding to 1537’s post on a T Rex album and commented that I’m not a big fan. Sure, the singles are great, but I find the albums […]
SOCKSY BEAST
When I picked up Tightly Knit in one of my favourite Melbourne record haunts recently a fellow browser said, rather cheekily I thought, “That is one of your earlier records, I expect.” Taken slightly aback, it took me a moment to realise that he was referring to the cover art and the similarity in head […]
TIME OF THE PREACHER
In the mid-80s I shared a house in Kensington. That’s not the Kensington next to Hyde Park in London. It’s the inner city village adjacent to North Melbourne, squeezed between Flemington Racecourse, the railway line, and the Maribyrnong river. It was a good time. Ali and I got on well, sharing some commonalities –uncommunicative mornings, […]
ENO ON THE BEACH
On the Vinyl Connection coffee table is On Some Faraway Beach, David Sheppard’s 2008 biography of Brian Eno. It is a substantial and thoroughly researched tome covering the birth, growth, education and unfolding of non-musician Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Sheppard even demystifies the preposterous name. Now Mr Eno is a most interesting […]
ART ON YOUR SLEEVE #1 − PROCOL HARUM
An occasional series featuring LPs boasting ‘fine art’ on their covers, with words about the music and something about the art #1 PROCOL HARUM – Exotic Birds and Fruit [1974] THE MUSIC By 1974, the massive success of Procol Harum’s debut single was a long time gone. Not that the band had disappeared; more gently but […]
GONG EST MORT
There was a time when one of Vinyl Connection’s favourite recreations was reading a print biography of an artist while concurrently working through their catalogue of recordings. Soundtracking a music journey, you could say. Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, Zappa – all have provided entertaining reads and enjoyable playlists. A more recent print adventure was the idea […]
KEITH IN KÖLN
A gentle four note phrase hovers, a small colourful bird on the wing, leading, beckoning, from bush to branch. It is still, early, a breath of dew on the lawn where lines of cut grass betray yesterday’s mowing. The bird trills as the light brightens, slowly at first. The melody becomes more insistent. Then the […]
DON’T STOP ‘TIL YOU GET ENOUGH
So here is the Vinyl Connection New Year’s Resolution: To post a weekly diary of all – I mean all – new music arrivals at Base Camp Connection. The good, the bad (as in “that’s really, bad, man”) and the ugly. It’s been tried before and lasted two posts, there has been a holiday edition, even an […]
NOT SUCH A COOL YULE
The first half of 1977 was spent sitting in my room. It wasn’t locked; I just couldn’t find many reasons for leaving. Other than one friendly human being, companionship came in the form of books and records. The small but diverse vinyl collection included a selection of the popular progressive music of the day, some […]
YOU’LL NEVER COME BACK
I was thrown out of Melbourne’s signature university at the end of 1976, having accumulated an impressive collection of ‘F’ grades. That’s not ‘F for Fail’ – though it certainly is well below the plimsoll line of the good ship Pass Mark – but the F at the end of the series A – B […]
DRIFTING DOWN THE ENDLESS RIVER
SIDE ONE – NEEDLE DROP It’s the first week of summer but you wouldn’t know it. Skies are sullen and there is a sneering, chilly breeze. More like late Autumn, really. I’m sitting in front of the stereo, having just dropped the stylus on the first side of the final Pink Floyd album. On the […]
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