Tag Archives: Classic Albums
THE AMAZING PUDDING
David Gilmour reflected that Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd’s first album of the 70s, was “us blundering about in the dark” [1, p.92]. Keyboard player Rick Wright does not remember it fondly. “Looking back it wasn’t so good” [2, p.82]. For his part, Roger Waters would prefer the suite be “thrown into the dustbin and […]
THE WINDOW AND THE WALL
In the late 80s I was living alone in a small house in Footscray, an inner-west suburb of Melbourne nestling between industrial docklands and a waste management terminal. Bunbury Street was quite special not for any Oscar Wilde association but because a railway line ran underneath it, lengthwise. It was a goods line from the […]
ETERNAL WARRIOR RETURNING
One of the tell-tale signs of the activated Vinyl Hunter-Gatherer is how their speed increases when they approach a Record Store. Up on the balls of their feet, there is a pronounced spring in the step as the shortest possible distance from here to the records is calculated with pinpoint precision. Breathing may be more […]
TOUCH THE DISTANT BEACHES
Eric Clapton and girlfriend Charlotte Martin were at London musician’s club The Speakeasy in Spring 1967. It was the same club where, not long previously, Eric had his first taste of LSD in circumstances that were probably not your average first trip, even in that much mythologized year. The way Eric tells it, ‘the Beatles […]
WALKING TOWARDS SUNSET
Chapter One: A potted history from 1963 – 1967 Being an ambitious but ultimately ludicrous attempt to summarise the early days of blues legend John Mayall. Skip to Chapter Three if uninterested in early British blues. John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers started playing London’s famous Marquee Club in late 1963. In the following year they […]
TRANSCENDENTAL (NEW) MUSIC
Josef Zawinul wrote the melody ‘In a silent way’ after visiting his Austrian family for Christmas. It is a wistful, almost folky melody that you can hear on the composer’s self-titled 1971 album. But more famously and influentially the tune became the title for a 1969 album that indicated a far-reaching change of direction for […]
A BRAND NEW DANCE
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) was released in the second week of September 1980. Preceded by the hugely successful single ‘Ashes to Ashes’, Scary Monsters hit #1 on the UK album charts on 27th September. It also made #1 in Australia and peaked just outside the Top 10 in the US. Bowie’s fourteenth studio album […]
CLOSE TO PERFECTION
CONTEXT Just in case it isn’t immediately obvious, music is a passion and hobby here at Vinyl Connection. There are several thousand titles in the collection and no imminent danger of a growth plateau. [Picture here, if you will, the crestfallen expression on Ms Connection’s face.] Close to the Edge sits high on my list […]
SING A SONG IN A SHAKEY VOICE
In the late 70s, I loaned a girl a record. It was never returned. And that, I confess with equal parts shame and defiance, was the last LP I ever loaned. Books? No problem. CDs? If you have references and are of good character. Vinyl? Forget it. In psychology it is called ‘one trial learning’. […]
SEA OF JOY
My friend over the back fence invited me to come and hear his latest LP. Greg was two days older than me and we’d been playmates since our Mums met on the maternity ward. But in terms of musical sophistication, Greg was years, worlds, away from me. Not in terms of understanding how music worked; […]
CSN – LONG TIME GONE BUT STILL FRESH
On 28th June 1969 the self-titled album by Crosby, Stills & Nash entered the US charts. It reached #6 and stayed around for an impressive 100 weeks. Two singles were released – Nash’s jaunty ‘Marrakesh Express’ and Stills’ extended ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ – both reaching the Top 30. So much for the data. What […]
“TRUE COLOURS” – NO LOOSE ENZ
True Colours was the fifth album by New Zealand band Split Enz. It is a lively, tuneful, sometimes edgy, sometimes melancholy pop rock treat. The album’s first single ‘I Got You’, was supremely catchy, highly successful, and written by the latest addition to the band, twenty-one year old Neil Finn. First, an executive summary of the Split […]
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