For most people, if into music, there are particular groups or records which are associated with moments and times in their lives. That sound and visual impact of vinyl creates a double impression on the memory. Increasingly of course they are becoming popular again as people regain enthusiasm for this form of music.
My favourite contemporary rock group of all- time is Barclay James Harvest and of course I had all their LP’s and associate memories with them and also memories of seeing them live and live again reformed a few years ago.
One particular funny memory I also have is of liking the group Sparks and of getting their album in Liverpool. My parents thought upon looking at the duo (Ron and Russell Mael) that they were rather subversive and not appropriate for me to listen to. However, that only had the effect of making me want to listen even more and waiting until they were out to do so!
For the record I resolved never to do that to my children when they chose their own music to listen to and have endured as patiently as I possibly can, endless music and talk about Taylor Swift as a result.
My experiences in listening to records from childhood also led to a few themes for poems and I conclude my blog with one such poem.
On Record
We pushed the lid down so it fitted tightly,
clipped the needle arm into its cradle
and carried it in like a kid’s coffin.
We were stuck on the steps as it was heavy.
I could hear dad say; ‘It can’t rest in here,
leave it, then put it back in its place.’
Inside, we clashed on where to put it,
but with only one socket it had to be
against the TV set and up the wall.
Pulling the plug on tact, we were told
in no uncertain words to grow up. Pop
music’s not suitable for young minds.
Wouldn’t Handel be more appropriate?
We simply uncoiled each lead, plugged
the speakers in and faced the music.
Thanks for reading and I hope it ‘sparks’ your musical memories, vinyl records or otherwise.
David Wilkinson
7 comments:
Agree about the vinyl thing. I have boxes of LPs in the loft and nothing to play them on anymore :D
I could write an essay here (but I'll restrain myself). The first golden age was certainly pre-digital and even pre-decimal, vinyl singles at 6/4d, LPs at 32/6d (mostly Beatles, Cream, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Kinks, Pink Floyd, Small Faces). I saw Barclay James Harvest live just once, February 1971 in Stevenage. We went because some of my friends were in the support band that night. (I don't remember much about it.) In the late 1980s I sold hundreds of my LPs as digital dawned (keeping only the ones that weren't released remastered on CD). I regret that now and have been restocking the vinyl collection (my Top 100 all time favourite LPs) in recent years. I enjoyed your poem, David, a familiar battle well-described. My father owned a portable record player and a set of Readers Digest great composer LPs. By age 13 I'd appropriate both the player and the records - once it was in my bedroom it never left until I moved out of home ;-)
Evocative blog. Music was our revolt :)
You're right. Some of those LP covers were works of art and the artists became famous as a result. I always liked the Mouse/Kelly designs on US records like the Dead etc.
Vinyl had a couple of drawbacks: scratches became etched in the soundtracks (no matter how careful we tried to be); and the records needed changing or turning over every twenty minutes (no matter how stoned we managed to be)! That said, I wish I still had mine, all long gone to car boot sales or charity shops.
Reading this made me nostalgic for the age of vinyl. Like many others I moved with the times to CDs and iPods but I kept and framed a few much-loved LP covers precisely because of their quality as artefacts. I enjoyed your poem with its witty denouement.
I was amused by the lack of parental logic in the penultimate verse "grow up. Pop music's not suitable for young minds." 😂
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