Friday, 23 October 2020

Vinyl Albums.



This is becoming a nostalgia page.

I'm not quite sure why I have these records (above) in France, because we've never had a record player here.

You can probably tell as much about someone's character from the vinyl albums he/she owns, as by the books in his/her library.

Having been an Art Student for 5 years in the late 60's/early 70's, my taste in music is definitely representative of that age and probably also of my occupation.

Above is a selection of some favourites that were listened to, probably amongst clouds of strange smelling smoke, whilst also probably sitting crossed-legged on the floor.

The Incredible String Band was essential listening, East of Eden and The Third Ear Band were more suited to acid-induced listening and were definitely 'underground', The Beach Boys were simply fun, Kraftwerk was tedious, and my favourite band of the time, was the Dutch jazz-rock band; Focus.

Focus was a 'musicians band', and possibly the only album (Focus 3) in my collection that I would listen to regularly again; if I had a record player.

Back then, we listened to a lot of pretentious rubbish, but in amongst it all were a few real gems.

33 comments:

  1. I can relate to the Beach Boys. I grew up in a surfing family.
    I love that now we have YouTube and you can go back and find all the old favourites of any generation. Brings me great joy to find old treasures.
    Haven't heard of most of yours. You ran in different circles

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    1. I still play those old Beach Boys songs. They were full of joyful energy.

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  2. I sold my 1960s record collection, singles and LPs, when I moved here five years ago. All the usual ones and a few less mainstream ones of the time. They weren't worth a great deal because there are so many of us with collections of a certain age where we are clearing stuff etc. I walk past the shop regularly and he sold all mine very quickly and they were soon replaced with more of the same, over and over. He gave me £90 for the lot. I thought that was fair and actually more than I was expecting. Lots of Beatles, Beach Boys, Hendrix, Stones etc.

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    1. Most of ours are in a Brighton loft, and are probably of similar ilk to yours. I've never thought of selling them, maybe we should.

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  3. I also have some vinyl records at home. I do not know why I keep them.

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    1. Join the club Yael, we all have stuff that could be sold, thrown out, or given away.

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  4. I gave my 1,000 plus vinyl collection away back in the mid 1990s

    I saw Focus love about this time last year. No one enjoyed the show more than Thijs van Leer.

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    1. Focus seem to have been popular; I'm surprised.

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  5. Oh, I loved The Incredible String Band! Years later I met Robin Williamson at a small music venue. It was like talking to Jesus Christ given my teenage reverence. I also liked Focus.

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    1. Another favourite was Kevin Ayers and the Whole World, but I seem to have lost the album.

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  6. I still have all my LPs and singles from the 60s and would never part with them.I still play them sometimes on my record player!.I have a wall in my kitchen that I decorated with music sheets..it cost me about 20p if I remember rightly,lol..So I blue tack some of the LP covers to the wall.along with a load of old posters that Ive kept from all those years ago..It keeps me young,lol.Have a lovely weekend,xx

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    1. I can see that I shall have to buy another record player, to bring back old times!

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  7. I met Thijs Van Leer in Kent last year and later watched Focus. One of my few claims to fame.

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    1. Lucky you... he must be getting-on a bit today.

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  8. We went to see Focus at Holmfirth, Yorkshire, last lear. Thijs van Leer is looking his age but they were incredibly good and played loads of the old stuff. I was surprised to see several men of similar age standing right in front of the speakers. It was very loud. I put paper tissue in my ears to moderate the volume a bit.

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    1. Yup, it was loud where I saw them as well

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    2. I'm ashamed to say that at all the last concerts I went to, I had to do the same. The sound levels were well over 11.

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  9. We still have vinyl and no decks.

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  10. We like outdoor concerts because we can adjust the volume by moving our lawn chairs. What is jarring is seeing all the silver heads on stage. Rock and roll must be a tough gig. Those people got OLD. Glad that never happened to me.

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    Replies
    1. Some of them are even older than me. At least I'm not as wrinkly as most of them.

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  11. After several house moves we have no vinyl left. I was watching a tv programme playing music from the 70s a couple of nights ago and thinking how bad the music was when Gordon Lightfoot came on playing If You Could Read My Mind Love and it was just lovely.

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    1. I know the name Gordon Lightfoot, but not his music. I shall investigate.

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    2. Now I will have Gordon Lightroom going around my head, will listen to some Meat Loaf to exorcise!

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  12. My small and mediocre vinyl collection is going to a nineteen year old who cannot believe their good fortune!!
    I'm happy to see the last of them. Only the Beach Boys are known to me in those shown on your photo.
    Alphie

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    1. Only the Beach Boys had hit records, all the others probably sold well to students, but never made it to TOTP.

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    2. Cro, I can clearly remember Focus on TOTP, Sylvia

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    3. I'm surprised, I thought they were more 'underground'. However, I do think that 'Half man half biscuit' were on TOTP once.

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  13. I still have a deck and only the Beatles vinyl LPs. (as a contemporary of The Beatles and from Liverpool I just couldn't part with them). The majority of my vinyl was classical with some jazx and miscellaneous odds and ends. It all went to Oxfam Music in Glasgow a few years ago. I've still got all my family's 78s though.

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    Replies
    1. I was a huge Beatles fan, but, amazingly, never actually bought any of their albums.

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  14. I have boxes of albums from the late 60’s and 70’s. I considered bringing them to a store that buys old albums but my kids objected to that because they want them. However, they never came to take them and they still take up room in my house.

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    1. Maybe you should remind them that you're still keeping them for them, and can they please come and take them; otherwise....

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