Here's the second part of my "50 At 50" podcast mix that can be found at <
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Fanfare For The Common Man
Based on the classical piece by Copland, this ELP hit really 'rocked it up'. In late 1977, my anal tendencies were beginning to manifest themselves, and it was with great pleasure each week that I managed to convince my mates to join me in creating our very own Top 20 singles each fortnight, thus resulting in an amalgamation of our favourite tracks. To further express our geek-like qualities we then began recording the list on our tinny cassette recorders in the style of the BBC radio Top 20 chart show that was presented by Tom Brown at 6pm every Sunday evening. Like Mr Brown we also had background music playing whilst we announced proudly (basically, to ourselves) each weeks chart. This was the music we used. Every fortnight for over a year, we would go through this ritual, even when my friends started to lose interest, I still kept this process going, even developing the thing into a fanzine that was then sold to anyone we could persuade to buy. 'Razor's Edge' was cutting edge music press at the time (not!) - unsold copies are still available.
Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home
It took me a long time to get 'into' the Stones. Having had more of a Beatles vibe going on at home, Jagger and his clan didn't actually break my subconscious until the late 70s. Gradually, I familiarised myself with their back catalogue until one day I heard this gem! I realised that I had heard it many years ago in my next door neighbours house and had loved it without realising what it was (or indeed how 'trippy' it was!). From that point on it became my favourite Stones track, and I still find the intricacies of the instrumentation a delight to hear.
These days, 'Jocko Homo' just sounds a bit quirky. But in 1978 this was unlike anything I'd ever heard. Moreover, Devo were a band unlike any I'd ever seen! A nightmarish vision of what the future had in store, Devo were just the kind of band that I knew my parents would hate, and would offend anyone over the age of 30! (The B-side was 'Mongoloid'). Even the 7" vinyl was different, coming as it did in a fold-out wraparound sleeve pronouncing 'Devo-lution now for the future!'. And when the album appeared in coloured vinyl with their stocking covered heads manically glaring from the cover, I really believed that they could take over the world. A few years later, lead singer Mark Mothersborough was writing background tunes and themes for children's TV favourites 'Rugrats'. it could have been worse... Johnny Rotten might have started advertising butter??...er
OK - XTC are on this list as well, but this was from their third album, and by this time I was so into their music, they could have released the sound of a brick, and I would have found it brilliant! As it was, 'Drums & Wires' must be one of the most perfect albums ever (in my view). Each track a complete masterpiece covering so many different styles. Seeing them live, for what was to be the last time, my overriding memory was this track being played frantically, whilst my pals and I tried to perform the exhausting dance that we had developed at several drunken house parties. Basically 'pogoing' whilst flailing our arms in the air in a circular motion, I'm convinced that with a little more updraft, we would have ascended to the rooftop of the Hammersmith!
Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
One of the few albums that actually sounds better live, is the amazing 'At The Budokan' LP from American Rockers, Cheap Trick. As the first album I'd heard by the band, I hadn't realised that most of these tracks had already appeared in studio versions, but even when I heard these, they weren't a patch on live takes, a fact that was proved to me when I eventually got to see them for myself at the now defunct and sadly missed Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London. It was that show that helped put this track into the UK charts, and although they never reached greater fame in the UK, I still think they were one of the best rock bands of the period.
It might be because it was my first ever concert, but the Motorhead gig at the Hammersmith Odeon was the most memorable I ever attended. From the sight of the opening act (Johnny Moped) being booed and canned off of the stage, to the extreme volume of Lemmy and the gang as they belted out all the tracks that had become so familiar to me in the preceding months. Sights of hard-core fans removing their heads from the speakers after their recent bout of head-banging with their ears dripping with blood, were forever ingrained on my visual cortex, and the smell of stale drugs and alcohol that hit like a wall on exit. Most memorable of all was the trip home afterwards, as I hung around a telephone box whilst the female members of the 'Hell's Angel' gang that I went with, phoned their parents, a police van slowly pulled up beside us and a stern looking copper leaned out of the sliding door to utter the immortal words "you scum of the earth!". Although offended at the time, in hindsight, he probably wasn't far off the truth.
In the mid seventies, all my school mates seemed to be learning instruments and joining bands. I was no different, and my 'weapon of choice' was to be the drums. After pestering my Dad for ages, he eventually gave in and brought me my first kit. Hours and hours I practiced, whilst my parents, amazingly, tolerated the unholy din emanating from my room. When this track was released in 1979 as a follow up track to the better known 'Teenage Kicks', it became my favourite drum-along song. My poor poor parents...
My first schoolboy crush was Suzi Quatro. Even at that young age I was perverted enough to enjoy women in tight leather! Aggressive and slightly built, she had an amazing voice that still sounds great when she performs the right songs. By the time she appeared on Happy Days on British TV, she had started to mellow out, musically, and I had started move on, but even today, I still think she looks great for her age, and thankfully she steers clear of the leather outfits!
For most of my life, I have always had the knack of buying the first releases of many acts that became more famous on later releases. I knew absolutely nothing about Blondie when I bought this, their first single, in a plain sleeve from my local HMV. I loved it and eagerly waited the next release. Then 'Denis' hit the charts and I saw Debbie Harry on Top Of The Pops. Watching it with my mates, our jaws dropped open as one. 'Do you believe she's in her Thirties' we said incredulously as we all instantly developed a 'thing' for older women!! We absolutely drooled over the first three albums, but then something happened musically, and Debbie and the gang turned Disco! It was too much to cope with, and consequently we lost interest in our idol. Eighteen years later, she relaunched her career with 'Maria', but this time round she looked more like Mrs Doubtfire than Mrs Robinson. The music was back to basics though, but unfortunately lacked the 'punch' of her 'relative' youth.
Another band I liked before most, was Mr Ant and his pals. I had bought a single called 'Young Parisians' which sounded like a gimmicky novelty sing to me, but on the b-side was this gem of a power-pop track - quite kinky as well! It's still incredibly difficult to find even today, with most available versions being recorded live. Another memory I have of Adam and the Ants is of being at a works Christmas party, dancing away to 'Ant Music', all very drunk, and getting slightly carried away. The moment came when the line "so unplug the jukebox and do us all a favour" blasted out, at which point, my colleague and friend (who shall remain nameless, but anyone who knows her will know who she is), tripped over the mains cable, yanking the cable from the mains socket and bringing silence to the room. I've not been able to hear the song again since, without expecting it to stop at that point.
Just a great rock track that sums up everything I like about rock music. the track just failed to reach the Top 40 in 1980, but nonetheless remained their biggest UK hit.
In 1978, this track was played on the Old Grey Whistle Test, and when the album was released, I immediately bought a copy. I have never seen a performer like Meat Loaf, and was blown away by the power of his voice. I played the album on continuous loop for 48 hours and then at least once a day for the next few weeks. Two weeks after I bought the album, it entered the UK charts and stayed there for over nine years, never reaching higher than number 9. The 7 inch single version of the title track, is a complete bastardisation of the original album version, but lasts for at least 4 minutes less, making it much more suitable for radio airplay. Every track on the LP is a gem, and a more perfect rock album I can't imagine.
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