If there is one thing I haven’t lost as I’ve gotten older, it’s that euphoria I feel when I get new music. The emotion and every ritual involved continue to this day.
Don’t you remember that feeling of buying new music when you were a kid? That time is different for everyone. For me, I was 10-11 years old and made enough allowance money to buy at least one record a month and some 45s in between, then cassettes when they came along.
I’d plan the whole week around Saturday, when I’d run to the record store to get the new Kiss (yep, there was also Pete Townshend, Leif Garrett, Shaun Cassidy, Steve Miller and other music groups that date my ass). As I left the store, I cradled the record in my arms against my chest. Once home, I would unwrap the plastic, take the record out carefully and breath in that new vinyl smell.
My mom had a great stereo in our living room with these huge cushy headphones. I’d put the record on, take out any lyrics included in the sleeve and lay down under the dining table. I listened from beginning to end. Back then you’d have to get up and move the needle from song to song. No remote controls for record players. Back then we cultivated the value of listening to an album in its entirety. We had no choice.
Today, my music buying experiences are a little different. Recently my 6-year-old son came with me. We went to Zia Records. To get him there, I lied. Yep. I told him they had a Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes selection. Actually, they could have, but they didn’t.
When we opened the door, he said out loud, “Mom, are you sure this is the kind of place you should be taking your kid?” I said, “Of course, it’s a music store. Let’s go get some music.” “Mom, I don’t know if I can go in there. It smells funny.”
You know, it did smell funny, kind of like the guys in there had been working hard and going out for smokes in the back during their breaks, mixed in with the smell of new CDs.
“You’ll get used to it. Let’s go!” He went in and helped me look for my CDs, and of course we looked for Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes. No selection. Bummer.
We went to checkout. “You guys really need to get some Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes,” my son told the guy at the cash register. I smiled. I paid and held those CDs close as we headed for the car. You can’t really cradle CDs, even if you wanted to.
My purchases: I’d recommend the latest from Spoon, and Editors. Although the first listen was spotty, with a kid in the back complaining about my “strange music.” I realize I miss my mom’s stereo, those cushy headphones and that dining table. I need a grown-up-with-kids version, which today ended up being my car.
The feel was almost the same. At stoplights, I looked over the CD jackets and read the lyrics. These bands are great. I recommend them for the car, or if you have uninterrupted time at home, under your own dining table (you really need an oversized tablecloth that almost touches the floor). I hear a bit of The Jam in this new Spoon album. I’ve seen Spoon, but Editors are new to me. The lyrics bite a bit like the The Smiths. I’m happy right now, even if I don’t have the dining table from my past. Right now the music is enough.
This article appears in Nov 8-14, 2007.
Thanks for recommending Spoon and Editors. What happened to that intern woman who blogged about the music acts Electrelane and Andrew Bird? She should post some more recommendations.
I was a vinyl junkie too. I still have quite a few of my 45s. We used to go to Musicland in the mall when I was about 7. The new 45s were all displayed on the wall. I had an allowance and wanted to buy records like my older siblings, but I didn’t know what to buy. So I would get whatever had a name that I liked. I thought “Wildfire” was a cool name so that was one of the first records I ever bought. It turned out to be an okay song, about a horse.
When “Star Wars” came out they had a “galactic funk” disco version by Meco, and I got that. Then to follow suit, when they released “Close Encounters,” John Williams produced a pop/disco version for the radio. I remember hearing that song playing in the park long before I ever saw the movie.
My sister was nut about Leif Garrett, Shawn Cassidy and the Bay City Rollers. The latter was a Scottish band and all the guys in it wore clothes with variations of kilt-like plaid in them. I guess every girl had to pick a favorite band member, and my sister’s was a guy named Les. On her school notebook, she had written “Les Is More” in bubble letters.
I too found Spoon to be good stuff. It inspired me to go build a playlist of a bunch of good indie stuff (LINK)
I believe this might be a great launching point for people to share on music. Anyone?
Here’s what I’ll contribute: click the link, scan my playlist and recommend some more good bands to check out.
Better watch out for James Reel’s playlist. It’s liable to be a bunch of atonal music.
This Tom Danehy piece has some pretty funny comments about James Reel’s and Emil Franzi’s music taste.
I’ve recently been listening to Battles, Apparat, Stars of the Lid, Menomena, Messer Chups, Coconut Monkeyrocket, and the sound of a one hand clapping after a tree falls in the forest.
Oh yeah, since we’re being web savvy:
I’ve recently been listening to Battles, Apparat, Stars of the Lid, Menomena, Messer Chups, Coconut Monkeyrocket, and the the sound of one hand clapping after a tree falls in the forest.
I’m also a huge, huge fan of Canadian teen-pop phenomenon Robin Sparkles, and I’m completely addicted to her extraordinary video. Check her out — you won’t be sohrry!
Admin: Please delete my previous boring and non-web-savvy message.
Sam-I hope you’re listening to all of that electronica and ambiant in a bright sunny room! Re: Bay City Rollers, I remember this guy who used to work at the Daily Wildcat. I can’t remember his name. But I remember going to a party at his house. He had a huge vinyl collection and lots of Bay City Rollers. I didn’t recall knowing a lot of guys into the Bay City Rollers, but I certainly remember lot of girls oggling over the plaid ones on the cover Tiger Beat. Whatever happened to Tiger Beat? What about Dynamite?
A friend sent me a file of The Maccabees'”Tissue Shoulders.” I’ve been wanting to hear more. They also sent me The Rakes’ “The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect,” and Warm in the Wake’s “American Prehistoric,” which I also appreciated.
What’s good about this friend sending music once in a while and my recent purchases, is that I begin to realize I need more that Kathleen Hanna lately to help me clean the kitchen. IPH – thanks for your playlist.
Mari, I don’t ever remember having to move the needle from song to song. Each side of an LP pretty much played itself right through. I did have to get up and flip it to Side Two, but that was generally the extent of my DJ duties.
That’s true – records definitely play through. Maybe she meant you need to raise the needle and put it down to switch from song to song — i.e. “Man! I want to hear Sweet Young Thing again! So I’ll move the needle”.
If you got the song reference, then thumbs up to you for having some knowledge about The Chcoolate Watchband, one of the more underrated ’60s bands out there.
Yes, IPH is right… John… who wants to get up and flip channels anymore. Record players don’t fit in with our current remote control mentality.
Sam-Love Robin Sparkles and her Canadian-ness. I can’t get the embed to work, but check out Leslie Hall and her song, “Gem Sweater.” She tours… wonder if the Rialto would have her?
Leslie Hall performed at Club Congress about a year ago. Fun show. Her fans border on the religious.
Mari, not everything I mentioned is ambient or electronica. Battles is more of a post-rock/progressive thing. Messer Chups is Russian surf-guitar/retro. Menomena is Portland indie-rock. Coconut Monkeyrocket is sample-based mashup music….pretty much one guy going nuts with ProTools editing. I’m glad you enjoyed Robin Sparkles! Let’s go to the mall! (giggle)
I wonder who the guy was at the Az. Daily Wildcat who had the Bay City Rollers collection. Did he also have Osmonds and Jackson 5 records? Weird. Yeah I remember Tiger Beat! Also Teen Beat. Also Creem. Also Dynamite! I still have an issue of Dynamite with Captain & Tenille on the cover! I might have another one with the Fonz on it. I’ll bet it’s worth two dollars on e-Bay! The company that published Dynamite had a short-lived magazine for boys called Pizazz. I had a subscription though the magazine was canceled so I only got a cople of copies (same thing happened with Talk magazine — paid for a subscription then only got 2 copies….damn you Conde Nast! or whoever it was). I also had Ranger Ricks coming out my ass. TMI?
I’ll check out Leslie Hall…
Hey John Banks, I used to have a turntable where you would stack the records on the top of a tall aligning rod with a little blocker that held them aloft, and one by one the player would drop them (by briefly retracting the blocker) and play them. This worked really well with triple albums like Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s live extravaganza.
IPH you brought up Chocolate Watchband. I have their main album on CD. “Gossamer Wings” is my favorite song. Also the “Expo” song. My friend who is nuts for psychedelia saw them play live a couple years ago and said it was really disappointing, they were just cashing in on nostalgia and otherwise uninspired.
Sam, re: CWB – that’s a shame. I know that they no longer have the same “it” they did back in the day, and its my understanding Ed Cobb helped their “sound” a lot; Voyage of the Trieste (or maybe it was Dark Side of the Mushroom), both personal favorites, are studio pieces hard to replicate live.
Nonetheless they had wicked psych stuff and also some good garage beats.
I am listening to Oliver Messiaen’s “Chronochrome” and “L’Ascension” conducted by Karl Anton Rickenbacher.
Also playing:
— Oliver Messiaen: “Exlairs Sur L’au-Dela…”; orchestra of the Bastille Opera, cond. Myung-Whun Chung
— John Cage: “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano,” perf. Boris Berman
— Charles Ives: “Universe Symphony” / “Orchestral Set No. 2” / “The Unanswered Question”; Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. Gerhard Samuel
— Charles Koechlin: “Au Loin” / “Le Buisson Ardent” / “Sonate Pour Piano Et Violoncelle”; Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, cond. Leif Segerstam