Freak out in a moonage daydream (David Bowie) (LP 424)

David Bowie The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Vinyl, RCA, 1972) *****

Genre: English pop rock 

Places I remember: The RCA Record Club supplied me with this, as they did Hunky Dory at around the same time.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Starman

Gear costume:  Suffragette City  

Active compensatory factors: I was obsessed with this record in 1972. 

My world view was severely limited in 1972, my 4th form year at Mt Albert Grammar. Bowie really was from Mars as far as I was concerned. So was England. A mystical place that contained my cousin, some Beatles (Lennon was in New York by then), Arsenal football club and David Bowie (in physical form at least).

The music was/is, of course, a revelation. I would listen to it and gaze at the cover in my bedroom and wonder about who K West was, wonder about a wet London street in an England that had old brick buildings (I knew that from Look And Learn), and wonder about how a creature like Bowie had beamed down to Earth.

Starman is what started all this Bowie wonder stuff. That and a poster in Sounds magazine (a Japanese pressing of Hunky Dory, on the left, used the same image) that I had on my bedroom wall (I wonder what my mother thought of that - she never said but I bet there were interesting thoughts in her head).

Then, when I heard the album, every song was like a bucket of cold water over the head! So unique and so right.

For many people, Bowie created an outlet and a basis upon which they could be their true selves. That wasn't my situation, but this album did open up the creative possibilities for me and showed me that it's okay to change and develop and make brave choices.

Where do they all belong? I didn't stick around for Aladdin Sane for some bizarre reason (I loved Jean Genie and bought the single). My next Bowie purchase wouldn't be until the Lennon appearance on Young Americans.

Rising sun (Cold Chisel) (LP 423)

Cold Chisel East (Vinyl, WEA, 1980) *****

Genre: Australian pop/rock

Places I remember: Marbecks Records (Queen's Arcade, Auckland)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Star Hotel

Gear costume:  Standing On The Ouside, My baby, Cheap Wine, Four Walls, Choir Girl, Rising Sun, Tomorrow, Best Kept Lies. Ita

Active compensatory factors: Their finest studio album? Oh, I'd say so. 

Don Walker is a great writer, Jimmy Barnes is a great singer and with help (writing and playing) from Ian Moss, Phil Small, and Steve Prestwich on this album, they made for a winning combination. 

See if you can name another band where all five members write quality songs.  I can't.

This album is all about the catchy songs - classics in the Cold Chisel canon!

Playing it again just now, I was struck by how timeless it sounds - nary a hint of eighties gloss - just five Aussie blokes locked in and doing it fearlessly. 

Where do they all belong? The live album is coming!

Nudge, nudge (Monty Python) (LP 422)

Monty Python Live At Drury Lane (Vinyl, Charisma, 1974) ****

Genre: Comedy

Places I remember: Marbeck's Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bruces

Gear costume:  Four Yorkshiremen, Argument, Lumberjack Song, Parrot Sketch (side 2 is all killer)

Active compensatory factors: Like many of my generation, I know this album off by heart! Too silly too silly!

Where do they all belong? The vinyl comedy section is reasonably large I find! How sweet to be an idiot!

Winter (Vivaldi) (LP 421)

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-fields, Alan Loveday - violin) The Four Seasons (Vinyl, Argp, 1970) *****

Genre: Classical

Places I remember: Marbecks Records (Classical shop), Auckland, NZ
 
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume:  Winter 

Active compensatory factors:  I've chosen Winter for obvious reasons (if you live in the southern hemisphere as I do it's frrrrrrrrezzzzzzing), but it's also the Vivaldi season that gets the blood pumping with Alan Loveday excelling on violin.

This version of The Four Seasons was bought when I needed to expand my musical palette a little. I approached Murray Marbeck (when I was working in the pop store in the early eighties) and asked his advice. He handed me this record!

It appears that this 1969 version is considered a benchmark recording of this seminal work. Well done and thanks Murray!

Where do they all belong? It slots into the Vivaldi corner of the classical section.

Day tripper (The Beatles) (LP 420)

 

Nancy Sinatra Boots (Vinyl, Reprise, 1966) ***

Genre: Easy listening

Places I remember: Graham Purdy collection. 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: These Boots Are Made For Walkin' - Nancy goes for the sex kitten look in this great video - a precursor to Madonna, and the ensemble dance routine - a precursor to Michael Jackson and others. Pretty racy for the mid sixties!

Gear costume:  As Tears Go By, Lies 

Active compensatory factors: This album has always been in my consciousness - I can remember seeing this cover in my dad's record collection since I was 9 years old. It had zero impact on me! Just an album dad owned and a music style that I never liked.

Day Tripper is a good example: her version is Las Vegas lounge - dinner and a show style. An afront to the original. Zero sexuality!

This was her debut - an album that included Beatle/Stones/Dylan and three (THREE) Lee Hazlewood covers.

All are rended in that trademark cabaret style (the Dylan is a particularly uneasy version of It Ain't me, Babe);

Why Dad (or mum?) liked it, I'm not sure. I don't recall him playing the album but he must have at some stage.

Listening to it again in 2020, I remain unmoved, although I get the camp appeal. The back cover liner notes by Stan Cornyn are a hoot and although 'of their time', a great accompaniment to the hip sounds on offer.

Where do they all belong? It resides in the Easy Listening section along with dad's other albums.

Rhythm-a-ning (Thelonious Monk) (LP 419)

Thelonious Monk Live At The It Club (Vinyl, CBS, 1982) ****

Genre: Piano Jazz 

Places I remember: Hmmm - I can usually remember where I bought each album but this one escapes me. I have the vinyl but I made my own cover as it didn't come with one. Now I come to think of it, I think I got this from a music shop in Leigh-on-sea in Essex. Not Fives, but a bookshop cum record store that is no longer there. I got a few things there without covers but in mint condition. This was orginally a double album but I only have sides 1 and 2.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Blue Monk

 
Gear costume:  Misterioso

Active compensatory factors: I love Monk's piano playing because he is so different to every one else. He has a truly unique style.

This one was recorded at a small club in LA in 1964 but not released until after Monk's death.The club atmosphere emerges at times with glasses and some conversation from the audience. I can well imagine the place with smoke and elegant women listening to Monk play.

Where do they all belong? Play alongside Solo Monk - also from 1964.