Wednesday, May 17, 2017

ABCs of My Vinyl Collection (Letter E, Part 9)

While having a recent in-depth conversation about records and blogging with Walter and JC, or "the Blogfather," as JC is now known, the Blogfather suddenly paused, looked me square in the eye and said, "You know we aren't normal." He's correct, of course, this music obsession of ours, and having a savant-like talent for recalling when and where I have bought thousands of records may be a case in point. That brings me to the two albums above and a wonderful memory of finding them.

In 1988, at age 18, I took a road trip with my best friend. This was the first time I had ever had an adventure like that, and my heart was filled with excitement at this newfound independence. It was a feeling that could never be replicated. You're only young once. We drove all night and well into the next day to get from the cornfields of Illinois to Austin, Texas. Not a care in the world. Lots of junk food and singalongs to early B-52's as dawn was breaking. We were so punchy by then we actually started to think we sounded good. Our first stop in Austin was to Waterloo Records. The legendary shop lived up to expectations when I heard Dinosaur Jr.'s 'You're Living All Over Me' playing on the sound system.

I was heavily into Bowie and Talking Heads at the time, still am, in fact, but I had yet to discover Brian Eno's solo work. I bought his first two albums that day. I still can't believe 'Here Come the Warm Jets' and 'Taking Tiger Mountain' are from 1974. Besides Bowie and Roxy Music, I didn't think there was anything else out there from the era except bad AM-radio hits. These albums opened my mind to the possibilities there could be more good music from the early '70s. Here are the opening tracks to both albums. I have to say they both sound pretty good today.

"Needles in the Camel's Eye"
"Burning Airlines Give You So Much More"

7 comments:

TheRobster said...

"...we aren't normal."
Depends on your definition of 'normal'. People who don't obsess about something aren't normal to me, whether it be music, sport or cupcakes. We are as 'normal' as it is gets - delightfully abnormal!

Swiss Adam said...

Eno's albums are a treat. Down with normal.

C said...

"Show me a normal person and I'll cure them" to paraphrase Jung...

Dirk said...

When detecting this fat bloke in the Spiderman dress on his way to this comic store on Saturday morning whilst we were heading for Monorail, JC said to me: "You know what, we're sad. But they're pathetic!"

Class!

The Swede said...

I'm with TheRobster, people who don't obsess about something are the abnormal ones. As long as your obsession is not nasty or is at someone else's expense, more power to you. Although I might draw the line at an overweight bloke wandering around in a Spiderman outfit! I'm just glad that I stumbled upon you like-minded souls who share my own particular passion.
Those first four vocal albums by Eno are just fantastic.

JC said...

So why wasn't this adventure, in its full glory, aired at the recent weekend?

I now see why you said Seattle-Glasgow via Amsterdam was a piece of cake.....

I won't attempt to explain why I think we're not normal.....I actually revel in the fact. It's up there with my obsession for lower league football, with my own team next season down in the depths alongside Airdrie FC in the third tier.

The guy in the Spiderman outfit was probably pointing and laughing at us with our indie-kid 'uniforms' as we headed towards an audience with Stephen Pastel.

Brian said...

A moment I will treasure, Dirk. A hearty laugh at a moment I felt so hungover.