Record Collector Nostalgia #3

12-24-08 Record Collector Nostalgia #3

(I’ll be back on Mon. 12/29!)

From reader Ken H.: “I believe Warren had just purchased “Tarkus” (or some other early EL&P album). We spun the LP for the first time on his family's console stereo system and sat in anticipation of tasty tracks. We listened to Keith Emerson's wicked keyboard work for a couple of minutes thinking "Wow, this guy is really a fast keyboard player..." until we realized that the turntable had been set at 45 RPM instead of 33 1/3 RPM. If Greg Lake's vocals had come in he would have sounded like a chipmunk. We promptly set the RPM speed correctly and never spoke of the incident again.”

I remember not being able to tell the album title from the group name (if the group didn’t have more than one LP) – Was “Osanna” the name of the album and “Palepoli” the group name? I certainly first heard Italian rock music on the FM radio, in the early 70’s. I used to stay up all night on Saturday and listen to KPFK-FM (90/7) – sometimes, there was a substitute disc jockey who played really interesting stuff (Hi, Greg!).

My teenaged years are not complete without mention of The Firesign Theatre. Either you know, or you don’t. “Waiting For The Electrician (Or Someone Like Him)”, “How Can You Be In Two Places At Once (When You’re Not Anywhere At All)?”, “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliars” and “I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus” – records capable of bending your youthful brain in a very special way. I still quote from those records, and you can tell immediately if who you’re quoting to knows or not. For my 50^th birthday, I wore my “Quid Malborg En Plano” T-shirt in Portland. Pappoon for President!

While record collecting has always been my #1 hobby, I was very enthusiastic about film in the 70’s – I will never forget seeing “If…” and “O Lucky Man!” for the first time – at tiny art theatres. Or “Morgan” with David Warner. I love those films! “The Shout”, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”, “I’m Alright Jack” – I knew 100% that my current LTR was solid when she really liked “I’m Alright Jack”. Was it possible to separate one’s friends into two camps: ones who knew “Bedazzled” (the Cook & Moore original) and ones who didn’t? “Who wants to go with me to see “Repulsion” and “Cul De Sac” – up in L.A.?”

Eventually, I got around to some US films, too. “The Sweet Smell Of Success”, “The Loved One”, “Diary Of A Mad Housewife”, “Real Life” (Albert Brooks)…

Record collecting seemed to be a fairly good barometer, when it came to friends, community – Was I at home with the King Crimson fans? Yeah, mostly. I didn’t do ‘glam rock’ the first time through – but I am super OK with it now (Slade, Suzi Quatro, Sweet et al). I remember re-thinking a high school GF when she was too into Queen!

And I can’t seem to escape the female Elvis Costello fans!~

Happy Xmas. Thanks for reading my stuff.