A Lark Ascending

Someone is going to tell me that this is a famous piece of Czech surrealist art. ********************* You'd be hard pressed to beat the ones on this site: http://lpcoverlover.com/category/classical/

"Ah, Bisto!" Any classical record sleeve that puts the performers name in bigger letters than the composer/s on the disc.

Oren Marshall: http://orenmarshall.com/

I love that one too. The two guitarists are on fire but I also dearly love the organ playing (Larry Young) which just swirls all round the music beautifully; and the two acoustic track provide perfect contrast. I did have the first record by the second Mahavishnu - seem to recall lots of orchestra - but could never get on with it. Played 'Heart of Things' again last night; enjoyed it more than I remember but was still left wondering where the guitar was! Another favourite with a rare appearance as a sideman:

I remember hearing the whole of Abbey Road on the radio too, just before release. In Cornwall, though, not Africa. You know, as we're about the same age, I thought that was likely the case. Bet you saw the worldwide 'All You Need Is Love' in '67 too. I was in Singapore when it was broadcast.

http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/ravers-next-step-into-1960s.html

I must give this another listen. I loved McLaughlin in the Miles bands, the first Mahavishnu and in Shakti. But have always struggled with that processed guitar sound he adopted in the 80s. In the later Shakti Remembered groups (I saw a couple of them and really like the albums) that doesn't matter so much because the acoustic instruments around him provide contrast. But I often can't tell what is a guitar and what a keyboard - such a pity because he has such a great guitar sound. My favourite from these years is: Something of a pot pourri of his different styles but one I've always enjoyed. For my favourite McLaughlin album you have to go much earlier:

Finally finished: An excellent survey. Now onto:

Mark Lockheart's 'Ellington in Anticipation' band in Sheffield. The concert of the new CD - wonderfully quirky arrangements of well known Ellington tunes. Respectful but different. A tremendous version of 'I'm Beginning To See The Light' that sounded like it came out of a New York loft in the 70s. Sadly, not on the CD.

Think that was 1972. Great record, nonetheless. My record (LP & sleeve) list 1973, though it is an Australian Island pressing That would explain it. Details here: http://www.richardthompson-music.com/album.asp?id=5 I remember eyeing it up in 'Bon Marche' in Swindon, UK back in '72 - in those days department stores had good record departments. Didn't buy it then because the timings looked so meagre - that mattered when you only bought an LP every month or so! It was then missing in action for years. I think I only got a copy in the early 80s, possibly at the Cropredy Fairport shindig.

Trad was also the musical style (or one of the) that accompanied the Ban the Bomb marches. Hard to imagine to those of us for whom it screamed 'fuddy-duddy' as much as 'country and western'. (I agree with BBS about the Frame book - excellent survey. There's some coverage in the recent Heining book on Brit jazz - I'll not repeat my impatience with that one!)

MG has given the reason. It was seen as 'authentic' as opposed to commercialised (of course, it wasn't) - the opposite of doggies in windows and rather small bikinis. The same reason folk music caught on [which got so purest in some clubs that you weren't allowed to play a guitar or sing a song that was not from your 'own tradition']. There was an enormous fear in Britain that we were about to buried in commercialised crassness (an idea that has never gone away). 15 years later I can remember being encouraged to read Richard Hoggart's 'The Uses of Literacy' that reflected these concerns. I started listening to music in an era when 'trad' seemed just another form of vaudeville (I associated it with variety programmes on TV). Very hard to project to a time when it was seen as alternative. A lot of 'the discerning listener's' disdain for things like mainstream pop or even smooth jazz is a learnt response that goes back at least to the 50s (and, I suspect, much earlier).

Remember those coming out - I think it was the summer of 73. I had no Beatles records, though was aware of the singles obviously. I never had the red one. But I got the blue one as a Xmas '73 present (music to enjoy the oil crisis by). It was a permanent fixture on the turntable when we gathered for endless Mah Jong sessions in my first university year. Thinking of '73 politically I especially recall: The end of the Vietnam War and the Paris talks Riots at the Notting Hill Carnival The Chile coup The Yom Kippur War and subsequent oil crisis. Don't recall much between January and August - must have been studying too hard for my 'A' Levels. There must have been a miner's strike there somewhere - think it was the end of the year leading to the fall of Heath in '74.

You were so much older then... Thanks also to Jim. And to everyone who has pointed me in interesting directions I would never otherwise have thought to explore...

Think that was 1972. Great record, nonetheless.

That was about all the American music I could cope with in my early days. There was loads of blues based rock, soul etc in the air in those days but I reacted against it. I had to discover jazz first which then pointed me to the enjoyment in blues music.

I remember hearing the whole of Abbey Road on the radio too, just before release. In Cornwall, though, not Africa.

Don't think this one has been mentioned: I didn't hear it in full in '73, but I taped 'South Africa' off the radio and was much smitten by the song. Probably my favourite RH song alongside 'When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease.' The sidelong 'The Lord's Prayer' is a bit hard going, though, even to a fellow religious sceptic.

The second, perhaps. The first looks like a passport photo shot.

Pre 1969 Didn't pay music much attention but was subliminally absorbing 'The Light Programme' - a bizarre mixture of 60s MOR, the more polite bits of contemporary pop and nostalgia from earlier decades; and the strange things that my dad had on LP and reel to reel tape - lots of musicals, Sinatra, Crosby, opera arias and classical lollipops. 1969 - 70 Became smitten with a girl who had a transistor radio to her ear all the time. Got no-where there but spent a year listening indiscriminately to Radio 1 and Radio Luxembourg. 1970 - 73 Got a record player of my own, started reading music papers and decided I was far too superior for mainstream pop; started following 'progressive' rock. Got my first taste of folk rock (Fairport) and jazz rock (Soft Machine); and all sort of classical snippets wedged into rock songs . 1973 - 76 The university years; more of the same but veering increasingly towards the second division bands (affecting a preference for Henry Cow over Led Zeppelin was my version of pretending to prefer Schnabel over Uchida). Started to listen to classical alongside - Sibelius, Mahler, Stravinsky, Bruckner - and a little bit of semi-jazz in Carla Bley and Keith Jarrett. 1976-77 A mixture of punk and growing disappointment with rock began to get me looking elsewhere and experimenting with more classical and jazz. 1978 + Regular pay checks allowed for more experimentation. Listening now jumped between classical and jazz with an ever decreasing number of rock records. I didn't want to abandon rock, hating the idea of becoming an 'I only listen to posh music' type. But I found it harder and harder to connect to except for the occasional thing that spoke to me - XTC, early REM, more recently Porcupine Tree. Round about 1980 I widened to folk music, going to folk clubs, festivals and buying lots of English and Irish folk records. Since then the core has been a revolving interest in classical, jazz and folk. In the 90s I added country and bluegrass, in the 00s a fascination with Scandinavian folk and I've also had periods of interest in African music and even reggae (I'd never have predicted that!). As I've got older, rather than refine my tastes (I hate the idea of being a 'Discriminating Listener' [which doesn't mean I don't discriminate]) I've just found them expand out of control. I also find increasing joy from listening to the music that first caught me interest 40 years ago, finding the enjoyment in things I'd been silly enough to think I was above in the 80s. I find a lot of pleasure currently in exploring areas of the classical repertoire I don't really know - my centre of gravity there has generally been the early 20thC. I'm enjoying going back to Baroque and beyond (Bach to Schubert I've long enjoyed) but, especially, in exploring contemporary classical - the latter is something I've banged my head against for 40 years and am only now making some headway with.

Beginning of the end for my tastes, perhaps. But there are many pathways in music. That one I've never felt the inclination to wander down, but I can appreciate the appeal for others. Just as long as it's not presented as 'the right pathway'. Which was my real issue with Year Zero (1976 in the UK).

My uncle (one of a number) used to collect the money in Perranporth car park! Don't think he ever dressed like these chaps though. You'd need a few Doom Bars to work up the courage.

This one was recorded in 1973 but not released until 1976. I saw the band (Martin Carthy/John Kirkpatrick/Sue Harris/Roger Swallow/Ashley Hutchings/Simon Nicol) in the January of that year and it had a huge impact. I had a few Fairport and Sandy Denny records and had heard a bit of folk on John Peel's programme (probably next to Captain Beefheart and Budgie....those were the days!). The concert led me to buy this a few weeks later, a 1972 release: As a rock listener I was very keen on English groups who sang in English accents (thus the attraction of the whole Canterbury scene) but this took it all to another level of possibility.

Apparently these were both from 1973 - I first heard the second the following year, the first about 8 years later. Planxty were a curiosity in my collection in the 70s but would come to be very important as my interest in folk music (beyond folk rock) took hold. The first one in particular was hugely influential in Ireland and beyond - the point when Irish music opened up for the hippy generation!