My First LPs
The first album that I bought was a second hand copy of Here’s Little Richard. I adored it and played it to death. I remember at a school fete where we were asked to put on a fund raising stall. I took my Dansette in and was a Juke Box for the afternoon. I only took one album in and that was Little Richard, but I played it non-stop all afternoon and made a pound or two. It was an excuse to play the stuff I loved extremely loudly.
I soon followed that first album with Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly. I extended out to Elvis Presley and the first Cliff Richard ‘Live’ album.
The first new album I bought was The Shadow’s Greatest Hits in summer 1963. I loved the Shadows and had all their singles. It seemed the logical choice. I wasn’t to know that no sooner had I bought it that it was destined to become part of the ‘old sound’. It was blown into the past by the Beatles.
After one hearing of the Beatles Please Please Me album I was hooked. I rushed out and bought it. For a full year Merseybeat was it. Then it was British Beat with the Stones, Kinks, Who, Yardbirds, Animals and Pretty Things. I still have all the singles and albums. But I craved for the slightly out of the ordinary so I had The Downliners Sect, Birds, Sorrows and Bo Street Runners. I felt that this was my music. This was as if a knife had sliced it off from everything that had gone before. This was mine.
I loved albums.
I rushed home to my bedroom with my latest purchase, put side one on the Dansette and while it was blasting out, to the distant sound of ‘turn that down!’ futilely coming from my mum and dad in the living room, I avidly digested the front cover photo and all the writing and songs on the back. It was a total experience.
LPs were sacred. They were a complete package of art, information and music aimed only at me. I absorbed them with the rapture they deserved. They were the total immersive experience.
School Fete Juke Box – brilliant. You’re spot on about albums. The cover art, the liner notes, lyric sheets sometimes – all part of the experience. Great post.
Cheers Howard
To this day I detest Cliff Richard, as for the Beatles never to my taste, I had a single written and sung by John Lennon, it was never played on any stations might be rare it is up in the loft somewhere. My first album “The Beach Boys” the music you don’t like – but albums were great a work of art – my records rarely got played as my sister had the record player and only she was allowed to use it – still have all the albums.
I detest Cliff too but that first live album was very different – real Rock ‘n’ Roll – not his saccharin rubbish.
Strange how our tastes change.
They used to say it was Lonnie Donnergan – remember him – that introduced Rock and Roll to Britain. Did you ever have any Presley Albums, I didn’t.
Yeah – Lonnie’s Skiffle was the start. I preferred Little Richard and Buddy Holly to Elvis.
Buddy Holly – look at how much he could have achieved, he was also a very nice person.
Yes – probably one of the saddest losses. He would have gone on to do great things.
As good as Elvis was, if you liked his music, Buddy Holly would have been bigger, such a waste.
So little time and yet he did so much. He would have gone on and on. He had such talent.
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
Never looked back. I still have five thousand vinyl albums.