In the Event of a Festival-Free Summer: STEP TWO!

In my eyes, or ears, music is timeless. If it’s bad the day it was made, it’s still going to be bad fifty years down the line. Time can’t change that, just as it can’t change great music. So, if  you find yourself with the Summer boredom blues, and you’re feeling the necessity of new-music yet don’t have access to the up-and-coming stages at festivals this summer, rifling through your Mum & Dad’s record collection could be a really fun and…um… ‘interesting’ experience to introduce yourself to sounds you’ve never heard before!

STEP TWO: ‘OLD’ music. It’s still NEW music.

With the modern day’s expeditious culture and it’s use of just as fast-paced music technology, there never seems to be the opportunity of sitting down and listening honestly to an entire album as it was intended by the artist. Yet, there’s a magic about 42s and 35s that have you listening intently for the record’s entirety, possibly through the lack of ability to select individual tracks, or what I like to think is due to an engaging quality to the music you don’t get when listening on other formats. And at least for me I know, whatever happens today with that record player, I shall always be a record junkie… Wish me luck…

MY VERDICT:

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m fortunate to have parent’s with an eclectic taste, yet unfortunate enough for that eclectic taste to throw up some rather huge curveballs to my own. It’s been difficult to swallow so much 70s funk, Sir Cliff and Diana Ross, but like a spoonful of Cod Liver oil, in the end I suppose it’s all good for me. So…what treasure did I hit digging into the past?

The ‘best bits’: BAND ON THE RUN, reaffirming my love for McCartney; STEVIE WONDER – ‘Innervision‘, ashamed I’ve never made time to sit down and pay this man and his albums the full attention they deserve in the past; ROD STEWART - ‘Smiler’, he just has a voice made for the record player, simple as; THE SWEET – back when rock was a bit more colourful, glamorous, and…cheesy (I should really put this under my guilty pleasures but I don’t feel guilty in the slightest!); SHAWADDYWADDY - ‘Trocadero’, don’t be fooled by the band name! They’re not nearly as half as cheesy as The Sweet…

Openly guilty past pleasures: CHER, because for that woman, that voice, you’ve got to care; SHA NA NA – who doesn’t love classic rock ‘n’ roll by an all-American cover band? THE NEW SEEKERS…I know, but ‘Never Ending Song of Love’, it’s catchy… THE SUGARHILL GANG - ‘Rapper’s Delight’, it’s so delightful, I don’t even feel guilty!

Surprise curveballs worth a listen: TERENCE TRENT D’ARBY – ‘Introducing the Hardline According to…‘, this man has SOUL, yes, in capitals; DARTS – a rock ‘n’ roll band from the late 70′s I dare you not to dance or smile to; THE SHADOWS – definitely worth your while if you’re ‘Hank Marvin’ for new music; THE TOMITA PLANETS – experimental, retro-electro, classical music…I think that’s how I’d label this. Whatever this album may be, it has to be the most surprising thing I’ve listened to today.

Music I can never un-listen to: GILBERT O’SULLIVAN – even if ‘I’m a writer, not a fighter‘, I’m not sorry to say this album is better left in the past; CLIFF RICHARD - ‘Rock’n'Roll Juvenile’ no longer, Sir.

Overall, Emergency Step Two, it’s a nice way to reboost your appreciation of music in general. It’s also a great way to shock yourself about your parents; the moment I found the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ on LP was the highlight of this search! Sure, I would have loved it if my parent’s collection was made up of The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the Stones, but that’s the nice thing about this – listening to music you never usually listen to. But if you can’t find any new-old music that tickles your fancy? Well, there’s always the speed control. Or playing the records backwards for entertainment in the form of satanic messages. Or plugging in your iPod in appreciation you only have to deal with today’s new music scene.

Over the next week I’ll be attempting the task of hunting down secret gigs and seeing if it really can be successful! So look out for FESTIVAL-LESS EMERGENCY STEP 3!