The B-52s by The B-52s 1979

 In January 1980 I was in Paris, France with Leonie, my girlfriend at the time and we were wandering the streets after dinner taking in the cold night air as you do. It was early evening and as we passed a record shop down tucked into one of narrow streets this strange music came bouncing off the walls. It was other worldly but definitely pop music. But of a different kind. It reminded of Roxy Music and Yoko Ono all at once.  

More importantly I thought I had found a French band. Which would be exciting. To take back to Australia something no one had heard yet from a slightly exotic country. It was exciting buying the Specials debut in a French department store the day previously but this topped that. In the record store the man behind the counter explained that they were an American band and the album was fabulous but he was playing his very own copy. They had no more. Sold out. So I left Paris without the B-52s.

I didn't matter because when I got back to Australia they had just started playing Rock Lobster on the radio and the B-52s were about to become a hit making machine.

On my first visit to Missing Link Records when I was back in Melbourne I saw they had  the B-52s record in their racks, The cover just jumped out. Great I could buy it here, I was in Missing Link to see Bruce from Au Go Go. A UK distributor called Stage One were starting a record label and wanted to put the first Little Murders single out as their debut release. I was at the counter when Nick Cave came over to me and started asking me questions about the UK. Which surprised me since even though my bands had played a number of times with the Boys Next Door I had hardly spoken to him at all. But he really wanted to know what was going on in London. I said there weren't too many exciting bands around playing live. And a lot of the venues are quite small.
At the time I didn't know they were planning to move over there. 

Got so caught up talking to Nick and then Bruce that I walked out of the shop without the B-52s record. I didn't get it for another few months because Rock Lobster was everywhere. I couldn't listen to that track any more. Then I picked it up second hand. And it was brilliant even if I had to lift the needle over Rock Lobster.

Reckless by The Sports 1978

 In 1977  my friends and I would go to a lot of Sports gigs. This was the closest we could get to the scene that was happening in the UK even though it wasn't punk music. But they had got a brilliant review in the NME. Single of the week no less. And we all bought the 7 inch EP. This was our Melbourne band. 

Seemingly led by Steve Cummins by the fact he was the singer their star continued to shine as 1978 appeared. And they seemed to give support to the leading lights of the new wave in the Boys Next Door. The Sports/ Boys Next Door nights were the highlights of our gig going in 78. One gig at the Collingwood Town Hall with both bands playing stands out in particular. Probably the first time I went to Collingwood. And when Sports brought out their debut album we all went and bought it. because we were listening to Graham Parker and Elvis Costello as well a full-on punk like the Clash there seemed to be room for everything now. 

It kicked off with the "Boys (What Did The Detective Say?)" single. (Oddly enough Elvis Costello released "Watching The Detectives " at the same time) The song was a very Melbourne song that we could easily identify with the lyrics. From then on it was a trip from Russell Street to Richmond and Carlton and around the city. Steve may not have mentioned the places directly in the songs but it all just felt inner city Melbourne. Listening to this album now brings up great memories of great venues of the past. Martinis in Carlton which was also a pizza place. the Kingston Hotel and walking down the stairs to the main room (seeing Graham Parker leaning on the wall watching the band) and the Station Hotel. Straight off the train and into the bar.

Candles in the Wind by Melanie 1970

 In 1970 this was stuck to my turntable. It was the single Lay Down that hit the radio that year which introduced us to Melanie. One word name in a time when singers didn't have one-word names. I was particularly attracted to her voice. Powerful at times but then fragile in the quieter moments. It was just different to other female voices I had heard.

So I bought the album and played it to death. It was 1970. The era of the singer-songwriter. I was living in Blackburn South but just started hanging out over across Middlesborough Road in Box Hill North. There was a friend from school called Paul True who played the guitar. I was in awe as he seemed to be able to play anything. The girls he hung out with were particularly enamoured by his version of Alexander Beetle from this record. He refused to play it for me though. He'd moved on. 

His dream was to play Festival Hall. I hope he got there. Little Murders almost got there. On a bill with Uncanny X-Men. But then the sponsors (Coca-Cola I think) didn't like the idea of having an independent band on the bill. They wanted bands on labels. That's when I realised playing Festival Hall might be my dream too. Too late now I guess unless I join the Church of Hillsong.

I lost interest in Melanie after this album. Glam rock swept a lot of this away. But she did hit the radio again with Brand New Key which I loved. And then when on my first live appearance I performed on Radio Auditions and with my girl-led trio Feathers singing a song called "Helpless Sparrow" won that night our prize was a bunch of singles. All rubbish except one was a Melanie single. Not very good but the flip side was a cover of a Jim Croce song which intrigued me because for a while there I liked Jim Croce too. The song was called Lovers Cross. And it was brilliant.

End Of The Century by The Ramones 1980

 Danny Says by the Ramones happened to be the first thing I heard off this album. I was around at Stuart Beatty's house and we were discussing what the sound of the next single might be like. He played "Danny Says" by The Ramones. Wait for the guitars to come in! Then we talked about how we were going to record "She Lets Me Know" We were looking for that power.

Until then I couldn't say I was listening to the Ramones much after 4 albums of punk rock guitar music. But this sounded different to their usual fare. And then I heard Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio. And I loved it. It just worked. I had missed the album on first release and it was hard to find a copy hut by chance I found a second-hand copy in an Op Shop. Glenhumtly Road. Elsternwick. This shop seemed to get a lot of almost new copies of new wave albums. Reviewers who just got rid of them. Or just one reviewer. You had to be quick though.

I spent a lot of time listening to the album. I was in transit from a share house in Oakleigh to a share house in Wellington Street Collingwood. Just up from the Tote. Which was still called the Ivanhoe Hotel then. 

I lived upstairs in a small room with a great stereo system. One wall had a bed and the other a stack of records. Downstairs we still competed for the stereo system to play our favourite songs. Often we would give up and just leave RRR on. 

Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen 1984

 In 1984 we were all getting a little sophisticated. I had finally got myself off the ground-level flats and up to the top floor in Murphy Street, South Yarra. Top floor apartments and views of the city (well I could almost see it from one part of the balcony) meant playing punk rock and Mod really didn't cut it. So it was time for the Bladerunner soundtrack and Echo and the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain with a little Jacque Brel thrown in. And a bit of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. 

Like a few other records, this one had one side that got the most airplay. In this case side 2 kicks off with the magnificent "The Killing Moon" and then just creates its own world from there. One I was happy to go to.  Spend early evenings indoors with the window to the balcony open. Later I might meet friends down on Toorak Road usually for Italian food at places like Portofino (which is probably the only restaurant name I remember)  Macys was at the bottom of my street and Little Murders played there now and again. Other times I would go down and see some great bands there. Looking at some of those handbills I can't believe how good some of the bands were. For heavens sake, The Cure playing at the bottom of my street. 

Eventually, the money ran out and they upped the rent so  I tried out a shared apartment with a teacher friend. Didn't work. I guess my control of the stereo was too much. 

Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub 1995

 There used to be a record shop down Moorabinn way called Vinyl Solution. Run by Glenn Evans and packed the ceiling with great records which is why after getting the record bug once more I would be down almost once a week. That's when this side of town had some great record shops. Vinyl Solution, Licorice Pie, Quality Records, Vicious Sloth and Greville Records. Sadly 3 of those have gone. Though I do love the new Licorice Pie space over in Collingwood.

Vinyl Solution would email a list of just in second-hand records once a week which I would hang out for. One week Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub was on the list. This was one of those holy grail records that I had to have. Far too expensive on Discogs especially when the postage kicked in I immediately bought it off the website. I was so excited I rang Glenn to make sure my order went through. He said I could pick it up Saturday. I said I would be over after work. Then the rains came down. Peak traffic on Nepean Highway. Could hardly see past the windshield. I just couldn't wait to actually hold it never mind play it. I guess I was being a bit irrational. 

Grand Prix was an album I didn't pay much attention to until after I heard Songs From Northern Britain. So I didn't know at the time how good it really was. And it's a ripper. About You, Sparky's Dream. When you play the first side it's hard to turn the record over because you just want to hear it again. Brilliant.

And it's still exciting looking through records and finding something you always wanted or may not know you wanted. A few days ago a friend and I went over to the North record shopping. I came home with Jonathan Sings by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Love it.

Deja Vu by Crosby Stills Nash & Young 1970

 In 1970 I was doing a chemist round where I dropped off medicines and other things at people's houses. Sometimes I even had to carry big packs of nappies on the back of my bike. My other job was burning stuff in the incinerator out the back of the shop. This was good because I could listen to my transistor radio as I burned stuff. This is where I first started hearing songs from Crosby Stills and Nash who were all over the radio the previous year with Marakesh Express. But the track everyone talked about was Suite Baby Blue Eyes. A small epic. This is what pointed to the future of rock. They said. And then they added Neil Young to the mix.

So it was with great excitement we waited for the new album CSN & Y album. And when it was released it went straight to the top of the charts. And straight onto the turntables of just about everyone I knew. Even our English teacher at school brought the record in to play us Teach Your Children so we could discuss the lyrics. I had to have it but had that laborious wait after ordering it from the Australian Record Club. I think I bought it with the equally popular Sweet Baby James album by James Taylor. When it finally arrived I would sit listening to it in the spare bedroom while incense filled the air (Another new thing for me) Great album although I always lifted the needle when Almost Cut My Hair came on skipping to the next track,  In the end, I was drawn to the Neil Young tracks more and more especially Helpless. Gradually talk at school was about Neil Young and an album he put out called After The Goldrush. But then someone brought Everybody Knows This is Nowhere to school and blew our teenage minds. All these albums mixed in together to create that American vibe which kind of summed up 1970 for me.

I must admit though that I hadn't listened to the album since then. Though some of the tracks overstayed their welcome on the radio listening to the album once more it sounds quite amazing. They said it took 800 hours to make and with the attention to detail one could almost believe it. 

Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival 1970

 So I was in Form 3 (Year 9) at Box Hill High School hanging out by the taps in the Quadrangle when the windows of the Art Room on the second storey were opened by a bunch of older kids and then large speakers were placed on the ledge. The distinctive thud of the stylus hitting the vinyl and suddenly the schoolyard was filled with the screaming guitar of John Fogerty, Up Around The Bend. And so I was really introduced to the mighty sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

With the end of the Beatles Creedence kind of became the biggest band in the world for a short while. Well according to GO-SET. But indeed Cosmos Factory was everywhere in 1970. I knew they'd been around for a while. My big brother Tony would play Susie Q on his Marantz stereo real loud. He was living across the road from our house and those early Creedence albums were never far from the turntable. 

But Cosmos was another thing altogether. What you might call a crossover hit. Their fifth album in 2 years. The radio would play the whole 11-minute version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" My brother Steven would tell me how that was the time it took him to drive to his girlfriend's house. Door to door Grapevine on the radio.

A brilliant album that rounded off the sixties. A massive party album. And with songs like "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Run Through The Jungle" not to mention that track that blasted the kids eating lunch at my old school, truly a classic album.

Parklife by Blur 1994

 In 1994 the Lizard Lounge was packing them in on both Thursday nights and on Saturday nights. Friday nights was certainly growing. The biggest groups were still the Smiths, The Stone Roses and the Pixies. But the music hadn't really changed too much since Nirvana released Smells Like Team Spirit. 

Then we heard this song called Boys and Girls from Blur. We had been playing their previous hit There's No Other Way but this was a whole new kettle of fish. Bright and poppy and with something of a disco groove. This was the beginning of the Britpop invasion. Just that opening few notes and the dance floor would be packed. Where the dance music before was touched by a hint of miserabilism now it was a thing of joy. Or maybe we couldn't appreciate the irony in the lyrics. 

The Parklife album became the new soundtrack to the mid-nineties which was full of colour, men's magazines and the Union Jack becoming fashionable once more. And using Phil Daniels from the Quadropheia film in the Parklife video was a great link to the Mod sixties and seventies. Of course, all this appealed to me because f the very Sixties London Swinging vibe that coloured the whole thing. This was an exciting scene and soon we had more bands like Supergrass, Sleeper and probably the best of them all Pulp. 

Britpop. A great time was had by all.

Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield 1973

 I was setting up a turntable the other day and looking for something to play in a bunch of old records and pulled this out. Talk about being transmitted back in time.

Back in 1973 I had taken over the biggest room in the house and turned it into my bedroom and a hangout. The walls were plastered with posters. The bulbs in all the light fittings had been replaced by coloured ones. I would come home from school and play records, read comics and just hang out. On Sunday nights I would catch the album show on the radio. One night they played the first side of Tubular Bells. I was transfixed. Just laid on the bed and closed my eyes and listened. Then Viv Stanshall said those two words. "Grand Piano" and it kind of blew my teenage mind.

The radio started playing the last side of side one a lot and you would hear Tubular Bells a lot. Especially when the movie "The Exorcist" was released as they used parts of Tubular Bells as the soundtrack. The Exorcist was also massive at the time. A friend of mine went to see it and couldn't sleep properly for two nights because it was so scary. So I put off seeing it until around 1975. They were playing it at lunchtime at the teacher's college I was at. Settled in the darkness to watch this big scary movie. Tubular Bells, footsteps on the ceiling, haunted looks. I was out of the theatre in 30 minutes. Too scary.

(I did watch it all the way through many years later.. great film)