Propaganda by Sparks 1974

 I first heard Sparks "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us' driving along Surrey Road in Blackburn in 1974. I was in the back seat and I implored the driver to turn it up. It sounded amazing. I had already read about them. Roxy Music's little brothers I think they were coined as in NME. Or Roxy on helium. Whatever it was I had to to have it and duly bought Kimono My House. Which I liked but didn't love at the time. It was jostling with other records for my attention.

At the end of 74 I went back to the UK and the first thing I saw on television was Sparks performing "Something For The Girl With Everything' off their new album Propaganda. Russell was wearing gloves and a Christmas jumper. Ron looked like Hitler behind the keyboards. The sound popped right out of the TV. 

A little while later I was at WH Smith. The newsagents but also a record store. There was a massive record sale. The whole upstairs was full of records. Even recent hit albums at great prices. I couldn't believe that Propaganda was amongst them so even though I had only heard the one track I bought the album. 

In the UK winter of 74 and 75 I lived at my Aunt Sheila's house. Most days I was alone in the house until my cousin Neil came home at lunch and played Band on The Run or Simon and Garfunkel's greatest hits before going back to work. So a lot of the time I sat, read books and wrote letters and listened to Propaganda. Start to finish and without skipping tracks. Trying to sing along. Often hurting my throat with the high notes.

45 years later I'm in a venue in Tokyo with Sparks on stage and Russell sings ""Hello soldier boy," oh boy, she's spewing out her Propaganda" And a chill runs up my spine. Absolutely brilliant!

Moon Safari by Air 1998

 In 1998 I was open to all kinds of music. The first release on my record label was a trip hop album by my friends in Bloom. They had played me the demo tapes of the music and I was knocked out by the songs and the sounds they were making and it gave me the impetus to kick-start the label. So while I was still firmly entrenched in loud sixties alternative indie type music I had a leaning towards and a soft spot for dance music. I was running the Lizard lounge which played all kinds of pop music. If it had a good tune and a beat I was into it.

And at the start of 1998 we started hearing about this French band called Air that were striking out in a somewhat different direction. And the names of Burt Bacharach and Serge Gainsbourg came up. And of all people. Little Murders ex and future drummer Mick Barclay told me about this groovy band from France. It was the name on everyones lips that summer so much so that I went down to Mighty Music Machine in Prahran to score myself a copy only to be told they had got a shipment in and had sold out but were expecting another shipment the following week. I couldn't find it anywhere else so I just had to wait.

A few weeks later it was in and I picked up the CD. For waiting the owner also gave me a massive Pulp "This is Hardcore" poster that was too big for him to display. It's now on my kitchen wall. And in retrospect the music of that Pulp album and Moon Safari fitted well. As the summer of early 98 came to a close. the Air album was a constant on my CD player filling up the spaces of my house in Elwood. Early evenings and Stolleys vodka and a French band in the background. Brilliant.

New Wave by Various Artists 1977

 In 1977 it seemed like I was rebuilding my record collection from scratch. While I was quick to buy the first Damned album and just about anything punk my shelves were still crowded with a lot of records I didn't want to listen to anymore. Bowie, New York Dolls and Lou Reed/ Velvet Underground fitted in well but not a lot more. The sixties kind of fitted in but a lot of my records were more the commercial pop bands like the Searchers  although The Troggs had their place.

So a compilation record like this was really welcome. A few of the songs I had heard about but never seen down the record shop. I discovered Mystery Girls from the second Dolls album. Sonic Reducer by the Dead Boys. Talking Heads, Even The Runaways Cherry Bomb made a lot more sense in the context of this bunch of tracks. And best of all it had the song Shake Some Action which I begun hearing down the Tiger Room when the Keith Glass Band would play it on Wednesday nights. Me and my mates would be down the Tiger Room (or was it Tiger Lounge) every Wednesday night to hear Keith's band and to see which punk/ new wave band he would have support him. JAB, The Boys Next Door and more. Just fantastic nights.

As for the album, of course there were one or two clunkers but they didn't detract at all from my listening pleasure. And although this might have been one of the first compilations I ever bought it might be responsible for the dozens of other comps I have bought over the years. I just love compilation albums. I might often start a search now in the various artists second of the record bins.