Into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown (The Doors)

Music is love (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 7: The Seventies, Part 1)

Vinyl junkie-dom kicked off big time in the seventies - the decade when I was a teenager.

This first part covers the first flush, the fertile BF (Before Forth)/BK* (Before Knowles) period and takes in 1971-1975. [The second part, due in four days' time, is the AM (After Marbecks) period - 1976-1982].

Records! Bands! What was an interest previously, became much more as posters of bands festooned my teenage bedroom; as the Garrard Sp25 Mark 3 timetable was kept constantly spinning; as Shoot! and Look and Learn gave way to NZ's Groove, Rip It Up, Australia's Go Set, Hot Licks, England's Sounds, NME, Melody Maker and Crawdaddy, CirCreem, Rolling Stone, Circus from America.

Thanks to the growing piles of music magazines under my bed, I began listening to the radio and collecting records with increasing knowledge.

I joined record clubs - RCA first, then World Record Club. I saved up money from odd jobs and my vegetable garden returns from mum and bought records. 

Due diligence became a thing. It became of vital importance to visit record shops a number of times and weigh up the merits of various albums. I didn't have lavish sums remember.

Starting off it was often cut out bins. Often this resulted in some great buys (the aforementioned Small Faces, Hollies, Beach Boys albums came from the Foodmarket, or Woolworths at Three Kings). 

All this gave me habits that last to this day: I love a bargain, and I consider purchases carefully. I value the actual physical object. Number one then, now and forever was/is/will be Long Playing vinyl albums.

During the BF/BK period, a variety of record shops became familiar haunts: Onehunga's Queen Street (Led Zeppelin III); New Lynn's mall (Creedence Clearwater Revival EP); Taste in Lorne Street (Deep Purple's Machine Head); Newmarket's Sounds Unlimited (Frank Zappa's Bongo Fury); 246 (The Hollies and T Rex singles); Otahuhu's DJ Records (The Beatles' Hey Jude and Let It Be package) and on and on it went - building a collection.

As witnessed by the Top 30 list at the end of this post, mainly my tastes ran to hard rock, heavy metal with many tangential weird fringe side streets along the way, but Beatle style music was always a constant.

My modus operandi was to latch onto a group or artist after buying their current album or single. From there I would start hoovering up the back catalogue.

Following my purchase of a Solid Gold Hits Vol 2 album, John Lennon is a case in point - the current album and hit was Imagine in 1971 (from George Courts in K Rd). From there it was a backwards search for John Lennon/ Plastic Ono Band and Live Peace in Toronto. Then it was a slavish devotion to everything he's done, said, written, sung.

I wrote a letter to Sounds magazine in 1975 that to my shock was published. I was seeking information on how to get some mythic Lennon albums - Two Virgins, Life With The Lions, Wedding Album, and Live Peace in Toronto. None of which I could find in any of my usual haunts.

Some of these albums are pictured above. How come? Noel Forth is how come. He saw my Sounds letter and (along with a few others like Lothar Drockner in Germany) started writing to me with suggestions and swaps. He was after certain NZ pressings of Fabs stuff which I could get, parcel up and send to him in Adelaide. In return I got Apple singles and albums, including some of those mythic albums. Heaven.

Noel is also a drummer! Tortis first, then Vertical Hold in the eighties. I became a keen fan of both bands. Nothing like that personal connection, is there?

Even before this watershed moment in 1975 though, the collecting picked up pace!

Mum vetoed Joe Cocker's Cocker Happy for some reason - perhaps the drug busts, perhaps the vague obscenity of the title, and Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa brought howls of protest from the folks but generally I was given free reign with my purchases. I loved them all with a passion.  

Sample of stuff from Noel.

During 1972 things really kicked off: in the football teams and my 4B class I had friends like the aforementioned Clive Webber who lent me records like The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street, Jimi Hendrix's Isle Of Wight; I bought Machine Head, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Led Zeppelin 4; heard The Doors' Riders On The Storm on a car radio; from the RCA record club came Uriah Heep and Frank Zappa's Fillmore East album. All of these went onto high rotate on the Garrard SP25 Mk3.

And in this way ran the AF-BK years - reading, collecting when I could, listening, day dreaming and wishing. Oh and failing everything I touched at school. Was there a correlation? Hmmm - now that I think about it...maybe, just maybe, there was!

* BTW - it's called the Before Forth/ Before Knowles period because up to 1975 I was collecting on my own. Then, in addition to Noel Forth's long distance help, I met Greg and during the sixth and seventh form at Mt Albert Grammar we became a team - collecting records, buying records together and even recording stuff together (as Buster Bludvessel and Gregarious G-String). Noel's help was invaluable from 1975 onwards, and without him I would have been truly lost. Much more on this in the second part.

Here is my Top 30 of the BK period (there is nothing that compares to the music of your formative years - ages 13 to 15 - life was never going to be the same after this lot!):

30 Blows Against the Empire – Paul Kantner (1970)
Using the same musicians as David Crosby's magnificent first solo (number 2 ), Kantner et al plot my path to the cosmos!

29 Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd (1973)
My memory surrounding this has me in mum's mini at the Royal Oak shops, on our way home to Asquith Avenue. I'd just bought it, was busting to hear it, and was looking at the two posters and devouring the rest of the packaging. including the Harvest label. So so cool!

28 On the Beach – Neil Young (1974)

27 St Dominic’s Preview – Van Morrison (1972)

26 The Yes Album – Yes (1971)

25 Bongo Fury – Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart (1975)

I used to get my Sounds magazines from a corner bookshop in Newmarket. Mum would often visit the shops here, so I guess it made sense to 'have it put away' for me here. Funny - I now have my monthly Mojo magazine put away (PaperPlus in Waipukurau). Nothing much has changed huh?Anyway - while in Newmarket I'd cruise up to the record shop, Sounds Unlimited - which had an amazing range. This is one album that came from there.

24 Captured Angel – Dan Fogelberg (1975)
Copious family holidays were soundtracked by the cassette of this. My favourite Fogelberg album by some distance because of that.

23 Close to the Edge – Yes (1972)
I first taped And You And I from a friend's copy, the rest of the album felt way out of my league - what the hell were they on about? Then I got it! Then I was hooked on Yes and had to have everything!!

22 Aqualung – Jethro Tull (1971)
I bought the single version of Locomotive Breath ('balls' was censored) and molested the house with it - loudly! The folks were a bit disapproving (naive me couldn't understand the fuss - I was listening to the riff!!). A bit later I was watching a surfing film at MAGS during a lunchtime screening, when Slip Stream started up behind the surfing footage. Then Locomotive Breath started. Then I HAD to get the album.

21 Made in Japan – Deep Purple (1972)

20 Wishbone Ash – Wishbone Ash (1970)

19 Machine Head – Deep Purple (1972)
I can still feel what it was like, buying this from the ultra cool Taste Records in Lorne Street and walking out of the shop feeling ten feet tall!

18 Live at the Paramount – The Guess Who (1972) 

In 1972 the family had another Sydney holiday. This time I was old enough to INSIST on visits to record shops. I returned home to NZ with a clutch of albums including this one, and Deep Purple's Made in Japan. At the time, I would have put the Purps ahead but not now (obviously). A rare example of a CD improving on the original vinyl by including all the additional tracks.

17 Alive! – Slade (1972)

One of my first buys was the Tak Me Bak 'Ome single, then this album. Slade in their finest hour - burps, rough starts, stutters and asides just add to the appeal.

16 Moondance – Van Morrison (1970)

15 Ram – Paul McCartney (1971)

14 Isle of Wight – Jimi Hendrix (1971) 
My first Hendrix experience after the Hey Joe single, this is not an album you'd direct newbies to - the track listing is all over the place, but somehow it's the Hendrix album I play the most often! I taped it from a school friend's copy, then had to own it.

13 The Koln Concert – Keith Jarrett (1975) 

This is an example of an album I NEVER would have found on my own. A double album of solo improv jazz piano? Are you kidding?? Please!! But thank God I met and worked for Roger Marbeck. He gave me a home taped cassette of this and told me to listen. I did. OMG. It brings me to tears, this music. How is that possible?

12 Four Symbols – Led Zeppelin (1971) 

I asked dad to get this for me from DJ Records (I paid) and I will always remember arriving home from school and finding this on my bed. I cherish those memories! Many, many headphone sessions in the dark would wear the stuffing out of this album!

11 Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones (1972)

10 The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen (1974)

Like the previous Stones record, bought from the Record Warehouse at the same time as Darkness On The Edge Of Town. What I loved about the Record Warehouse was the way they displayed albums facing front so that you could be completely seduced by the cover! Worked on me every time.

9 Irish Tour ’74 – Rory Gallagher (1974)
I came to Rory via a TV special that hooked me well and truly and for ever!

8 Stormcock - Roy Harper (1971)
A friend from where I played social badminton (St Margaret's church hall) wanted me to tape a load of Genesis and Harper albums for him. While the Genesis ones did nothing for me, I instantly fell in love with this one.

7 Waka Jawaka/ Hot rats – Frank Zappa (1972)

From the World Record Club. I didn't 'get' this record for a long time. A teenagers' attention span finds it hard to appreciate a 17 minute Big Swifty, with no vocal. Yikes. Then it just clicked. I used it often to soundtrack my walks through Hadleigh Castle in Leigh-on-sea. It was a perfect fit for my thoughts!

6 Tonight’s the Night – Neil Young (1975)

5 Thick as a Brick – Jethro Tull (1972)

4 Headband – Headband (1971)

3 Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan (1974) 
While at University I would often walk past the central library to get my bus. The library was a great place to borrow records I was unwilling to buy for whatever reason. I borrowed this and a few older Dylan albums and took them back to Ramelton Rd. I taped it, then had to own a copy, then another...

2 If I Could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby (1971)

1 John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – John Lennon (1970)

Less is more was embraced by everyone it seems on this most harrowing of listening experiences. Maybe that's why I love that philosophy so much.

Apart from this being my favourite album of this era (and actually, any era) the album has special memories for me. 

My mum was interested in a number of creative hobbies - flower arranging, pottery, knitting and for a while - painting. I asked her to paint the iconic cover for me and she did. And I have it hanging, proudly, in Abbey Road Three.  

Love and peace - Wozza

I have only one burning desire, let me stand next to your fire (Jimi Hendrix)

You know that post I did a couple back about autumn's non arrival and the burn pile? Well guess what, it did the trick.

It's been raining. It's colder. The skies are grey. It's darker earlier. Daylight saving has ended. The fire restrictions have been lifted! 

As you can see - we celebrated!

Satisfyingly, even though the pile was a bit damp after some recent rain, it went up quickly.

Given that we are now enjoying a late autumn I thought it apposite to include some other autumn flavours in the spirit of Keats.

Here are five things I love about autumn:

1 The picture on the left has me and Bazil enjoying the milder autumn weather while also enjoying the fire. 

Bazie is old now, pretty much deaf, not the best at following me into the Red Phoenix Farm paddocks any more, can't jump into cars any longer, a little night blind, has to take some daily medications, doesn't like the high heat of a Nu Zild summer or the numbing cold of our winter. 

So autumn is perfect for him.

2 Keeping with an animal theme -this Bruegel picture - The Return Of The Herd (Autumn) - captures a wonderful essence: the gathering dark clouds, the still brown hills gaining some green, the change of clothing and the trees shedding their leaves. Love this!

3 Best short read on the essence and lessons of autumn? Try this http://peterborten.com/all/the-essence-and-lessons-of-autumn/

4 Bob Dylan composed this terrific song about a relationship. Like summer, it's ended and the winds are starting to howl. Johnny Cash's voice is a perfect complement and the whole thing is made even more wistful by the wonderful visual of a brooding sunset. Genius. 

Watch the clouds go by. Go on - you won't regret it!

5 Ed Sheeran is touring Nu Zild at the moment - this charming young man - so here's an Ed moment to finish us off.


Love and peace - Wozza

The all seeing eye (Wayne Shorter)

Recently, I enjoyed watching Bright Lights Brilliant Minds - a three part BBC doco series presented by art historian Dr James Fox.

The idea is simple - focus on three years that are 'crucibles of creativity' (Fox's cool phrase). 

He picks Austria 1908, Paris 1928, and New York 1951.

It got me thinking about what I'd choose as the next one in the sequence. It made me wonder where and when.  

There's only one choice really: London 1966

London was the centre of the universe in 1966. It was a mass of swinging energy, a time when a city and a culture would come together as a crucible of creativity in a definable year.

Okay, so, why:

It was the year of The Beatles' Revolver album - recorded in St John's Wood at Abbey Road studios. The album vies with Sgt Pepper's as the greatest album of all time.

Full stop! I could finish there but I can offer some more evidence if you're not yet convinced.

During the year three seminal bands - The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who performed at the NME '​s poll winners' show in London. The Stones and The Who (along with The Kinks who released Face To Face in 1966) are Londoners. The Stones and Who also had big releases in 1966 - Aftermath and A Quick One respectively. 

Bob Dylan and the Hawks (later The Band) performed at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England. Dylan was booed by the audience because of his decision to tour with an electric band, the boos culminated in the famous "Judas" shout. London was such a pervasive influence this year that the bootleg set was called The Royal Albert Hall (where Bob had also played in 1966). Even the legitimate CD issue called it that!

In terms of art - 1966 is the year when John Lennon meets Yoko Ono when he attends a preview of her art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London. 

Yoko Ono has had a huge influence on the way we conceive of art. She breaks boundaries and stretches taboos (or is it the other way 'round?). Her relationship with Lennon intertwined the art world and the music world. It seemed right, and still does!

Her pieces/peaces have had a lasting influence and it all started in 1966 in London.

Also in the art world: Mira Schendel (1919–1988) was one of Latin America’s most unique and prolific post-war artists. She helped reinvent the language of European Modernism. She had an influential solo exhibition in London's Signals gallery in 1966. 

Like Indica, Signals London was an important gallery of international, experimental art.

The gallery specialised in artists whose work was interdisciplinary and it aimed to connect art and poetics with new thinking in science and technology. 1966 - the tipping point into a new consciousness. 

The Destruction in Art Symposium was a gathering of a diverse group of international artists, poets, and scientists to London 1966. Included in this number were representatives of the counter-cultural underground who were there to speak on the theme of destruction in art.

As for film - 1966 was the year of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up. Archetypal swinging, cool London, is the backdrop as Antonioni captures the year and the zeitgeist of London.

The 1966 World Cup was held in London - England won (with a hat trick by Geoff Hurst - not a native Londoner but a West Ham legend).

The model Jean Shrimpton was another icon from 1966 and one of the world's first supermodels. She was the world's highest paid and most photographed model during this time. Shrimpton was called "The Face of the '60s", in which she has been considered by many as "the symbol of Swinging London".

London 1966!! What a place! What a year! Unfortunately London's influence wouldn't even last into the next year (more on that in the next post) but in 1966 - London was the place to be.

Love and peace - Wozza 

My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums, should I leave them at your gate, or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

In this world that’s drowning in data, abstract written thought that represents a synthesis or a culmination of information into a digestible form is in short supply. That’s always been the prescription for poetry that matters.

I like this - it's from a post by a guy called Larry Sawyer. No, I don't know who he is either - probably like me, he enjoys the outlet of the blog. Larry uses his blog to publish his poetry. He's on the left if you want to read his stuff (under the blog title Me-Tronome). This post isn't about Larry though, or me. It's about poetry generally and Robert Bly in particular.

We are drowning in data aren't we. At school I look at data daily - suspension/ discipline data, achievement data, attendance data...and on and on. My English class teaching time is often the best part of my day. I can stretch myself a bit and think about things via that abstract written thought stuff Larry's on about.

I often think about poetry. moods and thoughts from all sorts of sources. Song lyrics make up a lot of thoughts. This post is titled from a Dylan song - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. A love poem set to music for his wife Sara. Another example? I watched a movie today called Snow Cakes. Set in Canada the main character says he's on his way to Winnipeg and I immediately have the Neil Young lines in my head from his song Don't Be Denied -

When I was a young boy,
My mama said to me
Your daddy's leavin' home today,
I think he's gone to stay.
We packed up all our bags
And drove out to Winnipeg.

And so to Robert Bly. I often think about lines from his poem 'Six Winter Privacy Poems'.

1
About four, a few flakes.
I empty the teapot out in the snow,
feeling shoots of joy in the new cold.
By nightfall, wind,
the
curtains on the south sway softly.

2
My shack has two rooms, I use
one.
The lamplight falls on my chair and table
and I fly into one of my
own poems -
I can't tell you where -
as if I appeared where I am now
in a wet field, snow falling.

3
More of the fathers are dying
each day.
It is time for the sons.
Bits of darkness are gathering around
them.
The darkness appears as flakes of light.

4
Sitting
Alone

There is a solitude like black mud!
Sitting in the
darkness singing,
I can't tell if this joy
is from the body, or the
soul, or a third place.

5
Listening to Bach

There
is someone inside this music
who is not well described by the names
of
Jesus, or Jehovah, or the Lord of Hosts!

6
When I woke, new snow had
fallen.
I am alone, yet someone else is with me,
drinking coffee,
looking out at the new snow.

Many of Bly's recurring images/phrases/words are here - rebirth, snow, darkness, solitude, light...But, for me, the synthesis is pretty perfect in this poem. I love the simplicity of lines lines like, 'About four, a few flakes' and the Thoreau like idea of his shack having the luxury of two rooms but he only ever is in one!

This one also resonates for me:

After Long Busyness

I start out for a walk at last after weeks
at the desk.
Moon gone, plowing underfoot, no stars; not a trace of
light!
Suppose a horse were galloping toward me in this open field?
Every day I
did not spend in solitude was wasted.

It's almost haiku like. Again the simplicity and clarity of expression make him
stand out for me. Did I mention haikus? Ok - so, here's one of mine to
finish
off this post:

The door is half closed,
dividing the dark and light,
'till morning comes again.

Love and peace and solitude - W