Notes from an era of true freedom of expression when we choose where " " with the latest musical innovators. Before the onslaught of the digital era and the polarization of modern music that we live a cultural revolution which, in my humble opinion, has not yet been matched in successive generations ...
I guess my first idea that music was something more important than learning the words to Christmas carols for the school Christmas concert was my dad appreciate the collection of 78s& 39;. He was a man with unusual taste in music. My contemporys & 39; listened to the parents of americas Crooners such as Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and the like, or the big band sounds of the day.
But my dad was pleased that includes individual Eastern Europe folk music, ballads Scottish bagpipe and Welsh miners choirs; more my first introduction to classical pieces as exciting as Aram Khachaturian " Sabre Dance ".
My Mother, who is a fan of Crosby, mania these strange sounds to the extent that it banished any game of the & 39; caterwauling & 39; our barn, a large wooden structure at the rear of the house. This suited to my dad, and I very well.
He that repairing bicycles and tinker with the machines in a corner, while I curl in a battered leather sofa looking at pictures of old movie magazines, giggling to jokes in the back copies of Lilliput and reading girlie kind of book (Little Women, etc. Black Beauty.) While the haunting strains of Bulgarian women& 39;s voices, Highland airs or sound overwhelming Welshman giving their all emanated from the former close gramaphone; memories are made of this.
Musically he closed the circle. with the growing popularity of world music " " I am once again enjoying Bulgarian women and harmonies of Welsh folk songs along with the exciting newcomers from Africa and Latin roots americas.
Every generation, most believe they have experienced the best " " period music of today, but I think that the sixties were a special case. Consider this, every weekend my friends and I had a difficult decision to make. Will Go to the city & 39; " Ken Colliers to see the American blues stars like Big Bill Broonzy or jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, or perhaps for the Marquee Club, or 100 to listen to and the next Britishers like Paul Weller in the Jam, Eric Clapton and the Yardbirds and Georgie Fame with the All Stars.
Or not we stayed closer to home and go to Riki Tik in Windsor and risk smothering a small room listening to an exciting new group called the Rolling Stones. And that was just the beginning; what about Osterley where you can hear John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee and any number of other South americas blue stars, or Windsor Drill room where, in a Friday night is can enjoy the best of Cyril Davies and the All Stars, which usually contains one of my favorites, Long John Baldry.
And, whether they were willing to risk the wrath of their parents, had to be Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, a den of iniquity where you can listen to the best of new rhythm and blues; strange smell of burning chemicals in the air and where for the first After psychadelia found in the form of Pink Floyd, whose innovative light shows lava lamp colored spots appear and the formation of various forms were never precursors giant video screens today. To say that we are spoilt for choice is not too much of a sentence.
I have not even mentioned by many clubs folk sprayed on which I visited with my friend Lucy as a guest singing duo, where we shared the stage with the likes of Bert Jantzen, Duster Bennett, Cat Stevens. . We would like to travel to isolated places in the heart of the Berkshire countryside and we find ourselves in a barn somewhere, with people sitting on bales of hay and listen to the voices and stirring songs of Sandy Denny, Davy Graham and John Remborne, or even the Wurzels (bring your own cider!).
If I wanted to dance, but not strictly dance, you can step on the night in a selection of & 39; trad jazz clubs. Bands of different styles have always been in touch; Dick Morrisey, said Ken Collier, Acker Bilko; really was a golden age for the live music of all kinds. And do not cost an arm and a leg engage yourself. If you pay more than a couple of hand to receive in our view, difficult to do. Even special occasions, like seeing the Who and Cream at the Hammersmith Odeon were cheap in price.
Wherever we hung out with our colleagues there was no music. This was the old coffee bar, always with a juke box in the corner of bands out such classics as & 39; Dock in the Bay & 39;, Buddy Holly or the past or Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Biaz, where stop! Before the fashion " personalized music " (served by the first Walkman and now in its most recent incarnation, the ipod) brought the latest tunes as minds. A normal Saturday went to the local record shop where friends move into a booth next to hear the last of the "letters".
Maybe just all & 39; fashion & 39;, but as the year career, sixties music that has withstood the test of time. Many of our heroes are still household names. Our children still appreciate such giants as Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding. People like Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones still tour around the world. Am I showing my age when I find it difficult to assess the bids today? Of course, but I& 39;m not more than any other person who has left music in his life.
From when the first cave man (or woman) & 39; discovered how to make musical sounds & 39; of canes or stones, water or wood, we have enjoyed the privilege of a great gift. How do you explain the catch in the back of the throat when we hear a familiar song or melody? How to describe the feeling of pure joy and exhilaration as many human voices come together to sing some including improved work. I dare say anyone who has never been that. And if some hardened souls insist that is the case, so I feel very sad for them.
Bookmark it: 
