Conference marvin::uk_music

    "Greatest Hits", Elton John, circa 1975. Honest.

I clearly remember my brother and I clubbing together and going into the local
record shop to get the latest hit album - "Nightflight to Venus", by Boney M!
Lost it a couple of years later, thank goodness. I wonder what age I was - can 
anyone put a date on it?

The only redeeming factor is that my first single was "Turn to Stone" by ELO. 
Still have it, good song too. The B side is a total rip-off of Across the 
Universe.

Can't remember which came first, probably the single.

--Patrick--

Re: .0

Hey, what's wrong with Supermarket Music? In my local Londis on Sunday Morning
they were playing Dark Side of the Moon! Damn good cure for a hangover.

--Patrick--

    My first lp was purchased second-hand in1970, when I was 14. It
    was an Island records sampler called 'Bumpers'. It had some good
    stuff on it, too, from the likes of Mott The Hoople, Free, Traffic
    etc etc. It also had one or two notable duds, such as the Dave Mason
    track, and an absolutely appaling number by a band called Clouds,
    which was entitled 'Take Me To Your Leader'. I wish someone had.
    
    Bob

    My first "pop" LP was  "The Album" by ABBA
    and my first "pop" single was "Off te wall" by Wacko Jacko
    I was about 13 then...... lots and lots of years ago!!!! (...)
    When I bought this 1st single, I promised myself to buy one
    single every week, so I could get myself a really big record 
    collection ... Actually, I bought 4 or 5 after that, I think these
    little vinyl thingies are too expensive, so I discovered the tapes
    and taped about every record that was on the radio!!!
    ...
    
    
    Times have changed, I love CD's now!!
    
    Bye,
    Ilse.
     
    

    I don't have a single first record.  I bought six Madonna singles at
    once off Doncaster market, 60p each with no covers.  It was December
    1985 when `Dress You Up' was in the charts.
    
    The first LP was `True Blue'.  I must have bought about 25 singles
    before I bought my first LP.
    
    The first LP I listened to constantly was `The Best Of Blondie', which
    I had on a tape.  I also used to listen to `The Return Of The Jedi' and
    `Jaws' soundtracks (on copied tape).
    
    You learn something new everyday, most of it completely useless though!
    
    
    matty

     This is embarrassing........I can remember my first single vividly..
    .... cos of how _awful_ it is.....Pat Boone - Johnny Will.....
    why oh why did I buy that?
    
     As for albums I can't remember the first, but it might have been
    by Donovan....
    
    Ray.

    Jasus lads you're really letting the side down with 1st purchases
    like Boney-M, ABBA and Madonna (i jest :-)
    
    My first purchase was 'Whiskey In The Jar' by Thin Lizzy way back
    in the early seventies. I lent it a few years later and still havn't
    got it back!
    
    But I'm sure we all bought the od *dud* or two...I can remember
    buying 'The Men Behind The Wire' by the Barleycorn!!!
    
    - Dave K.

     Hopefully this will only come out as machine language. My first single
     was the whiter than white Ray Stevens "Everything is Beautiful" (1970). 
     I s'pose I was ten then. (He went on to do "The Streak" in '75). 

     First album...I used to listen to my brother's Neil Young (who else ?)
     album "After The Goldrush". He also had a taste for Elton John so I
     think I made a few purchases there. At least I never bought a Deep
     Purple or a Rubettes single. (No Madonna nor Boney M either).

     - Tim

    re .4
    
    Bob...did that 'Bumpers' album have a pair of shoes(loafers I
    think) on the cover and was it a double album. If so, I remember
    my older brother buying it. It probably is still back in my home
    place.
    
    - Dave K.

    My first LP was "Spin a Magic Tune" . It was a K-Tel compilation
    of loads of cartoon characters singing songs . It was 1 pound .
    It was 1972 . I was 5 or 6 . The first single  (I think) was "Daddy
    Cool" by Darts a couple of years later . These were the first records
    bought out of my own pocket money - took weeks to save up for them.
    
    The first records I owned (bought for me by parents) were T.Rex
    singles , between 1971 and 1974 , which I still have and still love.
    
    PETE

    I won a competition at School for a Record Voucher and bought
    "California Dreaming" by the Mamas & Papas.
    
    The First Record I actually exchanged hard cash for was "After the
    Goldrush" by Neil Young.
    
    I remember this as after I had heard the Album previewed on Radio
    Luxemburg, under the covers as my mum wouldn't allow me to listen
    to such drivel, I raced into Ayr to purchase the Album.
    
    Only to be met with "I don't know if we have it, is it in the top
    twenty ?"
    This appeared to be the standard reply in all Record Shops.
    
    "How can it be in the Top 20 if you don't stock it in order for
    people to buy it to allow it to get into the Top 20",  I replied.
    
    This usually fooled the Shop Assistants who were then stuck for
    a reply other than 'I just work here'.
    
    Anyway, after finding a shop who were willing to order it for me
    and waiting about 6-7 weeks and numerous journeys into the town
    to find that it hadn't yet arrived, I finally got it home.
    
    One week later, my younger brother lent it to one of his friends
    and needless to say, I never saw it again.
    
    I then went into Ayr and ...............................
    
    
    Iain

    The first single I bought was 
    The Assembley with Feargal Sharkey - Never Never

    Can't really remember that far back, it could have been 'Apache'-The
    Shadows ,'The Young Ones'- Cliff Richard or 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'
    The Beatles (though I know I got that for Christmas from my Aunt & Uncle.)
    First album was probably 'Beatles For Sale'.
    
    OK So I AM old. 
    

    Gawd, here we go! 
    
    Does this include records bought for you ( at your request ) by
    an elder brother or sister? If so, then my first single would've been 
    Lady Rose by those jug blowing sideburns on legs....Mungo Jerry.
    Either that or a Pinky and Perky single which if played backwards
    would deliver subliminal messages ordering kiddies all over the
    country to snort sherbert and kill Johnny Morris.
    
    My first album was The Album by ABBA but within months I was listening
    to AC/DC's If You Want Blood....Still listen to both.
    
    
    Barry.
    
     

    Street Cred revisited here.....
    
    My first Album was "Outlandos D'amour" By the police.
    My first I bought was "Vienna" by Ultravox. This was before Vienna
    was released as a single too.... Well, I have an uncle, that showed
    me slightly after, the ways of the "Indie" charts, and ain't looked
    back since......
    
    Juju
    xxxx
    

re: .15

Ah, Pinky and Perky, what a duo. Their Greatest Hits album takes pride of 
place in my record collection. All the nursery rhymes that we know and love 
so well, every other one sung on helium. Great stuff with a head full of beer.

    
    	The Madonna of my day. Oh to be six again !
    
    Petula Clark - Downtown	(original Tony Hatch Mix)
    
    
    Album was either Seventh Sojourn - Moody Blues
    	
    				or
    
    		     Electric Warrior - T. Rex
    
    	(other than those Top Of The Pops cover version affairs)
                                                        
    
    				Ian.
                                 

    re .10
    
    Yes, Dave, that is the lp! I think I may still have it too, although
    the music is probably now lurking under a load of scratches
                                                          
    Bob

    Ratholing slightly.....there was another Island 'sampler' called
    El Pea.... this too was a double, and contained loadsa good tracks.
    
    Ray.

    I had that one, too, Ray! Again good ones from the likes of Traffic,
    Mott, HH&F, Jimmy Cliff, Incredible String Band, Mike Heron etc.
    In fact, if anyone still has it.....
    
    El Pea was the one after Bumpers, and was the fourth in a series,
    the first being 'You Can All Join In', while the second one, 'Nice
    Enough To Eat' contained the classic 'Strangley Strange But Oddly
    Normal' by Dr. Strangely Strange.
    
    Bob

    I do have it Bob.... but I would like to keep it.... it introduced
    me to quite a few groups I had not previously listened to... like
    Heads, Hands and Feet... who I then went to see, and enjoyed.
    ... whatever happened to Albert (not Alvin) Lee?
    
    Ray.

    A young sampling of noters here.
        My first album was "Meet the Beatles" in 1964.
             It cost about $2.49.
    
    Cheers,
    	George

    "Help" by The Beatles - but that was in 1971!

    My first album was "More Of The Monkees". I really wore that thing out.
    i was in 5th grade, and all summer 8 hours a day i played it on my
    little one speaker all in one ceramic player.
    
    Later that year my friends cool big brother played 'revolver' for us
    kids (no, not the year it came out! i'm not that old!). 
    I didn't understand the music at all, so i bought it and played that
    8 hours a day. This may explain why i have such a wacky musical sense
    now. 
    
    The next 'breakthrough' was King Crimson 'Lizard'. What a shock! I
    thought these guys must be kidding, they cant hit the right notes with
    their instruments and Gordon Haskall can't sing...After all these
    years, i may have been right about his singing.   :-)
    
     

    When I was 4 years old I asked my mom and dad to get me a Beatles
    album for some holiday.  Instead I got "Hansal & Gretal," picture 
    book and all.  I was so upset, that the next major holiday mom & dad
    got me "Abbey Road," the current Beatles album of that time.
    
    Since then I learned that if you want the right thing, get it yourself!
    (Besides, I think my mom would have a hard time asking for the Mekons,
    et al.)

    re .22
    
    Albert Lee was the guitar player in Clapton's band during the late
    70's. More recently, he has spent about six years as the Everly's
    guitar player, as well as doing session work. If my memoery serves
    me correctly, a solo lp is in the offing. If you like clean,
    country-style pickin', this is the man to listen to.
    
    Bob

    re .25
    
    You could be right about Haskell's singing, Jay. I seem to remember
    they had to get Jon Anderson in to do some of it. Still a classic
    album of the drug-crazed art school generation, though...
    
    Bob

    Re .22 and .27, Saw Albert Lee 2 years ago with the Everly Bros at the
    Hexagon here in Reading.
    
    The first 45 and LP bought for me was, wait for it, Paul Anka and 'I
    Love You Baby' (circa '57) and a German pressing of the Shadows
    Greatest Hits circa '63. I still have the latter.
    
    The first single I forked out my own cash for was Diamonds by Jet
    Harris and Tony Meehan in spring '63. I was out shopping with my
    parents and left the thing in some store somewhere. I never did
    actually hear that particular record. The first LP I forked out for was
    Anything Goes by Harpers Bizarre. A brilliant LP containing songs by
    such unknowns as Randy Newman, Leon Russel, Van Dyke Parks.
    
    I guess the first LP that was bought in my affluent status as a working
    lad and thus responsible for really kicking off my collection was the
    Moody Blues and To Our Childrens Childrens Children.
    
    Richard

    Boney M : Rivers Of Babylon 
    or
    Sylvester : You Make Me Feel
    
    I don't know which one I bought first. I also don't remember when (78?)
    but these were the times I bought my records at the local supermarket.

Single: Puff the Magic Dragon - Nina and Frederic

Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

    I remember my aunt buying me some singles around about 1970; stuff like
    Lieutenant Pigeon "Mouldy Old Dough" (the embarrassing one) and T-Rex
    "Metal Guru".
    
    I started buying LPs about 73/74, heavily influenced by my brother's
    tastes: some of the very early ones were Caravan "In the Land of Grey
    and Pink", various Pink Floyd, the Ginger Baker Army, Jimi Hendrix and
    Rory Gallagher compilations, all of which I still have, and the first
    two Mike Oldfield LPs, "Tubular Balls" and "Hergest Ridge" (the latter
    because you could see a model glider on the front cover photo and I was
    heavily into that kind of thing at the time). I sold the Mike Oldfields
    only a few years later but that probably wasn't a good move; very few
    things chart your progress through life more than a record collection
    built up over the years. 
    
    Re .4, .10 and .19: Here's another "Bumpers" owner! Great LP, a family
    heirloom in my case: originally bought by my sister, then she gave it
    to my brother, then he gave it to me and I still have it. I think we
    talked about this once, Greenbee?
    
    
    Rod

    You could be right there, Rod. Another favourite off it is the
    Fotheringay track, featuring the vocals of the sadly departed Sandy
    Denny. So, you've got Land of Grey and Pink too, eh?
    
    
    Bob

    
    Physical Graffitti by Led Zepplin...it cost alot then too !
    
    BTW...What was wrong with Mouldy Old Dough ?
    
    First single was Roll Away the Stone - Mott the hoople
    
    John

    Well, it was long ago, but...
    
    45: either "Apache"/Shadows or "Because They're Young"/Duane Eddy
    LP: either "GI Blues"/Elvis or "A Million $-worth Of Twang"/Duane Eddy.
    
    Seriously. Aw, gimme a break, I was only a kid!
    
    I'd like to think my tastes have moved on since then, but probably they
    haven't. I've still got the Duane Eddy album at home somewhere.
    
    Dave

    
    45: Wheels on Fire - Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger
    LP: Easy Rider soundtrack and Backtrack 11 (Axis:Bold as Love)
        - bought at the same time.
    
    I also have "Nice enough to eat" and "EL Pea" - complete with plastic
    inside sleeve that scratches the record every time you play it. What
    about the CBS samplers? Rock Machine etc... sigh
    
    Ken

    Funny, Ken - I only really liked the Island samplers, which seemed
    to me to be more consistent than, say, the CBS or *awful* Vertigo
    equivalents. It's all in the upbringing, I suppose; the Island bands
    were the type I used to see live more than any other at that time,
    too.
    
    Bob

    I remember the CBS Samplers from that time...again older brothers
    bought them(hey nobody is gonna give their age away here :-) they
    had the name ROCK in most of the titles like. The ones I remember
    'Rock Machine-Turns you on(or some such)...it had some very steamy
    love scenes on the cover. Another was called 'Fill Your Head With
    Rock'...had a picture of a young girl sucking a stick-of-rock.
    Another one had a full length of Rock Hudson doing a Charles Atlas
    impression on the cover!!!(little did we know at the time,ahum!)
    
    Now trying to remember some of the bands(never mind the titles)
    is a challange(since i haven't seen 'em in over 10-15 years)...
    
    The Loving Spoonfull,The Nice, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Alvin
    (and NOT Albert) Lee, Family, The Mamas and Papas, Taste, Canned
    Heat, (Jumpin') Jack Dupree, John Mayall & The Blues Breakers,
    Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac, Argent, Skid Row, CCR, The Byrds, Bob
    Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Cream, Wishbone Ash, Mot The Hoople, Fairport
    Convention, Roy Harper, Cat Stevens, Cactus, Spirit etc etc...
    
    Oh memories...of smoke on the water!
                                                              
    - Dave K.

My first single was "Son of my Father" - Chickory Tip and "Talkalosh Man" (sp?)
by John somebody (I think).

     RE. 39 > "Talkalosh Man" (sp?) by John somebody (I think).
    
    Thats really weird - I've been singing this song to myself all week for
    some reason, sort of came to me out of the ether, and for the life of
    me I couldn't remember the title.
    
    Rich

    Tokoloshe Man, by John Congos, I believe. Didn't he also have another
    hit called 'He's Gonna Step On You Again'?
    
    Bob

    
    
    First (and almost last) single:   Nothing Rhymed by Gilbert O'Sullivan
    
    First Album: Mud Slide Slim by James Taylor.
    
    
    
    Tried to play Mud Slide Slim recently but I'm afraid it's beyond
    redemption.  Those were the days when you loaned your albums to your
    school mates!
    

    
    Michael
    

    First Single: Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield
    First Album: either "Best of Temptations" or "Best of Four Tops!"
    
    I think I bought these c.1971. I do remember the album costing 1.99
    pounds (the regular price for albums), which wiped out that week's 
    paper round money. My brother has these records now.
    
    Richard.

    Talking of old Gilb, has anyone else heard his 'comeback' record?
    
    My considered, analytical critique of this little gem is 'Blooarghh'
    
    Bob

    YO!
    
    For the past few months one of the local 'top trendy places' has been
    playing a mighty wild groove which everybody was getting right into.
    It was announced as 'Goss' and seemed to be on the way to becoming one
    of the top club records, until one Saturday morning when I happened to
    be watching an awsonme kiddies programme and discovered that the vibes
    everyone was getting into was old Gilb making a comeback, was I dazed
    or what?
    
    If I didnt know who it was I would said it was a dead cert. no. 1
    but as I do know I have to share Bobs opinnion.
    
    Big Stu.

    
    My first ever purchase was a 78rpm Coloured vinyl effort called
    "How much is that doggy in the window", By the cricketone orchestra and
    chorus (I still have it) 
    
    First LP: "Camberwick Green", featuring Peter the Postman and Windy
    Miller.
    
    Well you wanted an honest answer......
    
    

    
    The first record I bought was From the Underworld by The Herd on 
    the Fontana label for 7/6d.  It's still got the best guitar intro 
    on any pop record I'm aware of.   I could'nt understand how Frampton 
    played that opening while motionlessly looking at the camera on Top 
    Of The Pops.   A few face contortions and some leaping about, I felt 
    would have been much more appropriate.   The best bit's over by the 
    time the singing starts.   However contrast that with my first cd
    purchase which was by the dreadful Enya.   Seems like I had better 
    taste when I was 13.
    Philip

    
     Well, my brother's and sister's are all older than me, so instead
    of buying my own records I had all of theirs to listen to (Doors,
    Zep, Uriah heep, Bloodrock, Deep Purple, Mama's & Papa's, Lovin'
    Spoonful, Eric Burden & The  Animals, etc...). So, the first record
    "I" bought was Led Zeppelin III - I think I was 9 or 10.

    re .46
    
    I've got that album too !!!
    
    PETE

    First Single: not too sure but probably either:
    
                  "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo
            or    "Death Of A Clown" by Dave Davies
    
    Both bought around '67 or early '68 at Clives record stall at Romford
    market. First L.P. bought around the same time for 12/6 or something
    (in glorious Mono) complete with the cutout figures on the piece
    of cardboard inserted in the gatefold sleeve:
    
                  "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
    
    I still have it in a collection which has expanded somewhat since
    then.
    
    Julian.
    

    Gosh...this topic really shows up our ages!
    
    Leaving aside "My Boomerang Won't come back" and "Right Said Fred",
    my first acquisitions were the EPs "Shadows to the Fore" (their
    first I beleive) and the Beatles "Long Tall Sally".
    
    LP - wise, the Beatles "Hard Day's Night" and "Help".
    
    I still have 'em all, and still play them!
    
    I spent every Saturday of my early record collecting life wandering
    around all the second hand shops, looking for bargains.  I still
    get a bigger kick finding a record that I want by accident in a 
    junk shop, than just casually wandering into a shop, knowing what I 
    want and simply buying it.
    
    Dave

    
    Snot Rap - Sid Snot

	'On The Boards' by Taste...so good I bought it again 4 years 
	later as the first copy had got slightly worse for wear.

	P1

    [RE.39]
    
    YEP, CHICORY TIP BROKE MY AURAL HYMEN TOO!

    "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - Peter, Paul and Mary.
    
    No, I can't believe it either...

!963 'She Loves you' The Beatles.
Followed by :
'Needles and Pins' The Searchers

Oh! dear is it that long ago.

Depressed of Newberet.

First single:   1962 - Good Luck Charm (Elvis Presley)
First album:    1963 - Sherry (The Four Seasons)
First cassette: 1979 - Crusader (Chris De Burgh)
First CD:       1986 - Electric Cafe (Kraftwerk)

    My first single was bought with a 10 shilling postal order
    that I had won as a prize from the Diana comic for girls after
    I sent in a letter which was published.  The single was
    Sugar Sugar by the Archies and cost a phenomenal 8/6d (wow
    really showing the age now!!)
    
    My first LP was Cosmos Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival
    
    After that it was Motown and Reggae the age of the Skinheads!!:-)
    
    Ahh Memories...........
    
    Mazzer
    

    The first single that I went out and bought was Val Doonican's 'If the
    wholw world stopped loving" !!, which was on the old Pye label.
    
    However, my brother and I did receive Christmas gifts of Beatles and
    Dave Clark 5 singles, in the preceding years.
    
    First LP purchased was "Basies Beatles Bag" by The Count Basie
    Orchestra on the Music for Pleasure label!!
    
    The LAST thing I purchased was "Cheers", a brand new cassette from the
    wonderful and soon-to-be-almost-big Trousershock BC.
    
    Terry