Vinyl Albums

I was recently watching a program on BBC4 where Danny Baker discussed the qualities and joy of vinyl albums and it got me thinking back to the good old days where I'd journey into town and spend hours in various record and music shops (train into Glasgow, head to 23rd Precinct to get some albums, then to McCormicks and check out the guitars, then head downstairs to a wee record shop - the name escapes me - in a basement shop next door to have a look at the import LP's before heading off to Tower, HMV and Virgin.  Pop into the Guitar Store to have a chat with the guys behind the counter and play some guitars I'd never be able to afford before heading to Wimpy for a cheeseburger before the train home).  Ah, those were the days!

Anyway, the program got me thinking about some albums that I just couldn't do without.  The rules are:

Five albums only

It had to be a record that I had on vinyl

No compilations or greatest hits

Were albums that I could listen from start to finish without skipping a track

One album per band

When I was buying vinyl I was big into rock so that makes up the majority of the list.  While there are countless great albums which I listen to now and consider classics, they didn't make it in because I wasn't listening to them at the time!

So, here they are, in no particular order...

Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare

Although the list is in no particular order, if it were, this would be number one.  An absolute masterpiece of a record that still sounds as fresh and interesting today as it did when I first heard it.  Alice may be considered a rock artist but he's never been afraid to experiment with different genres and that was particularly true during the 70's.  It was his first 'solo' album and what a statement to make!  The whole album is full of dark themes and wraps them in a pop/rock/prog package.  On side two there's a three song run (Years Ago, Steven, The Awakening) that's as close to perfection as songs get.  

Recommended track: Steven

AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

There are so many AC/DC albums that I could list here but Dirty Deeds gets in because it's been with me for pretty much all of my life.  My brother bought it for my dad's birthday when I was about three years old and I never stopped playing it.  If there's a better song in the world than 'Ride On', I haven't heard it.

Recommended track: Ride On

Blackfoot – Marauder

This record always makes me smile and contains the song that I took the name of this blog from!  I think it holds an extra place in my heart because the front cover of my copy was signed by the band and inside was a ticket stub from when they played the Glasgow Apollo in 1982.  Sadly, I wasn't responsible for getting their signatures or the ticket as I bought it from a second hand record stall at The Barras.  That didn't stop me from cherishing the album as if I did!

Recommended track: Diary of a Workingman

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Next

Every home should have a copy of this record.  There’s just so much going on and every song is entirely different to the next.  There’s absolutely no-one else that sounds like SAHB and they should have had far more recognition than they received.  Subconsciously, this album formed the template for all of my recordings.

Recommended track: Next

Ozzy Osbourne – Diary of a Madman

There are two reasons why I took up the guitar.  The first was because my older brother, Jamie, bought one because he wanted to be Angus Young and the second was because he also bought this album.  From the very moment I heard Randy Rhoads blast the opening bar of Over the Mountain, I was hooked.  There are a million and one amazing guitar players in the world but, in my opinion, Randy was on a level above them all and I don’t think it’s too great a claim to suggest that rock guitar was re-defined by his (and Eddie Van Halen’s) playing style.  This album, more than any other, made me fall in love with music.

Recommended track: Tonight

So that was my top five vinyl albums, for what it’s worth.  It was exceptionally hard to only have five and even now, I’m still debating whether some should be replaced but no, I’m sticking to that list and instead, here are some others that could have easily found a home there had the above choices not had such an impact on me.

Steve Earle - Copperhead Road

Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

The Jeff Healey Band - See The Light

Frank Zappa - Broadway the Hardway

Back in Rehearsals

Rehearsals for The Stantons have started again!  With an almost full compliment of band members in attendance, it was great being back in the warehouse blasting out tunes.

The warehouse.  This is where the band calls home.  It's a pretty bleak and dangerous place, there's one electrical socket that serves several 4 ways daisy chained from it, the lighting is sparse and bits of the roof is missing but nevertheless, we call it home.

We started to go through a few songs.  First up was "Splinter".  The rust was blown away surprisingly quickly given that we hadn't actually played as a band for most of 2012.  Next up was "Moon in the River" and while Neil and I were trying to compensate for Cari's absence by trying to replicate her backing singing, we inadvertently came up with a new way to finish the song.  It still needs worked on and we'll need to hear how it sounds when Cari's back and singing her part but if it works it'll be a lovely way to end the song, particularly live.

The cold was biting hard though and fingers were getting pretty sore so we cranked up the heater, and
decided to warm ourselves up by belting out "Black Train".  This was the first time that Umi had sung this song outwith the recording sessions and it really suits her voice.

The recorded version of this song starts with some pretty awesome accordion breath and guitar feedback which is something that'll sadly be missing live so we tried working out an alternate beginning.

Mark started with some cymbal noise before I then joined in with the main riff.  It's not a million miles away from how we used to play it live but I think it now sounds more defined.  Neil also altered his piano part to try and fill in the blanks that are missing from the record since we won't have the distorted lap steel sound at gigs and all in all, I think it was sounding rather good.

We moved onto "Sweetest Decline" and all was going well right up until the acapella break where we all suffered from a collective brain fart.  Cari starts this break so since she was missing from the night, Mark tried to stand in for her.  Due to a slight pause between the instruments stopping and the singing starting, we all lost track of what key we were supposed to start on.  Sonic pain ensued once the instruments came back in although it took us all a moment to figure out the cause behind the horrendous sound.  At first we all looked at our instruments as if those were somehow at fault before realisation set in.



After that we decided to give "The Shamokin Uprising" a go.  I honestly can't remember the last time we played this song but it may be as far back as 2011!  Not surprisingly, it took a few goes to remember how it all went but it wasn't too long before it all came flooding back.  It was a shame we didn't get around to recording it during the last batch of recordings but it's going to be first in line when we get back to"the studio" (Andrew's rehearsal space) again.

Since we all had fun with Shamokin, we pushed the boat out a bit further and had a stab at trying to remember "Some Festival Love Song".  I had to dig out a very old demo recording that I had on my phone to jog everyone's memory but we gave it a shot.  It's a million years from being ready but there's some really nice sections that I'm looking forward to us getting ready.  In particular Umi and Cari's backing vocals which will be pure pop heaven.  It's a very jaunty, summer time tune and not the usual tale of murder and/or betrayal that we usually come up with!

And that was that!  The first rehearsal of 2013 done and dusted.  Last year was really fragmented and although we managed to record a batch of songs, it's felt like an eternity since we were all in the same room playing as a band so it was a great feeling being back and having fun again.  I can't wait until next week when we do it all again.

Finally, to end this post, there's some news about some gigs we have coming up later in the year.  We've been confirmed to play at The Traverse Sessions on June 3rd.  It's free entry and we'll be doing a 45 minute set.  We've also confirmed a date and venue for our "special" gig.  At the moment, I can't confirm what or why this will be special but details of that will be mentioned once things are a bit more confirmed so for now all I can say is that we'll be putting on a show at The Electric Circus on June 22nd and it will be, er, "special"!

Until next time!