Old Enough to Forget

My earliest memories of hearing songs from  The White Album  is probably from 1972. I remember this because my older cousins wanted to hear "Smoke on the Water" and I wanted to hear "Rocky Raccoon" and I was outvoted. My Aunt and Uncle seemed to have the coolest music from Alice Cooper to The Doobie Brothers. The Beatles had broken up years earlier and none of my friends listened to them.  The Beatles were music for an older generation. Me and the other kids I knew were all over what was on the current top 40 and we'd argue in class about whether CKLG or CFUN was the best station. I'd give a passive listen once in a while to a country station (ick) if my Uncle was on the radio over at CJJC and I have one vague memory of us sitting around waiting for him to play "Kiss an Angel Good Morning" for my Aunt. Regardless, they had an eight track copy of The White Album , and if the stars aligned I could get them to play it. I finally got a copy for myself ...

Here I have Stranded , the second album by Edwards Hand, released in 1970. I never knew this existed. For decades I had been curious about the duo of Rod Edwards and Roger Hand. I first saw their names listed in the credits for Larry Norman's Only Visiting This Planet, and his follow up So Long Ago the Garden . Those two albums were recorded in England and produced by Edwards Hand along with Jon Miller. To say those albums were foundational to me is an understatement. I'd again see the same team behind a pair of albums by Malcolm & Alwyn: 1973's Fool's Wisdom and their 1974 follow up Wildwall . The two Malcom & Alwyn albums I discovered in the early '80s and while both are very good, I was especially drawn to their first album. This is a rather long preamble, but through these early albums I became aware a number of rather stellar musicians. John Wetton would of course go on to be a member of King Crimson, and later Asia, while others I wouldn't really...

Oh my stars and garters, look what the dollar bin coughed up. A 1967 first Canadian pressing of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour . Yeah, this is a pretty awesome score. Too bad the 24-page full color picture book has been lost to the ravages of time. The vinyl itself though despite looking a little sketchy in a couple of places, particularly on the first side, turned out to play really clean with a few little pops here and there but overall this was a really pleasant surprise. The gatefold itself was obviously well loved by the previous owners, who marked their names under several of the songs. I'm guessing they were siblings who fought over ownership. Somewhere David, John, Ellen and Author ended up with nothing, and here I am 55 years later claiming sole ownership. Let that be a lesson kids. DON'T MARK SHIT UP WITH INK. Anyways, here I am geeking out and listening to the album for the first time in its entirety. Now, like a lot of people too young to have witnessed The Beatle...