Early Teenage Years - 1976

This was definitely a time of big change. Puberty had arrived and 1977, the year of Punk, followed hot on its heels, and I had begun to dream of playing guitar and being in a band.
But when I turned 13 in March 1976, I was still listening mainly to The Shadows, and my Dad's rock 'n' roll records. During 1976, my interest in classical music began to gradually wane, as I became more and more drawn to the idea of playing the guitar.
At that time my mother had a 'Spanish' guitar which used to hang on the wall, more as an ornament than an instrument. But as a young, second generation Shadows fan I used to get it off the wall and pose with it in front of the mirror whilst pretending to be Hank Marvin.

Being actually able to play anything was still 2 or 3 years into the future, but being a little older, I now at least understood what a 'lead guitarist' was, And when I wasn't pretending to be Hank Marvin, I was acting out all of Scotty Moore's guitar solos from my Dad's early Elvis records.
Around this time (when not dressed in my Sunday best as above) I had plagued my mum and dad to let me have a pvc bomber jacket (a real leather one being unaffordable at the time) and I used to don my black bomber jacket and brylcream my hair back into a teddy boy style "duck's arse" to go a weekly rock 'n' roll disco with a school friend who was also into rock 'n' roll. We were both slightly in awe of an older lad who used to go there, who always wore a pair of real blue suede brothel-creepers, which were sold in a shop in Mansfield (where I grew up) which we could only gaze longingly through the window at, because they were far out of our price range. Besides which, there was no way I would've been allowed to have such a thing, as my mother was not at all keen on my 'teddy boy' image, and sadly I have no pictures.

As for the guitar, It simply never occurred to me that a person could teach themselves. At school, a couple of the more well off kids had been taught to play the piano through formal lessons, and I assumed that the same thing would have to apply to learning the guitar.
But within a year or so, the home-grown 'Punk' music which swept the UK in 1977, helped to cement the idea in my mind, that a person could be self-taught. And within that year, I abandoned rock 'n' roll and decided that my black bomber jacket would serve equally well when I began to embrace 'Punk' music, which had a 'sound' and attitude which seemed tailor-made for a young 14 year old full of rebellious stirrings and growing discontent with school life, and the academic expectations of my parents.

Early days in childhood - Rock 'n' Roll roots

As previously mentioned, the big thing for my father was 1950's rock 'n' roll. The earliest of my childhood musical memories included hearing rock 'n' roll classics like Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B.Goode', Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock', or his all-time favourite; 'Blue Suede Shoes' by Elvis Presley.
Alongside these rock 'n' roll classics were the early records by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, like 'Move It' and 'High Class Baby', and also the early hits by The Shadows in their own right as a guitar based instrumental group.
Most of these records were 45" singles, and even today, seeing the green 'Columbia' label on which Cliff and The Shadows appeared, still fills me with a nostalgic glow.

Some of my dad's earliest records, including many of his Elvis Presley records were on the old 78" format, and because of the fragile condition of these old 78s, he bought some LPs that featured most of his rock 'n' roll favourites, and a few albums of Elvis Presley's early recordings, including the famous 'Sun Sessions'.

My Dad's music was very important to him, and he always wanted his records to be heard in the best medium possible, so he was one for keeping up with the technological advances in 'Hi-Fi'. By the end of the 1960's, he had replaced all his singles with 'Greatest Hits' album by the likes of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and of course Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

The excitement and energy of these early rock 'n' roll records like 'Rock Around The Clock', and 'Blue Suede Shoes' was not lost on me as a child. I heard them so often that they were part of my aural furniture, and the guitar work in particular would stay with me for many years until I began to flirt with the idea of playing guitar myself.
But it was guitar based instrumental tunes of The Shadows that had the most effect on me. Even when I was too young to really understand about guitars and what I was listening to, there was something about the SOUND of those Shadows records that really drew me in. I was entranced by the echoing guitar sound, and would listen to them so many times; Even more so than any of my dad's other records.
A particular favourite was 'The Savage' (pictured above) from 1961. I was too young to understand the concept of a 'guitar solo', but on some level I recognised the fast, exciting, bit in the middle as being different from the rest. Whilst on a melodic level, The Shadows tunes were very catchy and memorable, the bit in the middle held an enticing mystery for me, and I always thought of it as the 'best bit'.
My interest in Rock 'n' Roll and The Shadows in particular, didn't go away. As an older child of 11, 12 and 13, when the 'glam-rock' of the 1970s dominated the pop charts, I was collecting more Shadows records and going to a rock 'n' roll disco at a local youth club with a school friend.
Ironically, at 11 & 12, I was at the same time still taking an interest in classical music and collected some classical records. But by the time I was 13, my interest in orchestral music began to lose out to the lure of the guitar.....

Early days in childhood - Classical Music roots

As previously mentioned, my first exposure to classical music came via my mother's LPs, many of which were compilations of popular classics. From these LPs I came to know such musical delights as 'Finlandia' by Sibelius, and Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2, (or at least the famous opening movement). Certainly this was how I got my first exposure to the great Ludwig Van Beethoven, the most memorable being two of his most well known pieces; the first movement of the 5th Symphony, and Adagio movement of the 'Moonlight Sonata'.
A particular favourite of mine was a compilation album called 'Orchestral Fireworks', which I used to play a lot. This album contained many short pieces which are still favourites today, including a couple of the 'Hungarian Dances' by Brahms, de Falla's 'Ritual Fire Dance', and 'Festivals' from 'Nocturnes' by Debussy.
Also this album contained the first bit of music that I ever heard by a composer who much later in life would become very important to me. This was the 'Magic Fire Music' from Die Walküre, by Richard Wagner.
Pictured below are two of the classical compilation albums from my mother's collection that I remember the most:

Also worthy of a mention, although technically a film soundtrack album, the soundtrack to '2001: A Space Odyssey', comprised of  much classical music which also made its way into my affections. Most notably the short introduction to 'Also sprach Zarathustra' which for me was indelibly associated with the NASA moon landing of  July 1969.

But the classical album which made the biggest impact on me by far was a recording of Gustav Holt's: 'The Planets' made by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
This LP was easily my most played classical album of my childhood days, and something which I've never at any point not had a recording of in my collection. I was absolutely fascinated with this music. Particularly the dark and brooding first movement: 'Mars: The Bringer of War', and the final most ethereal movement, 'Neptune: The Mystic'. Although I did used to listen to this album in its entirety, and there wasn't a single movement that I didn't enjoy listening to.
I've owned several versions of 'The Planets' over the years, from the famous Herbert Von Karajan recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, to André Previn conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. But for many years, none of the recordings that I acquired sounded quite as good the particular recording that my mother had, because after years of childhood listening, I had become so attuned to it. Although my current favourite version is by James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This was introduced to me by a friend a couple of years ago, and it's the only version that's managed to wrestle the Adrian Boult/LPO version from first place in my affections.
But here is the LP that was the most important classical album of my childhood:

When I first went to grammar school at the age of 11, I was introduced to even more classical music via our music lessons. The first couple of years of this broadened my repertoire further, and before long I acquired a few classical records of my own, including the following favourite examples:

In the grand scheme of all things classical, these may not have been the most groundbreaking of composers or works, but they definitely helped to keep my mental door open to my passion for the great composers like Beethoven and Wagner and others that would come to dominate my tastes in more recent years. 

Early days in childhood

Although neither of my parents were musicians, my enthusiasm for music came about from their own interest in music, via the records that they played whilst I was a young child.
My mother's musical tastes were more varied than that of my father, who was a little more specific in his tastes, but at the same time more in-depth in those particular tastes, and their mutual record collection reflected these qualities.
Growing up in the 1960s, my mother listened to a lot of contemporary pop music, which ran more towards the middle of the road side, so there were the Beatles early to middle period albums, and the likes of Simon & Garfunkel and other slightly more folky stuff like The Seekers and The Spinners, amongst others.
But my passion for classical music also definitely came from my mother. Her record collection consisted mainly of popular classics, in the form of many compilation albums, along with some albums of specific works by particular composers, which I will mention in more detail later.
For my father's part, His interest was mainly pop music, but he had a special passion for 1950s Rock 'n' Roll, which encompassed a great love of Elvis Presley's early records, along with that of many other Rock and Rollers of his youth, from Bill Haley and the Comets, to Chuck Berry, to Little Richard and many more.
His particular fondness throughout the early 60's for the music of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, and especially the Shadows in their own right as an instrumental guitar group, was certainly a formative influence in my own embryonic musical passions, equal to that of my mother's classical records, which both marked out for me very early on, a distinct leaning, (although by no means exclusively) towards non-vocal music.

But amongst all this early love of my parents' respective records, there was something far more deep and meaningful......

Yes folks, this was where it was at when I was 7. Although it's safe to say that it didn't make a lasting impression much after my mother bought it for me. But there we are. The above record was the first one that was officially 'mine'.
So yes, amongst all that authentic Rock 'n' Roll, and classical music, there was a fair amount kitsch stuff too.
Many of my generation will remember the 'Top of the Pops' series of albums with glamour girls on the front, and other similar series like the 'Hot Hits' albums. Here are two examples that I remember from my parents record collection that used to get played regularly:

Yes, as a child I did enjoy such albums as these too, with their cover versions of contemporary hits, including such personal favourites of the day, like: 'Theme from 'Shaft' and 'Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West'. Oh yes, I remember them well.
These albums went hand in hand with my now nostalgic interest in the tv themes of the time, which were often released as singles back then, and more often than not, appeared on such albums as the above. Both tv and film themes were often released on albums covered by the likes of Cy Pane or Jack Parnell and his Orchestra, amongst others. This was another facet of my growing interest in incidental music. Partly fuelled  via my favourite childhood tv programmes such as 'Dr Who' and 'Star Trek', which gave way to a keen interest in tv and film themes as a whole.

The most successful and well known of these was undoubtedly Geoff Love and his Orchestra, who made several albums of film and tv themes which my parents had in their record collection. I particularly remember these four examples; Especially the Western and War Movie albums, the latter of which in particular had some dramatic childhood favourites such as 'Where Eagles Dare'.

And further on the subject of tv themes, In 1973, I bought my first record of my own in the form of the BBC single of the Dr Who theme music. Admittedly, this was largely because it was my favourite tv programme when I was a boy, but the electronic wonder of it did not escape me, and in that sense it was certainly an influence on some the music I would be making on home recording equipment about 15 years down the line.

So these are examples of some of the lighter side of my childhood musical influences. Next I'll talk about some of the more long lasting impressions made by the aforementioned classical music which comes from my mother, and the rock 'n' roll music coming from my father, along with my earliest guitar hero: Hank Marvin.   

A short introduction

At 50 years of age, I decided to start writing a biographical history of sorts, that chronicles my passion for music, which has for the most part been the dominating force throughout my life.
(Little did I know I would be almost 57 before I came back to this blog!)
I'm just an ordinary bloke, not well known except on a particular music scene in my locality, and this blog is something I'm putting together for my own amusement, and possibly the amusement or interest of a few friends.

It details, how much music means to me, and will also give some personal background to my life as I have gone through different phases in my musical interests, passions, and attempts to forge a career.