Mikeydred: Sound Presents In 2024

Introduction

I have already entered one piece into this challenge but wasn't sure how to structure it, but found a way and I will include it in the conclusion to this one. Then I thought that our years could be tracked in holidays and birthdays as well as other events.

The main picture is my granddaughter Alexis Leia giving me a Father's Day present from her mum and aunty at El Coto in Newcastle.

This playlist is drawn from vinyl records I have acquired during the year. I keep saying I have enough vinyl, then I see something else and think "Oooh" that would be nice.

I also buy the odd cassette, because I discovered my record player also has a cassette built in (thanks Marek).

So here we go, the first two songs are from albums I got last Christmas, "Animals" from Fiona and "Lizard" by Ling Crimson from my daughters.

Pink Floyd - "Sheep" from "Animals"

This is my favourite track from "Animals" which was called "Raving And Drooling" in its original incarnation, this is brilliantly vicious, with Waters on full-out attack. This is from this amazing set that Fiona got me for Christmas last year, but as we haven't reached Christmas this year, this is within the last year.

King Crimson - "Lady Of The Dancing Water" from "Lizard"

I love the artwork from this album that Juliet and Kirsty got me for Christmas and this is quite a gentle song that I love the title of. I used it in a story of mine and was surprised to find a song with the same title.

When I holiday in Alnwick I visit The Beehive and have come away with vinyl and cassettes. I only have three tapes which you can see above.

Steve Earle - "Copperhead Road" - album title track

This is from one of the cassettes that I got from The Beehive in Alnwick earlier this year. I have the album on CD but it is nice to have it on tape and this reminds me of my holiday earlier this year.

This year I started going back to Preston on a monthly basis to catch up with my sister and old friends when I discovered I could get free bus travel and very cheap rail fairs.

This started in August last year for my sister Yvonne's birthday, but when I started all the trains going south were cancelled due to a derailed train. We tried to reschedule but nothing worked until May this year, and since then it has been monthly.

Tomorrow there are going to be six of us meeting in 1842, an amazing pub and restaurant in the old Public Hall and Corn Exchange in Preston which you can read about here:

I also met my friend Nicola who told me she had always felt guilt because she borrowed a record from me in the seventies, and then someone borrowed from her and never returned it, so she had gone to Action Records and bought two Pink Floyd singles that you can see here.

We met in The Ship and Giggles and she told me that she was working for the firm where I got my first job, James Mercer.

Pink Floyd - "Not Now John" from "The Final Cut"

My favourite song from the album. Nicola has excellent taste.

Van Der Graaf Generator - "Man Erg" from "Pawn Hearts"

This was a Father's Day present from my daughters. I love everything about this album from the surreal artist to a "rock" band with no guitars. Even though it is ten minutes long this is one of the shorter songs on the album.

10CC - "Wall Street Shuffle" from "Sheet Music"

Whenever I go on holiday I try and search out shops that sell vinyl, and I think I have got every extraordinary formatted album that I am interested in. I also like unusual artwork as well. Very often I prefer earlier albums by artists but The Rolling Stones recently brought out "Hackney Diamonds" so bands can still produce great music.

The other thing is I don't mind buying second-hand even if they have scratches and surface noise, as long as they don't stick or jump (which is annoying), but as John Peel once said to someone who complained about surface noise on vinyl:

"Life has surface noise mate"

"Sheet Music" is full of clever songs in a series of styles but I have chosen "Wall Street Shuffle" which is remarkably heavy for what was a hit single, and I do love the "When the Chips Are Down" image on the video.

You can see the cover on the five-album photo that I shared at the top of this piece. This was one of two albums that I bought from Better Daze in Northallerton.

Bebop Deluxe - "Life In The Air Age" from "Live In The Air Age"

This is the last album that I bought from Action Records on my last visit to Preston. One of my friends described it as the finest album that they had ever heard. It is very good and I was amazed to see it as soon as I walked through the door for a mere tenner.

Peter Baumann - "Romance" from "Romance 76"

This was part of a box set that Kirsty and Juliet got me for my last birthday. The box set is called "Phase By Phase" and contains three of his albums. Peter is ex-Tangerine Dream and I have two three CD sets of their early music as well as a four-CD set of music by their effective leader Edgar Froese.

This Friday I am going to see The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience at The Cluny. The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience are one of my favourite bands who I have seen many times. This is my introduction to them:

To close this this is The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience's promo video:

Conclusion

Thank you for reading. Hope you have found something that you like.

Here is my first entry into the challenge.