As my musical tastes broadened beyond pure glam, or glam influenced rock throughout 1973/74, I began to realise that my modest Fidelty mono record player just wasn't getting the most out of my newly acquired progressive, experimental and electronic LPs. Fortunately my best mate had a stereo, a real one, not just a radiogram that happened to have twin mono speakers. His stereo had two speakers, hung on hooks, high on either side of his parents' living room wall.
When either of us purchased a new LP, we quickly got into the habit of retiring to his house, removing the speakers from their lofty position and placing them faced towards each other on the floor, about 12" apart. We'd then take it in turns to lay on the floor between them to gain the maximum stereo impact we could, from records like 'No Pussyfooting' by Fripp & Eno, 'Trilogy' by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, 'Blackdance' by Klaus Schulze, 'Moving Waves' by Focus, 'Aqua' by Edgar Froese, 'Phallus Dei' by Amon Düül II, 'Phaedra' by Tangerine Dream and many others. I don't know why my mate's parents didn't just buy him buy a pair of headphones, but those were great times and every new record was a voyage of musical discovery.
These days I'm a bit long in the tooth for stretching out on the floor to listen to a record, but for the next 17 and a bit minutes, in my head at least, I'm 14 years old again and back there on my old pal's dusty front room carpet - lying between the speakers, digging the music.
Klaus Schulze - Way of Changes
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4 comments:
Kids these days are living a deprived existence, and I'd argue that the ready availability of everything and technology that allows them to play any tune that want on a phone, a coffee table or a spoon, will mean they never appreciate music in quite the same way we did.
I used to put myself in the exact same position on the living room floor while listening through my family's stereo speakers. Helter Skelter never sounded so good to this fifth grader.
This is what classic rock sounds like to most now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARb7znroi98
You named the bands we listened to in these times long gone by. It was a kind of music that we tried to share and it was the same to us - we took our records to one mate who had the best equipment. Great song - thanks for bringing me back to my days of youth, Swede.
Never heard that before, loving it, Cheers Swede.
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