Gordon Steadman
09-12-2016, 20:05
I've had a bit of spare time lately what with being retired and wanting to take a break from work on the house for a bit.
So I've been listening to music even more than usual. Revisiting stuff that I haven't heard for ages. Looking back, when I first heard pop music, I was listening on my parents wooden sideboard with speakers stuck in the end (it was called a radiogram but really it was a sideboard!!) Basically it was crap of course but that's what we listened to. The music was still great and seemed the most important thing in the world.
As the hi-fi progressed, my musical tastes changed and I stopped listening to all the pop stuff like the Beatles and the Stones but mostly classical, jazz, Paul Simon and Joni.
I have never really sat down and listened seriously to the old stuff until today. Hearing what was really going on has been a revelation. We only heard half of it back then and it was still great. Now, it seems to be as fresh and inventive as ever. The Stones...well they are OK and a good rock band but they didn't have a genius like George Martin to help them. The Beatles wrote great songs but listening to the arrangements now that everything is so crystal clear raises their music to new heights.
I've spent all these years thinking they were great and so they were but only now can I really appreciate the quality. It seems strange that I haven't sat and listened to them for 50 years but life went another way as it will. Really enjoying revisiting stuff. I wonder what else is there that I have been unaware of!!
Probably won't have time to do the house - don't tell Ronnie!!
So I've been listening to music even more than usual. Revisiting stuff that I haven't heard for ages. Looking back, when I first heard pop music, I was listening on my parents wooden sideboard with speakers stuck in the end (it was called a radiogram but really it was a sideboard!!) Basically it was crap of course but that's what we listened to. The music was still great and seemed the most important thing in the world.
As the hi-fi progressed, my musical tastes changed and I stopped listening to all the pop stuff like the Beatles and the Stones but mostly classical, jazz, Paul Simon and Joni.
I have never really sat down and listened seriously to the old stuff until today. Hearing what was really going on has been a revelation. We only heard half of it back then and it was still great. Now, it seems to be as fresh and inventive as ever. The Stones...well they are OK and a good rock band but they didn't have a genius like George Martin to help them. The Beatles wrote great songs but listening to the arrangements now that everything is so crystal clear raises their music to new heights.
I've spent all these years thinking they were great and so they were but only now can I really appreciate the quality. It seems strange that I haven't sat and listened to them for 50 years but life went another way as it will. Really enjoying revisiting stuff. I wonder what else is there that I have been unaware of!!
Probably won't have time to do the house - don't tell Ronnie!!