Athlete - Tourist 2005 and a pregnant wife

This is the 2nd and the last Athlete album I have. I found the receipt in the CD Booklet. CD bought at 11.05am in 31/1/2005 from a Tescos in Sudbury in Suffolk. I also had Cereal Bars and chewing gum on the receipt.

I have a very clear recollection of the time and place of this CD. I was working for a publisher and had my first opportunity to 'work from home'. It was also the first time a company had given me a 'car allowance' instead of giving me a car. I went out and spent a load of money on an inappropriate, powerful, fast Japanese car. The petrol allowance I got per mile did not cover the actual petrol I used getting to get to and from meetings.

I also got given a company mobile phone, my first company issued one. The company were shit hot on Health and Safety and had a man come over to install as proper hands free kit in the car. The best one I have ever had in a car. I remember leaving Warwick after a meeting and chatting to my mate all the way back to Essex whilst driving. Ahh happy days and no phone bills.

This album still reminds me of my pregnant wife and the excitment of our first baby. It also reminds me of setting a home office up, looking for a proper leather chair and trying to fit a PC, Laptop, Anglepoise, Printer and a fax machine on a big desk from Ikea. The CD got a caning in the car for months. I still love it and still listen to it. There's a track on it called 'Wires' which really tied this album in with a pregnacy and a birth of a child.

My daughter was born fit and healthy and was taken home in the inappropriate Japanese sports car, however in my defense I did have the 5 door model...

Freedom 90 - George Michael and a job working for BCCI Bank in the City

I had a 'spine- tingle' tonight whilst trying to put together a Christmas present for my 2 year old son. Both kids in bed, wife watching George Michael in Concert on Sky 1 and me with a bloody huge box with an unassembled table, 7 metres of wooden train track and an allen key.

George Micheal was doing his encore and came out and asked the crowd in Earls Court what song they wanted to hear. Then the drum intro to Freedom kicked in. It took me straight back to my first job in the City. These are the thoughts it evoked.

Still living at home with parents but feeling all grown up. Spending nearly a third of my salary on a season ticket to get to and from work. Being all grown up with a packet of Malboro Reds and a brass Zippo lighter, mints and a Next Suit.

Against my parents wishes I decided to swerve University and got a job for an international bank called B.C.C.I. The Bank of Credit and Commerce International. For those of you in the know, you'll know that this bank was basically a front to launder drug cartel money, clean it and then move it around the world. It was a massive operation with branches worldwide and plenty of branches in London with lots of marble toilets and gold taps. I worked first at Leadenhall Street and then later at the Charing Cross Road Branch. It was closed down by the Bank of England in 1991

Amusingly over the years since the closure, my old branch on Charing Cross Road ( opposite Centrepoint) became an Ann Summers Sex Shop, then a Benjy's Processed Meat Sandwich Shop and now I think it's an EAT.

We used to be allowed to smoke at our desks and I had a massive BCCI hexagonal brown smoked glass ashtray on my desk. I still have this at home, in the shed as a door stop. I was given it as a leaving present by my manager when I left to become a commodities broker. Nice present!

This song evokes feelings and memories of hope and excitement. Job in the City, good prospects and the first steps of a career. When I was at BCCI I wasn't aware of any of the stuff that was going on. There was no internet, no twitter, no blogs, no mobile phones, no texting, no email. My mum and dad had read some stuff in a 'big paper' but I really didn't have a clue that the bank was already under a lot of scrutiny. I wanted to get into Trading either Currency or Soft Commodities and when an opportunity came up I left the Bank.

The whole point of this Music Memories Blog is to capture those moments as and when they occur and hearing Freedom by George Michael did just that tonight. That was nearly 20 years ago... Wow...

I still haven't finished building the table that my son's train set is supposed to sit on and I'm trying to watch a Bluray of Terminator Salvation with the sound set on bloody quiet. It's not happening...

Anastacia - Not That Kind CD Rediscovered and sledging in 2nd day snow.

Let me set the scene. It's warm and toasty indoors, it's been snowing outside for a couple of days. The kids went sledging yesterday with their mum when I was at work. The snow was lovely, soft and clean and fresh. The kids loved it. Today the snow is icy, dirty and horrible. As soon as we got to the hilly field they started to moan about being cold. So I had a couple of goes on my own and then trudged home. There's no longevity with snow in the UK is there?

After lunch, my son had a little nap and my daughter wanted to make Christmas cards. I decided to give her a little musical education and pulled the next CD off my top shelf. I was hoping for something really cool I hadn't listened to in a while. A rediscovery of a hidden treasure like the Adam F 'Kaos' CD of earlier in the week. Imagine my delight when I pulled Anastacia 'Not That kind'.

I do remember this album vaguely, there's all her big hits like 'I'm Outta Love' , 'Not my Kind', 'Cowboys and Kisses'. This is playing now for the 2nd time. She's got a voice that you've got to be in a certain kind of mood for. Like Duffy or that bloody Macy Gray.

It's an okay album. I remember thinking the first time I saw her that she looked like one of the Appleton sisters from All Saints. I didn't and wouldn't have bought this album. I can only assume it belongs to the wife. If you like powerful female voices with large cheesy american production numbers, you'll enjoy this. I've made myself ( and my daughter ) listen to this twice this afternoon.

Time to press eject and hide Anastacia away again for a few years. Life's too short to listen to this too much. See ya!

The Avalanches - Since I Left You 2000 ish

Who remembers The Avalanches? I sure they were like a cartoon band before the Gorillaz. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure I remember them going up to receive an award and a couple of real Eskimos or Aborigines went up and collected on their behalf. Anyway I can't actually remember what the band look like or anything. Where were they from, anyone know?

The album itself is pretty cool, couple of stand out tracks 'Since I left You' and 'Frontier Psychiatrist'. The frontier track always makes me smile because my good friend is called 'Dexter' and he actually is 'Criminally Insane'. The video for this track was all over MTV at the time.  The style is like an old school mix tape, it's hard to define the genre, it's definitely dance beats, chilled, cartoony and well produced. If you listen to it a few times you can hear loads of samples from other records.

I reckon I got this CD from MVC in Colchester, there's a Tesco's Metro there now. That was THE music club and video store in town in them days. On listening again it reminds me of moving into my proper house, having a real open fire for the first time and a dodgy pub style Axminster carpet in the living room. The year must have been 2000, my dad said that the carpet was a top quality carpet.  I said he could have it. He declined.

The people who owned the house before us had a massive hairy Irish Wolf Thing Dog, my parents bought us a Dyson and it was amazing how much fur/hair this thing shed into that carpet. We had hair in the Dyson for nearly a year. It put us off having pets. This album also reminds me of planning our Wedding. I was trying to work out what we could save money on so I could get that horrible pub carpet replaced ASAP.

Our wedding pictures have a couple of shots of the Bride getting ready at home and she looks like she's getting ready in a pub...

Adam F 'Kaos' a forgotten classic hip hop album from 2001

This is precisely the reason why I started this musical memories blog. I pulled this CD out of my top shelf this morning, looked at it and had no idea about it. I thought hard and the only reason I think I have this CD was the fact it was probably an insurance replacement product from the time we had our house burgled in 2000.

We'd been out all day Sunday and then came home at 8pm mildly worse for wear to our front door swinging in the wind. We entered the house obviously shit scared about what we'd find. Luckily it was only a burglary and not a 'vandalise the house and nick stuff' burglary. I remember being a bit offended because they didn't steal my tv. The policeman said that the criminals would have only have been in the house a few minutes and would have only stolen small things. They stole a VHS player, a laptop and a took a pillow case off our bed to put CD's in. I was always very anal about my CD's being in alphabetical order and the thieves took a shelf load from Pet Shop Boys to ZZ Top.

I'll always remember what the policeman said to me about getting my CDs back. He suggested I went to Cash Convertors in town and buy them back. Twat!

I put this on my CD player in my office at home this morning. Wow!!! Unbelievable!!! It sounds like a sweary hip hop version of Guru 'Jazzamatazz'. I thought this and then read the booklet notes and discovered Guru features on one of the tracks. As does De La Soul, Redman, LL Cool J and Huggy Bear. This sounds powerful, cinematic, epic and needs to be respected and played on a proper hi-fi system. So I took it downstairs for a proper loud play.

This album really sounds like a film soundtrack, quality hip hop, you can hear where The Streets, Kanye West, Gorillaz, Jay Z have got some inspiration from. This album was released in 2001 and has been sitting in the A section of my CD collection since then and today was the first time I've had a proper listen to it.

There's nothing nice about being burgled, especially when they don't even take your telly. The only upside to it was the insurance company trying to replace the list of music. I'm racking my brains for a reason why Adam F was sent to me, it must have been a 'near' replacement. I've got a few more of these in my collection and I look forward to finding them.

Naughty - Adamksi in about 1992/1993

The name of the album sums up the era in one word for me. NAUGHTY. I bought this in either 1992 or 1993. I'd left working in the City and went local. Because my job was in the next big town I decided to buy my first bachelor pad in that big town. It saved kipping on people's floors after nights out after work. I must been 21 or 22 when I bought this CD and the same age when I bought my first house.

I went out and ordered a double bed for my bedroom and I remember my Mum asking me why I had a double bed in my room. I couldn't answer that question really. Not to my mum.

Leaving home and buying my own house was an amazing feeling. Especially when having my own house meant I could do what I absolutely wanted! I was very naughty during this era. Far too naughty to write about on this blog.

Naughty is Adamski's 2nd Album, I think. There have been more but this was the last one I bought. I'm pretty sure it came from MVC in town. I'm not sure if they were a national chain. Music Video Club. You joined, got a card and then got a discount buying CD's and Videos.

Listening to this also reminds me of my 2 identical 2 seater sofas. These were the first bits of furniture I ever chose, again a huge event in my life. I remember choosing the fabric in a furniture factory in Clacton. They cost a packet because they were hand made however I sold them to a mate in 2005 so they lasted me 13 years. You get what you pay for. He's still using them. My wife of now reckoned I'd been 'naughty' with other girls on them, so made me get rid. I did have a good time then.

The standout tracks on this album are 'Born to be Alive' and 'Time Capsule'. The album has been sampled by loads of other artists. There are loads of sounds and riffs that are still being used now. I do like this album, but I love 'Musical Pharmacy' his first album. I would have played this loads when trying to entertain girls with my bad Spag Boll or Spam Curry.

This album invokes a feeling of 'freedom' and of being, a very naughty boy...

Check it out, definitely worth a listen if you are in your late 30's, enjoy proper electronic music from a pioneer of Dance.

Vehicles and Animals by Athlete

I've had this on whilst working this morning. Haven't heard it in it's entirety for a couple of years. I'm glad I dug it out again.

Vehicles and Animals was Athlete's first album. The best track is the title track, if you haven't heard this album before, I highly recommend this. I know this album song for song and note for note.

I takes me back to 2002/2003, I'd just sold my business and went on a nice long holiday. It also reminds me of Chelmsford in Essex for some reason. Maybe because I bought the CD in the HMV in the precinct there. I remember I loved this whole album so much I bought it for my sister as a Christmas present. I also gave copies of it to some people at work. I remember I was a real Athlete evangelist for a while.

If I gave copies to people at work then it must have meant that after my holiday I must have gone back to working for someone else again. The Chelmsford memories must be the Publishing Company I worked at for a while.

It's a happy time, and a happy album about more innocent times. I think the most powerful feeling this album evokes in me is relief. Relief that I sold my business finally and it was time to start a new chapter.

I'm almost certain I downloaded a couple of tracks off this album as MP3s before I bought it. I think I must have been going through my early peer to peer downloading. I'm sure I was still on a dial up in those days.

Final thoughts, warm, happy, sunny and driving up the A12 listening to this. Actually I remember now that I had a CD player in the car at the time. Great Album, all the way through. Hope you enjoy it too.

Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy by Adamski

This is an amazing album. Definately in my top 10 best albums of all time. It was bought in either 1990 or 1991. I still listen to this CD on a regular basic. Adamski was a electronic music pioneer and discovered Seal. Top tune 'Killer'

This CD always makes me feel optimistic and positive. The era was early work and fresh out of education. Bit of cash in my pocket, my own car and a season ticket to the City of London in a suit.

I was working for an international banking group on Leadenhall Street and paying a third of my wages on my train fare and the rest of my wages to my mum and keeping my Y reg XR2 on the road.

This album triggers memories of the 'Train Club'. The same group of people who caught the same train at the same time everyday during the week. Same seats every morning. I remember watching the 'one off' travellers' sitting in a 'Train Clubbers' seat and the dagger looks from some of the older commuters.

This CD would have been taped onto a C90 cassette and I would have caned it to death on the train commute for months. I used to travel up with an old school friend and I remember we would swap tapes on the way home. This album also reminds me of Depeche Mode and Erasure because that's what my mate had on his cassettes. This is the reason why I love Depeche Mode and Erasure but don't actually own any of it in CD form.

A happy time, positive, new starts, left school, looking forward to the rest of my working life. This is a really great album in my eyes. Doesn't sound dated, if you love electronic music Adamski is the the Granddaddy.

My favorite track is N.R.G Symphony in F minor. The BPM's are a little slower than current dance music but it is truly a classic must have album.

Aim - 'Hinterland'

I pulled out 'Hinterland' by Aim earlier. This was circa 2003 I reckon.

This is a chilled out downtempo beats type of CD. I first heard this album at my DJ mates house during an after-party with people sitting around chatting after clubbing in London. This was a Pre children but Post wedding period of our lives.

I can see a load of people sat in a lounge, bottles of Jack Daniels and ashtrays full. The atmosphere is thick with smoke and this album is playing gently from 2 Bowers and Wilkins club speakers that are definitely much too large for the room.

I'm also getting the feeling that I was getting too old to be sitting around talking shit to people until sunrise. There is some sadness felt when I heard this again today. It was like a 'time to move on ' feeling. I remember the room was full of young female hairdressers smoking and I was actually really bored with the conversations and goings on. This was also during the time when copying CDs on a PC was easy, as was colour printing on a home scanner. Instead of buying this CD, I remember my mate whizzing me off a disc and copying the cover and popping it in a jewel case for me before I let the house in a cab.

Slightly wonky and hazy time. Best track on the album is 'The Girl who Fell Through the Ice'. It's a good album but I don't really listen to it much these days.

The Best of the Art of Noise - Re-listened and Relived

I start my new blogging hobby today. I have picked the first CD on my top shelf of CDs and it's the Best of the Art of Noise. Looking at the case I definitely remember this as being one of my really early buys. I think I may have bought it either in Woolworth's in Braintree or possibly Adrian's in Wickford during my 6th form era.

The first thing that I realise when listening to this again is how fantastic the production is. The date on the CD is 1988 and it's a 'best of' so all the tracks would have been produced and created earlier. The initial 'memory feel' I get from hearing this album is driving my dad's car on my own and parking it in the school car park. This must mean I was in the 6th form and was old enough to drive. I think I must bought this CD in 1988 or 89. I'm thinking I may have gone to Wickford to buy this because the record shop there had more stuff to rummage through. Also having an 'Adrian's Records Wickford' plastic bag was a cool 'badge' to have in the 6th Form Common Room because it meant I could drive, have access to my dad's car and I was brave enough to drive 20 miles to another town to buy music.

There's a couple of film and TV references in the CD. Dragnet 88 from the film of the same name and the Max Headroom track Paranomia which help date the CD to the late 80's. However, weirdly I don't think this album sounds dated at all. The Tom Jones track Kiss has just started. It still sounds pretty cool and sharp.

I don't want to shoot my bolt early here, there's loads and loads of CDs to go. However I do think this CD is a classic. My favorite tracks are Moments in Love and Close (to the edit).

I have had this CD out recently anyway and it always takes me back to the 6th Form, smoking in the Sainsbury's Trolley Shelter over the road from the 6th Form Building, driving my dad's car and scraping ice off windscreens.

I love this album...

Revisiting my huge CD collection

I have a plan. I love music and have been buying CDs since about 1985/6. My collection started with Jean Micheal Jarre 'Rendezvous' and Now That's What I Call Music 7 in the 80's and the most recent was M.A.N.D.Y '12 Great Remixes for 11 Great Artists'.

So much has changed since I started buying CDs. The first ones I bought came from Woolworths in Braintree along with some pick and mix. The more recent ones come from Amazon or Tescos. ( I feel mildly guilty about buying music from both these places. However there are no shops in my town's high street that sell CDs at a competitive price.)

What I am planning to do it revisit and relisten to each CD in my collection and write a little about the history of the CD, where I bought it, the feelings and memories it evokes and whatever else comes to mind when I'm listening to it.

I've always been obsessed with music but have realised as I have got older and more affluent the more music I own the less I actually connect with. I remember when I'd buy some thing like 'Running in the Family' by Level 42 it would have been the only CD I would have purchased for a couple of months. I played that CD constantly and knew it word for word, note for note. I don't think it's like that for me now because of the sheer volume and accessibility of music. An album would remind me of a time and place. That's what I want to capture in the blogging.

The rules are simple. The cd and case will be photographed and pic posted. The cd will be listened to either on my proper hi fi downstairs or in my office upstairs. No iPod, iPhones or mp3 or headphones. I do love technology but I want to remain pure for this blog and listen to a real CD on a proper CD player.

I've got over 600 CDs from 25 years of buying music and I plan to start blogging tomorrow.


-- Post From My iPhone