Friday, January 9, 2009

Vinyl Love

I showered today and shaved my legs, did two loads of laundry and read half of my husband’s new script but that is as far as I got in the accomplishment department. Oh, I cannot forget about the vacuuming. That was a high point as I sucked up all the cookie crumbs and dog hair while Otto watched with glee. The moment I finished with the living room rug, though, he was done with me and off to rummage through his toy chest. Then he did something that I cannot stop thinking about. We are forty, Dave and I, so we grew up with album, not the compact disc. We have a turntable and a collection of records from our teenage years of angst, pot smoking and good, hard rockin’. Yup, I just wrote a word and substituted a “g” for an apostrophe. Kill me now!

Anyhow, as I was hunched over in the dining room sucking up bits of dried egg and puffed wheat, I turned to see Otto sitting in front of the said pile of albums and looking through them like he worked in a record store. His ability to flick the album covers toward him reminded me of times at Tower Records when as a young, clueless music fan I would fan through all the albums by a band that I knew even though I already owned them. I just wanted to look cool and if anyone asked me a question I cold rattle off the names of all the songs and band members without missing a beat.

Otto actually stopped and looked at every cover and took in what he saw as far as I could tell. I just thought it was cute until he stopped on Supertramp’s Breakfast in America and my heart went all soft. That was my first album and I’ll never forget the summer I lived with my grandparents in Wisconsin and listed to the funky and high pitched lead singer sing about his girlfriend and a Vegemite sandwich over and over in their sun room. It was such an intense experience to really fall in love with a song or someone’s voice and know that they could be there anytime you wanted them to.

As Otto continued through the pile I wondered what will be his first album, his first song, his first band that will change his perception of the world forever and make him rock out like his old lady and old man. I just hope it's not Yanni.

 

For those you care this is the collection of albums Otto was looking through. Not a bad start for a little head banger in training…

 

The Kinks -The File Series

The Who - Who Are You

The Who – Face Dances

Prince – Purple Rain

Journey – Departure

Sinatra – Trilogy

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced

The Kinks – Misfits

Madonna – Like A Virgin

Queen – The Game

Pink Floyd – Dar Side of the Moon

Billy Joel  - 52nd Street

Journey – Journey

Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby

Black Sabbath – We Sold Our Souls For Rock ‘n’Roll

The Doors – LA Woman

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard

The Police – Synchronicity

Pink Floyd – Meddle

Lou Reed – Rock N Roll Animal

Jackson Browne – Late For The Sky

The Clash - London Calling

Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel

The Who – Odds and Sods

Lou Reed – New Sensations

Zappa – Zoot Allures

Rod Stewart –Never A Dull Moment

Supertramp – Breakfast In America

Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

Donna Summer – Love to Love You Baby

Pete Townsend –Scoop

AC/DC - Highway To Hell

Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking

Steely Dan – Katy Lied

Lou Reed – Live

Country Joe and The Fish – I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die

X – Ain’t Love Grand

Elvis Costello – Elvis Costello

Roxy Music – Manifesto

The Kinks – Preservation Act I

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park

Led Zeppelin – Presence

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection

Al Green – Call Me

Neil Young – After the Goldrush

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Imperial Bedroom

Fleshtones – Roman Gods

Neil Diamond – Rainbow

The Knack – Get The Knack

Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic

Best of Scorpians

The Pretenders – Learning To Crawl

 

 

 

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