October 26th 1972

“watched Monty Pythons Flying Circos”
The spelling is deliberate – I believe future posts will prove I wrote it differently each week.
Sad muppet that I was.

October 24th 1972

“posed off my boots at school”
Lest we forget….

October 23rd-27th 1972

“T-5″
“T-4″
“T-3″
“T-2″
“T-1″
A five-day countdown to half-term.
Can you tell how excited I was to be at school?

October 22nd 1972

“in morning dun typing, in afternoon plyd soccer + scored 10″ / “carried on with project”
TEN! (Sign me up Scolari!)
In “soccer” too. Shame it wasn’t in football?!
Why the hell, in 1972, would I have called it soccer all of a sudden?
In an ironic twist, I have spent my (so far) ten years in the USA trying [...]

October 21st 1972

“city 4, west ham 3″ / “started project – went to library in morning. got books on the civil war for project”
Here’s one to make my wife laugh.
Not that City squeaked by the Hammers but that, as a 14-year-old boy, I did a school project on the Civil War.
Go on, ask me anything you want [...]

October 19th 1972

“scored 2 in games / watched monty pythons flying circus”
Bend it like….erm…. Teenage Rock Opera!
It was about now that I really started to get into Monty Python in a big way, dedicating my Thursday evenings to being glued to the TV set and what I think were the BBC repeats of the show.
I believe it’s [...]

October 18th 1972

“sold sultana and lent my tape, fragile/yes botw/S+G to johnny”
Sultana was an instrumental (one) hit (wonder) for Norwegian band Titanic.
36-years on I can’t believe that I sold it, because now I think it’s pretty damned groovy!
 Titanic – Sultana (1971) (mp3)

October 15th 1972

“went to church in morning and posed off me new boots – in afternoon washed dads car”
What is church for exactly, if not to pose off new boots?
I trust I wasn’t still wearing them when I washed the old man’s Cortina?!

October 14th 1972

“nufin dun in morning, in afternoon went to E.L.” “boots arrived – bludy smart”
Now, the 70’s were a time of unbridled good taste in fashion. Am I right readers, or am.I.right?
STOP laughing at the back!
Like all kids of my age in the recession-stricken decade of flares, platforms and fringes, I attempted to dress to impress. [...]

October 13th 1972

“argument still on verge” / “got tarkus back from rob”
Mum & Dad are still arguing. (I have actually stopped myself from publishing every date when I write “argument” or “arguverge” as my one and only diary entry for the day. Too painful)
Plus, proof that I didn’t just filch albums from other people, I actually lent [...]

October 12th 1972

“ENGI VUGI”
Nope.
No idea what this refers to.
Some kind of weird slang that only a 14-year-old idiot can understand.

October 11th 1972

“went up nigs. mal was there. had good fun playing splits”
I believe this was the first time I ever met Mal?
Or Malc as I much later in life got to know him as.
Back in 1972 I don’t think we really cared for one another that much – he was a year older than me and viewed [...]

October 10th 1972

“dad went to school for meeting. meanwhile back on the ranch pulled off all old pictures from walls and put up ELP”
Aw, bless my teenage cotton (more likely, nylon) socks, I replaced the band pictures on my wall.
Not that I can remember what I took down.
Or put up.
If you see what I mean?

October 9th 1972

“decided to flog records”
I don’t think I mean I laid them all on the floor and flailed them with a cat-o-nine-tails? Even if I probably had a couple of dodgy singles that deserved such a fate.
I obviously sold some sounds, man
A taste of things to come.

October 8th 1972

“watched the earls lose. went car cleaning with kev / went out can hunting during tibs”
I have evidently wasted WAY too much of my life watching football teams lose?
Car cleaning I can understand – I know it was my ‘primary source of income’ as people are now want to mutter – but “can hunting“?…. what the [...]

October 6th 1972

“went up Nigs and borrowed Anyway – Family” / New set batts > 50 days”
Nig – Or Nigel – was a school chum who lived just around the corner from me.

Like Trevor, he also had an older brother (Keith) who was something of a experimental music fan. I feel as indebted to Keith for some [...]

October 4th 1972

“Received Trilogy – Emerson, Lake + Palmer – Bloody Fantastic”
I’ve already banged on enough about Trilogy
I like my review of it though! Totally unbiased of course.
(The airbrushed cover painting of ”three barechested ELP boys” does seem a tad ’gay’ now, doesn’t it? I’m beginning to wonder if “Lucky Man” had an underlying alternate meaning?)

September 30th 1972

“went to Oval pop festival – E.L.P + Focus absolutely brilliant. W.A. not bad. Argent, Genesis - shit / Cort 9.47 /
So what – 36 years later – can I remember of my first ever rock gig?
Actually – and maybe surprisingly – this Oval gig was my one and ONLY rock “festival”, but very much my induction into [...]

An Aside (XIII)

Part 6….

Yes, a Genesis fronted by Peter Gabriel

An Aside (XII)

Part 5…

There will UNDOUBTEDLY be a large post at some point in the future about Dutch band Focus. In the meantime, to both whet your appetite and fighten the bejeeebus out of you….

Woooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!