(1974 Albums) Mott the Hoople – The Hoople

1974 was quite the year for Mott the Hoople.
Flush from the band’s single success in 1972 with the Bowie-penned “All the Young Dudes“, Mott had already enjoyed follow-up hits with songs like “Honaloochie Boogie” and “All the Way from Memphis“.
(Not before Mott had turned down another offered song from Bowie though… a certain little ditty entitled “Drive-In Saturday“)
Late [...]

December 25th 1973

“Crismis Day – Got a guitar”
Evil child that I was, I always hunted for – and invariably found – my wrapped Crismis Christmas presents many weeks before Santa’s big day. Of course, as a result of them being wrapped I was not always 100% sure of the gifts inside but the size and shape of [...]

September 21st 1973

“Moved into spare room”
Wow…. I must have argued with myself and got thrown out?
Actually, I this was part of my necessary ‘teenage remodeling’ years. It is CERTAINLY something that my Dad remembers with a little bit of horror.
He reminded himself of it – and then me – when, last year, I told him I had finally finished [...]

August 6th 1973 (Pt II)

“Rained all day – went up Trev’s, borrowed … In Rock….”
[...cont]
Deep Purple’s “In Rock” album, was notable at the time because it was the first album they released where every track was written by members of the band. Gone then are the cheesy Neil Diamond covers, replaced by ‘proper’ tunes.
But…
Sure, Ian Gillan still screams for [...]

August 6th 1973 (Pt I)

“Rained all day – went up Trev’s, borrowed Tubular, In Rock, Birds of fire + Tonto’s”
I have written about Tonto’s Expanding Headband’s “Zero Time“  before.
Two out of the other three albums I borrowed on this day in 1973 require talking about at some length. So much so in fact that I plan to make this [...]

August 3rd 1973

“Roger came for me at 10 – said Ward wanted me to work all day – did so. Swapped my Scalextric for Bernard’s organ”
I will now pause whilst the more juvenile amongst you make up your own jokes…………
Done?
Good…..
Right, so having been denied an earlier opportunity to become a Scalextrix racing Car driver of some [...]

An Aside – My “History of Music” Project: Part I

This is the back cover. I hope everyone can read it OK?
Please note that in amongst the plethora of big name acts (Presely, The Beatles, Dylan, Zeppelin etc) I have included such other musical giants such as Man, Deke Leonard, and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. What?
“Rock” was the main ‘fireball’ it would seem [...]

May 9th 1973

“Caught F.Oak coach home illegally. Borrd Billion Dollar Babies off of Jackie S. Went up Gra’s in the evng. saw his new addition – Garrard SP25 III (G800).  Borrowd Gemini Suite & Book of Tailisyn, lent him Focus 3,”
Good lord, there’s so much going on – and to write about – in today’s diary entry…
Let’s [...]

April 26th 1973

“mark came up in morning, borrwd Deep P & St.Quo cassette and returned Tarkus. In afternoon went in – bort p. of trousers and went to thing at C66″
What was this C66?
What was the ‘thing’ there?
Do you often wonder why you’re still reading this?

March 13th 1973

“Parents Evening > lecture (phew!)” / “Gonna tape machinehead again, distorted recording”
The d-d-d-dreaded parents evening!
I would be left at home alone whilst my parents went to the school and sat down in turn with each of my subject tutors (They were called “teachers” in those days, I use the modern vernacular so as to not confuse [...]

March 12th 1973

“On way home bought Audio-Magnetic C-90 cassette – 54p. Borrowed machinehead – deep purple, in evng taped it”
I scribbled about Deep Purple’s “Machine Head” a few weeks ago.
It would appear that before I committed it to regular listening I had to save up 54p for an “Audio-Magnetic” cassette. I think its fair to say that [...]

February 17th 1973

“Got first pay 3.70 – 1.50 sub” / ”Bort new stylus 70p” / “Took bak Who Do We Think We Are – got £2.50 back” / “Lent Roger Moving Waves” / “Statement from Halifax” / “City 1 Liverp 1″
Aaaaah……… my first proper pay packet, suggesting that I underestimated my anticipated income as £1.70. It actually appears [...]

February 13th 1973

“Scored 2 in 4-a-side during Gym” / “Dad got me another Who Do We…. – it jumps as well – wrote letter to record co” / “started jigsaw”
Once again my little scoring successes in Gym – a school activity which I despised for everything it stood for – seems worthy of a diary mention.
Maybe I felt [...]

February 12th 1973

“Arguverge” / “Bort Who Do We Think We Are – Deep Purple – Very Good except 1st Track Woman from Tokyo jumps a lot – Gonna take it back and change it”
I know it’s not every Deep Purple fan’s idea of the band’s best album ever, but for me “Who Do We Think We Are” is [...]

February 5th 1973

“Gra lent me Made in Japan – Deep Purple – Brilliant!” / “Have decided to buy Who Do WeThink You Are with first wages” / “Found out that I was 2nd in Phys”
Over the years, my personal fascination for live albums has diminished considerably.
However, in 1973, I determined Deep Purple’s “Made in Japan” ”brilliant“. Hmmn?
The tracks [...]

January 28th 1973

“Dave came up in the morning and borrowed Pictures and lent me Roxy Music”
I was almost dreading the debut mention of Roxy Music in this blog.
Why? Because it is extremely difficult to explain the impact that the band – and their style – had on this particular teenager. It’s also difficult to explain to [...]

January 19th 1973

“Lent Tarkus – E.L.P. to Johnny M and borrowed Machine Head and Deep Purple in Live Concert off Gra” / “T-1 day to get Moving Waves (If I have got enough money mite get Focus 3 instead)”
OK, I have officially confused my 50-year-old self here
Most of this is straightforward stuff, but I am having a [...]

December 16th 1972

“Went down Trevs + borrowed D.Purple, Man, Groundhogs, The Nice”
I have not mentioned which specific albums I borrowed from Trev, but I have more than an inkling it was the following …erm… ‘gems’….
Deep Purple – The Book of Taliesyn
If I even recorded this album, I doubt very much I kept it. No Ian Gillan on [...]

November 30th 1972

“borrowed Fireball off Sims” / “came ‘ome to find that Mum had moved my bedroom round”
Title track aside, 1971’s Fireball is hardly one of Deep Purple’s “classic” rock albums. 
It did hit Number 1 on the UK album chart, but this may have had everything to do with fan’s frenzied anticipation of new Purple material following 1970’s FAR [...]

September 23rd 1972

“Stoke 5, City 1 / Went up Gra’s in afternoon – saw his cassette player – Wow!”
Whilst City  get tromped on away from home I evidently suffer “tape player envy”
As I recall, Gra(ham) travelled quite a bit with his parents (was his Dad a pilot or something?) and during a recent family holiday to nowhere less swish than [...]