The Vinyl 80's

I am currently reconstructing my front room at home. I promised myself that I would make this room habitable for Christmas this year.  With different people watching different T.V it can get a bit like a G20 summit when trying to decide who is watching what, as I have all the visitors here.

Dad is all about sport all year around, Mum is old black and white movies (this year on her own as this was Auntie B’s province also) and I just want to return to my childhood with the annual repeat of ‘The Great Escape’ and re runs of ‘Open all Hours,’ Tommy Cooper or Les Dawson. I can’t live without my comedy.

So construction commenced with a brand new storage cupboard for all my crafts (I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT) and a sort out of all my craft materials. Then I have to organise more storage and best of all, a new writing station.

The new writing station will be in the space currently occupied by a horrendous lump of furniture that I have always hated. It remained when Mum and Dad moved out to become rural and organic about 12 Years ago. This thing has only lasted so long as it housed the family record collection. Back in the days before the download dawned and C.D’s reigned, we had the vinyl records for our music. And did we have our vinyl.

We all love our sounds and bought a fair amount of music over the years. We started with ‘Bugs Bunny in London’ and the soundtrack from ‘Walt Disney’s Cinderella’ and went on from there. Bro and I were pirates and would confer before buying anything then, one of us bought and the other taped to the old cassette tapes. Being older, Bro was working before I was so he had a much larger collection than I had. His collection stayed here when he moved into his own house as he ‘never had time to pack them’. This changed over the weekend.

I took on the mammoth task of packing bro’s records as he has agreed to take them to his attic about 15 years after he left here. Well take about fun memories. I started on his singles collection and had some laughs I can tell you. The first was when I came across ‘What difference does it make’, by the Smiths. I remembered Bro coming in with the record shop bag and asking him what he had bought. His reply, to the point, was ‘what difference does it make.’  My mother, totally misunderstanding her teenagers went into a ‘don’t talk to your sister like that ‘rant. And of course we rolled around laughing incapable of explaining what was so hysterical until Bro revealed the disc from his bag!

Then I found ‘Zoom’, by Fat Larry’s Band. I remember my friend and I wanted a copy each of this, paid for from our pocket money. Auntie O brought us to the record shop and we asked for two copies. The guy in the shop couldn’t hear us over his blaring rock music and my aunt said, in a louder voice,’ They want two Fat Harry’s!!!’

Then the piece de resistance. I found ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.  When Frankie goes to Hollywood played Dublin this was the first ever gig I was allowed to. Bro brought me and as is the case with every music fan, you never forget the first stadium gig. I was thirteen and I loved it.

Then the sleeve of the single reminded me of another incident when bro had a Jacket with Frankie goes to Hollywood on the back. The image also had Lenin on it advertising one of their records and our Nan was none too pleased at her grandson walking around wearing a communist and voiced her disapproval until we couldn’t keep straight faces a minute longer. Poor Nan.

It was a fun afternoon with the memories.  Bro has every number one single from 1983 – 1988. Some are great tracks and some are well best left to the confines of the attic in case playing them frightens children and animals. I am referring to a techno record he bought for some reason known only to himself called ‘Doot Doot,’ by some outfit called Freur. This record used to freak me out. But then we all have our little embarrassments in our record collections don’t we. Mine is Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus. What’s yours.

Keep Smiling