A record changed my life (non -jazz division)

[HenryMc]

I have many many albums that I love and influenced me. This is about those that transcended the mix and still stand out today.

When I was about 12 the radio was still in a classic late sixties period, between bubblegum and progressive - nearly everything got played somewhere. Sunday afternoons were spent at the local swimming pool with the radios blasting out some hot hits station.

I was into that doors, woodstock, english rock type music. One on my brothers was a Byrds fan and the other only liked english psychedelia.

One day whilst browsing the racks at the local record shop, I was looking at the usual suspects, when the house hippy who worked there came over an said, "have you heard this? and pulled out a copy of "The Gilded Palace of Sin" by the Flying Burrito Bros. Now as a regular reader of the New Musical xpress and Melody Maker I had read about the band and thought them to be some post Byrdsian hippies. Anyway the hippie was always pretty cool with his selections (two weeks later he sold me a charlie parker album , but thats another story)

I took the LP home ( and remember those days when you carried this big bag with a record in it and friends 'd stop you on the bus and say what'd ya buy?"and you'd proudly show it off (or not) and they'd murmer 'cool' and such.)

I got it home, went to my room and put it on the changer and laid down on the bed looking at the cover. The first track ....I sat bolt upright ...' she's a devil in disguise ,... oh she tellin' dirty lies '...what the f'...country music? I played it again ....I was hooked. What a great Album ...Christines Tune, Sin City, Wheels, Hot Burrito No 1 and No 2, My Uncle etc. Nary a bummer track on the whole thing. To this day I have never heard better country soul than Do Right Woman and Dark end of the street by the Burritos. There was just enough anti vietnam feeling to satisfy my anti war politics in" My Uncle". As I got older I read both more and less importance into the songs. My first visit to LA made me 'get'the truths of Sin City - at least in my eyes.

I played this album constantly and played it for friends (who into, Beatles, Stones, and the Who) indulged me. (they indulged me even more when I went later into my 'Bird" period).

The downside of getting into the Burritos was I never really liked the Eagles. I always thought of them as being second and runner up copyists. Following the Burritos through their short career, I found, to me, the Burrito's defined West Coast Country.

The Album was released on February 1969, though I bought it later that year.


Musicians
Gram Parsons: Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards
Chris Hillman: Rhythm Guitar, Mandolin
Chris Ethridge: Bass, Piano
"Sneaky" Pete: Steel Guitar
Jon Corneal: Drums
Eddie Hoh: Drums
Sam Goldstein: Drums
Popeye Phillips: Drums
David Crosby: Vocals (Do Right Woman)


SIN CITY

This old town's filled with sin it'll swallow you in
If you've got some money to burn
Take it home right away you've got three years to pay
But Satan is waiting his turn

"This old earthquake's gonna leave me in the poor house
It seems like this whole town's insane
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain

The scientists say it'll all wash away
But we don't believe any more
'Cause we got our recruits and our green mohair suits
So please show your ID at the door

This old earthquake's gonna leave me in the poor house
It seems like this whole town's insane
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain

[Boris Badenov]

Originally Posted by HenryMc

The downside of getting into the Burritos was I never really liked the Eagles.

If that's the downside, what's the upside? I came to this album, ass-backwardly enough, through Elvis Costello's Almost Blue, on which he covered two Burritos songs.

[Chris D]

I’m your toy.
I’m your old boy,
But I don’t want no one
But you to love me.

Classic, Henry!

I was 15, and I had two older brothers and an older sister. I had long been dragged into musical arguments: Beatles! Stones! Beatles! Stones! Kinks!

From them, I got the basics down: Soul, blues, Brit rock, garage, Joni and Neil.
On my own, I was often prone to the excesses of mid-'70s radio. Yeah, I had a Uriah Heep album or two, Aerosmith, ELP and whatever else my buddy Jimmy had going in his convertible. Saw the Who, Stones and Led Zep, all in the same year, and damn if this new guy Springsteen didn't hold his own with any of them (albeit in a smaller venue).

Still, I was omnivorous and curious. I caught a short story about this "poetess" turned rocker named Patti who had a record coming out called "Horses." Made my way to Dog Ear Records on the day it hit the street, plunked down my $4 and change and carried it straight home on my bike.

Split the shrink, dropped the needle.
"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine...."
I was not ready for this! I lived with that record for days, weeks, "They pushed Johnny, against the locker...."

Where had this come from? What presaged this intoxicating mix?
I ran out and bought Velvet Underground records, Stooges records, MC5 records. I special ordered Doctor Feelgood. I made import bin searches until I found Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe. Snagged the Ramones as soon as Creem told me it was out there. Graham Parker was just around the corner. My energy had an outlet.

Foghat and Skynyrd were done; this new passion would prevail.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by HenryMc

The downside of getting into the Burritos was I never really liked the Eagles.

Just means you don't have bad taste. The Eagles suck a**

[Steve Reynolds]

when I was young, it was the Dear Mr. Fantasy & Traffic

followed by Cream's Wheels of Fire

too bad it then took me 15 years to make the connection between the improvisation on that recording (specifically the 16 minute live version of "Spoonfull")

a few years later - King Crimson's USA

when I was about 30 - Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica"

then on to the music we refer to as jazz

[Steve Reynolds]

concerning the Eagles - was listening to the afternoon sports talk yesterday - and a commercial came on promoting what I think was an upcoming Eagles concert

they sucked when I was in school - I imagine the level of suckitude and and irrelevance has increased almost to the point where it would rival The Who continuing doing a tour after their long time bassist and founding member kicked off early in the tour - and The Who was probably doing music that was all 25-35 years old

I imagine an Eagles concert would be the same thing - and if they have new songs - band like this play a couple of these new stale tunes to polite applause - and then they revert to playing nostalgia for people who are still listening to the same music they were listening to 25-30 years ago.

I got my problems - but thank god a dead brain isn't one of them

[HenryMc]

Chris
I was lucky both brothers played in bands and they loved music and would hip me to stuff from when I was a baby ...as I got older and Punk hit ...I returned the favour.

You're right - Patti blew me away too ...

[kenny weir]

Quite a few years ago, my newspaper asked about 50 Melbourne/Australian music identities to name The Record That Changed My Life - an idea, I confess, that we ripped straight from Q magazine.

It was fascinating, as folks weren't simply listing one or several of their fave classic albums, and resulted in - for instance - jazz pianist Bob Sedergreen listing a Jerry Lee Lewis album.

Anyway, my nomination was Van Morrison's It's Too Late To Stop Now. I don't know if it holds up that well these days - I still have it, but much prefer various other Van albums.

But its impact on me was massive - perhaps the first concrete recognition that a blues 'n' soul sensibility could utilised in a broader, more ambitious context. (I was already a serious blueshead at the time.)

And thence, a few decades later, to jazz.

[Richardo Caerleoni]

Then a classic...still a classic...saw him, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Booker T etc live [The Stax Review] - one of the best live shows every ----and Otis was stunning. As was Al Jackson.

The album has a lot of sentimental value to me apart from its greatness...and Otis's "My Girl" tops the Temps. and "A Change Is Going To Come" gets v. close to Mr. Cooke. THAT GOOD!

RC....Also Sam Cooke's "Night Beat"...another great/classic album.

[clinthopson]

My non-jazz disc would have to be the Chambers Bros.' Greatest Hits.

For jazz - Manteca!

[Mike P]

First Record Ever Purchased:

Why Do Fools Fall In Love - Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (December of 1955)

First Album Ever Purchased:

Singin' The Blues - B. B. King (1957)

First Jazz Record Ever Purchased:

Crazy Baby - Jimmy Smith (1960)

[Dr Dave]

I was 12 years old when this came out, and it changed my life--much for the better. It inoculated me somewhat from Beatlemania, which came right on its heels.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by Steve Reynolds

when I was young, it was the Dear Mr. Fantasy & Traffic

followed by Cream's Wheels of Fire

too bad it then took me 15 years to make the connection between the improvisation on that recording (specifically the 16 minute live version of "Spoonfull")

a few years later - King Crimson's USA

when I was about 30 - Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica"

then on to the music we refer to as jazz

And THEN on to the music that some of us don't refer to as jazz

[Gary Sisco]

For me, James Brown, "I Feel Good (I Got You)," the single.

Michael Hurley, Hi-Fi Snock Uptown

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels -- Devil With A Blue Dress

The Beatles -- Meet The Beatles (US) and Second Album (US)

Rolling Stones -- 12x5 and Aftermath

Rolling Stones -- Satisfaction (the single)

a Howling Wolf on Chess, but I can't remember the name of the album right now. We're talking high school daze, here.

[sonic1]

There are a lot of important albums in my life. But these at different times in my life were the MOST important life changers.

[john williams]

[Other Steve]

Had it not been for this album, I would never have joined the school band in order to become a staggering musician, so as to one day take Peter Criss's place in Kiss -- and therefore would not have become immersed in classical music.

Had it not been for this album, Peter Criss's talk about taking lessons from Gene Krupa would never have led me into jazz, via Louis Bellson's Thunderbird (the closest a well-meaning record store owner could come to finding an in-print Gene Krupa LP at a suburban Houston shopping mall circa '78) and Spyro Gyra's Morning Dance (which my eighth-grade percussion teacher played for the class to demonstrate Dave Samuels's marimba and steel drums).

Had it not been for this album, I would probably be a paleontologist right now. (Of course, given that I primarily work as a classical-music journalist, some might say that I do in fact work as a paleontologist...)

I've come a long way since Christmas of 1977, when my poor pained parents planted this under the tree at my urgent request (I'd heard some Kiss from the troublemaker down the street, who I wasn't supposed to hang around with). But this record is the seed of absolutely everything that's come since. And if I almost never play it, it's only because I've still got every note, every word, every silly bit of stage banter committed to heart. I know it's at least partially faked. I know the crowd noise is boosted. I evven know that ringers like Rick Derringer and Bob Kulick played on side 4. And it doesn't matter a damn bit.

Thank you, Chaim Witz, Stanley Eisen, Paul Frehley and Peter Crisscoula, for screwing up my life. I'm forever indebted.

[john williams]

I have to add this because it led me to Eric Dolphy and Trane's Live at the Village Vanguard disk; a record that started an obsession. I still say this is Zappa's best album.

[moneyp]

[Dibble]

I was 12 or 13..and it is still my favourite

[Gentle Giant]

13 years old, I heard the Beach Boys Endless Summer and couldn't believe that one band could have so many incredible hits - or that one man could write and produce them all.

Only two or three years later, King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic blew my mind in a very different, but no less profound, way.