I've been collecting records for as long as I can remember, and sometimes it's easy to skip over things, and forget what you've got. I'm going to start listening to things in alphabetical order, it give me a chance to look through my collection again, and give me an opportunity to share things with other music lovers, and vinyl collectors.
The rules are simple, I will start at A, and choose an artist from my collection beginning with that letter, next day I move on to B, then C, etc.
The story so far...
- A is for... Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
- B is for... The Beatles - Abbey Road
- C is for... The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
- D is for... Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
- E is for... Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports
- F is for... Mark Fry - Dreaming With Alice
- G is for... Gong - Flying Teapot
- H is for... Richie Havens - Alarm Clock
- I is for... Incredible String Band - Wee Tam
J is for...
##Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene
Synthesisers are omnipresent these days, they're inexpensive, and even available on your phone. You can make music that sound like the pros with ease (a little talent helps obviously!).
But this wasn't always the case. Back in the 1970's when this record was released this was cutting edge, space age stuff. We'd only been listening to synthesisers in music for a few years, so this was new, and pretty special. It's all instrumental, long-form compositions, in different parts, like a symphony.
Just looking at the instrument list on the back cover is enough to make you excited: ARP synthesiser, AKS synthesiser, VCS3 synthesiser, RMI Harmonic synthesiser, Farfisa organ, Eminent organ, Mellotron, Rhythmin' Computer (what is that?)
So here's my copy, with it's wonderful, distinctive artwork, released by Polydor in 1976...
And here's one of the most iconic pieces of electronic music ever made, Oxygene IV...