Monday 22 June 2020

TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON...



I probably didn't buy my first single 45 rpm record until 1974, and I think it was SEASONS IN THE SUN by TERRY JACKS (don't shoot me).  Over the years, I bought many more, even some earlier singles which predated 'Seasons'.  Many records were available for years after their first release, and could be ordered, brand-new, from a back catalogue kept by record shops and departments.  Some were exactly as they'd first appeared, others had a different Side B, but they were pretty readily to hand if you wanted to order a particular single to fill a gap in your collection.

Eventually, I gave them all to my brother, who hardly ever played them - though when he did, it can fairly be said that he didn't look after them.  A year or two later I reclaimed them, and was astonished to see that he'd discarded any picture sleeves, and that some were bent or warped, and also scratched and seriously scuffed into the bargain.  (Although, to be fair, some were still pristine.)  Over the years, I've replaced the more prominently damaged ones (though I've so far kept the originals), and there's probably only another couple or so that I want to update.

I still have my original copy of Seasons In The Sun, and if my memory is correct in recalling it as the first single I ever bought, it's a bit of a landmark as, hitherto, all the other singles in the house had been procured by my brother.  Whatever record it was though (if I'm mistaken about 'Seasons'), I'll still own it, and it's good to look through them all from time-to-time and remember what was happening in my life when I first acquired them.  (I was still at school when Terry Jack's record hit the airwaves.)


In 1981, I was living down in Southsea, Portsmouth, and I bought ALL AROUND MY HAT by STEELEYE SPAN from a second-hand record shop called JACK'S.  It's stamped with WEAPONS ELECTRICAL OFFICER 1.  H.M.S. SHEFFIELD and also has a word on Side A, which might be a name.  As most of you will know, in 1982, the Sheffield was bombed in the Falklands war and was designated as an official war grave, as neither it, nor the 20 crewmen (out of 281) who were killed were ever recovered.  I can't help but wonder if the previous owner of my record is lying at the bottom of the sea on the edge of the Total Exclusion Zone, where the ship sank after an attempt to tow it to South Georgia.  I hope he was one of the survivors though.  (See footnote at the bottom of this post.)

Anyway, what I want to ask all you faithful Crivs is this: Can you remember the first ever single you bought and do you still have it?  If so, what happy memories does it conjure up for you whenever you play it (or hear it on the radio)?  Don't be shy now, share your reminiscences with your fellow Crivvies in the comments section.

However, before you do, let me say that I have an earlier single that I remember buying, namely I RECALL A GYPSY WOMAN by DON WILLIAMS.  It came out in 1973, but I must've bought it later, after hearing it on the radio one night, as I'm pretty sure I'd left school by then.  Below, should you be interested, are numbers 2 to 5 of the first five singles I bought, though they might not be displayed in the exact sequence I got them.





Footnote: Talking about H.M.S. Sheffield, I used to have a pal who was in the Royal Navy for a short time.  Navy doctors eventually learned of his long-standing knee problem (which he'd had from youth) that would've prevented him from serving effectively at sea, so he was given a choice; either leave the Navy or take a land-based job (as a porter) at Haslar Hospital in Gosport.  He wasn't there long either, but, years later, he created a fantasy for his Facebook page, wherein he claimed that he'd been fast-tracked through the Royal Navy and had been one of the officers on the Sheffield.

In a sense, he was fast-tracked - in one end and out the other - with a brief spell at Haslar in between, but imagine having the brass neck to claim being an officer on H.M.S. Sheffield, a designated war grave and memorial to the 20 sailors who lost their lives on it.  I very much doubt he'd ever set foot on the ship, even when he was still in the Navy.  He now claims he's a Falklands veteran, though as a land-based hospital porter (if he was still in that job in '82), it's unlikely that he was anywhere near the place.  What a lowlife, eh?  A complete fantasist and @rsehole to boot!

32 comments:

-3- said...

Actually, Terry's on my current playlist and it looks like i'll be enjoying Seasons In The Sun within half an hour.

No shooting worries.

At least - not for that.

Kid said...

Duh? Sometimes I just don't get what you mean, 3. No shooting worries? What have I missed? Anyway, hope you're keeping safe and well, and thanks for commenting.

-3- said...

You be getting old, kid. The mind is the first thing to go.

"I probably didn't buy my first single 45 rpm record until 1974, and I think it was SEASONS IN THE SUN by TERRY JACKS (don't shoot me)."

I'm doing fine as far as the trump flu is concerned. I'm a hermit who only leaves my cave a couple times a month anyway, so no major life changes. Had to use a different brand of toilet paper for a bit.

Sorry the comments are so infrequent these days. What i have been having problems with is moving things out of my head where others can see them. But i do enjoy Crivens! when i poke my head out into digital space.

Kid said...

Getting old? Tell me about it! I see what you mean now, but when an American mentions shooting, one immediately fears the worst. Y'know, like another mass shooting at a school or shopping mall. I feared there's been another one which I hadn't yet heard about.

I know what you mean about getting thoughts out of your head - my mind seems to be in a perpetual fog most of the time, and getting anything remotely coherent down for people to read gets more and more difficult for me.

Did you see the footnote I added to the post. What do you make of THAT guy?

Dave S said...

My first single was Freedom by Wham. I no longer own it, probably because I thought it was not in keeping with my image when I got into hard rock!

Kid said...

And guess what, DS - you were right. Hard rock, eh? Do you like Deep Purple? (No, that's not a George Michael-type euphemism.) I've got quite a wide taste in music - if I like it, I buy it. What's the next-earliest single that you bought that you still have - if any?

-3- said...

I could do some Hush.

Regarding the footnote - "I used to have a pal..." is a very understandable state with that guy. Hard to fathom how he gets away with much in an age where everyone can fact-check online.
If only they did...

Kid said...

Well, it's his Facebook page, 3, so he can say what he likes and the 'friends' who are strangers don't have a Scooby that he's a liar and fantasist. Also, such 'friendships' are so superficial that they wouldn't be interested enough in what he says to check. However, I once noticed that he's left a comment on a group page for his old school, and he came out with most of the same sh*t. Most people who actually knew him also knew he was a liar, so they probably just raised their eyes to the heavens. As far as I remember, no one actually responded to his comment.

Phil S said...

I recall the first LP - it was best of the partridge family. I do remember the first single I got- it was Sugar Sugar by the Archies and was a freebie on a box of cereal .

-3- said...

That's how i got that one, too, Phil.
I think it was maybe a box of Honeycomb.

Kid said...

Was it the Sugar Puffs Honey Monster's version of Sugar Sugar, PS, or the original Archies one? What year are we talking?

I think the first LP I ever bought was either The James Bond Collection (a double album), along with Live & Let Die - or The World Of James Bond Adventure by Roland Shaw and His Orchestra.

I'll have to try and sort them out in my mind. Think I got the Roland Shaw one later though.

Kid said...

What year was that, 3?

-3- said...

You have me confused with someone who is on speaking terms with Time. We barely have a nodding acquaintance.

And i could be confusing the cereal with memories of where those plastic dinosaurs in the cereal boxes came from. I suspect i don't spend enough time in this world to have the proper anchor points. Your ability to detail and revisit the past is quite beyond me.

Kid said...

It's getting more and more beyond me too, the older I get. We talking '70s?

-3- said...

Well...
It had to be after i returned to the states, but before i moved to California - i think. So that would make it end of the '60s to early/mid-70s.

Best guess, anyway.

Kid said...

Right, so that's probably just before the Honey Monster made his debut and covered the song. That clears that up, ta.

-3- said...

Oh! Didn't realize that's what you were trying to determine.

Yeah - it was definitely The Archies' version. And better still, it was the single missing from their Jingle Jangle album. (It had Sugar And Spice instead - just to fool those not paying close enough attention)

A surprising number of those songs still lurk in my head and pop out every now and again.

Kid said...

If I understand correctly, the song was from the TV show (cartoon?) based on the comic, but I could be totally mistaken about that. I've still got my Honey Monster version that I bought around 1977. And I may have the original version on a compilation CD somewhere. See if you can find King Of The Cops (seen in my post) on YouTube, 3 - I think you'd enjoy it.

McSCOTTY said...

My first single was a duel purchase with my brother with birthday and holiday money we both received. We bought the Scaffolds Lilly the Pink (my choice, I was only 8 or 9 years old and thought it was hysterical ) and the Marmalades Ob-la-de-ob-la-da singles. From memory they were 10 shillings each (50p) a pretty major purchase in 1969, bought at Impulse records in Rutherglen I still have the singles but I have lost the picture cover that came with the Scaffold single. Still like the Marmalade version of the Beatles song, not so keen on Lilly the Pink now though I also bought Seasons in the Sun and think I may still have that one in the loft

Kid said...

My brother had Lily The Pink back in 1969, too, McS, and I bought a replacement for it in Fratton in 1978, which I've still got. (The B Side, Buttons Of Your Mind, is on the blog somewhere.) I don't recall it having a picture sleeve so maybe he got it from a friend. (Though sometimes some had picture covers and some didn't, depending on where you bought it.) I remember Ob-la-de-ob-la-da, but I can't quite recall with certainty if we had it or I just heard it on the radio. (I've got it now though, and had it for a good few years.) I've replaced just about every single I remember us having in the '60s, apart from one called One Together Is Two. (I've got it on the blog, so must see about burning myself a CD of it.)

Phil S said...

It was deffo the Archie’s version . Must have been 69-70.

Kid said...

Ta, PS. '69-'70, eh? I remember those years well.

Colin Jones said...

The first - in fact, the only - 45rpm single I ever bought wasn't for me at all. It was "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" by Wham! which I bought as a Christmas present for my sister in 1984 even though she didn't own a record player (nor did I) but she swooned over George Michael (it was 1984...little did we know) so I thought she might like the single as a sort of memento or something. In the late '80s I started buying cassette singles and CD singles but I can't recall what the first one was...possibly something by Gloria Estefan. My first album (cassette) was "The Best Of Blondie" which I bought in November 1983, two years after it had been released.

Kid said...

There's a couple of Blondie songs I like, CJ, so I'll have to either track down the singles or buy a 'best of' CD. I'm trying to recall what the first cassette album was that I bought - either the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Soundtrack or 2001, A Space Odyssey. (Or was it the Jim Reeves Christmas album? The ol' memory, alas!)

Dave S said...

I love Deep Purple, especially the Mark3 era. They had a unique sound, mainly due to Jon Lord's keyboards and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar complimenting each other so well. Two musical maestros, but each were happy to play rhythm to allow the other to have the spotlight for the benefit of the band. Many lesser musicians with bigger egos could have learned from that attitude.

The next earliest single I still own... not 100% sure, but I think it might be One Vision by Queen. The b- side has a scratch on it, but i was never too bothered by this as it was only a pointless instrumental version of the a-side.

Kid said...

I've got a best of Deep Purple album and quite enjoy most of the tracks. Grew up hearing them because my brother was a fan, as was one of my friends. Just think how much better they'd have done though, with Jim Reeves as lead singer. (Cough!)

Dave S said...

Only Reeves I've ever owned an album by is Vic Reeves!

Kid said...

Alias Jim Moir. Who chose his stage name by combining the names of his two favourite singers - Vic Damone and Jim Reeves. True.

rob diablo said...

Hi Kid..i pretty much memorized all the lyrics to 'King of the Cops' at the time as i loved it,i can still recite most of it now, i have it still, and the Slik single you have pictured.
First records i bought were Gary Glitter's second album 'Touch Me'(unfortunate title that)and Nazareth's cover of Joni Mitchells 'This Flight tonight' i still have them, and the others i bought after, Geoff Loves Top TV themes, and a monkees compilation on the great MFP label. i did sell my vinyl collection around 1995 to buy CD versions, I've since sold the CD versions to buy back the vinyl!..we have around 400 Singles and 500 albums and adding to that every week.

Kid said...

I've bought CDs of many vinyl LPs in my collection, RD, but I kept the LPs as they have a special visual magic about them. Some albums were badly pressed when they first came out, but even though I now have glitch-free CDs of them, I'd never get rid of the vinyl. Funny how we get attached to things, isn't it?

rob diablo said...

I Guess its Because we have (mainly Great)memories associated with them,Vinyl Comics books Toys, all the best things.
A lot of the new pressings sound great, especially the 180 gram re-masters, even on our 1974 Sony music center!

Kid said...

I've bought various vinyl copies of a couple of albums in the past that had clicks or pops in the exact same place, so obviously it was either a fault on the master, or occurred at the pressing stage. Thank goodness you don't get that with CDs unless you mishandle them. Glad to hear that new LPs are of a higher quality than before.



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