I don’t think I can add anything to this writing. It’s as if you read my mind right down to the Tinnitus. All those years my parents screamed “ turn it down” drove me to the Koss headphones with the volume set to bleeding ears. Music has always been a marker, a milestone. All the music I have listened to over the years can associated to a time, place, person. I can still remember the day my paternal grandmother had a stroke which she wouldn’t recover from. The first song I heard that day was The Bee Gees, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. Till this day I can’t listen to that song without crying my eyes out. I can visualize everything from that day. The weather, my outfit, the Panasonic radio that was playing the song, my father being inconsolable….What else can transport a person like music? I listen when I’m happy, sad, angry, trying to relive a period in time, trying to remember people long gone, it’s an amazing experience. Without music I truly believe I would be a different person. I long for the days when it was a pissing contest on who had the best stereo sound system. I preferred Macintosh with Klipsch speakers with a Revox reel to reel! Today I have a collection of vinyl and CD’s with nothing to play them on. How sad is that? As much as I I hate to admit it, I’m a streamer but I do listen to albums in their entirety instead of skipping around. A lot of albums can only be understood by doing that.
Well with no further ado, it’s time to find my favorite bands that will remind me of July 4th over the years. First ones up will be Supertramp, followed by Brian Auger, Tom Scott and the LA Express…..so much music, so little time. Thanks again Robert for another trip down memory lane.
Good to know. Thanks! Now it’s finding room to put it :)
A friend has a Victrola turntable from Cruthfield, all Bluetooth compatible, which sounds amazing but I love the idea of having a good old fashioned, retro system that you just don’t see very often anymore.
If space is a problem small bookshelf speakers are worth a look and listen. An integrated amp and turntable. You seem to know quality audio. I had Klipsch (Model#?) speakers before I traded them in for my PSB Stratus Gold.
I’ve never heard of those!!! They sound expensive. I remember I guy I dated a hundred years ago bought Canton speakers that cost an arm and a leg back then but they were like a piece of fine furniture. Wonder if the bastard still has them :)
Ha! Canton speaks are new to me. I can't remember what I paid for them but they were not inexpensive. They are great speakers. They are not made any longer. I have a direct input Acurus (model?) amplifier and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and Rega Planet cd player. These components were bought over a period of time. The turntable was the only piece I purchase new.
Now you’re speaking Latin!! Give me a Bang and Olufson, Thorens, Marantz or McIntosh I know what you’re talking about! Wow, would love to have a listen. Living in a townhouse, cranking it up is not an option unless there’s a cop that’s willing to work with you or even maybe give a listen😂
Robert, your ruminations on the music listening experience are always interesting. They touch on many universal topics, everything from collecting to suffering through a concert with a few yahoos plaguing the pleasure (mine was at a John Prine show in Vancouver, where the guy behind me knew - and sang loudly - every word of every song).
Sometimes it's astonishing to consider how one can move from listening to 45's on the crappiest little "record player" (the kind that folded and closed like a small suitcase), to the treasured vinyl, played, Gina reflects in her post below this one, on the best speakers, amplifier, turntable, tape deck that one could afford, only to watch it all dribble away, thanks to downsizing over time, from house to apartment living. That's a lot of ground to cover in one long lifetime (I've just hit 78 trips around the sun this week).
I'm fortunate to have not only immersed myself into listening, but also playing guitar obsessively for more than 60 years, starting as a folkie in the 60's, then blues, then teaching, then jazz, and more recently, as a part-time therapist for people with all manner of disabilities in many settings, including via Zoom (egad!). And finally, to add the cherry on top: introducing my 1-year old grandson and a small crowd of toddlers to music, in weekly sessions, where I play everything from nursery rhymes and Wheels On The Bus, to Beatles and jug band songs, replete with kazoo.
This has been the most joyous of my many musical experiences, as I watch kids who can crawl and stagger about bounce to the tunes I pick, as their moms chat and enjoy the freshly baked cookies that my daughter-in-law, Sam, serves. The sessions last until kids begin to rub their eyes, signalling that it's time to go home and nap - for me too!
Great read Robert! Your love of music and articulation brought me back when I first heard and listened to music. I was at home sick from grade school. My father was playing classical music. The strains of music sort of seeped into my consciousness.
Eliminating "Mean Mr. Mustard" from Abbey Road is like cutting out a portion of Marc Chagall's "I and the Village".
I don’t think I can add anything to this writing. It’s as if you read my mind right down to the Tinnitus. All those years my parents screamed “ turn it down” drove me to the Koss headphones with the volume set to bleeding ears. Music has always been a marker, a milestone. All the music I have listened to over the years can associated to a time, place, person. I can still remember the day my paternal grandmother had a stroke which she wouldn’t recover from. The first song I heard that day was The Bee Gees, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. Till this day I can’t listen to that song without crying my eyes out. I can visualize everything from that day. The weather, my outfit, the Panasonic radio that was playing the song, my father being inconsolable….What else can transport a person like music? I listen when I’m happy, sad, angry, trying to relive a period in time, trying to remember people long gone, it’s an amazing experience. Without music I truly believe I would be a different person. I long for the days when it was a pissing contest on who had the best stereo sound system. I preferred Macintosh with Klipsch speakers with a Revox reel to reel! Today I have a collection of vinyl and CD’s with nothing to play them on. How sad is that? As much as I I hate to admit it, I’m a streamer but I do listen to albums in their entirety instead of skipping around. A lot of albums can only be understood by doing that.
Well with no further ado, it’s time to find my favorite bands that will remind me of July 4th over the years. First ones up will be Supertramp, followed by Brian Auger, Tom Scott and the LA Express…..so much music, so little time. Thanks again Robert for another trip down memory lane.
Audiogon.com is a good place to look for audio gear. All of my system comes from vendors on this site.
Good to know. Thanks! Now it’s finding room to put it :)
A friend has a Victrola turntable from Cruthfield, all Bluetooth compatible, which sounds amazing but I love the idea of having a good old fashioned, retro system that you just don’t see very often anymore.
If space is a problem small bookshelf speakers are worth a look and listen. An integrated amp and turntable. You seem to know quality audio. I had Klipsch (Model#?) speakers before I traded them in for my PSB Stratus Gold.
I’ve never heard of those!!! They sound expensive. I remember I guy I dated a hundred years ago bought Canton speakers that cost an arm and a leg back then but they were like a piece of fine furniture. Wonder if the bastard still has them :)
Ha! Canton speaks are new to me. I can't remember what I paid for them but they were not inexpensive. They are great speakers. They are not made any longer. I have a direct input Acurus (model?) amplifier and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and Rega Planet cd player. These components were bought over a period of time. The turntable was the only piece I purchase new.
Now you’re speaking Latin!! Give me a Bang and Olufson, Thorens, Marantz or McIntosh I know what you’re talking about! Wow, would love to have a listen. Living in a townhouse, cranking it up is not an option unless there’s a cop that’s willing to work with you or even maybe give a listen😂
Robert, your ruminations on the music listening experience are always interesting. They touch on many universal topics, everything from collecting to suffering through a concert with a few yahoos plaguing the pleasure (mine was at a John Prine show in Vancouver, where the guy behind me knew - and sang loudly - every word of every song).
Sometimes it's astonishing to consider how one can move from listening to 45's on the crappiest little "record player" (the kind that folded and closed like a small suitcase), to the treasured vinyl, played, Gina reflects in her post below this one, on the best speakers, amplifier, turntable, tape deck that one could afford, only to watch it all dribble away, thanks to downsizing over time, from house to apartment living. That's a lot of ground to cover in one long lifetime (I've just hit 78 trips around the sun this week).
I'm fortunate to have not only immersed myself into listening, but also playing guitar obsessively for more than 60 years, starting as a folkie in the 60's, then blues, then teaching, then jazz, and more recently, as a part-time therapist for people with all manner of disabilities in many settings, including via Zoom (egad!). And finally, to add the cherry on top: introducing my 1-year old grandson and a small crowd of toddlers to music, in weekly sessions, where I play everything from nursery rhymes and Wheels On The Bus, to Beatles and jug band songs, replete with kazoo.
This has been the most joyous of my many musical experiences, as I watch kids who can crawl and stagger about bounce to the tunes I pick, as their moms chat and enjoy the freshly baked cookies that my daughter-in-law, Sam, serves. The sessions last until kids begin to rub their eyes, signalling that it's time to go home and nap - for me too!
Enjoyable read, thanks Robert.
Robert sorry for hijacking the conversation to audio gear.
Great read Robert! Your love of music and articulation brought me back when I first heard and listened to music. I was at home sick from grade school. My father was playing classical music. The strains of music sort of seeped into my consciousness.
Eliminating "Mean Mr. Mustard" from Abbey Road is like cutting out a portion of Marc Chagall's "I and the Village".