It's -39 C this evening. I went out to a little bar on Rachel w/ Sophie last night and talked about mars and stars , molecules, atoms and cells, exploding synapses and the big bang. Tonight I'm staying in and dwnldg muzik and reminiscing. One of the last recordings Phil Spector recorded was the Ramones End of the Century. Not a typical Ramones lp, it includes a cover of Baby I Love you originally recorded by the Ronettes. It has this big hollow sound so that all the percussive sounds echo and ring.
In 1979 I was living in Saudi Arabia and I would listen to Radio Bahrain which broadcast the BBC Top of the Pops. I was really into the Beach Boys and 50's music especially Buddy Holly (thanks to my dad) at that age, and so when I heard "Do You Remember Rock 'n Roll Radio I was very excited. It was by this weird band that I was always reading about in Creem magazine but had never heard before. All I knew is that they were supposed to be the saviours of rock.
A few years later I was lattending High School in Owen SOund, a long way from Saudi Arabia, and I hooked up with the two punk rockers in the School, Ken Hurlbut and Kevin Mooney. Kevin actually had a mowhawk (this was 1978) which was extremely radical at the time. Kind of like if you had moose antlers grafted to your skull by today's standards.
Anyway Ken was impressed that I knew who the Gang of Four were and offered me a list of records he wanted to sell. The first three Ramones records were on that list. I took them home and played them in the basement on our crappy turntable and loved them for there harsh, simple and comic doughheadedness.
I still have those lps though I don't really listen to them. I saw the Ramones peform twice in the '80s and they were two of the best concerts I ever attended. So tonight it's a cheap thrill to be able to click some of their old tunes down onto my harddrive and into my head again.
