John Williams, The John Williams Collection (1978)
I pulled out The John Williams Collection the other night. I told my wife, Katy, all about how I used to listen to John Williams on CD at university. It was my go-to music for when I wrote essays (which wasn’t all that often). I had heard John Williams through my parents, he was the hip classical guitar guy across the 70s and early 80s and the name had stuck and so I had picked up The John Williams Collection on CD for $10. And it had lasted me well. A few years back I found a cheap vinyl copy and decided to file it for some time when I felt like listening to it again. Williams is competent and while there is/was an element of cheese he was a gateway to Bream to Segovia to the whole world of classical guitar. And really, in so many ways, he was an entree to classical music. I would pick up on the things he was playing and seek out non-guitar versions as well as other versions by other guitarists. So we’re sitting in the study, both working, and I’m talking about how some of it’s a bit cheesy but how he’s very competent and how he was my gateway and Katy’s not really listening, but kinda listening. And then we get to my favourite bit, the Concierto de Aranjuez. I tell Katy about how it’s one of my all-time favourite bits of music. She doesn’t believe me. It’s like she’s never heard me say this before so it can’t be the truth. And then I tell her that I have versions of it galore – from Miles Davis to the Brassed Off soundtrack. I just collect versions of it. Or so it seems. And she’s still not convinced. And then I’m listening to it and trying to actually convince myself if this is (still) the truth (or if it ever was). And then the record finishes and Katy goes, “it’s quite fuckin gay-balls music really init?”
Sample Track: Concierto de Aranjuez
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown
Ha ha – priceless comment from Katy! On the rare occasion that I share music with my sweetie, he’ll notice me ‘getting lost’ in a piece which he probably has never heard before then give me a strange look when I say, “this is one of my favourite songs EVER!” The look is because he’s probably heard me say that about dozens of songs (standard response: “yes, dear”), yet here I am presenting him with another ‘favourite’ that he’s listening to for the first time and doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. Still, he usually comments that the music I like is old, not gay. 😉
Pingback: The Vinyl Countdown # 216