My 50 Favorite Albums (continued)

My freshman year in college, I got a copy of the Rolling Stone record guide.  This is the one by Dave March that came out in 1979.   I don't have it any more but it was thick red paperback and it was by far the most used reference book I ever owned.  It was falling apart by the end of college.

I used to go through it for hours sitting on the window bed in the lounge and look at all the five stars records.  I'd read the reviews and then I'd head over to Nuggets (a used record store in Kenmore Square)and buy one of them.

I'd come back and sit back and listen Tony Alva style.

That's how I found Astral Weeks.

It's only eight songs, apparently recorded in 48 hours with a band Van Morrison didn't even know.

And it is one of the greatest records ever made.

It has a mood amd a feel that is hard to describe. 

But when we put it on, and we still do that a lot, I know its going to take me to that place that only this record can.

Comments

[Gabe]

Wow, I too sought out this album based on a written review I read in college, I believe on allmusic.com, when their database was available via telnet (pre-web)! Since then, I've always found most of my faves through research rather than personal recommendations or radio.

It's a remarkable and singular record. Nothing like it before or after, even in Morrison's catalog.

I think I'm going to listen to it now, at the expense of my productivity.

[fred]

:)

[Tony Alva]

Isn't it amazing when you listen to a song or a record and it takes you back somewhere? What a weird phenomena, not just songs you like, but songs that recall a time in your life. There are many tunes that do that for me, some of them I’ll hear on the radio or in the supermarket and it’s like some chip in my brain goes off.

Just the other day I heard “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” on my cable music station and I immediately got that weird deja vu thing that brought me back to sitting on my skateboard on the steps outside Mary Lou Bullata’s Hair Salon in the summer of 1977 eating a slice of Tony’s pizza, and drinking a Pepsi. That song played in heavy rotation on South Gate Tavern’s jukebox. I’d never heard it until we moved to West Point that year.

I haven’t got the “Astral Weeks” record, but between you and Trickster’s, Amazon is having a banner year at my expense. My CD collection is very close to eclipsing Jackson’s vinyl count.

We'll have your podcast running at our Memorial Day BBQ.

Let me get over to Amazon and get this one ordered…

[jackson]

Hold the phone Chuck, I'm at 992....

Astral Weeks is a great feel record, and I have no reservations about your choice, but I go for the songs, and they are on Moondance...

Ahhhh, the window bed, I believe I left some memories there too....

[Paul]

Fred, you must be talking about Nuggets. This is the only record store that I know of that's been in Kenmore Square for a long long time. They're actually still there, too.
the website is nothing to look at, but you'll probably recognize the logo - http://www.nuggetsrecords.com/
I can't tell you how many afternoons Janine and I spent in this place. Many weekends we would go shopping at Nuggets and then have some drinks at the Rat (which is no longer there)

[fred]

Yes, Paul that's the one.

I made the change in the post.

Thanks!!

[jackson]

Nuggets! That IS the palce. Fred took me there in the summer of 1980, I was fifteen. Thta's where my vinyl collection began in earnest. They had a deal where for a buck you got a stack of ten records that were wrapped in brown paper so you couldn't see what you were gonna get, I took the gambe every time, and found some great stuff - in fact, and only a small few will recognize the signifigance of this record - I got my copy of Rose Tatoo's first and severly influential album Rock and Roll Outlaw from the grab bag. Most of my Nuggets aqusitions still live strong, my Monsters Of Rock: Castle Donnington 1980 still gets frequent spins.