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Hi – my names J. I live in Walsall in the West Midlands and I’m really into music. Always have been, always will be and for this reason, this is my attempt at starting a music blog.

So where did it all begin?

Ever since I can remember – I’ve always loved music. I’ve elevated it above pretty much everything else. I remember been small – but not so small I couldn’t move myself. And on Saturday mornings, when the family wasn’t up first thing – I would be. I would get myself downstairs and sit by one of Dad’s speaker cabs. The one nearest his turntable/tape/amp setup. The other speaker was in the other corner of the room and back then, both were bigger than me.

I would turn the volume right down and then turn the power on. I had learned to turn the volume down as otherwise the speakers made a short but noticeable click buzz hum as the amp powered on. I didn’t want to disturb anyone and had worked out with the volume set to zero there was no buzz on the power up. As I write this looking back, I think it must have been one of my earliest workings out of a procedure?

Next was to turn off that faraway speaker all that distance away on the other side of the room (it seemed miles away then but was probably about 10 feet). Isolating that speaker was easy to do. Just turn the balance pot so it was 100% panned over to the speaker by me. Ok – it killed the stereo but it meant I could play the music at volume which no one else can hear. Just me. As I said, those speakers back then were bigger than me and I could sit right by it, my right ear touching the crosshatch tweedy fabric of the speaker which sent the sonics straight to my brain. Once in there, the sound was soaked up like a sponge.

Everything was housed on and in a Gplan record player cabinet. A separate turntable & cassette tape deck sat on the top. Tape deck on the left, turntable on the right. The amp was on the 2nd shelf. A space it shared for a while with an 8-track and some of my Dad’s homemade circuitry. But back then, all that was ignored. What I was interested in was the turntable and the amp. The amp had a built-in tuner but before powering up – again to avoid any disturbance – I would set the selector to Phono first. Then I could turn everything on in silence.

Underneath the second shelf of the cabinet was storage space with sliding doors. It was intended for storing vinyl and was rammed full of it. Mostly my Dad’s collection but some of Mom’s too. My tiny self would slide open the door and starting one side would play the records one by one working my way over from one side to the other. This process must have taken me months!

Writing this looking back I think that shows a remarkable sense of order for one so young. Ha – I wish I had retained this into my adult life maybe!? But in a way, I’ve always been like that with music. Back then, I had a record cabinet to explore. There was no AppleMusic or Spotify streaming. I had to make do with what could find and it all began in that cabinet. It set the tone and ever since I’ve never stopped exploring music.

So just what was in there?

It was very eclectic. Lots of classical. Not a lot of rock but some. There was lots of South American dance music. Then North American/European/Japanese disco & electronic music. There was Scandinavian folk! Plus Elvis & The Beatles and lots of Frank Sinatra (which was Mom’s). I would remove the record from the sleeves, carefully holding only by the edges and would place it on the turntable. With a pull of the lever, I would watch the tone-arm lift itself, move over and drop onto the vinyl and the record would begin to play. I loved it more than tv.

The cabinet now belongs to me and now full of my own vinyl in the lower section. The 2nd shelf is given over entirely to cds and my own vintage Record Player sits on the top. It’s an 80s Panasonic music centre (turntable/cassette deck & tuner all in one piece). Of course, most of what I listen to now I find on AppleMusic/YouTube but I’m always looking and searching for music new and old. It’s like a lifelong musical journey.

I always think of music as an evolving thing. Everything has come from something and will itself lead to new things in the future. But don’t take just what you are given. Keep looking and look deep and that’s really the point of this blog. To share everything music that I experience and just to see where this journey will take us.

So, some posts may be retrospective – others may be contemporary. I am totally open to music old and new and my tastes are as eclectic as that original record cabinet. For these reasons, I expect this blog to go onto cover everything from Black Sabbath to BlackPink from AC/DC to Zara Larsson and as much as I can fit inbetween. Everything in music is as important as everything else – (pretty much!) – and as in the words of Richard Ashcroft – “Love and Peace to all bands” …

I hope you enjoy this blog – feel free to comment – and if I get anything wrong (or right) – just tell me.

If you want to …

Thanks for reading so far …

J