My first album (well it was on cassette) was Blondie's "Autoamerican." I
don't listen to it anymore (I CAN'T, because the tape is worn out and has
lost most of its magnetivity -- there's no more low end and midrange, maybe
one of these days I'll find a CD reissue or an LP somewhere).
I can't say I'm ashamed of it - it's still rather hip, some funk/hip-hop
acts still make references to
the reggae-tinged "The Tide is High" and Debbie Harry's been down lately
with KRS-ONE singing some altered lines off of "Rapture". The whole album
was rather diverse and spanned many kinds of genres, so I guess it rubbed
off on me. I didn't quite think much of the hip-hop element of "Rapture," I
was too caught up listening to the story about the Man From Mars who ate
cars, bars and guitars... :)
The rest of my early LP and Cassette collection contains mostly early-mid
80s British synthpop artists. I'm not ashamed of any of it. Yeah, so I have
most of the Culture Club's albums, but a lot of their songs did have soul.
I was also a big Duran Duran fan, which I could never deny, since when I
saw Nick Rhodes play a Roland synthesizer in one of their early videos, it
was at that point I decided, "I'm gonna learn to play piano and play one of
those things someday..." I even have Frankie Goes To Hollywood's first
album. Even though I since learned that they were mostly a fraud, I still
think it's a Trevor Horn production masterpiece.
I do have this one Human League album that has a cover of James Brown's
"Rock Me Again (And Again...)"
that is guaranteed to make your digestive system run in reverse, though.
There were a lot of 80s synthpop/new wave/mod/ska bands that I did give
credit to paving the way towards my eventual interest in Acid
Jazz...particularly the basslines and keyboard parts from artists like Talk
Talk, King, Heaven 17, Wham, The Fixx, The Police, Thompson Twins, Thomas
Dolby, Howard Jones...
...Eventually leading me to mid-80s artists like Level 42 ( I hadn't heard
of them until '86), Paul Young, Swing Out Sister and Sade...
...then early 90s artists like Lisa Stansfield, Deee-Lite, Soul II Soul &
De La Soul...
..and then, Acid Jazz.
Elson
-30-
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Elson Trinidad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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