It’s a new year but we’ve still got the best blogger in North East rock and Self Made Man ushers in 2012 in typical style.
Check out his views right here every Friday!
Christmas was as enjoyable as ever with Santa indulging me handsomely.
Clothes, books, toiletries, booze, I couldn’t have asked for better presents.
But no CDs and no DVDs. For the first time since I was a young lad, there was nothing remotely musical in my stocking.
Ever since my parents bought me Queen’s Night At The Opera and 10cc’s The Original Soundtrack back in 1975 (and, whisper it quietly, Abba’s Greatest Hits), I’ve received LPs, cassettes, or CDs on the big day.
And in recent years, I could always rely on a relative buying me a music DVD.
But Christmas Day 2011 was a music-free zone in this household _ and it’s all my own fault.
I did actually have one request on my Christmas List – Black Country Communion’s Live In Europe DVD but as my wife said when I wondered out loud why no-one bought me it, the item was written so far down my lengthy list, she concluded it wasn’t a priority.
And she was probably right. There were eight books I desperately wanted and happily, I got six of them. Similarly, while I can’t quite boast a new wardrobe, I was delighted with the three tops, two pairs of trousers and gym wear I received.
So it there was a musical void on December 25, there weren’t too many complaints from me.
For the truth is that right now, I’m musically fulfilled. Four weeks ago, with the exception of that aforementioned BCC item, I couldn’t think of any other DVD or CD to include on my list.
It’s got nothing to do with my enthusiasm waning. In fact, I am already counting down the days to the release of new albums by Aerosmith, Rush, UFO and Van Halen to say nothing of the five or six Joe Bonamassa will probably release in 2012.
But I can’t see any point in buying music just for the sake of it and had I asked for any CDs, they would have been albums strictly in the take-it-or-leave it category.
When a CD that I really want comes out, I tend to buy it within days of release so last year, by the time Christmas arrived, I was in the fortunate position of already owning the ones I really wanted.
Of course, I’m always keen on discovering new bands and in 2011, Rival Sons, Saint Jude and The Treatment are just three who arrived on my radar. If I discover three as equally good as them over the next 12 months, I’ll be delighted.
In the past, the New Year has tended to be a period when I’ve caught up on the back catalogues of artists with whom I’d previously enjoyed just a passing acquaintance,
At the start of the millennium for example, I had just a casual interest in the music of Neil Young, being aware of Live Rust, After the Gold Rush and Harvest but little else.
Within a few months, having explored the bargain shelves of record stores and websites, my Young collection had swelled into the 20s and now he is comfortably in my top ten favourite musicians.
It was the same with REM, Genesis and Peter Gabriel once he left the former, artists I liked but had never really explored beneath the surface. Today, I own virtually every album the three of them ever released.
As I write this, I’m quite tempted to hear a lot more of King Crimson, Cat Stevens and even Yes.
Now why didn’t think of that before Christmas?