Vinyl log #31 - 23 September

Day	Month	Year	Artist	Title
23	September	1974	10cc	Sheet music

More symbolism: if vinyl log #30 was about the last records that I bought as a Londoner, this log is about the first record that I bought as a Londoner. 

In the second half of September 1974, I moved from Cardiff to London, and probably during the first week of my move, I bought this record at the 'Our Price' shop opposite Finchley Road tube station. This was to be my 'local' record shop for a few years until a branch was opened in Golders Green.

I had heard 'Silly love' and 'Wall Street shuffle' on the radio in during August and had loved them, so it wasn't much of a leap into the unknown to buy this record which contained those two songs. 

I loved this record from the start, being amazed at the flights of fantasy which used to occur in the middle of each song. There structures weren't verse/chorus/verse/chorus or verse/verse/bridge/verse - they would start off following a standard structure then suddenly veer off into uncharted territory. I found the writing credits very interesting: several were by Godley/Creme, a few by Gouldman/Stewart, but there were also songs written by all the possible combinations. 

A little of this wildness crept into some of my songs written in the same period; unfortunately only a little.

I have a memory - this must have been at the end of September or early October - where there was a group of us sitting in one of the smaller bedrooms of our communal house, playing some kind of board game. The record was playing in the background; a girl called Jeanette flashed her eyes during 'Hotel' but then dismissed the record. I haven't seen her since then, but I hear the record frequently and still derive intense enjoyment from it.