Juke Box Jury

When I was but a callow youth, I was fascinated by many things. As a boy it tended to be scabs, crevices (sadly, usually my own), toy guns and Corona ice cream soda. As I reached puberty, it became football, girls and...... well, that's about it really. There was however one other fascination that used to transfix me throughout my adolescent years and that was juke boxes. Of course, we're used to all the gadgets and gizmos that there are these days but I used to be transfixed by the gleaming machine that sat in the corner of the local caff. It stood there, chrome shining and lights flashing and I never tired of the way that the arm moved across and plucked the selected 45 before depositing this gently on the turntable. How on earth did it know which one to pick?

The reason I bring this up is that, as you may have noticed, there is now a juke box on the blog. OK, it's not a Rockola or a Wurlitzer but I was so happy to get it and looked forward to playing a few of my favourite songs; that's where the problems began! How on earth do you pick favourites? There were a few that immediately sprang to mind but then I started looking through the several hundred CDs we have at home. In the end, I just uploaded what felt right. I shall probably change some of them now and again but they represent some of my musical tastes, albeit a little prehistoric in places. One band not appearing is The Stones which, considering that we've just won a couple of tickets to see them Sunday week, may need to be addressed shortly.

To me, favourite songs are occasioned by mood or by the evocation of a time or circumstance so it's really difficult to be objective. Songs bring back memories, both good and bad; reminders of situations like bookmarks in the great book of Life. CSN's Marrakesh Express was a hit at a time when my girlfriend was on holiday in Morocco and I can still recall sitting on the stairs at home, totally lost. Floyd's Careful with that Axe, Eugene was my first realisation of just how incredible their music was and it never fails to evoke memories of sitting in a friend's flat with some dubious herbal substances! Incidentally, if you've never heard it, then Umma Gumma is an amazing album which I thoroughly recommend.

Even songs which I don't particularly enjoy are reminders of pleasant times and I guess that's why music will always be so important to me. Please dwell a while and listen if you want, I hope that there's something there you might enjoy. Oh, and another thing; please feel free to leave a comment in my nice new "Chat to the Chairman" add-on. It's nice to know who's visited and how you feel about the site, whether good, bad or indifferent.