In 1991 me and three other mates went travelling around Europe by train; camping whenever we could or otherwise sleeping on the trains. It was a great month (well three and a bit weeks because partway through the last week I realised that I only had about £10 left......and we were on the way to Istanbul). Anyway the preparation for the trip was immense. A great deal of planning was needed. Where were we going to go? What did we want to see? What currency did we need? Who was going to carry the 20 litres of methylated spirits? Surprisingly not many put their hands up on that last one - I guess it was the thought of potentially being a human fireball should the liquid ignite in the hot sun. Wusses. But the most important decision, the one that had to be resolved before any other and the most crucial to the success of the trip, was how many tapes of music was is physically possible to carry? Clearly the thought of having to speak to each other for any length of time was too much to bear.
I think I started compiling the tapes I needed about six months in advance of our departure. I didn't want to get it wrong. Image the horror of being stuck on a Greek island, lying in the sun without a decent selection of music. Oh the horror! So list making, filtering, scoring, assessing, re-assessing, recording, erasing and re-recording was in full flow. The stress of it all. And then there was the covers to make. Imagine taking a tape on holiday which did not have a lovingly crafted inlay? I know - we could've been ejected from Europe on the strength of a hand scribbled effort. But all was completed in time and disaster averted. I then had a nagging thought that I had nothing new to listen to. My measly ten tapes only had stuff I knew on. What an oversight. A schoolboy error. I had to find a new album... and quick - it was already May and we were due to leave in August!
Thankfully 'Electronic' by Electronic was about to be released and being both a New Order and The Smiths fan this would be perfect summer listening. The perfect marraige of pop sensibility and guitar hero. So I bought the tape and put it with my other holiday tapes. And there it sat, staring at me - almost daring me to listen to it. But no! I would not give in - I had chosen this especially and was determined that we would embark on this european odyssey strangers but return firm friends. With each passing day the urge to listen to the album got stronger - the closer we got to departure the stronger the desire. I know what Frodo felt like. It was such a burden.......surely a quick listen wouldn't do any harm. Who'd know? What if the tape was faulty? But I made it! We set off on our journey and I had a virgin tape in my rucksack. Was it worth the wait?
I distinctly remember listening to 'Get The Message' several time whilst travelling in the Swiss Alps; the Jungfrau, Eiger and Monch acting as a backdrop to the music. 'Get The Message' has to be one of the best Indie-dance-pop-acoustic-crossover songs ever. And that is saying something. The rest of the album veers very close to the Europop end of the pop spectrum, if indeed there is such a thing as a pop spectrum, but it was perfect accompaniment to a month in the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment