Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Dear Diary...

There I was, stuck in the 60s with (or without) you


What with loose connections (not to mention all of last week’s breast- (and.brow-) beating[1]), come Sunday afternoon shortly after 3pm I showed up at the Infamous Brewpub to discover... well, nobody; excepting me, a few traditional Ripple types, and the Pub staff.  “Well, OK,” said I, “no bloggy conversation today, but [checking list] hmmm... there’s a stout which needs sampling.”  Which produced a decision to adjourn to the taproom (with its leaded-glass windows looking into the brewery) for a late lunch/early dinner.

The other customers were couples obviously uninterested in conversation with strangers, and, as the staff hadn’t yet turned on the football,[2] I found my moments sampling the stout[3] and waiting for the soup[4] accompanied by staring into space and half-listening to the Pub’s background music (played loud enough to listen to, but not so loud that it’s impossible to ignore).

Well:  “I know that.  I know that one, too.  That’s...  Which you segue into...Hey!”

Late 60s Top-40 radio.

Now a part of my radio experience includes almost-daily shifts at a top-40 operation from early 1967 to late 1969.  So it’s with a certain amount of confidence that I place the Pub’s playlist at 1969 (including some recent goldies).  The scary thing is that every track I heard for the hour or so I was there were ones that I’d spun on 45s, back when:  Happy Together.  Pleasant Valley Sunday.  California Dreamin’.  (Except for American Woman, they used the album version for that one.)  One after another, including some I hadn’t heard (or thought of) since the 70s.  But all recognizable, despite the Pub’s (or, more likely, their music service’s) strange audio processing (Did you know Creeque Alley is really a capella?  Sure sounded like it!)

After a while, it turned into a bit of a game.

If someone wanted to create an “Auld Hippie” channel, they could do a lot worse than start with the Pub’s playlist:  Add a touch of the psychedelic stuff, say Incense and Peppermints, a track or two by Donovan (Wear Your Love Like Heaven?); some post-White Album Beatles, the Fifth Dimension’s Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In (but not Up, Up, and Away).  Oh, and Light My Fire.[4]

I wonder about what it’s like for the Pub employees.  When I was their age, it would have been like working in a place that played Glenn Miller records all the time.

For me, well, it left me feeling 40 years younger.  And I’m seriously considering going back to see if I can con some sucker body into a “name that tune” contest.


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[1]  ...of which I may have some thoughts anon (Executive Summary: New players, not a new argument), but that’s for later.  [ALSO: The links are sort of indirect; I’m sure that if you want to rehash the whole shoutin’ match you can figure out how.  And let it be said- just so nobody misunderstands anything- the association of any particular word with any particular link in the above is, if not “purely coincidental,” done with no intent to indulge in any “hidden” commentary.  (I’m not smart enough for that!)  Sheeesh!]

[2]  NFL, not Association, unfortunately.

[3]  Susie’s Sweet (sweeter and chocolatier than Taddy, and worth a second round)

[4]  Cream of Mushroom it was, also very good!

[5]  No, the original, not the Feliciano cover version. Getouddahere!

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 20:10:44 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 The version of "Creeque Alley" in general circulation is the LP mix, which lacks several of the instruments that could be heard on the 45; even with proper stereo phasing, something you may not always find in drinkeries, it comes off as rather minimalist, even drab.  Unfortunately, the 45 master is long gone, as is the case for rather a lot of Sixties stuff on the Dunhill label; in the rare instance where the correct version appears on a CD, it's mastered from an actual 45.

Posted by: CGHill at 11/27/09 05:02:29 (YhVR+)

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