The only thing I ever used to ask for as Christmas presents were albums. I can still remember the albums I got between the ages of 14- 19, so important to me they were in ensuring the day passed without too much upset, as I stole away to my room to avoid siblings whilst celebrating the great present I’d been given. Not exactly sure of the years, but I’ll have a go:
1978 – “Zuma” – Neil Young – sister, “Decade” – Neil Young – parents
1979 – “Animals” – Pink Floyd – parents, “Warrior on the Edge of Time” – Hawkwind – girlfriend
1980 – “Live Take No Prisoners” – Lou Reed – parents (who, appalled to hear the language, tried to take it back)
1981 – “London Calling” – The Clash – girlfriend – parents had refused following the previous year’s debacle
1982 – “Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion” – Roy Harper – my mate Colin, who came for Christmas
1983 – “Pink Moon“- Nick Drake, “Solid Air” – John Martyn, and “Christ – The Album” – Crass – generous and very mad girlfriend
Looking back, they all seem pretty mainstream, with one notable exception, but certainly the building blocks to a lifelong passion for music. So do your kids a favour, give them music this Christmas. Who knows the impact you may have?
This week, I was delighted to listen to several albums whilst deciding on the Sounds from beyond the Shed albums of the year, which you can hear below. So obviously it’s going to be some Mavis and some Florry. How lovely. To hear the full top twelve rundown, hit the link below and then follow that with my top 23 tracks of 2025. It’s a double Sounds from Beeyond the Shed playlist for your Christmas morning. That’s me done for the year. Thanks for putting up with my nonsense, and have a great couple of weeks and I’ll be back in the new year. In the meantime, take some time to listen to all the podcasts sitting in the menu at the top of the page. As ever…
