Paul's Books and Stuff in 2013 Part 10

A huge part of my growing up was my love of my soccer club; Leeds United. In the 1960s and 1970s we were revered by some but reviled by many as the most professional and some would say cynical team ever. Certainly the unluckiest team of all time denied on countless occasions by bizarre refereeing decisions and authority interference. The won two titles and finished runners-up five times in ten years and were never lower than fourth. The photo shows the manager, Don Revie (comically superstitious), his pint-sized captain and (as a fellow shortie) my own hero Billy Bremner as well as two of the clubs most gifted players Allan Clarke and Eddie Gray. All at different times would manage the club.

Leeds United have two songs the main one being "Marching On Together" and the other "Leeds Leeds Leeds". Billy Bremner the club captain from 1966-1976 is celebrated in that song:



Little Billy Bremner is the captain of the crew
For the sake of Leeds United he would break himself in two
His hair is red and fuzzy and his body's black and blue
But Leeds go marching on.

2013 Books Read

January

1. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
2. Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton
3. Promised Land: A Northern Love Story bt Anthony Clavane
4. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
5. A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block
6. That Awkward Age by Roger McGough
7. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler
8. Coffee, Tea or Me? by Trudi Baker
9. Among the Cinders by Maurice Shadbolt
10 Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac
11 Phantom by Jo Nesbo
12 When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Penman
13 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
14 An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah

February

15 The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst
16 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
17 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
18 The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
19 V by Tony Harrison
20 The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell
21 This Sporting Life by David Storey
22 Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
23 A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins

2013 Favourite Reads

Non-Fiction
1 Promised Land : A Northern Love Story by Anthony Clavane
2. A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins

Fiction
1 The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
1 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
2 Among the Cinders by Maurice Shadbolt
3 Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac

Thrillers
1 Phantom by Jo Nesbo
2 Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer

Category Challenge

1 Works Originally in French (1/13)
2 Historical Fiction (2/13)
3 Poetry/Plays (3/13)
4 Works by Anne Tyler (1/13)
5 Books on Sports (2/13)
6 Books on Travel or Places (1/13)
7 Short Story Collections (2/13)
8 Between the Wars (1/13)
9 Scandi (1/13)
10 Old Friends (2/13)
11 Then and Now (2/13)
12 Prize Winners (2/13)
13 Asia Pacific (1/13)

Total Number of Challenges 169

Completed to Date 21

Percentage Complete 12.42%
Percentage to be on target 12.88%

Behind target 0.46%

Planned Reading for Quatrain 2/13 (Weeks 5 to 8) of 2013

(Provisional Listing - I may juggle a bit to fit TIOLIs)

1. Written in French (2nd of 13) - The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola
2. Historical Fiction (2nd of 13) - The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell Comp 9/2/13
3. Then and Now (1st of 13) - The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst Comp 2/2/13
4. Old Friends (2nd of 13) - Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer (Griessel) Comp 13/2/13
5. Scandi (2nd of 13) - Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard
6. Poetry/Plays (2nd of 13) - Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo - NOBEL LAUREATE READ Comp 3/2/13
7. Travel (2nd of 13) - On the Road to Babadag by Andrzej Stasiuk (Eastern European Global read)
8. Sport (2nd of 13) - This Sporting Life by David Storey (Rugby League) Comp 11/2/13
9. Between the Wars (1st of 13) - The Green Hat by Michael Arlen Comp 6/2/13
10. Short Stories (2nd of 13) - Elegy for Easterly by Pettina Gappah (RD's challenge) Comp 31/1/13
11. Anne Tyler (2nd of 13) - Back When We Were Grown-ups by Anne Tyler
12. Awards (2nd of 13) - The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Guardian First Book Prize Winner 2012) Comp 5/2/13
13. Asia-Pacific (2nd of 13) - Island in the Centre by Rex Shelley (Singapore)

Also to finish off

14. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
15. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Also to catch up on 13 in 13 that are behind

16. Between the Wars (2nd of 13) - The Black Book by Lawrence Durrell
17. Then and Now (2nd of 13) - A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins Comp 16/2/13
18. Poetry Plays (3 of 13) - V by Tony Harrison Comp 7/2/13

Books at Start of Year on KL Shelves - 1,676
Added in 2013 - 142
Read in 2013 - 23

Revised TBR Total - 1,795

Pages to read at start of year - 639,135
Pages added in 2013 - 44,523
Read in 2013 - 6,632
Revised Pages to read - 677,026

Current Reading:

FLICS SEEN AT THE CIMENA in 2013 (Not a typo - I call cinema; cimena just to irritate Belle.

1 The Hobbit
2 Jack Reacher
3 Les Miserables
4 Parental Guidance
5 The Life of Pi

Series List:

Please refer to my page on fict-fact

http://www.fictfact.com/list/PaulCranswick/ALL

NOBEL CHALLENGE (This year's additions in bold)

NOBEL WINNERS READ WITH FAVOURITE WORK READ SO FAR:
2011 The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
2010 The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
2009 The Appointment by Herta Muller
2007 The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
2006 Snow by Orhan Pamuk
2005 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
2003 The Master of Petersburg by J.M.Coetzee
2001 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
1998 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
1997 Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
1995 Station Island by Seamus Heaney
1994 A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
1991 July's People by Nadine Gordimer
1988 Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1987 On Grief and Reason by Joseph Brodsky
1983 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1982 A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1976 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1972 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
1970 Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1968 Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
1964 The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
1962 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1961 Bridge On the Drina by Ivo Andric
1958 Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1957 The Plague by Albert Camus
1955 The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness
1954 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
1953 History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill
1952 Knot of Vipers by Francois Mauriac
1949 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
1948 The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1947 The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
1946 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
1938 The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
1932 A Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1930 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1925 Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
1923 Collected Poems by W.B. Yeats
1921 And the Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France
1907 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

UNREAD NOBEL WINNERS ON THE SHELVES

2012 Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
2008 The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio
2004 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
2002 Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
2000 Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
1999 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
1996 Poems New and Collected by Wislawa Szymborska
1993 Jazz by Toni Morrison
1990 The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
1989 The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo Jose Cela
1986 Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
1985 Flanders Road by Claude Simon
1981 Kafka's Other Trial by Elias Canetti
1978 Enemies : A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Voss by Patrick White
1971 The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
1969 Molloy by Samuel Beckett
1966 A Book That Was Lost by S.Y. Agnon
1965 And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
1951 Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
1950 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
1936 A Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill
1934 Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
1933 The Village by Ivan Bunin
1929 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
1928 Kristin Lavransdatter : 1 The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
1926 Reeds in the Wind by Grazia Deledda
1920 Hunger by Knut Hamsun
1913 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
1909 The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof

So far read 41 laureates
30 laureates unread on the shelves
37 laureates whose works neither owned not read.

Ready to move into your new thread? Loved your 1969 list Paul. Well, it's my birth year so I should. *smile*

At least 2nd (?) this time, last time 3rd. getting better at being early :-)

Happy new thread! And what could be more English than a pic of your favourite soccer team?

And Bianca wins the prize!!! Please PM me your address my dear and I will pick something out for you.

Nathalie - this time around I purposely renewed my thread later in the day to give others a chance and the Europeans march to the fore!

Hi Paul - well I guess third isn't too bad:)

Calm - it would normally suffice for a place on the virtual podium!

Hi Paul! I enjoyed 1968 and 1969 from the previous thread. Gosh, even Van Morrison made a good record in 1968.

Also, I had a tiny religious experience on my last day in Seattle, involving hearing "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in a takeout place. Therefore, I've been listening to Let it Bleed all week. Perhaps I'll discuss it on my thread. I haven't decided yet. Ha!

Love those two Stones albums at the end of the 60s Kerri. Let it Bleed and Beggars Banquet are two great records and I think Beggars Banquet just has it for me.

Paul, since you're not into fantasy (or YA), I thought you might appreciate ;0) this story:

So yesterday, I was sitting on the bench, waiting for my son's gymnastics class to finish, and reading one of my library books. A Russian gentleman was sitting next to me, and he seemed impressed that I was reading. He asked if I always read, and if I had been reading my whole life, deplored the reading level of the general populace, and the quality. Then he wondered what I was reading - until then, I had held the book open so he wasn't able to see the cover.

He wasn't quite so impressed when he saw Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians, and after informing me that he preferred classics like Honor de Balzac, Tolstoy and so on (it's hard to follow French names in a Russian accent), he went back to playing backgammon on his phone. :0)

I see the US is waking up to find your shiny new thread, Paul. I appreciate the music of the 60's more now than when I was 5ish when The Chipmunks were my world. Have a great day.

Nina - hahaha I hope I'm not quite a reading snob! I do keep trying to exercise out my Sci-fi antipathy and I would have made a conversational piece out of your book title as talking to a pleasant lady beats phone game backgammon any day of the week.

Lynda - I have made a habit of renewing threads in late evening US time and the Europeans were convinced that there was some sort of conspiracy to stop them winning books! In truth I was only free at that time today and took advantage of a few spare moments to dream about my poor old soccer team who lost as usual yesterday.

>22 PaulCranswick:: *blush*

I, too, am a great fan of 60s music and movies, but that makes sense. I turned 16 in 1960! The perfect years, some might say. Nice trips down memory lane. Plus, the book I'm reading (Buying The Farm: Peace and War on a Sixties Commune) does some of the same, although it is more about the 60s and the 70s. Such "living large" years those were!

Nice thread you have going here, Paul!

The Leeds United song "Marching on Together" -- when I try singing it (silently, to myself, to the relief of everyone around me) it falls into the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" which for all I know took its melody from some other song originally (we did steal "God Save the Queen" for "My Country 'Tis of Thee, after all). So what melody SHOULD it be sung to?

ETA: I just looked up "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (yes, slow morning at work so far) and apparently it did steal its melody but from another American song, "John Brown's Body."

Nice tough new thread you have here, Paul.
I wonder what year you will "do" next.
I hope you are doing well.

Congrats on the new thread, Paul. I'm another one who's been enjoying the tour of the 60s. 1968 was such a tumultuous year. I'll never forget it.

Nina - :)

Karen - There seems to have been an innocence to the sixties right up to the election of tricky Dickie and the disappointment of its loss was keenly felt in the 1970s.

Julia - I always blame SWMBO (it is just Valentine's Day here by a matter of minutes) for my greying temples but my football team must take at least some of the blame. If ever a club has known how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory it is the ill-starred Leeds United. The Damned United does cover it all pretty much although I am reliably informed that the players felt the plot was not a patch on the real story.

Ellen - 1970 is up next my dear. Great, great, great year musically. I have been picking out albums but here were some of the songs of that year:
Let it Be - The Beatles
Crazy Love - Van the Man
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Black Magic Woman - Santana
In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry
He Aint heavy, He's My Brother - The Hollies
Make it With You - Bread
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
Our House - Crosby, Stills and Nash
War - Edwin Starr

Joe - Still in short pants myself at the end of the 1960s but the music and films resonate with me for sure.

Hm, getting closer to my own year, I see.
And, on the subject of football - I think that if I were to get interested in any sort of sport, it would either be football or american college basketball. So far, though, I've managed to evade them all. Once Charlie gets a bit older, though...

Amber - Now this is always a problem when having a civilised sports discussion with my American friends - do you mean the real football you guys call soccer or the North American armour plated version whereby I have developed an erstwhile affection for Chicago's Soldier Field inhabitants?

I mean, of course, the real football and not that ridiculous stuff we do here in the states. Pshaw.

Way to go Amber - I can see Charlie striding down the wing and his soccer-mom going beserk on the sidelines as her son clinches the winner.

Delurking to say "hi" -- hope all is well in KL

I'm really enjoying your retrospective posts, Paul.

Hej Paul, had to work and so missed the start of your new thread but now I found it

Hi Paul, nice photo to start the thread, it brings back a lot of memories. 136 books bought this year, sheesh.

Happy New Thread, Paul!

Yes, I agree, Paul: "There seems to have been an innocence to the sixties right up to the election of tricky Dickie and the disappointment of its loss was keenly felt in the 1970s."

The book. currently reading, about the commune includes descriptions of how the folks arrived, what each had in the way of skills and background, what they attempted to do (early organic gardening, farming), and then where some of them ended up. A very poignant description of the innocence and optimism of the beginnings, and the deep caring they each showed, and then.... where it went. Some moved off the commune but did start what ended up being successful organic farms. Others became successful in other arenas but I do have the feeling they carried with them the commitment to a better world - less greed, more in harmony with nature.

I am continuing to process my own dance between commitment to a better world and the acceptance of what is.

Hi Paul. Nice new thread. You are zipping through the books this year.

Well perhaps a mighty comeback is on the cards if Leeds do well this weekend .........

Placeholding post

De-lurky waving post ;)

Okay, I made it! DO I get credit for reading every post on your threads so far this year?! I'm just so happy that I was less than 100 posts behind on you new thread - happy new thread, Paul!

A ton of stuff happened starting with JFK, riots, two more assassinations, deaths from overdoses of so many iconic rock stars, Morrison, Jimi, Mama Cass,, Janice .....(we all thought we could do anything and be immortal) just so many things that started to add up and I would agree Watergate was kinda the last straw, but stuff was definitely piling up and changing the mood.

Nixon getting elected was bad enough!

Oh boy, one of my favorites ---

"Our house, is a very very very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy 'cause of you...."

Richard will hate it.

Nice new digs, Paul! And Happy Valentine's Day! (which is also my wedding anniversary - 26 years)

Dropping into your bright new thread just in time to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!

*waves*

I guess it'll be a while 'til we get to my birth year, '81 :)

>49 Esquiress: LOL.

Hi Paul- Suddenly, I find myself over 60 posts behind. WTH? Hope you are having a good week. Congrats on #10! Very impressive.

Reba - Thanks and lovely to see you here as always.

Lori - I think 1970 is my favourite musically. Had a look through my CDs yesterday and I will struggle to cull them down to 10.

Paul - Hiya back to you mate. It has been great to see you much more active around the threads this year thus far.

John - And the wonderful things about this group is that it doesn't place me first in book accumulation for the year. Paul #1 with his amazing network of ways to get books without the need of buying 'em has 150 already!

Karen - There was a UK sit-com in the 1970's about a couple who decided to opt out from modern life and become entirely self-sufficient. With Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall it was called "The Good Life" and was wonderful entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZ--z8RpOI

Pat - Thank you my dear.

Beth - I am quite pleased with my reading progress so far this year. I set myself a 13 in 13 challenge and an aim of 200 books for the first time since college and I am not so far behind.

Alex - I won't be holding my breath mate. Manchester City and their billions against our small change and distinctly small beer merchants. We have a manager who has stated he will retire at the end of the season but I fear we should put him out to grass early.

RD - Lovely to see you dear fellow.

Bekka - Delurking is a word that has entered my vocabulary in the last year or two and I am always happy to see it stated baldly on my little thread. x

Mamie - Plenty of credit indeed my dear. I too have read every word of the goings on at the Pecan Paradisio this year.

Lucy - It was noticeable how many lives were spent prematurely at the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s.

Rebecca - Agreed! It was inevitable though wasn't it as soon as Bobby Kennedy was killed in California.

Ellen - I also love that song. Definitely the most english song CSN ever recorded.

Thanks Prue and congratulations2 to you too my dear. 26 years, wow!

Roni - Reminds me to go and wish my own Valentine whom I can faintly hear snoring in the other room. Thanks my dear and likewise to you.

Es - less than 2 weeks, in fact. I will add 1981 just for you!

Mark - Thanks mate. Your own progress is too though I must add as you are now neck and neck with dear Mamie for a place on the podium yourself.

*tossing down my floor *cushion*
( Someone will help me up, right?)

Kath, you know we are a helpful bunch.
And we're all so anxious to see what 1970 has to bring.....

Kath - Now that you are safely dusted down, sit back and enjoy the upcoming trip through the 1970s.

Ellen - What typifies the 1970s - Watergate, Oil, Ayatollah, Glam-rock, bell-bottomed trousers, punk, the thrilla-in-Manila?

1970 - my first year of school teaching! omg

don't even like to think about it

22.

Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer (Category Challenge - Old Friends (Benny Griessel) 2/13)

The second installment of this Cape Town based series and every bit as good as its predecessor. Benny is still sober, still exiled from his family and still finding his way in the new realities of the post-Apartheid police force. He has been appointed as a "mentor" for a group of promising detectives and they have two difficult cases to solve; one involving an american back-packer being hunted down in the city streets and whom Benny must find before the bad guys or their police helpers do.

Decent sense of place but what makes this series so compelling is its wonderful characterisation. Not only the lead character but the support cast are well pencilled in and Meyer does a splendid job with the cosmopolitan voices he introduces.

Recommended heartily and another thank you to Benita for putting me onto this series.

8/10

Oh man! I have that one in the stacks, and I am dying to get to it! Good to know it's every bit as good as the first! Thanks, Paul!

Well Karen in a way we both started schooling then in 1970! I was put into primary as the youngest in my class jointly with my brother and amazed my teacher by being able to read the reading chart fully in the first week. The rest of the kids would be throwing water and digging sand and I was already poring over books - I kid you not, I was reading the newspaper at 4 years old.

ahhhh the 70's * good times*

Mamie - I had planned to finish it today but dashed off the last 100 pages or so last night at the foot of my bed without moving an inch. If a book can keep me from my coffee in that manner you really ought to read it!

Bumping it up in the queue!

Yeah Kath - Munich, the IRA, toppling the Shah, Nixon and Agnew, Johnny Rotten/Sid Vicious, OPEC, Mrs Thatcher...........!!!

Mamie - Good idea.

>54 mckait: ( Someone will help me up, right?)
you're leaving? dont leave!

*plonks down beside Kath in waist deep bean bag*
(someone will feed me, right?)

>55 EBT1002: 1970 sounds so far ahead of 1969.....light years.

Paul, from your intro....
Certainly the unluckiest team of all time denied on countless occasions by bizarre refereeing decisions and authority interference.
Sounds a lot like me and Monopoly last night! Me and the lovely other played, me for the first time in a decade? a decade and a half? surely not 2 decades.....I was unable to purchase many properties at all, and was plagued by trips to jail, income taxes and eventually stays at Mayfair hotels. The latter being not as fun as it sounds :)

Herbs, living on my own during High School.. stealing food.. getting married ... having 4 kids...by '76 :)
Mr Rogers, Bob Ross, Herbs.... lol..

Checking in just slightly earlier on this thread than the last one, Paul.

Too bad my local library does not have any of Deon Meyer's books. *sigh*

1970 RETROSPECTIVE

FROM MY MUSIC COLLECTION

1. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
2. Abraxas - Santana
3. All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
4. Moondance - Van Morrison
5. Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon
6. Bryter Layter - Nick Drake
7 Tea for the Tillerman - Cat Stevens
8 Let it Be - The Beatles
9 Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround - The Kinks
10 After the Goldrush - Neil Young

1970 AT THE MOVIES
1. Soldier Blue
2. Little Big Man
3. A Man Named Horse
4. Love Story
5. MASH

1970 in BOOKS
1. Troubles by J.G. Farrell
2. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
3. I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill
4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
5. The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard
6. The Vivisector by Patrick White
7. The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
8. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
9. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
10. Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow

EVENTS OF 1970
January - Biafra capitulates
February - The Poseidon bubble where investors made 350 times their original investment (if they sold quickly)
March - Rhodesia becomes a republic
April - McCartney announces the disbanding of the Beatles.
May - Charles Haughey resigns in Ireland after accusations of gun-running for the IRA.
June - Brazil win the World Cup in Mexico and Ted Heath wins in the UK
July - Casey Kasem debuts the Top 40 Countdown show
August - The Isle of Wight festival is attended by 600,000
September - Assassination attempt on King Hussain of Jordan as Hendrix dies.
October - Sadat becomes the leader of Egypt
November - Mishima commits seppuku
December - The North Tower of the World Trade Center in NYC becomes the world's tallest structure

Megan - hahaha, my extremely competitive sister always wins at Monopoly and always appoints herself banker! Will feed you certainly.

Kath - Wow the early 70's were literally very productive ones for you!

Stasia - They will soon catch onto Meyer I feel as he would be a mega-star writer if based elsewhere methinks.

Ooo! In before 100 posts!

Is it just me or does Don Revie look a little Dr. Who-ish?

Hooray for the Kinks and Santana and Hooray for Casey Kasem. That Top 40 countdown show enlivened many an evening for my brothers and me.

I just watched Love Story - for the first time - last weekend. Hooray for Netflix. It was a nice enough story, and very sad. I guess I understand why the name Jennifer was so popular in the early 70's. :p

Jenn - If the Don was the Doctor then he was just as flawed a Time Lord as the hero of the TV.
Love Story looks a bit dated nowadays and IMO 1970 was not that strong in terms of film.

Anxiously waiting for 73! :)

Update of the posting/thread league for those interested. 41 threads already over 300 posts:

1 Paul (paulcranswick) 2473
2 Richard 1817
3 Mark 1263
4 Mamie 1241
5 Joe 1136
6 Ellen (EBT) 923
7 Stephen (Ape) 886
8 Kath (Mckait) 835
9 Darryl 829
10 Nora 739
11 Megan 722
12 Caro 685
13 Diana (Wilkiec) 685
14 Amber 649
15 Katie (katiekrug) 606
16 Bianca 571
17 Claudia 557
18 Leah (leahbird) 557
19 Roni 544
20 TinaV95 542
21 Kathy (Unrulysun) 524
22 Linda (Whisper1) 520
23 Bonnie 507
24 Suzanne 462
25 Donna 424
26 Chelle 413
27 Rachel (Hibernator) 413
28 Karen (maggie1944) 394
29 Pat 393
30 Rhian 387
31 Kerri (DorsVenabili) 386
32 Lucy (sibyx) 383
33 Deb 372
34 Peggy 371
35 Stasia 371
36 Morphy 347
37 Lynda (Carmenere) 334
38 Liz (lyzard) 312
39 Paul (paulstalder) 311
40 Micky 307
41 Kim (Berly) 304

Hahaha Tina - Sunday will see 1973~!

Oooh I love Let it be! The Beatles were very much before my time but I still love their music. My dad used to make my sister and I listen to "his" music when he drove us places and now I can still sing along with most of the songs on the radio from his generation. (it was mostly 60's music, but some 70's slipped in there)

Chelle - The album was panned largely because of Phil Spector's seeming over-production, but any album with originals such as Let it Be, Get Back, The Long and Winding Road and Across the Universe has to get listed.
Macartney released his first solo album in 1970 and it had three exceptional songs Every Night, Junk and the brilliant Maybe I'm Amazed but still didn't make the list in a very strong year for popular music.

Hi Paul. Jonah is wanting to watch some film Noir. Do you have any recommendations that will be appropriate for him? I don't even know if you watch Noir, but I thought I'd start here... :)

Jenn, I would preface a few recommendations by saying that I believe that Mark and Mamie have a better knowledge than I on the subject:
Out of the Past
Double Indemnity
Key Largo
Gilda
The Maltese Falcon
Touch of Evil
Strangers on a Train
The Asphalt Jungle
Angel Face
The Third Man

Would be ten to go with for starters I would say.

January 1970: "Come and Get It" a hit for Badfinger...still a high point in my youff.

Films? A few meritorious ones: Five Easy Pieces and MASH; classic gay-guys-don't-die-for-the-first-time The Boys in the Band; and for GOODness sake Paul! AIRPORT was released! How can you call that anything but a banner year!

RD - Come and Get It was released in December 69 in UK and Jan 70 in US so it fell between two stools a little. Great single written by that fellow McCartney who had been known to pen a melody or two.

You liked AIRPORT?!

Heavens yes, I liked Airport! I was a kid, things blew up. What's not to like?

Hi Paul! #13 in the list, I keep sinking with every thread you open. Understandable, because I.can't.keep.up.at.all :)

Yes! Airport is classic! But MASH, well, what can one say? One of the top 5 of all time, in my book, certainly. And music - Cat Stevens, Santana, various Beatles - excellent stuff.

I'm in the 3 spot? I am out of my comfort zone here, like a man on a highwire. I hope I'll be okay!

That is a GREAT film noir list! Butt-kickers, every one!

The 70's had a special magic for sure.

Okay, 84, Charing Cross is one of my all time favorite books.

And all this reminiscing is reminding me of a Billy Joel song...

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Nice listing of Noir. I'd add "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the original with Garfield) and a more modern, perhaps a bit less compelling, but still..."Body Heat". I've never felt the same way about wind chimes since seeing that one...

Man, you are hard to keep up with.

1970. I turned ten. I was still not really "aware" of popular music and it's the last before a series of years during which I was embarrassingly "boy-crazy" and focused on trying to fit in. Early adolescence. You can keep it.

One thing I love about these retrospectives is the diversity of the books lists. It's hard to describe this, but I feel like I'm getting a broad brush overview of the evolution of the novel during my lifetime. It's very fun, Paul.

Oh no! The first year where I haven't read at least one of the books. Right, well I'm off to rectify that immediately! I'd been meaning to read more Morrison and Bellow anyway.

MASH - wonderful and I liked the TV series even better -- still watch reruns when I come across them

Glad you liked Thirteen Hours. Usually a series lets down after the first one, but this one sure hasn't. I have to get to Seven Days soon. I keep hoping that it will come out in paperback soon and I can use a Barnes & Noble coupon to get it. This series was one where once I started reading I couldn't put it down. I think he ranks right up there with the best Scandicrime authors. Now with the high profile murder case in Pretoria the police and all the attendant problems of high crime rates will be in the international spotlight. There was a story on the murder this morning on NPR and it talked about the crime rate in South Africa and the problems in the police force. I felt like I already had a heads up on that story due to my reading Deon Meyer fiction.

>89 EBT1002: Early adolescence. You can keep it. Seriously. My own and my kids', thanks very much. LOL

Thanks for the list Paul - and the addition - Gail. I'll drop by Mamie and Mark to see what they suggest too.

Oh wowee toledo! The books of 1970! Jonathan Livingston Seagull! How can we neglect that deathless classic! Oooh and the ever-saccharine Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, which infested my childhood friends' brains like bedbugs.

But 84, Charing Cross Road and Deliverance and This Perfect Day were favorites of mine when read in after years, and Fifth Business still makes me shiver...I love Robertson Davies!

Fire from Heaven and Ball Four both made me feel less bizarrely unusual when I read them. Hey whaddaya know, fags always been here!

Fun memories, Paul, you the man.

>74 PaulCranswick:

1 Paul (paulcranswick) 2473
2 Richard 1817
3 Mark 1263
4 Mamie 1241
5 Joe 1136
6 Ellen (EBT) 923
7 Stephen (Ape) 886
8 Kath (Mckait) 835
9 Darryl 829
10 Nora 739

Ellen shoots up the charts, on account of heavy partying at her place :)

^yeah!!😎

Go Ellen! Go Ellen!

Hello to your new thread, Paul.

I'm loving these retrospectives too. Interested in how few of the books I have read - two from 1970, better than most years so far. I think I've read far more books from the 30s and 40s than the 60s, interestingly.

1970s - the years of purple and orange (my childhood bedroom was shades of purple, my sister had oranges and browns, including an entire wall papered with photographic wallpaper of a wood in autumn).

I just re-read 84, Charing Cross Road and now I am wanting to do a re-read of my re-read!

Bridge over Troubled Water was the first 45rpm record I ever bought, on my Dad's recommendation. I can't remember what was on the B side. This was probably 1972, when I was 10. Years later, with one of my first fast food job paychecks, I bought Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.

#77 Maybe I'm Amazed by McCartney is one of my favorite songs of all time....and I wasn't even born yet in 1970! Loving all the pop culture history lessons here.

And Richard Dear, Are You There God, It's Me Margaret was a true coming of age book for any adolescent girl....although I'm sure your male friends were reading it for different reasons. :)

We had an interesting conversation about Are You There God? today at the library regarding the new cover. It shows an set of obviously female legs stretched out with the toes sticking up and a flower in a vase beside the legs. What the heck! What does that have to do with the book? Our conclusion was that book covers with females on the have the females sexualized. It is a trend that most of us at work have noticed. Even when they are children's or YA books. One person even pointed out that Anne of Green Gables has a new cover that features a blonde woman dressed in a plaid flannel shirt, unbuttoned, a pair of jeans, who is leaning on a bale of hay in a very sexy pose. There are so many problems with this cover that none of us knew where to start. But for starters, Anne had red hair!

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES DOIN' THE JANE RUSSELL?!?!

Someone somewhere needs to be taken from their location to a place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until they are dead.

The Margaret book is one that a little girl-child I was friends with made me read. It was humiliating and it was so saccharine I felt ill from p1. Just ugsome.

>100 lauralkeet:
I saw Simon and Garfunkel (a long time dream of mine, it was me- child of the fans, and all the grannies- the fans of the time) a few years back, and during Bridge over Troubled Water he power cut out!!!
Whaaaat? Noooooooooo :(
But the whole crowd just picked up and started singing where they left off, and it was really really cool. I think they were just pleased there wasnt a riot.

Must preface my posts today with an apology for a minor enforced absence. Went home yesterday looking forward to my Valentine's Day but unusually fatigued even by my own standards. With a splitting headache of almost Suz proportions I went into the kitchen to order up my usual healthy brand of Robusta and woke up on the floor with a concerned SWMBO looking deeply into my slightly vacant eyes. Apparently low blood pressure brought on a faint and I am taking it a bit steady. Too much work, too much stress, not enough food & drink. Had a bit of a rest so forgive me guys for being a tad slower than usual to respond.

Richard - I remember the film with all its stories within stories and being quite irritated by it.

Diana - I never got anywhere near the top ten places in my first year in the group. You have held your position very well indeed if you ask me.

Now MASH I would agree had a certain something Amber - classic or not it was a creature of its time and, not knowing the history, would hurt the film a little in coming generations for sure.

Mark - Thanks mate for the film noir thumbs-up as it is more your bag than mine in truth. Third place nose bleeds?

Kath - Will history be kinder to the seventies than it was originally perceived? I seem to recall the impression of it being fraught with cares after the gay innocence of the decade before it.

Morphy - It is funny I remember that Billy Joel song very well as it was invariably played before games at Leeds the season we last got promoted to the top league. I have incidentally been listening to his 70's albums this week. Streetlife Serenader, Turnstiles and The Stranger are three superb albums to be fair.

Gail - Yep that was a creepy film wasn't it? It would have been easy to double my list of films without any trouble. I would also want to include a few of the French films of the period which had a great atmosphere.

Ellen - Boy crazy? Well that's something we have never had in common! I am trying to pick a broadish spectrum of books and like to sneak the odd one in that I liked even if it was panned by the critics. Same with the events - don't want them all to be serious ones.

Bekka - I haven't read the Morrison but Bellow can be a cantankerous read in truth. I really enjoyed Herzog but didn't enjoy Henderson the Rain King and failed to complete The Adventures of Augie March at first go so I'm not sure of him.

Reba - Back in the UK it used to be shown on BBC2 on Monday evenings and they used to alternate it between The Waltons ("good-night John-Boy"), Alias Smith and Jones and High Chapparal. I loved all the shows and developed square eyes quickly growing up in their company.

Benita - It turned out you turned me onto what has become a topical read. What a crying shame to be honest the case is in Pretoria and the young lady who was killed was an absolute stunner and apparently a lovely girl. Pretorious does seem to have made a rod for his own back a little by being very pro-right-to-bear-arms. Most people know my thoughts on that from other discussions as I think the world is clearly safer without weapons.
Shook my head at some wag who I heard telling his friend in the subway this morning that the police had arrested a drunken man in South Africa; when the friend told him that he was definitely mistaken he said well I heard that they said he was legless. He will have put the cause of disabled sport back quite badly if the case turns out as I fear it must.

Jenn - Nowadays everyone wants to grow up too quickly! I have my 13 year old boy lecturing me on being given the freedom to make his own decisions in life and not be subject to my controlling ways; i.e. he doesn't want to cut his hair and wants to come home when he feels like.

RD - Thanks mate but I don't think I'll ever displace or replace you as the lead male in the troupe! Deliverance was one that ought to have been listed in a strong selection. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee greatly affected me when I read it and I understood fully why I invariably wanted the Indians to win when the western movies were in full flight.

Megan - I seem to recall Ellen telling me that she would in no way replicate her stellar top 15 placing of last year!

Ellen/Mark - I am a paid up member of the EBT fanclub so I am obviously charmed by her rise in the standings.

Genny - lovely description - "the years of purple and orange"! I did consider going much further back too but my music collection would not sustain it.

Stasia - Isn't it just one of those books? Ideally sized to read in one sitting and always leaving the reader with wanting a little more of the same.

Laura - Their Greatest Hits album was one of the very first 33rpm records I bought too! btw the b-side of the single of Bridge Over Troubled Water was the exceptional "Keep the Customer Satisfied".


Heidi - I love singing and especially the McCartney songbook but Maybe I'm Amazed is one I cannot give proper justic to. Epic vocal performance by a MACCA in his absolute prime.

Benita - not familiar with the book I must admit. But misleading covers do get me a tad agitated although ........................... ............................................. .............................................. not quite agitated to carry out the solution proposed by RD.

Simon and Garfunkel would be one of the acts that I would most like to see perform. I can just imagine the hair standing up on end as the crowd took over Megan.

A little bit of book buying therapy for my tired self this lunchtime: 6 as is my wont:

Until Thy Wrath Be Past by Asa Larsson
Honour by Elif Safak
Some People are Crazy by John Neil Munro
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler
Stonemouth by Iain Banks

I may not be well but I would need to be a heck of a lot sicker to keep me from the bookshop.

I may not be well but I would need to be a heck of a lot sicker to keep me from the bookshop. well done, keep on going
I like Larsson and Banks

Paul - thanks - Banks is quite a verstile fellow IMO and Larsson continues to back up in my unread Scandi pile.

Paul -- you need to eat right and get enough rest!!! OK, my son is visiting so has probably brought out the mother in me but it's still true (besides, it's something he needs to do too so I've had practice saying this evening)!

Paul, I know I'm a fine one to talk, but you must take care of yourself properly! Food, drink and rest are EVEN more important than books and thread visiting!

Dropped by Books Kinokuniya in Sydney CBD, but escaped with my wallet unscathed (not completely in your honour, then). Can't say the same for Galaxy Bookstore (sci-fi & fantasy) across the road, though.

1971 RETROSPECTIVE

From my Music Collection

Possibly the hardest selection thus far. I have had to leave great albums behind in culling to 10 (no T-Rex, Rod Stewart, Marvin Gaye, Doors, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Van the Man, Macca, Carole King, Leonard Cohen, Rory Gallagher all with superb albums during the year)

1. Muswell Hillbillies - The Kinks
2. The Electric Light Orchestra - The Electric Light Orchestra
3. Hunky Dory - David Bowie
4. Imagine - John Lennon
5. Madman Across the Water - Elton John
6. Once Again - Barclay James Harvest
7. Who's Next - The Who
8. American Pie - Don McLean
9. IV - Led Zepellin
10. Aqualung - Jethro Tull

1971 at the Movies

1. Fiddler on the Roof
2. The French Connection
3. Klute
4. Diamond are Forever
5. Dirty Harry

1971 in Books

1. The Book of Daniel by E.L.Doctorow
2. Rabbit Redux by John Updike
3. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
4. Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy
5. Being There by Jerzy Kosinski
6. The Drifters by James Michener
7. In A Free State by V.S. Naipaul
8. August 1914 by Alexander Solzenitsyn
9. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
10. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

1971 EVENTS

January - Idi Amin becomes King of Scotland, erm sorry, Leader of Uganda.
February - UK goes decimal as Rolls Royce goes broke and is nationalised.
March - Frazier beats Ali at MSG as the snowstorm of the century falls on Montreal
April - Charles Manson and his followers get the death penalty (later commuted)
May - The Soviets send their probe to Mars (Mars 2) and the US send Mariner 9 after Mariner 8 fails to fly.
June - The Pentagon Papers are released
July - Jim Morrison is found dead in his bathtub
August - The Concert for Bangladesh is held
September - Rioting at Attica State prison
October - Britain's parliament for some reason decides to join the EEC
November - Intel release the world's first micro-processor
December - India and Pakistan go to war

Reba - Yes mom!! It is times like yesterday evening that I am able to set my jocular sarcasm aside and see my SWMBO for the loving, special wife she truly is. (Don't tell her I said so though)

Genny - It must be the way with northern englishers! Your book has been despatched finally I was informed and should be with you soon.

Nina - Now I know that defo wasn't in my honour!

Not enough food and drink and rest? Please do your best to get this sorted out over the weekend, take good care of yourself!!

And there it is, my 1971, thank you so much! My impression from wiki was that it was a great year for music, but not groundbreaking with books and movies.

Nice haul again. I hope you'll enjoy Stonemouth. I'm just listening Banks' The Wasp Factory.

Or is it too much food and drink, I forget. Thanks Nathalie I will try to take the weekend to get back in the pink.

I think 1971 was exceptional musically OK in books but not great at the movies.

Sorry to hear about the fainting bout, Paul! Take care of yourself, please!!

Thanks Stasia - I will try to do so. :)

In the words of Yoda - "There is no try. There is only do."

Hi Paul! So sorry to hear about the fainting episode! Please take care of yourself! I'm an occasional fainter, so I know how you feel.

I'm still enjoying the lists (mine is coming up shortly - 1973)! I will say that I'm quite the T. Rex enthusiast and would choose Electric Warrior above everything except Muswell Hillbillies and Hunky Dory. But it's your list, of course, and you can do whatever you'd like. : )

ETA: Ok, I probably wouldn't choose it over Led Zeppelin IV either.

Paul, please take care of yourself! Too much work, too much stress, you should have a very quiet calm weekend. x

#107 'Alias Smith and Jones' - that takes me back. I used to love that program but it was on BBC2 at first which our TV wouldn't pick up so I could only see it at a friend's house. I was describing to J recently that when I was small the TV only had two channels, and you'd think that I was describing my early life in a medieval village from the incredulous look he gave me. Now of course the TV has so many channels that I don't even know how many there are!

Edited to add: sorry Paul I was skimming and missed the bit about the fainting episode. Take it nice and quiet this weekend!

Ok Obi Wan I can feel the force already!

Kerri - I almost put it in as I do like it too but Jethro Tull and ELO especially hold fond memories for me and I couldn't leave BJH out either after listening to it so often recently. Elton released IMO three world beating 70s albums and that one was the first. 1973 and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the slightly later Captain Fantastic were Elton when not a joke.

Diana - Thanks a small faint when you have MS to cope with - I'll be ok my dear, x

Rhian - I loved the programme too but I'm sure it would look dated now. I was also a little in love with Victoria Cannon in High Chapparal.

'71 might be my favorite year for music...period! Wasn't After the Gold Rush that year too? And Zeppelin & and the Who release their finest albums? Yowza!

#125 - I agree with you on the greatness of the early Elton John, and while ELO is not my thing, I respect Jeff Lynne. However, I've never been able to get behind the rock flute (it's just not right!), so I'd probably drop the Jethro Tull. Ha!

Kerr- Where did THAT Elton John go? Up until Yellow Brick Road, that was a killer roll!

#128 - That's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? I don't what happens to some artists. I guess they just get caught up in the money and fame?

It's mind-boggling how many great songs John & Taupin wrote but he hasn't written anything decent in over 30 years.

Oh my, Paul. I hope you're well and truly On The Mend by now! If not, perhaps a few more books would help...

Mark - The Who's Next would probably be my album of the year - they never got anywhere near it really. I think Hunk Dory is Bowie's best too. After The Goldrush was great too but in my 1970 list.

Kerri - The first ELO album was a 50/50 split between Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and has some absolutely bizarre moments but a couple of really beautiful songs. Woods' "Whispers In The Night" always stirs me. I have most of the Tull collection and some of it leaves me a bit non-plussed but Aqualung is one of their very best. My absolute favourite is Heavy Horses later in the decade.

To be fair Elton has had brief moments later but not sustained. His recent album with Leon Russell is actually very very good. His 80s stuff was largely forgettable but for a number of albums in the 1970s he was simply and breathtakingly wonderful. My favourite album of his would be Captain Fantastic and the Browndirt Cowboy. Could listen to it every day quite happily.

Kerri/Mark - Reg has been spinning the wheels for too long. Mark you should listen to the album with Leon Russell -it is the old Elton peeping through.

Amber - Always a reliable homeopathic remedy the collecting of serrated bits of paper glued together and covered in script. Never has failed me. x

*wandering through* Paul, friend, take it from one who knows: not having robust good health is hazardous to a good reading program. You can not risk it! Build your health so you can read as you wish! And have a great weekend!

Boy, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" brought back a few memories! The retrospectives are quite interesting and lots of fun besides.

Splitting headache and pass-out? My dear young man, have you had your blood sugar levels tested lately? You don't want this particular old lady haunting you about health issues, so please take care of yourself and get it all sorted out soon. Seriously, do look out for yourself and remember how valuable you are, not only to family and friends there, but all over the world.

Oh dear, do take care of yourself!! Glad that SWMBO was there to take care of you!

Karen - I am slowly feeling a little better in truth. I need to live a bit healthier that is for sure and get a bit more walking done and take less heavy carbs.

Gail - I am certainly considering going for a thorough check up dear lady. Blood sugars could well be a problem in fact as I am more than a little above my fighting weight. There is no history of diabetes in the family but then again there has been no Cranswick exposed to an Asian diet for such a protracted period either. Thanks for the tips. x
All over the world? Well in our little corners of the world we do certainly miss each other if we drop off the radar for a day or two.

Chelle - Yeah she is much maligned and invariably unfairly so by yours truly.

I hope that you're feeling better, Paul! Sorry to hear about your fainting episode.

*holding Paul's shoulders in her hands*

Diabetes is not the only disorder which messes with blood sugars. I was tested years ago for Hypoglycemia and was told I was borderline and to eat as if I was Hypoglycemic. This is where eating large quantities of sugars causes the body to spike in response and then crash afterwards. The crash part is where the fainting can happen. If I am low in blood sugars I feel tired, tired, tired, fuzzy headed, and unable to concentrate, even on reading. My usual remedy is to go buy a big steak, and grill it, and eat it. Protein does wonders for my body!

So eating as if I was hypoglycemic means I should eat a nice amount of protein every day, and then lots of veggies, go easy on the carbs which are quick processed by the body, and if possible avoid sugar. Avoid honey. Etc. And if serious, avoid high sugar fruits.

Needless to say: I do not do well with implementing these ideas, but I sure know how to preach them.

Thanks Doc,

Karen - Actually it isn't rocket science really is it. We know what food is generally good for us and we usually go an deat something else! Thanks so much for your advice my dear.

What Karen said.

And LT does go out all over the world, right?

Oh, has your week-end started? I guess...let's see, 11 plus 13; why, it's midnight there, maybe?

Hope you are feeling better.

The late 60s and early 70s were a fantastic time for both music and movies, and a lot of good books as well. It's nice reliving them on your thread!

>108 PaulCranswick:: I can just imagine the hair standing up on end as the crowd took over Megan. My hair stood on end just reading about it!

Enjoying the conversation here although have had a busy week at work so not saying much.

I am so enjoying your retrospectives! I knew all of the music at the time - but many of the books I only encountered later, say, like Shirley Hazzard.

Paul, I'll leave it after I say this: Candles only have two ends. Can't burn 'em at three ends. Pick one thing and make sure it's taken care of so you live to see 50. Pick two and see 75.

Films of 1971 weren't stellar, were they? A Clockwork Orange was okay, and The Last Picture Show was pretty good; but then there was one gem: Harold and Maude, with its so-moving love story between a dweeb of 20 and a free spirit of 80. Plus that memorable custom hearse the dweeb made! Sentimentally, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory made me laugh as a kid, and still raises the occasional smile.

Two of my favorite books pubbed in 1971 were The Lathe of Heaven and St. Urbain's Horseman, but it wasn't a banner year for lit, was it? Wheels? The Day of the Jackal? The Betsy? *yawn*

Oh these lists are fun, I really enjoy the chance to stroll the thickets of memory.

Was Carole King "Tapestry" from 1971? It is absolutely one of my all-time favorite albums. That and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" were two of my first coming-of-age and coming-of-awareness albums and I just love both (although I admit to having perhaps an even greater attachment to "Bookends").

I'm doing badly in the "oh yeah, I read several of those" category, but I have read (and loved) Angle of Repose. Whew.

I have added all six of your Friday therapy purchases to my wish list. I feel a trip to the bookstore coming on.....

Happy Weekend to you, Paul.

(did you notice how I skipped right over your very sweet compliment?)

Fiddler on the Roof is a fabulous movie and has an equally fabulous soundtrack.

I love ELO, too. Especially Don't Bring Me Down and Need Her Love.

I read The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test strictly based on the title in 1971 and Bridge Over Troubled Water was "our" song at the same time. How could you leave Carole King off that list Paul? Grrrr. Hope you'll be feeling better very soon.

hi Paul--

oh, goodness. can't read the whole thread, but wanted to chime in. one of my fave albums from 71 was 'Aretha Live at Fillmore West' because i was there on the 2nd night when the right reverend Ray Charles dropped in to jam. this was her first big concert that welcomed white folks and how lucky i was to be there.

Marvin Gaye's 'what's goin' on' is one of my favorite albums ever, also from 1971. probably my favoritist is 'Graceland.'

a lot of my favorite and most listened to albums back in the day were from the late 60s: the doors, anything by Janis Joplin, most of Bob Dylan's early albums and especially 'bringing it all back home.' Beatles' 'Rubber soul' and 'Abbey road.'

i'm horribly, horribly plebeian and traditional. not a radical music bone in my body, sad to say. i do like both traditional and contemporary Ethiopian music in a very uninformed way.

after that long natter, i wish everybody a wonderful weekend. we're currently cloudy and gloomy but the rain is whispering softly to the trees, so it's nice. :)

and the wise words prize goers to RD

"Candles only have two ends. Can't burn 'em at three ends. Pick one thing and make sure it's taken care of so you live to see 50. Pick two and see 75."

am sure SWMBO will make sure you start to look after yourself better - perhaps they will prescribe more book reading ?

seriously though look after yourself

Gail - Well into Saturday morning here. Listening to an oldies album with some of my Karaoke idols Platters, Johnny Ray, Don & Phil, Ray Peterson and the Big O. Head as clear as a bell. No office this morning.

Rebecca - Going back through my reading database, the prize lists and shortlists, wiikipedia's years in lit and so on has given me plenty of food for thought for my reading. There are some award winning gems that most of us have forgotten and then one of the group pops up with a suggestion for that year and I am off to try to track it down.

Laura - Going to music concerts used to be one of my things at college with groups like The Smiths, The Housemartins and an early and very delicious Bangles, Stevie Wonder, BJH, Tull, ELO, Blur, The Cranberries, Van the Man, Mr. Zimmerman. David Gates. Always regret that I never saw Johnny Cash, John Lennon or the Dubliners.
The last concert I saw was with my brother and SWMBO in his box at Sheffield Arena, Beyonce Knowles and I couldn't help agreeing with my brother in his view that they would have had lovely children together - his wife was unimpressed by the idea.

Lucy - I don't really do up-to-date reading so well from this remove. Some of my favourite series I try to gobble up quickly and I'm only one behind with Montalba and Reacher but the more serious stuff is normally a year behind for me at least. It is amazing for me that The Yellow Birds and The Garden of Evening Mists have both been done already.

RD - I'll have to go look for a contortionate candle! Thanks for the advice; I am a picture of health, but the picture is in the before and after category and I'm in the how not to do it section.
I almost put Mordechai Richler's book on my list but I know so little about him and his books are so difficult to get here. Is that one your favourite of his?

Ellen - Carole King was a great songwriter and Tapestry is full of gems but I do think that they could have been sung better. In many of the other years it would have been a shoe-in but 1971 was special in music.
You didn't really skip my compliment did you!

Morphy - I took my two eldest to see a revival of the play when we were last in London. In Malaysia there is an extremely ignorant espousing of the Palestinian problem in very black and white terms when it is one of the greyest issues imaginable. Over here Israel and the Yahoudi as those of jewish extraction are termed here are seen as the bad guys and I want my kids to grow up without any prejudice in their hearts and love everyone. Anyone who watches that marvellous play would come away from it with a love of the music and an understanding that Jewish families have had their burdens and that their concerns are the same as everyone elses,
ELO - I am not sure which is my favourite album or song but the two you chose from their 1979 Dicovery album are up there.

Bonnie - I had considered extending the music list to 15 in homage to the depth of quality of music that year and thus avoid upsetting the sensibilities of lovers of some great music. Figured it would be cheating and that part of the fun is narrowing the list for those whose opinions I treasure to have the chance to admonish me! x

Ellie - Wow great story. I am a fan of Aretha and Ray Charles but I am looking through my record collection and don't have that particular one! I have a dozen or so of each of them but not that one.
Following plebian tastes with Ethiopian folk music made me smile I must say!

>150 roundballnz: them's the words Alex.

Watch out for dizzy spells please Paul! Feet up and plenty of fluids (not beer) works. And, ta daaaa, it turns out that is the perfect environment for reading. Book reading is an excellent antidote to stress. That's why we are all so chilled out around here :)

The 70's arent much to write home about for me and music. Apart from some folk, I dont like many of the big bands of the time. I'll chime in again once the 80's are being showcased.

Take CARE of yourself, Paul! That health checkup sounds like a marvelous idea! And Carole King deserves her place as one of the best selling albums of all time, deservedly so!

Please take care of yourself Paul! Listen to all the good advice you're getting from LT (and your doc I hope). Can you just relax this weekend?

Megan - Planning on a fair bit of reading and no work! Laid back in NZ -really!
It is often said that music died in the 1980s but we did have The Smiths and....well that is about it.

Roni - Health check pencilled in for next Wednesday.

Tina - Feet are up my dear honestly....oops SWMBO has just asked me to put my feet down.

Be careful with yourself, Paul!

St Urbain's Horseman is indeed my favorite Richler, followed at a respectful distance by his most famous book The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. The rest, ~meh~

Es - Thanks I will!

RD - I have Barney's Version on the shelves but will seek out St. Urbain's Horseman.

"No office this morning" sounds like a good start of the weekend. Have a lovely weekend, Paul!

Diana - Feel a bit like a spare part at home though not having gone in.

>161 PaulCranswick:: give yourself a break, Paul! Sounds like it would do you some good. I loved RD's advice about burning the candle.

Hi Paul, great to hear that you are feeling better and that you treated yourself to some lovely retail therapy *smile*. Wish you and your family a splendid weekend!

*sashaying through, waving "hi"*

May you could like, um, work on the most read of 2012 list? *ducks*

Hope you have a great weekend. We're looking forward to seeing what you choose to read this weekend after having a week of not feeling so well and a nice round of "retail therapy."

Laura - Spent the day fruitlessly looking for three-ended candles, thanks RD!

Bianca - Never much of a problem to raise a smile but just received some bad news that my FIL has just been admitted to hospital with an enlarged testicle. Hope the little fellow is ok and I think tomorrows programme will now involve a 700 km round trip to Johor Bahru!

Karen - Impressive sashay - *waving back*

Morphy - You know I was looking at it this afternoon and it is still a work in progress I will get it out fairly soon just for you my dear.

Lori - Actually I am really enjoying reading A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins which is written exactly how I like my history. Wonderfully urbane and full of wit and anecdote.

Although to be honest, I need another TBR list like I need another hole in my head...

158 RD I am excited to see you like Richlers works as I just picked up The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz at the library sale today!

Happy Weekend Paul!

>164 maggie1944:: "sashay" is just a lovely word and needs to be used more often.

1972 RETROSPECTIVE

From my music collection

A few controversials here. Exile on Main Street is lauded as one of the Stones best albums but I don't get it at all. Machine Head by Deep Purple has some great stuff but not enough for me to dislodge the mellower sounds of the era I preferred. I have also left off two of my favourites Big Star's #1 Record and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken?
Not as strong as 1971 IMO but the sheer weight of choice (I have over 120 cds from the year) made it tough.

1 Bread - Guitar Man
2. Eric Andersen - Blue River
3. Paul Simon - Paul Simon
4. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
5. Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview
6. Kinks - Everybody's In Showbiz
7. Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees
8. Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
9. Slade - Slayed?
10. Neil Young - Harvest

1972 at the Movies

1. The Godfather
2. The Getaway
3. Frenzy
4. Deliverance
5. Jeremiah Johnson

1972 in Books

1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
2. Catholics by Brian Moore
3. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
4. The Manticore by Robertson Davies
5. To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
6. Geronimo Rex by Barry Hannah
7. G by John Berger
8. The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
9. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
10. Chimera by John Barth

and of course and possibly the most important of all for all those with beards who thought it impossible to have intercourse
The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort

1972 EVENTS

Jan - Bloody Sunday takes place in Derry, Northern Ireland
Feb - Nixon meets Mao
Mar - Bewitched airs for the first time
Apr - The Biological Weapons treaty ratified by 70 nations
May - The Mighty Leeds United win the Centenary FA Cup Final before Queen Elizabeth. One city celebrates, the rest of the nation grumbles.
Jun - Five Whitehouse staff are arrested for the attempted burglary of the Watergate building
Jul - George McGovern is nominated as Democratic candidate for President
Aug - Idi Amin declares the expulsion of Asians from Uganda
Sep - The Black Monday group kill Israeli athletes in Munich
Oct - The Airbus makes its first flight
Nov - Nixon wins in a landslide but the mud is about to stick on him too
Dec - Apollo 17 is the last manned ship to land on the moon.

Wow, you *really* had to search for good 1972 movies! Night of the Lepus and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes ewewew were favorites of mine in the year itself...today I think Pink Flamingos and 1776 are the shazizzle.

Plus The Stepford Wives. Oh my heck, how I used to love Ira Levin novels! I don't want to re-read them. But they gave me a lot of pleasure then.

*happy sigh*

1972

Paul Simon
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

2 of my favourite things ever! (did I mention that I am going to see Paul Simon LIVE in April??!??!)

And to think I wasnt even born yet......but Kraftwerk were already on to their second album. Practicing for when they became good.

Keep well Paul!

hey Paul, found just what you need:



and don't forget Vincent Millay's famous 'First Fig' from A few figs from thistles.

My candle burns at both ends,
it will not last the night
but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends,
it gives a glorious light.

(i'm guessing at the punctuation, being lazy)

It's so nice to see Big Star mentioned. No one ever talks about that band, although I did not learn about them until the 90s. There was such great diversity that year: Can't Buy a Thrill, Eat a Peach, The Harder They Fall, Neu, Sail Away, Superfly, Honky Chateau, Pink Moon, Let's Stay Together (the great Al Green!) Whew! That's smokin!
Great year for films too, with my favorite film of all time, The Godfather, leading the lead way.

>172 richardderus:: I loved The Stepford Wives when I read it a few years ago. I was annoyed at the ending of the film remake, although some of the parts of the movie itself are absolutely hilarious.

173 > trying not to comment about you being ** this*** excited over of all people Paul simon ...... shudders ......

Of course I'm not caught up...
I adore Paul Simon, Elton John and Jonathan Livingston Seagull!

Morphy - Another TBR list; I don't know about you but every day around the threads my hitlist gets added to. :)

Chelle - One of his books that I have been looking for by Richler is Solomon Gursky Was Here which was an award winner too.

Es - You are undoubtedly right- there is far too little sashaying going on in the world today.

RD - Not a vintage year in film 1972 methinks; a bad year when Peter O'Toole gets himself stuck in a musical Man of La Mancha. I did consider the Poseidon Adventure but it floundered for letting dear old Shelley Winters die, Cabaret which I liked but since Liza Minelli irritates thelife from me I kept it out and of course Deep Throat which my mother of course would not believe I have seen.

Megan - hahaha you have mentioned Mr. Simon a couple of times already!!! Not that I am in the least bit jealous. Last year the Cranswicks descended on the South Island and this year a New Yorker has to go and top us!

Ellie - Thanks for the candle which I'll treasure and burn in equal parts and the ditty which I am sure I will remember. x

Mark - Most of those you listed could easily have made my list except "Can't Buy a Thrill" which shamefully is not in my collection and "Neu!" which I must admit to not having heard. The Jimmy Cliff and Al Green albums are favourites of mine too.

Es - I haven't read it as yet but I understand it does differ quite a bit from the movie.

Alex - Personally I don't think Paul Simon has recorded a decent record since Graceland in the mid-eighties but his old stuff is to be treasured for sure. Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, El Condor Pasa, America, Mrs. Robinson, Sounds of Silence, Homeward Bound, Me and Julio Down By the Old School Yard, Mother and Child Reunion great songs all.

Kath - Elton released a prodigious amount of stuff in the 1970s with sometimes 2 records a year. Some of it was amongst the best popular music ever recorded IMO. Poor fellow gets little credit for that nowadays as he is made fun of because of his manner of dressing and his descent into the music of meh!

ohmigod! linda lovelace. i'd forgotten her. i've seen two porn flicks in my entire life--they bore me to death--deep throat and behind the green door. i guess '72 was my year for major porn. i got over it really fast.

i'd love to have seen Dame Judi in cabaret. now that woulda been something. i did love Joel Grey.

Last year the Cranswicks descended on the South Island and this year a New Yorker has to go and top us!
And I didnt even have to pay $150 to get an audience with you! In fact I was shouted a coffee- thanks for that btw. Im just sorry I didnt recommend a better cafe.....Im not sure I was thinking straight.

Ellie - Not a lover of serious porn I must admit; far better a little titilation and plenty left to the imagination if you ask me but that film has had a lasting impact particularly on adolescent boys and the sale of paper tissues.
Dame Judi in Cabaret? what a splendid idea!
How about Helen Mirren in a wrinkly remake of Barbarella!?
or RD as the next James Bond?

Megan - hahaha as I recall you chose the place for security reasons! As you were secretly afeared that the exiled Yorkshireman may actually have two heads, no family and a machete in his travelling bag! The least I could do was spot you a coffee whilst SWMBO calmed your nerves!

You are right about Paul Simon, nothing all that good recently. But the old stuff: genius. Graceland I loved.

Joel Gray - (-:

Early Elton John, too. Great stuff.

23.

A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins

This is history how it was meant to be written. The story of the nation told as such full of anecdote, larger than life characters, tales of derring-do, faults and missteps interlaced with glory.

Anecdotal, accessible but always enlightening and engaging I would heartily recommend this to students of history, patriots and lovers of good writing everywhere.

I think I know my history and grew up (though not literally) with Lord Macaulay, Trevelyan, CV Wedgewood, the Oxford Histories, Hume, Chesterton and, of course, Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples but the tide of time is set out in very fresh and ordered fashion here and still brought to my notice facts that I didn't know or had forgotten in my age-addled mind. For example the popular use of the word Cabal as much as deriving from cabala it comes from Charles II's ministry of 5 - Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale.

Jenkins points out that the hero of his story is Parliament:

The so-called 'game changers' of English politics may be listed as Cromwell, Walpole, Chatham, Peel, Disraeli, Gladstone and Lloyd-George, but it was the collective of parliament that harnessed their talents to the service of the state.

I am sure that this is one I will read again and dip in and out of frequently. I am English, and as an Englishman, true born, am filled with the blood of many nations, notably that of my my irish and welsh ancestry and I bequeath to my next generation in concert with my wife of Asia a further enrichment of that mixed blood. I am proud nevertheless of that mongrel englishness that did far more good than bad for the world and therefore I recommend this story of its vivid and varied history to your future reading.

9/10

Karen - One of his disasters was Songs from Capeman which was almost unlistenable and pretentious tripe IMO. Up to Rhythm of the Saints which was almost passable his stuff was excellent, even his lesser renowned early 80's stuff, but since 1990 really, not a single thing of note.

>183 PaulCranswick:--chuckle. yes, i'm sure you're right about adolescents and tissues and, er, whatever.

and yes, Judi herself, with a crack in her voice, in the West End in, um, 68? 69?. it has become the "definitive" Cabaret, just like practically everything else she does seems to become definitive.



you can find several snippets on YouTube.

i think i saw Barbarella once tho i don't remember anything about it, but Mirren as practically anyone works for me.

seriously, Paul, i don't think RD could get his nose out of a book long enough to do Bond, do you? he's certainly got the imagination for it. it would be a whole new genre. Ian Fleming would be rolling about in agony. ha HA!

>179 PaulCranswick:: You and I, together, will bring back sashaying, ok? :)

>180 PaulCranswick:: It doesn't differ from the original film, I'm told. The new movie, however, is another story (in both senses of the phrase, yes).

I'm setting up the movie camera as we speak to film all the sashaying that's taking place.

180 > Twas more the excitement than the question over the talent ...... btw agree with you on his earlier stuff bridge over troubled water teal ....

Ellie - And there was I thinking you were being "ironic" - Dame Judi is one heck of a lady I must say. I have her autobiography somewhere and must look up the relevant bits.
I'm sure RD could do no worse than Roger Moore did in his latter day outings. Bond with a beard - it is about time surely?

Es - Well as most people know I am game for most things.......
I believe that the ending is different is it not between book and film?

Caro - Linda Lovelace gets a mention and here you are with your camera ready! Of course in our vocabulary "deep throat" has culinary connotations and not those other icky ones that I remember trying to view from so many different angles as a young fellow perplexed by the mechanics involved.

Alex - hahaha mate I do believe that I would be every bit as excited as Megan and at least as disappointed if he starts singing all his recent rubbish.

Paul, never let it be said that I haven't taken my Girl Guides motto to heart and strive always to 'Be Prepared'. :-)

Are you 100% yet?

Hey, Paul.

From what my mom tells me, the original film and the book have the same ending, whereas the new film has a *very* different ending.

Caro - I feel swell in all honesty but I am in the Doghouse as SWMBO drove off to JB last night in a huff with the kids and SIL leaving me and dear Erni my faithful Arabica producer behind. My pleas to not panic and wait on news from JB were disregarded as she rushed to the bedside of my FIL. He is already home and needs a minor hernia operation. Still pleanty of me time today!

I will buy the book and find out Es!

Oh, Tapestry was the album of that year for me, and remains in my top 10 (think it was my first grown up, break out album). She's in Australia at the moment - but I was out of town during her Sydney concert. I respect you enormously Paul, and bow to your knowledge - but Carole King's singing on Tapestry is fabulous.

Oh, Tapestry was the album of that year for me, and remains in my top 10 (think it was my first grown up, break out album). She's in Australia at the moment - but I was out of town during her Sydney concert. I respect you enormously Paul, and bow to your knowledge - but Carole King's singing on Tapestry is fabulous.

PS hope you're all better.

Tracey - I am not not a fan of the album and play it often. IMO the songs are better than the singer but that is just my cloth ears! I do think if it had been released in 1972 it would have been safely ensconced on my list.
Lovely to see you here by the way.

Paul- I beg to differ with you on Paul Simon's later career. I love his early stuff too, but Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints, Surprise & So Beautiful or So What are stunning works. And that voice is STILL pure gold! Give some of those a re-listen.

I har that you had a wee tummy bug? Hope you are feeling better now?

1973 RETROSPECTIVE

FROM MY MUSIC COLLECTION

From the period prior to my move to Malaysia I have the most choices from 1973 with 217 cds from the year. That said some of this was easy:

1 Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
2 Innervisions -Stevie Wonder
3 Catch a Fire - Bob Marley
4 Solid Air - John Martyn
5 Band on the Run - Wings
6 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
7 Preservation Act 1 - Kinks
8 Now - The Drifters
9 The Spinners - Spinners
10 Lullabys, Legends and Lies - Bobby Bare

1973 AT THE MOVIES

1. The Sting
2. High Plains Drifter
3. Papillon
4. Serpico
5. The Exorcist

also Diamonds Are Forever and a classic Woody Allen, Sleeper.

1973 - A SELECTION OF BOOKS

1. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
2. The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
3. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
5. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
6. The Eye of the Storm by Patrick White
7. The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell
8. Das Boot by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim
9. The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
10. Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher

1973 EVENTS

Jan - UK joins the EEC, The Vietnam War ends for the US and Roe v Wade, take your pick I can't decide
Feb - Vietnam POWs start to come home
Mar - The last US soldier leaves Vietnam
Apr - The first cellphone call is made
May - 1.6 million workers strike in the UK
Jun - Secretariat becomes the first horse to win the American triple crown since 1948
Jul - The US Drug Enforcement Agency is founded
Aug - The US cease bombing Cambodia
Sep - Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in a Battle of the Sexes match.
Oct - Sydney Opera House opens, Spiro Agnew resigns and the Yom Kippur was again take your pick of these biggies.
Nov - Gerald Ford becomes Vice-President
Dec - The three-day week in the UK and in the USA the association of psychiatrists remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

Mark, Graceland and ROTS are great and good respectively but I really don't think the last few albums stand muster with his earlier stuff. He can still sing of course!

Kath - Was a tad dizzy for a while - now ok! x

Not a Steely Dan fan? I don't think rock gets any better than this, from Can't Buy a Thrill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sil76t2X_DE
Make sure you CRANK IT!

Hey! Did you know that to sashay is a square dancing step? I didn't. I had pictures of ladies in large dresses walking smoothly and fetchingly along a long corridor. Oh, well, it really means stepping sideways in a dance in a barn! Ha!

179 I hadn't even heard of Solomon Gursky Was Here before, which is sad because as a Canadian I really don't know enough about great Canadian authors like Richler. It appears to have been shortlisted for the Booker prize so I will add it to my wishlist as I am trying to read more Bookers.

FYI Book Depository has it available, little pricey for a paperback though.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Solomon-Gursky-Was-Here-Mordecai-Richler/9780099...

Back to the '72 list: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my all-time favorite reads. The purple passage which includes the "high-water mark" idea is stunning. Big fan of Thompson.

And waaaay up there somewhere Richard mentioned another of my absolute favorite movies - Harold & Maude. A must watch (and re-watch, and re-watch again), for certain.

#179, 205 Solomon Gursky Was Here was the first Mordecai Richler I ever read, back when it was published. It started me reading other Richlers, some of which are really funny but none of which are as fun as SG. On the other hand, it's been almost 20 years since I read most of them, so my memory may be failing me.

Glad to see you are better now, Paul.
But I don't see any signs of slowing down. Isn't there a book out there now about that? Can't remember the name.
Yikes! There are hundreds of slow down books... perhaps they have a message for you?

At the rate you are going - and the rate I am going - I'm lucky to get to say hi ONCE on each of your threads! Sorry, but I have naturally slowed down and consider it a reward for all those crazy years of my youth.

Have a good week!

>204 maggie1944:: Let's go with the image of the large dresses, fetchingly, corridors, etc. I like that much better.

1973 = Fantastic Planet to me. First film I ever saw while tripping. It is gorgeous even when sober, but that experience...!

Dark side of the moon ...... now we are talking none of this Paul simon talk

Hmmm see your football team had ahem 'interesting' result this morning

hullo, Paul. just zoomin' through singin' "who's zoomin' who." :)

You are efficient, Paul. Only two books on your whole darn thread and you hit me with a book bullet with the last one!

(Go, Tapestry and Carole King! Go, the Spinners! Saw them live in Kansas City in 1977.)

Still loving the retrospectives! Talking Book one of the gems. Agree with RD totally about Harold and maude. I have it on DVD - such a great film! Had to WL A Short History of England. Take care of your health Paul! Watch a wonderful episode of Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey about Georgetown and Langkawi. My but Penang food looks wonderful! No wonder it is hard to keep on the food straight and narrow with such wonderful cuisine at your doorstep!

I do have one correction from 1972 -- That was the last year Bewitched was on the air in the US -with new programs - it started in 1964. It was one (way too many) that I liked back then.

Hmmm see your football team had ahem 'interesting' result this morning
And the cricket one-dayer too!

I watched with amazement as the commentators said NZ had it in the bag when we still needed 8 runs, and had a hamstrung last-hope batting! But luckily we pulled it out of the bag, hoorah!

Hope you are continuing on with your rest and relaxation Paul. No stress please!

Now you've got me singing "Band on the Run."

Hi Paul

I hope you had a good weekend. Like others, I hope you are feeling better.

I note you read A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor

If you are interested in learning about her life, I highly recommend A Good Hard Look: A Novel by Ann Napolitano.

Mark - Actually I do quite like Steely Dan without them being one of my absolute favourites. Their album Pretzel Logic is my favourite of theirs. Similarly with The Doobie Brothers where Toulouse Street and most of their albums of that era are pretty good there are always albums that I like more or have had more impact on my growing up. The Drifters Now is for example a relatively little known album but I had it from my childhood and played my cassette of it almost literally to death. Their versions of Maccas Every Night and You've Got Your Troubles as well as There's Always Something There to Remind Me is like a soundtrack to my winter nights as a child.

Karen - Name the barn and I'll give it a go with my two left feet!

Chelle - You're right; it is on the pricey side isn't it? I did notice though that much of his other work was much cheaper!

Amber - I shouldn't have done 1971 and 1972 when not feeling my best! Harold and Maude ought to be there clearly and 1971's Get Carter is one of my absolute favourite movies and I overlooked it! S. Hunter Thompson's is one from the year I haven't read yet.

Rebecca - He could turn out to be the writer I concentrate on next year after Ms. Tyler this year. I would need to get cracking though as I only have one on the shelves. William Trevor is my other possibility as I still have plenty to read by one of my favourites.

Cee - As always able to make me smile instantly. For my book hoarding therapy you recommend I buy a book on the subject! No real plans to slow down but a bit more exercise, more fresh air and better food are in order.

Es - I have already tried that one and I look particularly un-fetching in a party dress!

216 > Great result for the blackcaps - Both Matches won have been at Seddon park - Hamilton ..... those with memories may remember pitch questionability from the not so recent past ..... not that the groundsmen would do that ..... tut tut tut pity there are no test matches scheduled for Seddon park

1973 was a memorable year for me. I moved from the U.K. back to the Netherlands and, in December, my son was born. The Dutch told the Middle East what they thought of them and we had "auto-free Sundays" for quite a while late that year.

RD - What to watch when stoned? Certainly not Poltergeist or I'm afraid you would awake with the television in extremely small fragments at your feet.

Alex - Dark Side of the Moon was not a hard pick. For me though the best album of 1973 was Band on the Run, head and shoulders above anything else done by McCartney post Beatles.
Interesting result? Our frailties were cruelly exposed by Manchester City in truth. Warnock has to go even though he remains hilariously old-school.

Ellie - I must admit that in anticipation of my 1974 list today I was playing many of the songs and albums from the year yesterday. "Billy Don't Be A Hero (Paper Lace)", "Everyday" (Slade), "He's Misstra Know it All" (Stevie Wonder), "The Air That I Breathe" (The Hollies), "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" (Elton John), "Annie's Song" (John Denver), "It's Only Rock N Roll" (The Stones), "Can't Get Enough" (Bad Company), "Rikki Don't Lose That Number (Steely Dan), Waterloo (Abba), Your the First, the Last, My Everything (Barry White), "You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet" (BTO), "Tiger Feet" (Mud), "Sweet Home Alabama" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "Killer Queen" (Queen), "Kung Fu Fighting" (Carl Douglas), "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band), "How Long?" (Ace), "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" (Jim Croce), "The Streets of London" (Ralph McTell), "Rock the Boat" (Hues Corporation), "When Will I See You Again" (Three Degrees), "Break the Rules" (Status Quo), "The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (Gladys Knight & The Pips) - quite a compilation tape!

Roni - hahaha to be fair I am reading more this year than the last couple of years. In the UK the Spinners are "The Detroit Spinners" as there is a folk group with the same name from Liverpool. I have albums by both and others can get confused. That album is IMO the best thing they recorded.

Pinang is famous even in Malaysia for its culinary supremacy Prue! I have known SWMBO have me drive the four hours to stay there for the weekend because she loves the food so much there.

Lucy - Well spotted! It was a typo and I have amended it. Elizabeth Montgomery was hot in a very homely way IMO.

Watching my football and cricket teams which I did glumly is no way to release my stress Megan! Cricket is a funny game - first in the 3 games of the farcical 20/20 matches there were three very different matches and then the ODI is an exercise in English ineptitude. I am actually rather pleased to see New Zealand doing a little better as I am worried that the next step will be to take them off the A list for tests.

Lori - Love that album. Favourite songs are Bluebird and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five - brilliant stuff.

Linda - Thanks so much. I will look up that book; such a shame that Flannery O'Connor died so prematurely.

Alex - The tests will be interesting. England are nowhere near as fearsome as South Africa and it could be close.

Reba - I remember seeing on Genny's thread (or by Genny here) comments about the no-car Sundays in Holland. For me the year was a good one at school as I recall, I would have been reading all the Famous Five books, Robert Louis Stevenson and starting with the Doctor Who books. Leeds lost the FA Cup final in one of the biggest upsets ever to lower league Sunderland.

Sorry you have not been feeling well, Paul. You read so fast , that in itself would bring on faint in me! I hope that you are feeling 100 % now. Take it easy, friend.

Thanks Deb. Feeling much better already and it is in part at least due to all the lovely messages of concern I received.

Good food! That is my answer to every ailment. Good food!!

1974 RETROSPECTIVE

FROM MY MUSIC COLLECTION

1. Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison
2. Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan (OK Mark?)
3. In Flame by Slade
4. Everyone is Everybody Else by Barclay James Harvest
5. Bad Company by Bad Company
6. Planet Waves by Bob Dylan
7. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight by Richard & Linda Thompson
8. Eldorado by Electric Light Orchestra
9. Fulfillingness First Finale by Stevie Wonder
10. Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell

1974 AT THE MOVIES

1. Godfather Part 2
2. Blazing Saddles
3. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
4. The Odessa File
5. Chinatown
also Emanuelle

1974 BOOKS

1.Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
2. All the President's Men by Bob Woodward
3. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
4. Something Happened by Joseph Heller
5. History : A Novel by Elsa Morante
6. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Boll
7. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
8. Centennial by James Michener
9. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
10. Monsieur by Lawrence Durrell

1974 EVENTS

Jan - Petrol rationing begins in Holland
Feb - Patty Hearst is kidnapped
Mar - The Terra Cotta army is discovered in China
Apr - Nixon finally hands over Watergate tapes
May - Brandt and Trudeau fall in Germany and Canada
June - The Heimlich Maneouver published
Jul - Turkey invades Cyprus
Aug - Nixon resigns and Ford becomes President
Sep - Ford pardons Nixon
Oct - Ali beats Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle
Nov - Lord Lucan disappears and Lennon's last concert
Dec - Nicks and Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac

Yes, that is a terrific Steely Dan album. It's not a very strong year, compared to the earlier ones but I am very happy to see the Richard & Linda Thompson album on there. It's one of the best.
It was a great year for movies though! Don't forget Young Frankenstein and The Conversation.

I like your retrospectives. If you put that darn Sweet Home Alabama song in there I will jump through this computer screen and throttle you. I can't stand that song. And what happened to my favorite Bob Seager? I didn't know that Lost Honor of Katharina Blum was a book! I only saw the movie and thought it was terrific. Those of you who watch movies with subtitles find this one and get it. It is a wonderful movie.

Blazing Saddles! Great movie with some eternally memorable lines!

"It's twue! It's twue!"

Oh dear, I love Sweet Home Alabama! (Sorry, Benita)

Paul, sorry to hear that you had a fainting spell - that is NOT good. Echoing everyone else here and asking you to please take good care of yourself. I like your 1974 respective! I have a soft spot for Badfinger, and I LOVE the movie Chinatown - and the Godfather movies.

Oh my... Patty Hearst, Nixon... and poor old Ford.

The 70's for me?
71 - turned 18, got married 2 months later.
72- Adam was born
74- Craig was born
76- Amy was born
77- Cory was born.
It was a busy decade for me..

Excellent review of A Short History of England,, Paul. I've put it on my wishlist.

Okay, Kath - This will make you laugh. Your 70's was my 90's, except for the turning 18 part

90 - turned 23, got married 4 months later
92 - Rae was born
94 - Daniel was born
96 - Abby was born
98 - Birdy was born

Hi Paul, it's been awhile since I've visited. Both hubby and I were under the weather but are now slowly getting better. Sorry to hear you had a slight turn and hope you are 100 percent again. I've been enjoying your cruise through the 60's and now the 70's, brings back many great memories from my glory days!

1974. Yeeeccchhh. One of my life's Satan years. I don't remember one single good thing about 1974.

I was so far behind, Paul, it was ridiculous. After skimming madly, I'm caught up (more or less) - at least I managed it before you started yet another thread!

As always, your thread makes for fascinating reading - great year by year retrospectives!

BTW, I was considering joining you on The King's Fifth, but after reading your review, I'm not so sure I will....

Don't forget the MOST important event of 1973! I was born!! ;)

Pretty sure you're supposed to watch Fantasia when you're stoned. Or were they stoned when they made it? Does it matter?

I just got back from Portland, OR. and I am so very behind here. I stopped at Powell's and due to carry-on luggage limitations only acquired 2 books. West of Here and The Emperor of All Maladies both under 10$ on the bargain table. :) Slightly unsatisfying, but pleasing, all the same.

Karen - No arguments from me on that philosophy; I didn't manage to increase my trouser width so much over the years without an epicurean ardour.

Mark - I also love that Richard and Linda Thompson album but my favourite from the year is the Van Morrison one - amazingly mellow. I would agree that 74 sees the wave already crested.

Benita - Lynyrd Skynyrd doesn't make my list for the year; it is amongst the 109 albums I have for 1974 but apart from its main song (which I like sorry!) the rest of it is less strong. Beb Seger's album that year was "Seven" which I think is one of his weakest.

Morphy - Beans and bodily functions will never be the same again!

Mamie - I have two Badfinger albums from 1974 and whilst they had some really good songs - it was rarely enough to make a whole album great. I found Chinatown heavy weather when I first watched it but I have come to like it. Godfather 2 is my favourite from that series of films.

Kath - Gee you got married young! 4 kids in 6 years is pretty good going too my dear and must have deleteriously impacted your 70's reading.

Joe - Thanks mate, one of my favourite reads this year so far.

Mamie - No wonder you and Kath refer to each other as Sis! Eerily symmetrical!

Judy- I think you are still pretty glorious these days too!

RD - One of my favourite years! My soccer team won the championship before getting Clough on board to f@!* everything up.

Dejah - It is not a terrible book; it is just that that type of story was done much better by others earlier.

Tina - My sister was also born in July of 1973 and grew up to be the scariest in the family. A pit-bull terrier on two legs and fearsome child/women's rights lawyer in the UK.

Jenn - It would have been criminal not to have got at least something! Carry on restrictions? You couldn't take on board a bag of books?!

I cant say the mid 70's were good for music. Not good for me anyway.
Ill look forward to some synth-pop and noisy feedback from the 80's!

Wow, Paul, your sister sounds......intelligent. A good one to have on your side, yes? Speaking of family- how's your mum's health these days? Not to mention your own....which I hope you are supporting with plenty of healthy food, water and rest.

I'm impressed with the number of albums you apparently have in your collection. 109 for 1974 alone? Wow!

Actually Paul, it was 4 kids in 5 years...LOL

Mamie.. that did make me laugh :)
Thank goodness for our kids!

'Court and Spark' is one of my favourite albums ever! Joni Mitchell was always such an innovative artist...

Hi Paul. I was away for a few days, including away from a computer, so I have lots of catching up to do. I'm glad you're feeling better but please take it easy!

Oohh - 1974 albums....what about Clapton's '461 Ocean Boulevard', Joe Cocker's first and outstanding foray into ballads 'I Can Stand A Little Rain' and don't you dare leave out one of my musical heroes' best: 'Good Old Boys' by Randy Newman.

Just saying hello. Can't remember what I was reading in 1974 but as I was only ten it was not any of those you've listed. But I did read Centennial a few years later.

Hi Paul - I love reading about pop culture through the decades. Such great music throughout the years - it makes me wonder which groups of today will stand out tomorrow.

Funny to see Centennial mentioned - I was approached on a trail this weekend by an out of state visitor who asked if Centennial (a nearby town) had an historic district. Her husband quickly noted that she had just read Centennial and was intrigued. I was sorry to have to tell them that the nearby town was only recently incorporated with no historic downtown and Michener's fictional Centennial is north of us... (How did they know I'd know what she was talking about?) I felt bad...

Paul, I'm about a million posts behind and loving the retrospectives on '73 and '74 (I personally like '73 better -- I mean, Band On the Run and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road? Two of the best). And yet, I must comment:
Nicks and Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac --- YES. Good stuff yet to come in your retrospectives, I know.

I'm back from a great weekend getaway, with some reading and no LT. I missed my friends here but this weekend was good for me and good for us.

Funny how I resonate more with the music than with the books..... I was a young teenager then. :-|

Megan - Au contraire I think the seventies was an excellent time for music setting aside some of the pompous glam rock posturing and the novelty singles. Now the 1980s is more difficult to cobble a list together and I have fewer by far in my collection for much of the 80s.
Drinking copious amounts of sky juice at the moment and about to take my lunch - all is good with the world!

Lori - I did love collecting music - my 1973 list was double almost my 1974 collection!

Hahaha Kath even more impressive. Kids are certainly a blessing and you had blessings a plenty throughout the 70s.

Prue - Joni just missed out on some of my other lists and just made this one. Very, very consistently good from the late 60s through the 70s.

Pat - thanks my dear. I am back to my top form at the present moment. Did have a nasty shock yesterday evening though as I got word that my British partner in the aerospace manufacturing enterprise I may have mentioned was car jacked with his children on his way to take them to school and at knife point. Thankfully he is ok and so are the kids but he is temporarily sans car, wallet, mobile phone and lap top.

Prue - All three were carefully considered but which to leave out?

Genny - I read it at the beginning of last year and really enjoyed its rambling ways.

Joanne - Your first paragraphed should surely be qualified "if any"!
I can sympathise with the people you met - I would have expected it on your doorstep and probably have been forward enough to have asked you for directions to it!

Ellen - I agree with you 73 beats 74 musically. So pleased that your weekend was an unqualified success. It is not in the least surprising that the music resonates more than the books because we can recall the memory of the sounds easier than recalling having read the books or the reviews of the books.

Paul! That is just awful news about your colleague's car jacking! I can imagine he feels horrible for having his children experience such a thing. Fathers so often feel they are born to protect those children and when they can not, big bad feelings! I am so sorry.

Funny how we are all so much more randomly connected these days. Where was he? And how could I, little ole retired school teacher living in Washington State, ever imagine feeling empathy for this gentleman?

OK, well, onwards with our weeks. Hope yours is healthy, relaxing, and productive. Happy Reading, friend.

Your favorite decade of music is certainly determined by how old you are. See, I have most of my favorites in the 80s but that's because those were my teenage years!

Karen - I am pleased he didn't put up a struggle as he is ex British forces fleet air arm and quite a fit chap although in his fifties. Discretion and fear of his kids probably saved him a trip to the hospital or worse.

Morphy, you are probably right because my favorite music tends to be 1950s when my bro was a teenager and 1960s when I was.

Paul, good point!

1975 Retrospective

From my Music Collection
Tough again as 75 there is more variety and brilliance than 74's slipping off

1. Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan
2. Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin
3. Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
4. Captain Fantastic and the Browndirt Cowboy by Elton John
5. Atlantic Crossing by Rod Stewart
6. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
7. Face the Music by Electric Light Orchestra
8. By Numbers by the Who
9. Horses by Patti Smith
10. Night at the Opera by Queen

Left out of a stellar list were great albums by Janis Ian, Emmylou Harris, Judith Collins, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Ralph McTell, George Harrison, Wings, Simon, Garfunkel, Kinks, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, BJH, Bee Gees, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, 10CC, Thin Lizzy, Fleetwood Mac, Willie Nelson, Nazareth, Thin Lizzy, Bowie, Rush, Eagles, Robert Wyatt, Richard and Linda Thompson, Supetramp, The Band, Bad Company, Rory Gallagher, Hot Chocolate, etc etc etc

AT THE MOVIES

1. Jaws
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. The Man Who Would Be King
4. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
5. Love and Death

1975 books

1. W or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec
2. The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
3. Fateless by Imre Kertesz
4. Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. The Fight by Norman Mailer
6. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
7. The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
8. Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes
9. The Leavetaking by John McGahern
10. Docherty by William McIlvanney

1975 events

Jan. The House UnAmerican Activities Comittee is dissolved
Feb. Mrs Thatcher becomes Conservative leader in the UK
Mar. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is killed by his nephew
Apr. Microsoft is founded as the Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia
May. Junko Tabei is the first lady to reach the summit of Everest
Jun. Sam Giancana is shot and killed days before due to testify
Jul. Jimmy Hoffa goes missing
Aug. Robert E. Lee rather belatedly is given back his American citizenry
Sep. Ford survives two assassination attempts both by ladies and both in California.
Oct. The Thrilla in Manila sees Ali and Frazier destroy each other.
Nov. Franco dies
Dec. Indonesia invades East Timor

Morphy/Karen - Your right...I was 14 at the end of the 70's but they are definitely my favourite time musically.

>257 PaulCranswick:: Born to Run
Love, love, love, love love. It reminds me of a certain summer, albeit a later one, probably 1979. And you can't live adjacent to New Jersey without developing an appreciation for The Boss.

Ooh, the disco era approaches ... :)

Yes! 1975 was an *excellent* year, for various reasons...

ELO's "Strange Magic"! Oh my oh my such wonderful memories...driving my immense Bonneville convertible really fast and blasting ELO, 10CC, Rod Stewart...*happy sigh*

Apr. Microsoft is founded as the Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia I cannot help but note the synergy between these things.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Rocky Horror Picture Show are my cinema faves, oh and Lisztomania for Daltrey's deathless utterance of "let us practice the sixty-ninth commandment"...teenage! Such an impressionable time.

>260 scaifea:: aha! I can guess why!

Ah, the 1970's

1970 - married my high school boyfriend...the quarterback of our small-town school..
1972, birth of my daughter
1973-1980---course, by course, by course obtaining a degree
1976- grew older, wiser, changed and divorced high school sweet heart...He continues to be a wonderful person, but we were way too young to be married

#261
I can so see you doing that with your 8Track on full volume.

Big thumbs-up for Born to Run, of course, and also for Blood on the Tracks which is probably my all-time favorite Dylan album. There's not a bad song on that one.

I STILL hear certain songs now, expecting that "click" in the middle of them where my 8-track tape changed tracks!

1975

9. Horses by Patti Smith

Yeeeeha. Now we're talking.
And Jaws! YES, in my top 5 movies of all time.

Sept. Ford survives two assassination attempts both by ladies and both in California.
It wasnt me, I was busy at the time, being born.

>266 tloeffler: that is so cute! I remember my favourite tapes, and which songs were on the other side of each one as I was listening. I used to love turning over to get to a better song, instead of rewinding /forwarding. Oh how mechanical it all was!!

Hi Paul, i'm loving these yearly reminices, the music lists are getting harder to quantify and as each year is revealed i'm looking through my album collection and putting them on the turntable. I could see a book coming out of these lists.

What a great year was 1975! The year I went to live in London...and I loved the movie of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The man Who Would be King - which reminds me that I need to add both to my DVD library!

Wait. 1975. You left out Fleetwood Mac, you say. Not Rumours??

Ellen - Rumours came out the year I graduated high school - 1977 (which is the only reason why I remember).

Fashion in the 70s was dreadful but the music was excellent!!

Sep. Ford survives two assassination attempts both by ladies and both in California.

Paul, As the nuns always told us, "Remember, all ladies are women, but not all women are ladies". :)

Laura - The Boss has produced some very good as well as some pretty ordinary music but Born to Run is unremittingly excellent it you know what I mean.

Amber - I remember 1975 and its successor for seemingly endless summers playing out in the school fields behind my home; cricket and soccer and practising hours untold tennis against the garage door. I remember Wimbledon Connors, Nash, Nastase and Borg, I remember the English cricket tests against Australia and the West Indies, the Sunday league, the cricket world cup, the soccer world cup in Germany with the unlucky Scotland team and the magnificent but flawed Dutch team, the athletics with Brendan Foster and Ian Thompson and Lasse Viren and Alberto Juanterino. I remember swallowing heaps of books Doctor Who, Alistair Maclean, Hammond Innes, Biggles, the Famous Five, Agatha Christie and all pre-teen!

RD - I got a real kick earlier this year as I was playing ELOs 'Face the Music' CD in the car and Kyran piped up from the back asking me what it was. He borrowed the entire canon of the group when we got home and reflected his surprise that his old man actually had some "pretty cool stuff".
Microsoft as a better tailored Khymer Rouge?

Linda - One of my highlights of last year on LT was the stories of marriage proposals and especially yours (your second of course!) and it is lovely to see that an early divorce has not left any bitterness between you both.

Benita - The mid 70s were our family 8-track days. I learnt my love of Johnny Cash, Lee Hazlewood, the Big O, Don & Phil, Elvis, the Fab Four and strangely James Last during this period singing along in the car.

Julia - My list is not in any particular order but if I had to take one album from the year it would probably be Dylans' or possibly Eltons' which is fantastic, Captain Fantastic.
When I think of 8-tracks these would be the 8 tracks
1. Did You Ever - Nancy & Lee
2. Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison
3. All I Have to Do Is Dream - the Everly Brothers
4. Walk Right Back - The Everly Brothers
5. A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash
6. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
7. Help! - The Beatles
8. A Fool Such As I - Elvis

Megan - I guessed you might like Patti Smyth! The musis from Jaws goes a long way to making the movie and the parts with Shaw, Dreyfuss and Scheider on the boat.
I always remembered Ford as being considered (fairly or not) a loveably non-entity so I was a bit surprised to note that California Girls didn't seem to agree.

John - The problem is mate we would be two of the few dorks to actually go and buy a book of such lists!

Prue - Caine and Connery are wonderful as the two imposters in Kipling's tale and Jack Nicholson has never made a better film.

Ellen - No my dear the album is 'Fleetwood Mac' and is the first with Nicks/Buckingham. Almost made the cut actually. Rumours is a couple of years away.

Joanne - Correct about Rumours! Music/Fashion comments doubly correct!! Women/Ladies triply correct!!! I should get to meet some of those nuns.

Good morning Paul,

yeah for the retrospectives. Very fascinating stuff - 1974 not so interesting in regards to movies and books. The only book on your list which IMO is great is The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll. A book I read in school and one of the few a really enjoyed.

1975 sounds much better in regards to movies and books. Did you read Primo Levi? I got quite a few on my TBR for this year, including The PeriodicTable.

LOL - your sister sounds really fierce. I wonder what kind of job she is doing with these interesting characteristics *smile*

Still in the seventies? I will just bask in them here for a while if you don't mind.....

1973 - Brother is born, no longer only child
1974 - Move from New York to Florida
1975 - Reach double digit age
1977 - Boy tries to give me my first kiss - I slap him
1979 - Same boy tries again - doesn't get slapped

Bianca - I have read If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi and I would place it very, very high in my esteem.
I have a love hate relationship with my sister; my brother has a hate hate relationship with her. One thing I have to concede is that she is on heck of a good mother to her two bonny kids, put upon husband and snarling hound (they converse in barking Alsatian).

Kath - A few days more before I get to those dreadful haircuts and the new romantics.

Morphy - wonderful hahaha! I am so relieved that you went no further than 1979!

Okay, I have exposed my ignorance and I'm glad that Rumours might yet make a future retrospective list. I do wonder what I was doing in 1975. What was I listening to? I was 14/15 that year....

*goes off to check lists and see what clicks with memory)*

ETA: I figured it out. I was certainly listening to music but was not yet buying albums. I was listening to "Top 40" on the radio."

I love Morphy's 1977 and 79 comments, really made me chuckle.

1973 - for me - same as Morphy. My brother was born and at the ripe old age of 14 months, I was no longer an only child. :) My poor mother.
Nobody tried to kiss me in 1977 or 1979 by which year I had 4 younger brothers... However, I do believe that in 1977 I could have been found in the back seat of my parents' Oldsmobile showing the waistband of my underpants to a boy in my Kindergarten class, in return for seeing the waist band of his. Oh the horror!

>276 Morphidae:: Oh, Morphy! :0)

ETA: cross-posted.

>280 nittnut:: Oh, Jenn!!!!

Paul -- I seem to remember you were having a doctor's appt. today -- hope all checked out OK.

Ellen - As youngsters it is always the songs not the albums that stick. The Hit Parade as it used to be called was very much the thing. I remember looking forward of a Thursday evening to Top of the Pops which became something of a British institutions as well as listening to the top forty on the radio every Sunday.

John - You and me both mate!

Jenn - Waistbands?! ...oh....?!!

Nina - I remember that by the end of the decade I was regularly checking under pullovers of young girls in the days when all of them seemed to wear them as well as the construction and fortitude of juvenilely adorned brassieres. Halcyon days for me and those stubby little fingers - not so great for the bras.

Reba - Thanks my dear. Yep went and had a few tests and for the ones where the answers are found already I seem to be in fine fettle; something which non-plussed the dear Doctor Mariam as well as it did I.

I remember looking forward of a Thursday evening to Top of the Pops which became something of a British institution
Here we had ToTP as well, but before that it was Ready to Roll....which became shortened to RTR Countdown on a Saturday night. I used to sit glued to the telly in anticipation of what would be #1 - will it be Bob Marley with One Love again? Surely not! :) (it was- for a loooooooong time)

Hej Paul, good to hear about your doctor's appointment and your being in good shape.

I have a lot of happy TOTP memories and the xmas day show was always one to watch, i remember first seeing Blondie on TOTP and instantly fell in love with Debbie Harry and still do and not to forget Pan's People with the lovely Babs, one for the boys these memories really.

instantly fell in love with Debbie Harry
Every woman wanted to be her, and every man wanted to be with her!
Yup. works for me.

Yes Megan you're right with your comments.

Just heard about Antony McGrath's immediate retirement, a good servant to Yorkshire over the years and hopefully he will become a member of the backroom staff. On a brighter note, Joe Root is showing what a bloody good player he is going to be for the next ten to fifteen years and Jimmy is showing what class bowling is and maybe young Broad will have a good look and get his act together.

Hope you and yours are well mate.

My head is spinning from trying to catch up on your thread Paul. Sorry you fainted. Glad you are better and test show you in fine fettle. I'm loving the seventies retrospective. The seventies had some great music, good books and some interesting movies and fashions.

Yayy Paul for your clean bill of health!

Hi Paul, I remember 8 track tapes very well and the one in particular that sticks in my mind was by Petula Clark which must have been around 1970-71 sometime around there. It seems like my future hubby and I played that one constantly.

Petula Clark - I do recall she had several TV specials when I was young but the only song of hers I remember well is 'Downtown'.

Megan - "One Love" didn't make it to number one in the UK and I don't think it is one of his stronger songs.
I remember in the UK listening to the countdown when it was Australian born DJ Alan Freeman hosting and his "pop-pickers" catchphrase has stuck with me ever since.

Paul - Thanks mate; I need to take it as a positive sign and get around the threads a bit better this week as I am stultifying a little at the moment.

John - There is a wonderful blast from the past...Pans People - can't imagine modern rock shows having such a feature more's the pity.

John/Megan - 1976-1981 Debbie Harry and Blondie were the absolute pinnacle of cool. Must say that the dear lady has not weathered that well but she still has a certain...erm...charm. Gorgeous in her prime though in a quite naughty way.

John - We will miss MacGrath especially as Johnny Bairstow and Joe Root may be occupied dishing it out to the Aussies. Gary Ballance looks a fair player and Andrew Gale is a good captain but we will certainly need a very strong overseas bat this year. I don't think Broad is a 100% fit. Saw that Stokes and Coles have been sent home from Australia in disgrace. I was hoping that Stokes could become a decent all rounder as I do feel we miss that in the side.

Roberta - You will note that I haven't said too much about the fashions - if you saw my wardrobe you would understand why!

Prue - Thanks my dear but I do think I was more surprised than my Doc! SWMBO is something of a hypochondriac so I always joke with Doctor Mariam that she has a season pass to the surgery, the Doc knows that I am quite averse to paying visits myself so it was quite a treat for her too to get to play with a different member of the family!

Did I just scan this and see the phrase "8-track tape?"

freak!!!!

I had one of those (don't tell anyone) and my brother saved & scraped and hunted all over the place until he could buy a vintage Grand Torino - it came with an 8-track player, but by that time neither of us had any tapes to see if it still worked.

Katie - lovely to see you here. Probably my happiest childhood memories are of chugging along in the back of the old man's opel manta or ford cortina and singing along to Johnny Cash and the Big O. Even today when anyone raises the subject of Mr. Cash I will mimic in my best baritone the intro to Folsom Prison Blues "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash!"

Away for 5 days, and only 15 posts behind on Paul's thread!!

oh.