I Join The Path.

The first album I ever chose for myself was Suzi Quatro's Can the Can. I was about ten, and I asked Dad to buy it for me for Christmas. He was a little concerned, as the men on the cover looked a bit "rough", but he bought it, and I loved it and played it a lot. I still do. It had fantastic songs, a great sound and it rocked. I thought Suzi was the greatest. I even had a Suzi poster on my bedroom wall. I wish I still had it, as it's quite rare now.

A year later I was lucky enough to score two albums for Christmas. I had really liked The Night Chicago Died and Billy Don't be a Hero, and so my parents bought Paper Lace And Other Bits of Material for me. My mum quite liked it - she even told me that it was better than she thought it would be. Not knowing who they were, she was probably basing her ideas on what it would sound like on the Suzi album from the year before. 

Unfortunately, Paper Lace hasn't aged too well. Many of the songs were dated even then, although at the time I thought it was really good.  Forgive me. I was 11 years old.

The other album I received was a compilation, Explosive Hits '74. It is a fantastic snapshot of the Australian music scene from that year. It's amazing how many music fans still consider it to be a great album.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, at a school fete, I bought a Simon and Garfunkel compilation. It cost me 10 cents or so. I had no idea who they were, but I liked the cover. I played that album a lot. I remember listening to I am a Rock, and thinking how deep the lyrics were. As an adult, I am amazed at about the age of ten I understood its meaning so well. 

And then a year or two later, an older friend lent me Rolled Gold. I was a Beatles fan, he was a Stones fan. I played the album a lot, preferring the later sides. He asked me what I thought of side one. I told him I didn't like it as much as the later, more poppy stuff as the production sounded "dirty".  He told me it was meant to be like that. It took a while, but over the next few years I really got into the Stones as well.

There were singles in between, one or two other albums, but in my mind, apart from the Beatles, Can the Can, Explosive Hits '74, Simon & Garfunkel and Rolled Gold put me on the path to where I am now, musically. 

And I still listen to these four albums.