Open Books...

Most people are somewhat guarded when meeting somebody for the first time. I on the other hand, am extremely open. Within an hour of meeting me, most people know a great deal about my life. A friend once asked me why I divulge so much information about myself so quickly, to which I replied, “If a person knows everything there is to know about me, good or bad, they can’t go away and create a person they would like me to be and then be disappointed!” “Nor can they gossip about me!” My friend thought that was a fair enough comment, but decided that he never had, nor ever would be an open book. Being an open book saves a lot of time. People can decide pretty quickly if they like me or not and that way, we don’t waste each other’s time! Unfortunately, most people I’ve met during my life, in complete contrast have been a very closed book. Once I’ve managed to prize it open, there are a lot of pages to turn, which takes a great deal of time, studying and patience, only to get to a point where I’ve read a page that I don’t like at all, then another and another… well, by this time, I’ve usually closed the book, put it back on the shelf and let some other poor, unsuspecting individual read the 300 pages, skip the final 100 pages of inevitable disappointment and move on, just like I did!

Kraftwerk

I can hardly remember a day, when I didn’t listen to, watch, read or think about, Kraftwerk.  I was just 9 years old when they first came to my attention, with that thrilling car journey, Autobahn.  You see, I had a pretty cool Dad, who loved music that other kid’s parents would have been scared of!  After hearing the Autobahn single, he went straight out and bought the Autobahn album, and we cranked the volume up to 11 and sat in stunned silence, hardly able to believe the sounds that our ears were absorbing.  I mean, there had been Pink Floyd, Yes, Electric Prunes, and we thought they were pretty awesome, but compared to the sounds, that were now shaking our walls, they paled into insignificance!   My parents split up when I was about 12 and Dad bought me my very own copy of the Autobahn album to take with me, along with a copy of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.  I still have them in my collection. They remind me of the moment my journey into music and synthesisers began.
A couple of years later, my parents were back together and I remember my Dad running downstairs with his radio, shouting for us to come and listen!  It was Trans Europe Express and we were so excited!  I had to wait a couple of years to hear TEE again, until one Christmas (1978 I think) Mum and Dad brought me all the Kraftwerk albums to date!  That was a fabulous Christmas Day!  Then at New Year, we went to a party at a relative’s house and my Uncle gave me his copy of the first Kraftwerk double album, with which I was thrilled!
Moving on a couple of years to my mid teens, electronic music really took off, with new bands like Tubeway Army, followed by Human League, John Foxx, OMD to name but a few.  I started working at age 16 and with my wages, I saved up and brought an ARP Odyssey synthesiser which was soon followed by a 4 track reel-to-reel tape recorder a drum machine and some effects.  My parents hardly saw me, as I would get home from work and spend all my time in my bedroom, creating sounds!
     Then after Kraftwerk released Computer World, I was fortunate to be able to see one of  their coinciding concerts at Hammersmith Odeon, London in July 1981.  It really was the most thrilling experience to finally be there watching my childhood heroes! They blew me away with the music, that I had heard for the first time 8 years earlier.  Now, I was even more stunned than I was then!  On that July night, I became a Kraftwerk Clone!  I wore my hair the same, donned a red shirt and one of my Dad’s black ties, which he only wore for funerals! I regretted not having grey trousers, but my black PVC ones, looked great! (Well, I had the figure way back then!) I set the look off by taking apart a calculator and wearing bits of it about my person, and the final touch was a 3.5mm jack plug that I wore as an earring!  (My first home made jewellery! Little did I know that years later it would become an all consuming hobby!)
Recently, someone did me a great kindness and sent me a copy of that concert on CD and it was a sentimental experience to hear it.  Brought me to tears, as I long to have those precious moments back again.
     So back to my own musical adventure…Eventually, when I was about 18, some friends and I got together and we started playing at the local youth centre, (badly!)  but strangely, music wasn’t about to take me down the path that I expected, I became a singer with an Indie guitar based band, very far removed from the electronic style that I usually listened to and played.   So, I spent my early twenties, in a band called Lost Language.  We gigged in and around Bucks, Northants and Beds, and were getting a positive response to my vocals from record companies that we sent demos to.  They didn’t like the rest of the music, though and I was far too loyal to my musical chums to go ahead without them!  Eventually, we all grew up, got proper jobs and had less and less time to play music.  After I moved to Cornwall at the age of 26, my musical adventures ended, though I still listened to and created my own sounds and ideas.  I did get one more gig at a local theatre when a friend suggested we do some Kate Bush songs.  I got a standing ovation for that, so it all ended on a positive note at least!
Kraftwerk’s most recent release, the Minimum Maximum live tour, on CD and DVD, is a wonderful addition to anybody’s collection.  Kraftwerk are at their best ever and these 4 guys, who are now approaching their 60s, have matured well, not unlike the fine German wine in my refridgerator, very cool and for the more discerning taste.