Full Circle After 47 Years

In the summer of 1968 I took a holiday job at a country hotel before returning to school to commence my A-level studies. It was a memorable time for all kinds of reasons, most of which I shan't go into here. However the weekly wage packets and frequent tips enabled me to purchase my first long playing records with my own hard earned cash (as opposed to pocket money from my parents). 

The two albums I chose to buy on one of my days off were 'Mr Fantasy' by Traffic which had been around for about six months and a brand new release by the Moody Blues called 'In Search of the Lost Chord'. I recall being impressed enough to even submit a review of the latter to my school magazine. Both were regularly on my record player over the following months and years and they remain firm favourites of mine. 

Of course the time eventually came when both records were replaced by the new shiny silver objects that we came to know as CD's. And I still have both CD's though my copy of 'Mr Fantasy' was upgraded a few years ago to an issue that contained both the UK stereo album and the US mono version. (They are different). 




I do occasionally wonder what led me to actually purchase those two albums when there was so much competition for my hard earned cash. I was familiar with the Traffic singles 'Paper Sun' and 'Hole in My Shoe' but had heard nothing from this debut album. As for the Moody Blues, I had heard 'Go Now' and 'Nights in White Satin' and that was it. I was hardly a fan. So I now wonder how much I was influenced by the distinctive cover art work of Chris Wood and John Benton Harris (Traffic) and the striking painting of Philip Travers that adorns the front cover of the Moody Blues' release. I will never know.

I only mention this because while browsing through some vinyl in a local charity shop recently I came across that very same Travers painting and despite having a personal rule that I won't buy any vinyl that I already own on CD, I was compelled to stop and examine the album more closely. It was only then that I discovered that it was an original mono pressing in surprisingly good condition considering it is now 47 years old. And the price was a snip.

I'm sure you don't need to be told that the album is now nestling among the rest of my growing vinyl collection. Forty seven years may have gone by but I am still getting a thrill out of finding and playing this stuff. Some things never change it seems.