Number One with a Bullet
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Artist:
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Track:Goldfinger (Instrumental)
For a variety of reasons, I've been considering a liquidation of my ridiculously extensive collection of vinyl albums. But I'm wavering because of the sentiment attached to some of the records I acquired as a kid - particularly my first. That would be the soundtrack to the spectacular James Bond movie "Goldfinger," featuring the music of renowned British film composer John Barry and a hit theme song sung by powerhouse English chanteuse Shirley Bassey.
It would be hard to let that one go. As a kid, I was thrilled by the onscreen escapades of the deadly, near indestructible Bond, a.k.a. agent 007 of Her Majesty's secret service, as long as actor Sean Connery was playing the role. And I was blown away by every bit of Barry's phenomenal score to "Goldfinger." So I went to the record store in the nearest mall and spent some of my summer-job money on the soundtrack LP. It was a great idea. Even if you listen to it today on mp3, the whole thing kicks ass.
The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards keeping at least this one album - no matter how many others I sell off. It was my first, and there's probably some mojo there.
I'll bet Scrooge McDuck would agree. Scrooge - created for Disney comic books during the late 1940s by legendary writer-artist Carl Barks - is Donald Duck's plucky, prickly, conniving, impossibly wealthy, but perpetually penny-pinching uncle. He has an enormous, jam-packed money bin situated high on a hill in Duckburg; a fortress that he's constantly defending from thieves such as the vile Beagle Boys. But the crafty old duck is most concerned about protecting his #1 dime - the first dime he ever earned, a totem of his good fortune, and a reminder of his humble beginnings and the hard work it took to amass his riches.
I wish I had Scrooge's money in real life, especially in this economy. Of course, that'll never happen. Still, I don't think it would hurt to hang on to Goldfinger. It's my #1 album, it's always a blast to listen to it, and maybe, just maybe it's brought me a little luck in my career as a music and film critic. Check out one of top tracks on the recording - the thundering instrumental version of the title song - on the MOG Player, and feel the power.
Got a first-album story to share? Do you even remember your first album? Inquiring minds want to know.
Comments (23)
Those memories have been destroyed by the ravages of a misspent youth.
My vinyl is locked up in my parents cellar hidden deep in the virginia countryside. I keep meaning to excavate it but ya know...I'd have to rent an 18 wheeler :-)
Good choice!
My first record ever bought: The 45 RPM of Baby Blue by Badfinger. (Little did I know of the tragic but fascinating story behind that great band at the time.)
First LP: Honky Chateau by Elton John.
And, yes, I still have them.
I find it hard to part with any of my music, I think of them as my kids
I also find it hard to part with any of my music, once it has proven worthy of being allowed on the shelf. I still love listening to it. My first record purchase was two 45s, "Ninety-Nine Ways" by Tab Hunter and "Let the Four Winds Blow" by Roy Brown, in 1957 when I was in the fifth grade. Those disappeared when we moved that year, but I've kept all the good stuff that came in the door since.
That lovely "Goldfinger" track shares its opening melodic fragment with the song "Moon River."
My first lp that I purchased as a 11 or 12 year old was The Carpenters' 'Close To You'. I was in LOVE w/Karen Carpenter & her voice.
I have yet to part ways w/any of my lps. Like you mine hold 'memories, like the corner of my mind. Misty watercolor memories, of the way were.'
That 'Goldfinger' track is way groovy man!
inrumford: I'll say. I'm dreading the dredging, but it looks like it may happen. I'd hate to think of it as a consequence of my misspent adulthood, but, um, er...
Fasted: Hmmm. Good taste, even back in the day. Badfinger and much of Elton's output still hold up.
Rawk: I know. I know. I don't wanna put any of 'em up for adoption, but they may find a better home.
Spike: "Goldfinger - wider than a mile/I'm thwarting you in style - today." Perfect!
August: Poor Karen. She was a talent, snuffed too early. As for the "Goldfinger" instrumental, how do ya like that big, surf-musical boss guitar twang? Mighty, mighty!
Enjoyed this post. My first albums were my mother's "Tammy" albums, since she loved to sing them about me (I went by Tammy when I was little) -- my name is Tamara. This is not the best recording, but please take the time to listen, for me, and in honor of my sweet mama, who died two years ago in March.
As for my own first record, I think it was Helen Reddy's "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady," on 45.
Well, it looks like the link won't work. Let me try something else.
When "Tammy" was on the radio in 1957, I remember reading a music critic lamenting that there weren't more examples of "real music" like it on the Top Ten.
I think it is so lovely ... enchanting and soothing. It's really a lullaby to me, but of course that is from being a tot when I heard it so much. It still relaxes me deeply.
e.p.: That's an awfully purty tune, y'all. I too have always found it soothing and refreshingly guileless. Then again, I also love the slam of Front 242's "Headhunter," so take all of this with a grain of salt.
Spike: Real music? What's the rest of this stuff? Chopped liver? And what pathetic mold-encrusted dork said that one?
I wonder the reactions will be to this one? My first album was Green Jelly's "Cereal Killer". I'm a bit embarrassed, but considering my personality, it's almost meant to be that I bought that album.
In 1964 we took a boat from Australia to Canada. In Hong Kong I bought 'The Beatles Something New'. I was annoyed because it wasn't a "proper" release (like 'Meet The' or 'With The') but it was the only Beatles album the shop had. Between boat, getting an apartment and getting furniture it was about 3 months before I heard it.
Sell the vinyl? That's a tough call. I keep thinking I should really knock mine down to a couple of hundred but I can never do it, even though I haven't played some of them in 30 -40 years and probably never will. How do you decide??
The first album i ever bought for myself was either the soundtrack to the 60s spoof Casino Royale - in mono, unfortunately - or the Off-Broadway Original Cast album from Threepenny Opera - featuring Beatrice Arthur as Lucy Brown (Bea was a Babe in them days) and Paul Dooley & John Astin.
But not Ed Asner, sadly.
fairportfan, a decade or so ago the New York Times had an article about how coveted your Casino Royale LP was by hi-fi enthusiasts because of how high its signal-to-noise ratio was. Your Threepenny Opera LP intrigues me, a Brecht-Weill fan. Do you still have it? Was it any good?
I'm not quite cultured enough to figure out your Ed Asner reference, but that's just me.
p-wagz: You can say that you weren't responsible for you actions, and no one would blame you. ;-)
Jonh: I'm torn over the vinyl, but there's so much of it taking up so much space - and (like so many today) I could use an influx of cash. The Beatles? Who?
fairportfan: All right! A Bond connection! And these days, some collectors would be thrilled at a vintage mono album. And The Threepenny Opera? So there's a Mike the Knife ("Mack the Knife") connection, too.
Spike: Like I said, the collectors might line up, checkbooks in hand. (Ed Asner? Well, I know that he lives up the block from a friend of mine, and was in all those TV shows and films. But that's about it.)
It's the stereo version of Casino Royale that's the coveted one - which is why i said mine was in mono, unfortunately.
s to Ed Asner - the original Threepenny Off-Broadway was a special "showcase" production - young performers trying to break in worked for less than scale in it, on the contractual guarantee that, if someone saw them and offered them a part in a "real" Broadway show, they could step out of Threepenny immediately. (Threepenny was one of the first really successful Off-Broadway shows, running at the Theatre de Lys in the Village for more performances than any Broadway show had, up to that time, run, and establishing the viability of the Off-Broadway concept.)
So a lot of people cycled in and out of Threepenny - Beatrice Arthur was in and out twice as Lucy Brown (the show she left to do closed fast and she came back).
The cast album has Bea Arthur, and Paul Dooley and John Astin (as Macheath's men - Astin gets to bark out "The swine!", a line that might have been created with him in mind as much as Captain Hook's "A codfish?" in Dosney's Peter Pan was written for Hans Conreid...)
Asner was in the cast for a while - i don't know how many performances - as Macheath's second father-in-law, Peachum, the King of the Beggars.
As an album, it's pretty good; Weill's jazzy score is well-served by a small, cabaret-style band, but the lyrics were somewhat bowdlerised for the album - Mike Curb was, after all, running MGM Records at the time...
(One thing that i'm sorry for - i didn't buy the 2-LP set that was, at one time, available, with an entire performance - all the dialog, as well as the songs - because i was a poor teenager whose money came from working at minimum wage ($1.25/hr) as a Western Union bicycle messenger.)
fairportfan: Mike Curb was/is the devil. (Great info. Thanks!)
Mike...... this is so you! I love that this is your first album! So much mojo, and so much telling about your future.
xx
You mean my future as a superspy with a license to thrill?
Oui! Let's combine your license to thrill and my license to shrill and form a new Martini- sipping super-team :)
You bring the olives. I'll bring the savoir-faire.