Tracks of our Years – A BOOK of a MUSICAL JOURNEY

Posted byNeal Atherton French Travel Book WriterPosted inBooks, Folk Rock, French Travel, Music, records, Songwriters, vinyl, vinylrecordsTags:, ,
Vinyl record albums stacked together in front of a vinyl disc for a book cover

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My retrospective ‘review’ of 22 vinyl albums with the added colour of the amazing concerts I saw

I put these into the context of life of the times – for me this was Northern England at a time of social unrest and change

These albums were the soundtrack to my heading into adulthood

They meant a lot at the time and writing this I find they still do

Please enjoy remembering how these artists shaped our lives

My reason for starting this journey through my past, to paraphrase Neil Young, was my father’s vinyl collection.

My father died recently, and he left a vast collection of vinyl including 78’s which I suppose are technically shellac.

His CD collection was even more extensive, but the vinyl fascinated me.

Although his taste in music was not passed on to me I found an album in his collection – long thought lost – it belonged to my grandma.

It was this that started my love of music.

Please enjoy this new book and revisit our past or discover some of the finest music for the first time.

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Joni Mitchell – Blue
Joni’s classic and most personal album from 1971 – it took some time for me to understand this album but I got there – in my top 3 of all time.		Emmylou Harris – Pieces of the Sky
The only album I bought without hearing the artist at all. Emmylou had just come from the pain of Gram Parsons death to produce this wonderful album in 1974 – one of my favourite artists.
Neil Young – Time Fades Away
A stunning live album that Neil Young hates but is one of the most powerful recordings of a rock concert – Young in manic form as he test his audience and his band to the limit in this 1973 release that he buried on CD for decades.
Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
If new to Springsteen start here – he is on peak form with this 1978 album as he comes out from the legal difficulties that stalled his career – near perfect album from the ‘Boss’.

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young girl fills water jug from a stone fountain unter shady trees in village in Provence

Published by Neal Atherton French Travel Book Writer

My passion is writing about travel and particularly French travel. I have traveled extensively in France and wine and food has always featured on my travels and now in my books. My friends always await our return from France with the latest new finds from the vineyards and I was more than happy to keep sampling. I am from Lancashire in the north of England but have now relocated to Somerset (nearer to France) and able to enjoy devoting my time to writing and new discoveries. France came late to me as a destination, in fact so conservative was my travel upbringing that it was a long time before I even ventured to Cornwall. I have more than made up for the slow start and have enjoyed helping many others with their travel plans to France and especially to Paris and Provence. I have written a series of four books on France - Three are now on Amazon:THE FIRST TIME WE SAW PARIS about our first steps in French Travel, THYME FOR PROVENCE our discovery of that glorious region and the people and places we met and discovered, A DREAM OF PARIS a personal memoir of our times in Paris with friends. France has been fun, we have been burgled on our very first arrival, we discovered the best cafe that changed our travel lives on the very next day, we learnt about French wine, we escaped from the most horrendous gite, we found the best of gites, B & B's and people, we laughed and cried with dear friends in Paris, I was hosed down by a crazy owner to cool me down in Provence, our breakfast in a remote village was served by the French army, we stepped totally out of our comfort zone and discovered the best of French culture. The experiences are varied and many and please come with me as I retell the stories and my footsteps are there to follow. I am also writing about ancestry and genealogy and my first book about our incredible family story themed around war and the military is now on Amazon - A BULLET FOR LIFE. I love the English game of cricket, golf, soccer, photography, walking and cooking. Oh, and travel of course.

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