Bruce: My earliest recollection is with my parents and brothers in town (Glasgow) buying The Beatles, a Hard Days Night single from Lewis\’s, a big, now long gone department store. This would be mid sixties, with me aged 5 or 6. I remember it because some geezer broke into the car, which was parked in Queen Street, and had a big polis man standing next to it on our (rather sad) return.
My first album was courtesy of a £1 record voucher I won playing snooker! The shop was Virgin, in Argyle Street Glasgow, and on entering the emporium I remember the tropical smoke, wafting around the store, the hippie guys with long hair lounging on bean bags, I was scared.
\”What can I get for this Mister\”?, as I handed up my wee voucher.
The guy kindly pointed me to the Who budget backtrack series on Track Records and I had early Who material. Back home setting up the dining room chairs and bashing the hell out of them with a pair of regal Tip E\’s. Not cigarettes, drum sticks.
It would be 1972, or so, I was hooked, onto the Alice Cooper album School\’s Out, with the cover made up like a desk.
Then later the real joy of discovering Deep Purple and Ian Paice through In Rock, Machine Head, Made in Japan, wonderful; a life long influence and musical joy.
There is nothing like having a solid 12\” of 180g vinyl in your hands!!