Driving Rock...

The London Symphony Orchestra - Paint it Black

The other day I was re-arranging some vinyl, nothing as organised as finally putting it back in alphabetical order, just moving it from one place to another.
Anyway, I spotted a long forgotten album, the original London Symphony Orchestra soundtrack to Star Wars (complete with the insert and poster) that my Dad bought me back in 1977. As is usual with rooting through vinyl it brought back loads of memories of that time, and one that I hadn't thought of in probably 30 years was another London Symphony Orchestra release, the first Classic Rock compilation...

Now, I was nine years old and had discovered punk rock, so my vinyl collection was a bit erratic to say the least. ABBA, Sex Pistols, The Wombles, Buzzcocks, various Disney soundtracks, my Dad's Status Quo records I'd, erm, aquired, Blondie etc.
My Dad bought me the majority, but insisted that any punk records I wanted had to come from my pocket money, and being the 70's in the North West of England, it took quite a long time to save up for anything. Anyway, moving a little off topic here...

So that was my listening habits at home, in the car it was a different matter as it was purely lead by what tapes my Dad had bought, along with a few compilations he'd made. So it was a combination of Jazz, the Mighty Quo, The Jungle Book soundtrack, The Shadows, a bit of James Last, Sky, and what turned out to be a favourite of ours, Classic Rock (the first one released in 1977).
This was the soundtrack to a thousand car journeys on the road to Main Road to watch our beloved City play, or to away games that weren't too far to drive, on weekly visits to see family, or shopping trips to New Mills and so on.

The album had some real belters on it, Bohemian Rhapsody (cue me and my Dad doing the Wayne's World scene, decades before Wayne and his mates), Life on Mars, Whole Lotta Love, Nights in White Satin, Without You and so on. But my all time favourite from the album at the time (and to this day listening back for the first time in thirty years) was this, a truly wonderful, dark, brooding, slightly sinister, subtle then explosive version of Paint it Black.
It features instruments and sounds I'd never heard at the time, discordant, low rumbling, scratches, massive lush Henryk Gorecki(esque) swathes of strings, huge choral and brass sections... it still blows my socks off.
Play very loud.

Buy - The London Symphony Orchestra - Classic Rock [3 CD Compilation]
Visit - The London Symphony Orchestra
Visit - The London Symphony Orchestra - Classic Rock (on Wiki)
Follow - The London Symphony Orchestra - on Twitter

Simon
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