Bristol-based troubadour Phil King clearly found himself reminiscing on the past as he shared this newly recorded cover of Bob Dylan’s classic Shelter from the Storm…
He adds: “I remember buying ‘Blood on the Tracks’, on CD, from my local Our Price when I was a young teenager. It has always been my favourite Dylan album, and one of my favourite albums full stop. The whole thing is wonderful but this track is extra special. Some killer lyrics here.”
Phil mentioning Our Price brought back memories – I certainly do remember Our Price and I bet many of our readers do as well. While Blood on the Tracks was released in 1974 and I was too young to have purchased it on release, my local library had a great music section which was well-stocked with traditional and contemporary folk music on vinyl. It was this music, and the associated books, that guided me through the maze of folk and jazz in those early formative years. In my late teens, when I had enough money, I also began buying albums (a fair selection of Dylan) on vinyl or cassette and I needed little excuse to jump on the train and head into central London for the huge HMV store on Oxford Street where, among the many vinyl purchases, I also got Dylan’s book ‘Writings and Drawings’. I still have it…the pages have browned but every time I pick it up it transports me back in time. Not far away was the more memorable and radical Collett’s Bookstore, which, among the leftwing books could be found some great albums you just couldn’t find anywhere else including older Transatlantic and Topic releases. It was here that I first saw a leaflet for a folk club (whose name I still can’t recall) which I ended up going to a number of times with a mate once we were old enough to have a pint. I remember being blown away by the regular fiddle player whose name I’ve never remembered, I just used to watch the regulars and then brick myself when they’d ask “does anyone have a song?”…Fond memories…
Stay safe everyone.
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