Name: Fil
Email: mr.qwerty@bigfoot.com
Location: Fylde Coast, England
 
1. The Monkees The Monkees
2. More of The Monkees
3. Abbey Road The Beatles
4. One Led Zeppelin
5. Bayou Country Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Nice Enough To Eat Various
Hounorable mention: Jungle Book - OST

Comments:

These weren't actually the first 6 albums I bought, as four of them were bought for me at my request. So, not only do I reckon they count, I still have them, and stand by them all!

The Monkees - The Monkees
Back in Infants school (for 5-7 yr olds), of course I was aware of the Beatles, we all were, who couldn't be? We were living through the greatest upheval in popular culture ever and it even touched little kids. However, it wasn't until the Monkees came along, that a pop group had been created specifically for my age group. The TV shows were first aired in the UK in December 1966, and by January the following year, I'm A Believer, was No 1 in the charts - I was hooked!

Through 1967 I got a couple of Monkees singles and for Christmas of that year I actually got my first long player - wow!  What I still love about this album is it retains that 'toy' quality I loved back then. These days, I have to skip the Davy Jones tracks, but Mickey Doelnz on Saturday's Child, Take A Giant Step and Clarksville are pure pop manna. The Nesmith tracks are just wild - how did he ever get these tracks on their first album before the Don Kirshner escapade beats me?

More of - The Monkees
And for my next birthday, I got the second album. On reflection, a little weaker. Too much cutesy Davy stuff, but it does have the killer I'm A Believer, She and the definative version of Steppin' Stone. Nesmith's wonderful Mary Mary (already recorded by the Butterfield Blues Band) and the mature Sometime In The Morning.

Of the bonus tracks on both albums reissue, Goffin and King's I Don't Think You Know Me Is worth the price of admission alone.

Abbey Road - The Beatles
By Christmas 1969 I actually received a Christmas present of a contemporary album, rather than being several months behind, like with the Monkees. I remember loving this album to bits, and still do - as their last statement to the world in their lifetime - it's perfect. My orginal copy used to jump on Maxwell's Silver Hammer - only recently have I heard the full song as it was intended by virtue of the CD copy I have now. I Want You, She's So Heavy still shocks - grunge pop decades before it was redefined by Nirvana.

Led Zeppelin I - Led Zeppelin
In 1970, and now at the Big School, the hip older kids were listening to Led Zeppelin - for my birthday in that year I had to find out what all the fuss was about. When I asked for this album, I'd never heard a single track - Led Zeppelin, were not played on Britsh radio and didn't release singles. When the needle touched down for the first time, my heart sank, it was nothing like the Beatles or the Monkees - or the hundreds of commercial pop records I'd heard up to that point. it was a loud dirge - what had I done...

More to follow .....

More of The Monkees The Monkees

CD Bonus Tracks:
Don't Listen To Linda
I'll Spend My Life With You
I Don't Think You Know Me
Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
I'm A Believer
(Previously Unissued Early or Alternate Versions)

Nice Enough To Eat Various (1969)

1. Cajun Woman Fairport Convention
2. At The Crossroads Mott The Hoople
3. Better By You, Better Than Me
Spooky Tooth
4. We Used To Know Jethro Tull
5. Woman Free
6. I Keep Singing That Same Old Song
Heavy Jelly
7. Sing Me A Song That I Know
Blodwyn Pig
8. Forty Thousand Headmen Traffic
9. Time Has Told Me Nick Drake
10. 21st Century Schizoid Man
King Crimson
11. Gungamai Quintessence
12. Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal
Dr Strangely Strange