CLASSIC CORNER COVER : BACKTRACK STORY
during winter term , when you only took one course intensively and at night ...
You got high .
It was too cold to leave the dorm . At some time between nine and ten we ’ d descend to Dave McCormick ’ s room to party . I didn ’ t know Dave previously , someone clued me in . The lights would go out , the joints would pass and the records would play . We ’ d talk and listen . Music was not background back then , it was primary . And Dave played the “ Layla ” album . I can ’ t tell you how many great records I was turned on to because OTHER people owned them . I was always the man with the most , it was rare that someone had something I didn ’ t , but when they did ...
I was curious .
the great assets of an artist , that inner resonance that says something ’ s right .
Actually , not that curious to hear “ Layla .” There was no buzz . But Dave was in control . And he dropped the needle nearly every night . And the song that reached me first was “ Anyday .”
Or wrong .
So these cats sit in the studio with Tom Dowd and Albhy Galuten and they record a double album so good it still gets played today and I didn ’ t buy it . Because my budget was limited , I had to make a Sophie ’ s Choice every time I went to the record store . And if I popped for a double album , that meant I could buy even less !
It ’ s been grey in L . A . Which is rarely the case . And after being in Colorado I ’ ve been thinking about winter .
Winter is cold and snowy and miserable . If you live in the northeast .
And in the winter of 1971 I was ensconced in Middlebury , Vermont , I was going to college ,
Last night I got a hankering to hear “ Third Stone From The Sun .” It was long after midnight and I scrolled through Spotify and when I heard the mellifluous sound I was taken right back to my bedroom , in 1968 .
You see we had a lot of time .
Sure , there was a telephone in the house . But not in my bedroom . And if you think I was gonna call some girl at ten p . m . and have the whole house listen in ... you weren ’ t alive back then , you ’ ve got no idea what it was like . Music ruled , but the cutting edge was a society . You took the train to the Fillmore East to see your heroes . And you played the records ad infinitum , on headphones , the musicians were the only ones who understood you .
To the point where you knew every lick on the LP . And there were a lot of famous tracks
MARCH / APRIL DIGITAL EDITION GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER 25