The 70’s Best Christmas Sounds Ever

I come from the generation that remembers Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds,’ narrated by Richard Burton whose distinctive voice set the atmosphere for the tone of the album and who is still very much linked to the Jeff Wayne’s musical version of the H.G. Wells story.

We listened to Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular bells’ and (the b side at 78) was apparently the cool thing to listen to. Top of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle test were the shows to watch back then. The Old Grey Whistle test being the super cool one, I probably thought it was cool because it was on late, showcasing more serious rock bands, bands that I’d for the most part never heard of. I remember Whispering Bob Harris and Anne nightingale fronting it. My musical knowledge was seriously lacking, still is and my taste in music was as eclectic as my sense of style. Picture a gangly teenage girl in a pink tartan cheesecloth blouse (with gold threads running through it) and canary yellow parallel trousers that stopped at the calf with a pair of black doc martins. Yes,   I was the height of sophistication! 

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 I remember at some stage a radiogram in our living room. A long rectangle record/radio player that doubled as a piece of furniture and held an array of family photos that you had to remove when you wanted to play records. It was, as I remember it a big clumsy looking piece of furniture that was reminiscent of a coffin. I remember squeezing on at least 8 singles onto the spike of the record player to save having to get up and change the record too often. This didn’t always work; they often fell down in one clump stopping the enjoyment. If, you enjoyed one record well enough or couldn’t really be bothered you could leave the arm back and the record that was on would repeat and repeat and repeat, much to your parent’s annoyance. I remember most of our record players having a ten pence piece stuck to the head of the needle for weight to stop it boncing all over the place and scratching the records, which were precious, but not really looked after well.  This caused many a row between us sisters and brothers.

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Can you pick out which radiogram was similar to ours at home? Remember to think coffin!

As I remember it the music from the seventies and early eighties didn’t always make a great deal of sense but it was great fun. There was Mud, Sweet, Slade, Showaddywaddy, Queen, Pink Floyd, David Essex, David Bowie. I could go on and on.

Listening to the Christmas classics on Mtv has made me more than a little nostalgic. It has made me homesick for those days. There is a wealth of Christmas favourites from the seventies and I have reached the age were Christmas is a time of remembering the ‘good old days’ and missing people who are no longer here. When I think back it is not with an objective eye. I can’t help thinking the seventies were the best of times, though I guess these days will become for my kids the best of times. I do hope so. Though the seventies have the best Christmas songs ever….(or maybe the most)!