Blown away by a “Landslide”

[vivfox]

Blown Away by a “Landslide”
By MYKE
November 18th, 2009
Editor’s Note: There’s nothing quite like the rush of experiencing a classic song for the first time.


It was the fall of 1977 and Jon had become one of my best buddies in college. He was a hockey fan, with a love of the sport that exceeded his own stick ability, but he seemed content just to be on the JV team. He was a wannabe jock but was just too darn smart and cerebral for most of that crowd. We had shared some classes in our first year, and I enjoyed his worldly, knowledgeable, and just damn funny demeanor. He was a voracious reader and had a well-selected rock music collection. His wit was sharp and blindingly fast, even when he got drunk. Jon intrigued me, made me laugh, and introduced me to the best of counterculture along the way. At the end of our freshman year, I drew a good number in the housing lottery and offered to bring Jon and a mutual friend in on my pick. We chose 3 singles beside each other in a better part of a newer sophomore dorm.

There was crackle from the vinyl, and the shhhh as the needle found its groove.
When we returned to campus in August of ‘77, Jon and I were neighbors and spent more time together. I had led a pretty sheltered life to that point. I liked ’70s pop acts like America, James Taylor and Fleetwood Mac. Jon introduced me to Bruce Springsteen, the Stones, Led Zeppelin and others. He’d often invite me to his room to play backgammon, and we’d hang out, listening to one of his many albums. He usually made fun of my own meager pop collection, but he did like Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, and thought she was a fox. I had bought Rumours, my first Fleetwood Mac album, early in 1977, and had gotten hooked on Stevie’s sexy voice gliding through tracks like “Gold Dust Woman.” Jon had probably heard that playing through his wall many times.

So when Jon showed up at my door one Sunday night carrying the group’s previous “white album,” I was pleased and perplexed. Pleased, because I was going to get to hear their earlier stuff. Perplexed, because I had thought Fleetwood Mac was too much “pop” for Jon to ever own. Jon was animated that night, eager for me to hear something on the album. He pulled the liner from the album cover and explained that I was going to be blown away by this track he wanted me to hear. I was curious and grew excited because he was.

Jon insisted, though, that we use headphones. He had brought his, and he must’ve had a Y-adaptor, because he plugged my headphone in along with his and told me to sit on the floor. I sat down leaning back against the side of my bed. Jon knelt across from me and laid the LP on my turntable. “Get ready,” he said, as he lifted the arm and positioned it. He told me to not talk but to just put on my headphones. I was to close my eyes… and just listen. He even flipped off the light.

So there we were, sitting on my carpeted dorm room floor, in the dark, just the light of my stereo to see by. I couldn’t imagine what Jon was expecting to show me, but I went along, closed my eyes and waited. There was crackle from the vinyl, and the shhhh as the needle found its groove. Then music, guitars gently playing, and then, Stevie’s beautiful voice. “I took my love. Took it down,” she began softly. I couldn’t make sense of all the words she was singing, but her lusty voice just cascaded over every note. The experience was almost spiritual; everything else faded away. There was just her trembly voice coming through my head. I was mesmerized. When the short three minute song ended, I couldn’t move. It was though the song had put me into some trance. Jon remained silent, and as if reading my mind, moved the tone arm back to start the track over. This went on several more times. Eventually, Jon just let the needle play into the next song, and we both sat there still, recovering. Stevie had blown us both away with her “Landslide.”

http://magazine.jamsbio.com/2009/11/...y-a-landslide/

[Spikey]

Neat, thanks for sharing, Viv.

- Spike