When I was about 12 or 13 I was going to school in Lower Hutt by bus. It was a long trip - including the walk to the bus stop to and from home it took about an hour an half depending on traffic. However it always seemed to be the highlight of the day, catching up with friends from other schools I made on the bus. There were a few of us from Wainui and after school we would frequently decide to the lengthen the trip home and walk to the rather optimistically titled Transportation Centre. Really just a small bus stop!
We did not do that every day - but we did it most Thursdays. One of the reasons we did this was to collect the pamphlet that 2ZM would put out each week showing the top 20 songs. It always seemed a big deal as we would have the jump on the official countdown on later that night. At that stage the top DJs on ZM were the then irreverent Paul Holmes and Lloyd Scott. I kept those pamphlets for years and they probably eventually disappeared in the fire.
The pamphlet always advertised one or two albums. One that they seemed intent on pushing was Freddie King's Getting Ready and it seemed it was on the pamphlet for about a year. I always liked that cover. I still do not own that album itself (which I will rectify some day) but I do have most of the songs collected over a few compilation CDs.
I have both King of The Blues and The Best of The Shelter Years and they are both excellent. The former being a double CD covering his entire career and the latter covering the last 3 lps he made with Shelter records.
I have a few Clapton CDs with different bands and while he has never been shy of touting his influences and he does cite King as a key influence. When you hear King's Walking By Myself you really get the picture of how much King really influenced Clapton. On that song it is not just the guitar but the vocals that if it was not for the passion in both the singing and the guitar work you would swear it was indeed Clapton.
Other standout tracks are I'd rather be blind, Going Down, Woman Across The River and I'm Ready. Then of course there is his version of Key to the Highway.
There are of course two other Kings of the Blues, BB King and Albert King. I have albums by both of them but to me the King of the Blues is always Freddie. If you have not heard him check him out. I suspect you will find it hard to back to Clapton afterwards.
We did not do that every day - but we did it most Thursdays. One of the reasons we did this was to collect the pamphlet that 2ZM would put out each week showing the top 20 songs. It always seemed a big deal as we would have the jump on the official countdown on later that night. At that stage the top DJs on ZM were the then irreverent Paul Holmes and Lloyd Scott. I kept those pamphlets for years and they probably eventually disappeared in the fire.
The pamphlet always advertised one or two albums. One that they seemed intent on pushing was Freddie King's Getting Ready and it seemed it was on the pamphlet for about a year. I always liked that cover. I still do not own that album itself (which I will rectify some day) but I do have most of the songs collected over a few compilation CDs.I have both King of The Blues and The Best of The Shelter Years and they are both excellent. The former being a double CD covering his entire career and the latter covering the last 3 lps he made with Shelter records.
I have a few Clapton CDs with different bands and while he has never been shy of touting his influences and he does cite King as a key influence. When you hear King's Walking By Myself you really get the picture of how much King really influenced Clapton. On that song it is not just the guitar but the vocals that if it was not for the passion in both the singing and the guitar work you would swear it was indeed Clapton.Other standout tracks are I'd rather be blind, Going Down, Woman Across The River and I'm Ready. Then of course there is his version of Key to the Highway.
There are of course two other Kings of the Blues, BB King and Albert King. I have albums by both of them but to me the King of the Blues is always Freddie. If you have not heard him check him out. I suspect you will find it hard to back to Clapton afterwards.
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