My First

I Can’t remember the first album I owned, but I would have probably been about 13 when I bought the one that had the greatest significance in terms of later life.

It was The Beatles – 20 Greatest Hits and I think I bought it from WH Smith in Newcastle. At the time, I was too young to appreciate the implications of John Lennon’s death, but obviously a lot of Beatles music was being played again around that time, and the Beatles films were also being shown on the television.

This was the first album I went out and bought on my own, and I think it was being advertised on television, which is why I went to get hold of a copy for myself.

The 20 tracks on it ran from Love Me Do all the way through to The Ballad Of John And Yoko at the end, so it covered all the periods of their career.

From then on, I was a big fan of Beatles music, and I would buy everything I could.

My parents weren’t into the Beatles, so we never really played them in the house. But what struck me about listening to this album was that it was the first time I actually listened to lyrics as well as the music.

I think A Hard Day’s Night was my favourite track from the album. It’s just one of those songs that puts a smile on your face as soon as you play it.

I still have the album – on vinyl – and I think their body of work from the 1960s has not been matched by any other band since.

From the Beatles, I moved on to The Smiths and Echo And The Bunnymen in the 1980s. A lot of those bands, if not influenced by the Beatles, were massive fans.

Asked to choose between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, it has got to be the Beatles. While The Stones have made some great albums, some of them have featured some dodgy tracks in their later years.

Do you remember your first record? Maybe you have happy memories of your first day at work, or school, or your first pint? Write to Colette Warbrook, remembering to include your address and telephone number, at Features Desk, The Sentinel, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke- on-Trent, ST1 5SS. Alternatively, email colette.warbrook@thesentinel.co.uk

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