The moment I discovered City Boy

[Laurelei]

I've shot a lot of film over the years, and I have tens of thousands of photographs lurking about in file boxes. Since I'm unemployed at the moment, I have the time to finally tackle the massive job of organizing them.

When I took a high school film class in 1976, one of my first assignments was to take candid pictures of people doing their jobs. I shot a couple of rolls of a disk jockey I knew while he was on the air.

As I was leaving, I stopped by the Program Director's office to say goodbye and thanks. He and the Music Director were sorting new releases. Helen, the MD, gave me a stack of records to take home. Oh boy, free albums! I was thrilled. If I remember correctly, there was some Leonard Cohen, David Laflamme, Ian Matthews, and a few others, but tucked in among them was an advance copy of Dinner At The Ritz by some little band or other I had never heard of.

I didn't remember that I had taken a picture of them that night, but look what I came across today. There she is, grabbing a stack of albums for me. Probably doesn't mean much to anyone but me, but I thought it was so cool to have frozen in time a picture of the moment I discovered this incredible band.

Jo

[Robin_Shadowes]

They say the best things in life are free and it sometimes turns out to be true even. I can only congratulate you for getting one of the milestones in modern music for free and by pure chance and capturing the moment as well.

[PerG]

Absolutely fantastic!

[[email protected]]

Very nice, Jo Ann! Thanks for sharing!

[cockatootoo]

very cool story! I'm willing to bet that each of us (especially in the states) as a similar happenstance sort of way of finding City Boy, but to have it on film too - amazing!

matt

[Robin_Shadowes]

First time I heard City Boy was on radio because I taped Hap-Ki-Do Kid and Sunset Boulevard and liked both tracks and wanted more. So some time later I bought the s/t-album which was the only album out at that time.

[mrshoes]

a few of you know mine,that was when they used the hi-fi shop in birmingham where i worked in 1976,they or chris dunn was more of a mate of my manager,but when they had copies of the debut album,we put it on a record player in the shop,carefully dropping the needle onto the vinyl and just sat there spellbound by this great album.i should add, that even if i had not had any contact with them i would still have loved this album and everything else they put there name too.no replacing class,you know when you hear it !!.from then on i guess just being amazed as they grew as a band and each album matured and surprised,the success that came,seeing them on top of the pops,saying,i know him !!!! wow,then the frustration of why is this band not global when there is far more inferior music around,but as i found out from experience the music biz dosn,t work like that.the nastiest, evilist place to inhabite is the music biz where luck and good timing can propel you to stardom even if you are awful,and so many great bands and artists just dont get the breaks.It is a reccuring theme sometimes in a few posts i have done because it bugs me beyond words the injustice of it all.Many years ago i was in a london office of a record company after being invited to come sign a publishing deal for some songs i had written {dont ask,you wont have heard them],during this meeting ;the MAN, had a sack of demo tapes that had been sent to him.As we spoke he continually fed a tape machine on his desk as we spoke and did this deal.the majority from what i saw were well presented with pro artwork and package,each tape got no more than 10 seconds then were thrown in a big bin.I sent hundreds of these things off myself truly believing it was that good i would be a great songwriter,but hey you get 10 seconds !!! 5705 is a classic example of putting the hook first before anything,now i know they had a deal by then and some albums; but that is how i was told to do a song demo,put the hook first,grab the attention,they can always rearrange it later.is this a modern love affair !! another example,hhmmm, i wonder if this trick stuck with them even though they were now signed up.
Geoff

[boydie]

I lived in Plymouth and the first Virgin Record store outside of London opened in 1973/4. It was run by a husband and wife team - a couple of Brummie hippies called John and Lel who were mad Little Feat fans but also used to play the first City Boy album loads on the shop stereo - I got hooked. cos I used to hang out there on Saturdays. They knew the City Boy guys too apparently. Then CB played live in Plymouth a couple of times and when you saw them live in the early days you just realised what an amazing band they were - really tight - great interplay between Lol and Steve and a great guitarist in Mike. 5000 years/Don't know Can't Tell was a live highlight along with Momma's Boy - and of course Street Corner Love!

Still addicted to 'em after all these years.

[Germain]

Jo,

I remember that day well. I was very jealous. You came home with your bonanza and it was the start of something beautiful. I had long forgotten all of the other stuff you got besides DATR, but you have jogged my memory. Ian Matthews-All American Alien Boy (or was that Ian Hunter? You had them both.) David LaFlamme- something about a bird in the title,wasn't there?
Jo,was that Ed Sciacky or Alex DeMeers in that photo? (yes,I know that I probably butchered the spellings of their last names.) You are an incredible treasure trove of past and future memories. The stuff you dig up-old photos,concert info,youtube videos,Ebay sales are just so very cool!
Thanks for posting that blast from the past.

Roz

[Robin_Shadowes]

AAAB is with Ian Hunter.

[Laurelei]

Roz, that's Alex. You have a good memory; White Bird is the Laflamme album you're thinking of. But I think after that one you're mixing up your album "bonanzas". The Ians...Hunter and Matthews...both came from Steve. He surprised me with a bunch of albums when I got my first stereo. He was a good man, Steve was.

Oh, and got to give you credit where it's due. I wasn't the one who first put DATR on the turntable, that was you. You called me in and said that I HAD TO HEAR THIS! What was it, Walk On The Water, I think, or was it Mama's Boy? Owe you one, little sister.

Jo

[Laurelei]

Just thinking of this day today. Feeling kind of wistful about younger days and times