Today’s choice, as with the next one, and probably the one after that, would make an ex-girlfriend of mine really laugh.
We met at Uni, when I was DJ’ing and she came to ask me to play something. Yeh, I know, a totally irresponsible abuse of my power.
The record she asked me to play that night will feature soon enough; for now though, I think it’s fair to say that when we first got together our musical tastes were polar opposites; not just at completely different ends of the spectrum, but without a single cross-over point. It would have made the dullest Venn diagram ever.
It’s odd, because now, musical taste is probably the highest thing on my list of things I look for in a potential partner, if I could be bothered looking at all.
Despite this, we stayed together for seven years, and never once in that time could I bring myself to admit to her that I quite liked some of the records I owned.
She, on the other hand, being a girl and therefore much more grown-up than I was at the time, was quite happy to tell me she liked a record I did. Which is how she ended up being bought an I, Ludicrous vinyl 10″ as a Christmas present once.
Our split, when it came, was amicable. Over the next few years, we would occasionally bump into each other in pubs and bars around Cardiff. We were always civil, and I was always pleased to see her, and if she wasn’t pleased to see me too then she gave a good impression of someone who was.
I didn’t end up buying this until she was a just a dot in the rear-view mirror, a safe distance away that I had accepted she would never breeze into my bedroom again, flick through my CD collection, and hold this triumphantly aloft. Not that she would have done that anyway, she’d probably have just said: “Luther Vandross…?” *knowing look* “I see…”
So, anyway, this is bloody great:
Luther Vandross – Never Too Much
More soon.
Footnote 1: If ever you are compiling a playlist, and feel the urge to include the above tune, can I recommend you pop this tune in next to it? They sound just perfect sitting next to each other.
The Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford – Street Life
Footnote 2: I’ve always considered this to be a record by Randy Crawford, but in researching this post – yes, I know, it’s staggering, but I do occasionally do research – I can’t find anything to suggest that Miss Randy Crawford ever released this as a single, she *just* features on The Crusaders tracks, and as far as I can glean even they didn’t have the courtesy to credit her.
I’m open to correction on this point, of course.
More soon.
A History of Dubious Taste 