Week Thirty-Five Where it All Began.

It’s funny, if you live long enough and remain in a market long enough, you start to acquire legendary status. So I know many of you guys have only ever known my fat self through one or two publications. Funny, I’d love to know also if you ever saw any of my stuff in Max Power or Revs? Or Performance BMW? Or the Exchange and Mart? Telegraph, CAR, that thing that goes in the seat backs of rented Lear jets, called International High Flyer?
Any one reader has a lifespan.With better mags and sites the loyalty from readers and visitors can burn for an age like a sun. So it is with Talk Audio, although ‘˜normal’ is three years. After seven or eight years, I am just about shaking off my noob status amongst the TA elite and I know I have some precious followers, whom I cherish and whom make it worthwhile. (Yo, Submariner Man!) So for the ‘˜regular readers’ (Trans: Old Gits) I beg your forgiveness if you have read this before.
So what got me into a massive deep bass? What was the ignition point? I had, applied completely against my will, a damned fine English education. And as well as the occasional raving later-convicted pedarest, there were many vocationally-driven teachers. One such was the head of music, whose name now quite eludes me.
It was common at school, for there to be worthy things to do at lunchtime. (Had I been teaching staff, there’s no way I would have given up my lunchtimes.) But there was this talk advertised for the main school hall. ‘Noises Loud And Obscene’. The the rumour was that we were going to get played genuinely filthy rugby songs. The hall was full up. In common with many ‘˜public’ schools, us over privileged little herberts had a hall with a pipe organ in it bigger than any church for miles around. And yes we got our silly rude rugby songs but then, effectively locked in, as we were all far too polite to leave and were also genuinely interested teacher pulled all the stops out.
And I do mean literally. He sat on the funny little bench over to the side of the hall, in front of the quadruple keyboards’ console. And he reached up and pulled out every last solitary stop on both sides of the keyboard array. He then played Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, as loud as the instrument would play.
It moved me to my very core, as the purring note of the single 32 foot long biggest pipe in the organ gallery gave voice.
I was obsessed from that moment, with church organs, that particular piece of Bach and above all, deep, visceral, emotionally mangling, tactile, glorious low frequencies.
One of the most important additions to a very posh house in the days before electricity was still a HiFi for music. But in the case of WS Gilbert, of HMS Pinafore fame (et al) it was the extension of his home to add a music room. The high, was as in high up, because this domed room has a gallery for musicians at one end right up under the ceiling. The acoustics are fabulous.
And so are the acoustics in cathedrals. Huge, sepulchral delay times and stone that yields not one iota and walls that are far apart so the standing bass waves can tear your soul asunder and make you feel the presence of the almighty. The one at Sarum has deep meaning for me which I won’t bore you with here. However, tomorrow week, that is September 2, there is another of the series of church organ recitals being held at Salisbury Cathedral. It is one hour-long and begins at 7:30 in the evening. I love this so much that I want to fix up a Talk Audio Outing. I have no idea what the programme will be, or anything about the named organist but I have heard and felt the sound in that amazing place. You will be moved and in the same way that the teacher all those years ago gave his time, I will buy the first ten tickets. Three are gone, so the first seven who want to go and can get there, will be entry paid by me. Here’s the detail of the organ: link a HOME button on that page will get you to menus to see the recital times.. but September 2nd, 7.30pm for an hour, get in for seven, Salisbury Cathedral. Who’s into it?
Drive carefully, enjoy your tunes, don’t get nicked.
Adam Rayner On Line Editor!