“The first record I owned myself was a 45. Fittingly, I got it when my father brought home a turntable somebody gave him that only played 45s. It plugged into our radio downstairs in the rec room. The spindle on it was the size of the hole in a 45.”
“While my parents considered themselves middle class, there wasn’t any money in our house for 45s, much less albums. Me being nine years old, getting my own money wasn’t on the table yet. But my father did bring home that one record with the turntable (maybe it came with the turntable), “Ticket To Ride” b/w “Yes It Is” by The Beatles.
It’s hard to remember now how scarce pop music could be in 1965. You had to suffer through 35 minutes of the Red Skelton show waiting for The Animals to come on. Shindig was only once a week. And even on my lifeline, Top 40 radio, you had to listen to a lot of music you could do without waiting for The Kinks or The Rolling Stones.
But now I had my own record and I treasured it. I played it over and over. I have the sense it was summer and I was out of school because I feel like I sat there listening to it all day. First “Ticket To Ride” and then “Yes It Is.” John Lennon’s voice, the riff, those harmonies, the volume pedal guitar part… There’s a movie in my mind of each of those songs. I have never tired of either and I don’t believe I ever will. If I hear either one now, I am back in that basement.”
—Steve Almaas
Everywhere You’ve Been, the new full length release from Steve Almaas is in stores now—on vinyl.
