Billy Idol, Rebel Yell (1983)
Well the title track’s in advertising purgatory now – thanks Rebel Sports! – but I can still listen to this album – only now and then of course. In that way that we do with old records; putting them on and thumbing about with the cover, searching for clues of the life we had back when the album was released. Billy Idol was a big-time hero for me for a short period of time; I was young. A kid. Very young. But his songs were on the radio and they sounded great – good fun, even the slightly darker fare like Flesh For Fantasy. But Catch My Fall is a great pop song – still. And Eyes Without A Face – magic. Good memories of this album, my extended family at a different time – a few different members too; some gone now because of death, others due to divorce. Summer BBQs, egg-fights, sand between the toes and stuck to the calves like a strange, gritty mud steak to pick at and pick off. And Billy on the turntable and all the kids just stoked to be up (slightly) late. The adults enjoying quart-bottles of booze and crying “more, more, more…” (My copy has a giant ‘W’ written on it in black felt-pen; that tells me it used to belong to someone else in the extended family).

Sample Track: (Do Not) Stand In The Shadows

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown