Guest Editor Week: Musical Memories by E F Rice

I'd like to say a big thank you to my very good friend E F Rice. I asked him if he'd consider writing an article for the blog sometime, and true to his work he has come up with the goods. E F Is one of a handful of very close mates who have been together through thin n thinner! Clubbin, pubbin, Gigs, football, cinema, we've done it all together over the years. These days it's usually a meet up in the local, and even after 20+ years, the conversation rarely strays beyond music, football and films! Just how I like it! Last Christmas the boys got together for their yearly Christmas piss-up, and were given a task... come armed with your all time top 5 albums, top 5 debut albums, top 5 songs and most disappointing album. Being a typical bloke, I can't tell you how agonising this was! It pretty much ruined my fucking Christmas worrying about it!! It was a great night, with a few surprises along the way (and a few guilty pleasures announced). E F Came up with some curve balls we weren't expecting, so I am very pleased he is explaining a couple of them again here. He did on the night of course, but it was several pints in.... So here he is, making a very good case that he really should start work on that empty blog of his! over to you E F:


When Piley approached me to contribute to his blog a few weeks back I was truly honoured. Being a parent myself I knew how pushed for time and energy he would be (and Julie of course!) and seeing as I hadn’t quite plucked up the courage to contribute anything to my blog site, this felt a great opportunity to cut my teeth. However, Piley’s blog is an excellent read and I feel under a lot of pressure as I type this (no way can I beat the Sputnik entry!).

The piece below has just come to me on the trudge home from work tonight, inspired by another s*** day in an organisation that can p*** 25 million people off at the click of a CD drive. It is about one of the main sources of enjoyment I gain from music, which is the memories and emotions I attach to certain tracks when I hear or play them. This is a top 5 below, there are plenty more but these seem to be the most prominent in my mind and I would hate you to lose the will to live.

1. Roxy Music ‘Angel Eyes’
I amazed my friends when I cited this as one of my top 5 tunes of all time last year, due to my heavy shoegazing tastes. This track brings me back to the late 70s and brother (aka Jack Gestures). We shared a room at home at the time and he rolled in one night and woke me to tell me about this fantastic film called ‘Alien’. Anyone who knows my brother will tell you that when he explains something he doesn’t do it by halves and you get a comprehensive account. You will also here the same story repeated many times in a short space of time, but that is a different topic.

So Jack tells me all the gory details of this Alien film, and promptly gets into bed and falls asleep. There lies me at 9 years old cacking myself that a little Alien will either a : erupt from my stomach or b: scuttle around our room! Roxy Music were on the Radio a lot at the time and my Mum played this track regularly on her cassette player in the kitchen. Everytime I hear the intro I s*** myself! I do think it a fine record by the way and I have lots of Roxy Music stuff.

2. David Bowie ‘Ashes to Ashes’
1981, St Thomas More High School for Boys, 11 years old, shy, tubby, stupid haircut, yep the start of secondary school and I hated every minute of it. This track got a lot of air play at the time and it is a classic for many. For me it brings back those horrid memories of the early days, older kids trying to destroy your brand new uniform, trying to make new friends, harder work and disgusting school dinners. I got through the next 5 years by enjoying English, History and Geography and grinning and bearing the rest. Ashes to Ashes always brings me right back to the school playground though.

3. Pulp ‘Sunrise’

I’m not a Pulp fan as such although there are bits and pieces which I think are master pieces. This track is fantastic for two reasons, namely the fantastic guitaring and secondly it is the first track I heard on XFM after I learnt I was going to be a Dad! My beautiful daughter Ellie was born 9 months later and there are now a whole host of records I associate with her five years of life so far.

4. Stone Roses ‘I am the Resurrection’
A fantastic track off a fantastic album, yet for 5 years after December 1989 I could not bring myself to play this track or virtually anything from the album. This album, which I loved so much, coincided with the loss of someone very close to me. It sounds pathetic saying it now but I could not contemplate playing it. As time grows and you get older my personal experience is the best way to cope with a bereavement is to remember and celebrate that persons life. As a result from about ’96 onwards this track and album were firmly back on the menu, and I smile everytime I hear it !

5. Jive Bunny medley type thing !
This one reminds me of Piley! I used to work with Mr P and during one particularly drunken Christmas party, Piley announced to me he was off home cos he was drunk and wanted to get a bus, he then left into the cold night. The following morning he arrived at work late and very distressed. It turned out the 'falling asleep on the last train home from London' syndrome, also applies to buses! Piley ended up on Canvey Island and if that wasn’t bad enough, he fell asleep on the return journey as well. Anyone who knows where Piley used to live will appreciate Canvey is a fair distance on from where he should have got off.

Anyhow, this Jive bunny stuff was kicking around the charts at the time, and I remarked to Piley how I would love to put his journey home to music and Jive Bunny would be my choice! I have no idea why I thought that was funny but as a result I’m sorry to say Piley, Jive Bunny reminds me of you!

I hope you have enjoyed this article. Cheers Piley!

E F Rice