With Noi out shopping at Arab Street I just took the opportunity to play at reasonable volume, the kind that does some justice to the music, one or two CDs which happened to include Crimso's Starless and Bible Black, one I've not listened to for quite a while. As the title track shuddered the walls (a wonderful bit of free playing, improvised at the Concertgebrouw) I was reminded of playing this same piece on my vinyl version of the album many starless moons ago, in my bedroom at Gresham Street, grooving to it over my chunky headphones. Niece Cheryl, who would then have been around five (I think this was around 1976, with me home from university) wanted to listen in, so I leant her the headphones.
Within a few seconds her face rendered evidence of genuine distress. The poor kid was terrified. It's amazing what a bit of noisy dissonance can do to the innocent.
Listening to it now the thing that frightens me is how fresh it sounds yet how long ago that all was.
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