A bit personal...
Back in the deep Stone Age when I was in my early teens, I had a strange series of occurrences.

I visited my sister when she was in university and living with her future husband. As they were in classes, I agreed to amuse myself sorting out junk left behind by other people who had lived in that house at one time or another. This included a load of old LPs (vinyl for you young whelps).

One of the things that they couldn't identify was an LP in a plain white sleeve, with one side unlabeled and the other saying only "Wizardo Rekords Special Recordings". On it was some of the strangest and most haunting music I had ever encountered. They gave it to me, and I listened to it again and again for ages.

During that time I went into the Adirondack Mountains with my parents as I had every weekend and holiday as long as I could remember. That album became inextricably associated with the cold and snow of the Adirondacks, along with the silence and isolation. I would go outside at night and there would only be the cold stars glittering down at me and the popping of the frozen trees and the groaning of the ice in the lake to keep me company. It was as though I were the only person for miles, alone in the frozen mountains, with the songs of that album echoing in my memory as I walked through the crunching glittering snow... the music completely suited the scene and the isolation and loneliness in a way that nothing else has come close to.

Over time I learned who the artists were who created the music, and that fueled a lifelong fascination with them. Their music still takes me into strange and remote landscapes in my mind, and that particular album invariably takes me back to skiing across the frozen swamps, the blueberry bushes and bogs and dead trees transfigured into a fantastic blue and white fairyland where I was the only inhabitant under the brittle white sunlight or the frigid blue moon...

The band was Pink Floyd. The album was a 1970 recording of the John Peel Show where they played Atom Heart Mother, Careful With That Axe Eugene and other classics.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to whoever left that bootleg album behind.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sun 31 Jan 2010, 21:01, 2 replies)

Do you still have that?
$$$ on ebay I'd imagine.

Awesome story. You got into Pink Floyd without realising who they were, and it sounds like you properly enjoyed listening to your mystery record. I've got one in my collection I bought on a whim from a local record stall for the cover art. Loved it to bits then looked up the musicians and found the lead singer of my favorite band played (second) drums on it.
(Fancy a weekend on my Raymondo Luxury Yacht?, Mon 1 Feb 2010, 0:59, closed)

I do still have it!
The only thing is that it's damaged- a former girlfriend dropped a cup on it. I have the tracks on mp3, at least.

Yeah, I had no idea who Pink Floyd was before that. There was just something about Atom Heart Mother Suite that resonated a lot with me. To this day it gives me shivers of delight.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 1 Feb 2010, 2:36, closed)