Ray Manzarek, What Was the First Album You Ever Bought?

“Hmm… I think that’s a more important question for people who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s than it is for people who grew up in the ’50s, when they were just making the transition from radio to records. I can’t remember buying hardly anything in the ’50s. I was mostly listening to the radio, not purchasing albums.

Albums didn’t really matter until you had a good stereo system, you know? Why buy the damn things unless you’ve got a good rig to play them on? So when I finally got enough money to buy a decent component stereo system, then the first records that I bought were probably jazz – jazz records by Miles and Coltrane.

But one of the first albums that I ever really listened to was an album called ‘Giants of Boogie Woogie,’ and, boy, did that influence me. It was Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith and Meade Lux Lewis playing boogie woogie, and holy cow, did this white boy ever click into that stuff. Wow. That was one of the great influences of my life – that record. That’s the one that did it for me.”

Ray Manzarek teams up with his old bandmate Robby Kreiger carry on the music of the Doors in concert at The Egg in Albany at 8pm Thursday. Other members of the band include drummer Ty Dennis and bassist Phil Chen. And although Brett Scallions is being advertised as the band’s vocalist, he has left the band, and Milijenko Matijevic (of Steelheart) has stepped up to the microphone. Tix are $35.50, $39.50 and $49.50.