I suppose it made me feel pretty posh at the time, even though it was definitely the 'in thing' to have. My parents had just recently purchased SKY TV. It was, however, the incident in 1995 that would change things forever. We would always be discovered in some hidden corner of the schoolyard with a group around us singing Hey Jude or Eight Days A Week. At that time in life, coming towards the end of Primary School, a guy called Alan Price and myself often got into trouble for failing to return to lessons on time. At the age of ten, I had a party to celebrate my birthday mainly so that I could show off my brand new Alba turntable, and my still immaculate copy of the Beatles' Blue Album on double vinyl LP. At the age of five I won a dance competition impersonating Michael Jackson at a local social club. Admittedly, I'd always been a kid that had leaned towards music. The year was 1995, and I was thirteen years old. I was just your average kid living an average life in an average Secondary School, just like everybody else, when this record came along to, seemingly, sing my whole life back to me. I had no idea this was going to happen to me. The power to stabilise your emotions, invade your soul, take a firm grip of your heart and mind. It has been there for me at the lowest ebb, and still been there during the greatest highs. Put me in the mood before a big night out. Quite frankly, it is a record that has saved me. In fact, it has taken me fifteen years to even consider writing about it. It is impossible for me to explain the importance and influence of Paul Weller's seminal album Stanley Road on my own life.

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