My Life In Records

The Beatles' music has been a constant presence in my life. I remember hearing my Dad play the early mop-top-pop records when I was really young. This is the album that consistently interests me though: there are so many amazing songs on it. Happiness Is A Warm Gun is arguably John Lennon's finest moment. I remember the first time I had my heart broken (albeit on a superficial level) I lay listening to this album, staring at the album prints of John, Paul, George & Ringo that hung from the walls, thinking that nothing really mattered when music sounded this great.

I was working in a record shop around this time & I used to put this and Elliot Smith XO on the stereo whenever I got the opportunity. Neil Hannon is a fantastic songwriter and has a bit of the Noel Coward about him. I Love Woman Of The World in particular, best line "She's a fake! Sure but she's a real fake".

Listening to this era of The Beach Boys is what started getting me into recording my own music at home. I had a 4-Track & started messing around with harmonies & arrangements. I used to listen to these two albums a lot. Cabinessence is still one of my favourite pieces of music ever recorded, such a wonderful journey of a song. I gathered quite a collection of harmonicas as a result of listening to the Beach Boys, I love the deep, honking tone of the bass harmonicas Brian Wilson put to such great use.

After my first band split up I joined local band The Telescopes. We spent about a year recording material which was never to be released, but it was a very formative period musically. Stephen Lawrie has a large vinyl collection & introduced me to loads of classic albums that I'd never previously heard. We'd often stay up drinking tea, smoking & listening to records into the early hours. This one sticks in the mind as I spent the next 6 months trying to emulate the guitar style - It's a really expressive sound, the acceptable face of the solo; nonchalantly ATTACKING the guitar.

After ditching the hard rock pretensions I started listening to The Stone Roses, The Smiths & the like. I finally started a proper band with a few friends who had gone to art school. Shane Meadows was the singer in the band & I remember him listening to a lot of acoustic music. I really took to Nick Drake, such a beautiful, honest voice & incredible finger picked guitar lines. There are so many incredible songs on this album & Fruit Tree is just the most haunting epitaph for his doomed talent.

Believe it or not this album changed my life. I was quite a scholarly type pre Appetite For Destruction, but as soon as I heard Welcome To The Jungle I had to have a guitar. I bought the cheapest acoustic Argos had to offer & spent every spare minute of every day playing. I really was quite obsessed with this album for a short while, I remember watching a video of GnR live at the Ritz on a constant loop, I was so impressed by the performance. My first experience of playing in a band was thumping out GnR & Aerosmith covers in the back room of a pub in Burton-on-Trent.

The Smiths were a bit miserablist for me in my young teenage days, I struggled with Morrisey's voice but came to love it in time. I found the Housemartins much more palatable though. I liked the combination of thoughtful, darkly humorous lyrics & infectious, upbeat melodies. It's something that really appeals with the Kinks as well.

When the Breakdance films came out I got caught up in the craze and, tragically, sold most of my Who, Kinks & Jam records. I also cut my hair short & the aforementioned 'older girls' devastatingly pointed out that I now looked more like Mickey Mouse than Paul Weller. I can't specifically remember any of the records I used to listen to back then, it was mainly compilations. I remember particularly loving this Herbie Hancock tune & also Tour De France by Kraftwerk. The less said about my breakdancing the better.

After Adam Ant I turned my affections to Paul Weller. I had a similar haircut - at least as similar as my ear-hacking barber could manage - & a few of the older girls at school, who were Mods, used to fuss over me. It was a little embarrassing but I secretly loved it. Paul Weller was an angry young man, which I couldn't really relate to in my pre-pubescent years, but I could relate to the energy & the great pop songs beneath it all. This album & Sound Affects were permanently on my turntable (I had moved on from the silver cassette player). I think All Mod Cons is the most complete of all their albums, although there are, arguably, better songs elsewhere - Town Called Malice is poetry you can dance to.

This is the first album I have a clear memory of owning when I was a kid. I was slightly obsessed with Adam Ant & used to (cruelly) dress my two little brothers & my best mate up in full Ant regalia complete with make-up (stolen from my Mum's drawer of course). I had a silver Tandy tape machine & used to play all the hits as we mimed along in my bedroom - which was hung with torches as 'stage lights'.

Thankfully my brothers show no signs of emotional scarring and are probably much more balanced human beings than I. My love of the image has waned but I still regularly listen to this album in particular. Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni have written some real classics in their time.