“I suppose my love of vinyl started at a young age, maybe around 3 or 4.”
“I remember my father revealing mystical, UFO shaped frisbees from card sleeves, and then carefully landing the crafts onto a merry go-round, placing the probe, crackle, pop then boom… magic. I was instantly transported somewhere else, be it the wondrous soundscapes crafted by Pink Floyd or the tales of the past recounted by the galloping harmonised guitars of Iron Maiden. My mum likes to remind me of the time I climbed up and turned the stereo up to full blast, hit play, then jumped out of my skin. I like to imagine it was like the opening guitar scene from Back to the Future. I doubt it was that cool.
At the age of around 6 I was exposed to Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds. Whilst I loved it on first listen, I was kept awake at night by the images of huge space ships engulfing the world with red weed. I like to think that if you are able to remember the first time you ever heard a particular record, then it holds a special place in your heart. Vinyl for me somehow captures a humanistic sound quality that CD and digital files don’t. To me the perfection of vinyl lays somewhere between the weathered and worn, with every scratch telling a story.
I love to explore boutique, collectors, and charity shops for second-hand vinyl—flicking for hours until you find that one piece of gold. You can usually tell if there is gold in a box of hand-me-downs by the first 3 or 4 flicks. There is a lot of Barbra Streisand, Val Doonican, and Beethoven out there. Whilst all great artists, you can only own so many copies of Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits.
For new records, Portsmouth has a shop called Pie and Vinyl which serves the most amazing pies and the most kick ass records. I have stood waiting in the freezing cold for hours on Record Store Day. I’ve not always been lucky, but that’s the nature of the beast.
If I had to pick my top 5 “modern” and 5 “classic” records (in no particular order) from my collection it would have to be: Husky – Forever So, Kimbra – Vows, Father John Misty – Fear Fun, Anathema – A Fine Day to Exit, David Bowie – Heathen. And 5 classic records: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours, Jeff Buckley – Grace, Genesis – Invisible Touch, David Bowie – Low, The Beatles – Rubber Soul.”
—Samuel Carter-Brazier
Percival Elliott’s “Forever” is available now. The duo’s debut release arrives in stores soon.
