“Ever since my first rite of musical passage, it sits there with its enigma, mystery, and pretty colors…vinyl. To some, those virtues may be replaced by guilt, nostalgia. To the particularly modern and cold—completely impractical. My vinyl experience reads like an underground Disney movie.”
“What do you mean? Well let me present you a vinyl history of my life: A Love Story.
“Love at first sight” and “innocently saccharine” best describe my love of records. My first experience of playing The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” 45 over and over again at my grandparents’ house felt like it was the craziest, rock-n-roll amazing thing I could ever hear. I can’t even remember what the B-side was because I was so enamored. It was just a complete fantasy world to me, which was more interesting than pretty much anything else that had ever existed.
My parents’ record collection was fair game, a small window into their past life as not being mum and dad. They also had a really cool collection. Every Australian household for some reason had a copy of Carol King’s Tapestry and at least one ABBA album. I liked these, but not as much as Aretha Now. I always thought Aretha looked so pretty on that cover—I played that album over and over, by myself, like an insane person in my bedroom. I still love that album.
My father had allowed me to take the record player because he listened to CDs now and I would compete with his sound (usually Dire Straits at that point in his life or Mozart or Chopin) with his old record collection.
Sometimes Dad (an ex folk singer) would come down to my room and we would talk about all these old records he had that I just cherished so much. Blood on the Tracks, Before the Flood, The Freewhelin. His Dylan knowledge to this day is unsurpassed. We would listen to albums by skiffle bands and Pete Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers. It was his and my thing. While my sister and I were getting into Sonic Youth and obsessing over the Beastie Boys, that was the CD world. The vinyl though, this old world, was the coolest. To be honest, vinyl has been more lasting in my life to this day.
But let’s wrap this up nicely, yes? Like an unopened, original pressing of a reissue of the entire Factory Records catalogue only on single 7-inch. But before we do, here are some honorable mentions.
Fear of a Black Planet—original DJ pressing, no cover. Just for the industry (My friend’s, not mine. Thought about stealing it and ruining the friendship though). Made me cool as shit.
Astral Weeks—I fell in love with a lot of people with this on. Was it with people or just this album? Time tells me the latter.
David Bowie, Low—bought it for one dollar. Worth a million more. Taught me about investing in something or anything and reaping the rewards.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica—For making me feel alright about being weird.
Warpaint—I watched my friend make this from nothing til it arrived at my house in all its vinyl splendor… taught me pride and being proud of me mates, mate.
Why vinyl? I loved it when the iPod came out, it catered to my complete ADD and my love of so much music. Even to this day, you cannot really experience music in the same way as with vinyl. Sure that may sound like elitist drivel, but I highly recommend experiencing the sensation.
It IS different. Like lo and behold, reading a book or making up games instead of having them made for you. To this day at my house, if I put on record, I don’t change the song or flip through albums. I listen to the entirety, I feel more connected to the artist, my imagination starts running wild, and I get driven back to being that little kid again sitting with a stack of my grandpas 45s. It’s nice.”
—Andy Clockwise
The “Dancing World” single set is available for purchase on iTunes now. The set includes two remixes of the track and a one-of-a-kind cover of the Real McCoy’s “Another Night” featuring Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint. The “Dancing World” EP is set to be released on July 15th.
