“Growing up in the seventies, music was either on vinyl or cassette. At home, my father listened only to classical music and had an amazing collection of recordings by the likes of Archiv, Deutsche Grammophon, etc, a lot of them also in very collectible box sets.”
“Being the only one in the family who still listens to vinyl, I ended up keeping those records. Over time I find myself listening to them more and more. He had some very rare and beautiful records in his collection and being a doctor, he took great care of them.
I still find it ironic that you can listen to these records from over fifty years ago and bar a small scratch here or there are in top condition, whereas CDs from the 90s that I have are corrupted and unplayable.
My father listened to classical music, but my eldest brother who is five years older than me listened to pop and rock records by the likes of Blondie, David Bowie, Steel Pulse amongst others, there were also a few eclectic choices. One record of his that really got me was a 12″ of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five that I still have to this day.
Who knows what kind of music I would have ended up doing if, in a parallel universe, my dad and brothers had been into dodgy music. I dread to think! Instead of which—late Beethoven quartets, David Bowie’s Hunky Dory, The Stones’ Exile on Main Street certainly set me on a good musical path.
I’ve made 5 solo albums now and I’m happy to say, being a vinyl head, that all of my records have been released on vinyl. I do all the artwork for my albums myself so it’s fantastic to be able to have my own work on that scale just like the records I grew up with.
For the new album Between Dogs and Wolves we’ve made a classic gatefold sleeve with a lyric booklet and CD included in the package. With my label Beating Drum, our idea is to make the object as beautiful and desirable as possible for those few still willing to buy music in a physical form.
A friend of mine who I grew up with had a grandfather who was passionate about African music, when he passed away, my friend inherited about 200 incredible records of African music dating back to the golden age of African field recordings after the Second World War. Unlike me, my mate wasn’t really interested either in vinyl or in African music so we agreed to swap one of my paintings for the collection.
Without even going into the quality of the music and the recordings on these records, in aesthetic terms, these are some of the most beautifully put together vinyl design objects I’ve ever come across. With my label Beating Drum we definitely try and push the boat out too in terms of the kind of objects we produce around music and these records are a big inspiration for me…”
—Piers Faccini
Piers Faccini’s Between Dogs and Wolves is released on September 10 via Six Degrees Records.
