These are the requisite ten records that in some way changed my life. There could have been many more, I suppose. They are all in here for different reasons and are all real choices - this is not a retrospective “wish list” or a made-up list of “cool” records I’d like to have influenced by. I was raised in an almost all-white cultural backwater – I had no choice, my mother was there - and the majority of the musical styles I play today didn’t really reach me until after I left the place. Which is funny considering that one of the biggest Soul venues of the 70s was as good as on my doorstep…

1: The Kalin Twins “When” (Decca 7”)
First record I owned. A hand-me-down 7” single from my mother, and I used to play it when I was small. As throwaway a pop song as you like, of course - but my first record nonetheless.



2: Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” (Capitol 7”)
As far as memory will allow, this is the first song I recall meaning anything to me. I was what, 4 years old, when this came out - but I would hear it a lot on the radio while playing with my cowboys-and-indians figures and the song’s gleaming, rhinestone-studded resplendence would make the young ‘un that I was very happy indeed. Being raised on BBC Radio 2 wasn’t so bad.



3: Meat Loaf “Bat Out Of Hell” (Epic LP)
The first record I actually bought - with my own pocket money. No, it was saved-up dinner money, probably. Second-hand LP, aswell. I was about 9 or 10 and thereafter liked the idea of buying and owning records.



4: Sugarhill Gang “Rapper’s Delight” (Sugarhill 12”)
I do not care what you want to say about the history of Hip Hop, and you can lie and try to be “cooler” than you are – if you’re British, old enough to remember and you were not one of a tiny privileged handful – this is the first Rap record you heard. 1979, riding the Disco wave onto the shores of the pop charts and straight into your head. Yeah sure, looking back at it now, it’s a damned stupid record and unwittingly paved an avenue for many shallow ills of the genre, but it was a seminal piece for too many to deny. I kept a lazy eye on “Rap” (and Electro) music all the while thereafter, but only really appreciated it in the late 80s.



5:Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Searching For The Young Soul Rebels” (EMI LP)
Around the age of 10, my mates and I were pretty much all about the Ska / Mod revival stuff that had done the rounds, and this album was like a first audio-bible to me, much more so than the first Specials’ LP I think. “Searching…” is still a classic to this day, and their cover of Chuck Wood’s “Seven Days Too Long” was doubtless my first step on an uphill in-road to liking Northern Soul, even if I didn’t know back then.



6: The Misfits “Die Die My Darling” (Plan 9 12”)
Bought this truly gorgeous rare punk EP on purple vinyl for just under £45 - when I was 15 - and that was a lot of money to me then. Someone else’s money if I recall, so it was a lot of money to them, too! I paid them back eventually, and I guess this is the one record that broke the seal for me paying ten times more than manufacturers’ recommended retail price for a record and not thinking it was wrong or excessive.



7: Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti” (Swan Song LP)
The best rock album ever, for sure – and one of the best albums ever, full stop. Still blows me away. First LP I had that I properly sunk into and wanted to know where it was recorded and why and so on – knowing a little peripheral detail doesn’t change the music I know, but your appreciation can only grow.



8: B52s “Love Shack” (and perhaps “Shiny Happy People”) (Reprise)
I include this side because it was the first song that truly made me want to punch anyone who plays it. I used to like this band when I was much younger, they had charm to sink ships with, but from wigging-out NY’s Lower East post-punk scene to this nauseating housewife fodder? Poor Ricky Wilson may have been turning in his grave when this one broke, I dunno. Still makes me scream to this day. Fucking awful.



9: Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasures Volume 1 (Kent CD)
To be honest, I knew fairly little about “Deep Soul” until getting this and even then it had been out a while, having risen to exalted status amongst not just the Soul hardcore, but the international mainstream press too. Turned out to be Kent’s best-selling release in the end! This is not what I would call “easy” listening – these aren’t pop ballads, and I think it’s something you can only grow into - but it’s an experience all should try. As Dave says, this is the ultimate in American Soul Music. Made me feel weak.



10: Chucky Thurmon “Turn It Over” (Thermoe Blast 7”)
Well OK, one for the future then. I’m really into Funk nowadays, it’s the last genre of music in the West to get its due appraisal and it’s all still very exciting. Just when you think you’ve heard all there is, a few more vintage oddities slip into circulation. This track is one of those that just knocks you sideways, it sounds like all involved are playing to save their lives from something terrible. Heard this a few years back and it’s the one nasty-ass record that spurred me into trying to track down artists myself and not just other people who already have. I failed to find Chucky, but I’m told someone has (probably DJ Shadow) and he’s been making Gangsta Rap records in relative obscurity for some years. Fingers crossed this may get a re-release soon.



city you live in?
Nottingham, England.

how long you have been collecting?
Since I was 14. Just things, y’know…here and there.

most heart stopping find on a digging session?
Few real heart-stoppers. I mean I have seen some truly amazing records, but rarely without a price to match. Had a lot of smilers…maybe the Peter Wyngarde LP is my favourite (got it for nothing). Found that one just after it’s cult appeal peaked in the 90s “Easy” boom and its value nudged £400. A mad album, too – quite, quite mad. What else? A couple of years ago at a fair some dealer put a 45 on his deck real loud (it was the Enchantments on Faro and I wanted it bad) and I was flicking through some 45s on the other side of this big hall. I remember having to push and shove loads of dullards out of my way and yell “who’s playing that?” loudly at everyone around me to find the source before the record finished. I got it, anyway. Saw an original Ramelzee vs K-Rob “Beat Bop” 12” with the Basquiat sleeve in NY last year, just holding that one made my heart race. Outta my league though – a museum bought it, I forget how much for – something between $1200 and $2000 though. It’s a cultural artefact after all.

top spots for record hunting?
Record fairs. Always. Anywhere. My favourite actual shop in the UK is probably “Beatin’ Rhythm” in Manchester. I go (never as often as I’d like though) hoping to pick a few new Soul or Funk sides and invariably come away with Rockabilly 45 reissues aswell. I love 45 shopping and there’s nowhere else for the public with so much fairly-priced stock.

ebay. good or evil?
It’s big, I know that. Nearly 20 million users now? You can’t say it’s either good or evil, but some of the users might fit your extremes though! It has really turned a lot of “new” discoveries up for record hunters of every kind, but it has affected the market for rare vinyl forever and it’s of course harder to keep secrets. You can’t deny it’s a great place to buy and sell stuff.

motown or stax?
Motown or Stax what? Music? Legacy? I hate questions like this, as if you could pick between the two. Okay, off the cuff - Motown then. Just how I’m feeling right now.

sneakers or shoes?
Shoes. For dancing. Leather soles when affordable. Sneakers for sneaking. And stinking - they’re not good for your feet.

creole or gumbo?
Same thing aren’t they? A stew is a stew is a stew to me. Stews are great, everybody has one wherever you go. Y’know…Chili, Goulash, Curry…uhhhh…Lancashire Hot Pot. I like spicy stuff mostly. I’m all about hot peppers and pepper sauce. Chilacas are great peppers to use in hot sauces / bases, but seemingly hard to get hold of.

favourite tipple?
Been drinking a lot of Canadian Club and ginger beer lately. Works very well, the whisky tastes of sweet fuck-all in the mixer – which has to be the cloudy, spicy D&G stuff, not that pissy ginger ALE. Gin & Tonic of course (a good gin and Schweppes only). White Russians. Bloody Marys for breakfast. Guinness. Red Stripe lager. Real ale with twigs and owl shit floating in it. Actually, there’s not much booze I don’t like - except perhaps those Scotch single malts that taste like mud and hair. Lagavulin especially.

where can people see/hear you play?
Moog bar, every Friday 8 ‘til 12. Newdigate Street, Nottingham – free to get in. A fiver to get out. Ha ha. Other gigs around UK as and when, occasional trips to Europe. I’ll be at the Edinburgh festival again no doubt, doing a party or two. I can be heard ont’internet - being tired, a bit dull and unusually restrained - as a guest on wfmu.org (Mr Fine Wine’s Dowtown Soulville show March 22nd 2002. Go find it yourself, it’s there somewhere.)

anything to add?
Yes. If you like a kind of music, do so. If you hate it, do so. But whether you love it or hate it, do it because you mean it and really feel it, not because you feel your self-image will suffer if you’re not in step or your imaginary peer group will sneer. Oh, and I’d also like to tip my hat to the ever increasing quality of pornography. And thanks to you, Mr Lawrie, for the invite to do this “thing”. Lend us a quid.