Vinylist: Brendan Eyre

The first vinyl I bought for myself, was “Silly Love” by 10cc. I was 8 years old, and up to that point I was getting by through listening to my elder brothers LPs and singles, though that was a dangerous situation as they used to be a “Spanish Inquisition” should a scratch or jump be discovered, So, I managed to save up the 25pence needed and walked into Woolworths to buy my first vinyl 7inch. I’d seen 10cc perform the track on TOTP that Thursday and I always thought there was something a bit different about them, something quirky and not like the other glam rock bands around at the time.

Again, a major early influence on myself, this has everything, strings, choirs, cheeky melody and a vocoder!, but most of all, an uplifting tune that springs back into life with a heavy riff at its finale…brilliant!

Although Blur did some decent stuff in their lifespan, I hated the “mockney” accent vocals and “chimney sweep” melodies of a lot of their material, and it’s a close thing between this and Parklife which would make me rushing for the “Off” switch quickest.

During my time with The Passion Killers, journeys home from gigs around the North East where a great time for discovering new music, this was all down to listening to Bob Harris on his late Saturday night BBC Radio 2 show, and hitting Amazon on arrival home. Those days are gone for now, but I do occasionally still catch a show, and as such Bob introduced me to Sam Brookes through playing a track called “Frequency”. I immediately reached for my iPad and ordered the heavy vinyl album from his website, it’s got a fresh folky/experimental feel, and I’ve been astounded by its quality.

Never forget this moment, at a local second hand record store, mockingly known as John the cons!, with £2.50 of saved school dinner money in hand, and while browsing I’m listening to this album on the in-house turntable. It had Jazzy elements, heavy sections, light, whimsical lyrics, gliding guitar solos and huge Mellotron swathes..I was hooked. Although its predecessor “In The Court Of Crimson King” gets most accolades (rightly so),this was the album for me that introduced me to the magical world of Progressive Rock.

One of the great bands to come out of the 1980s, I saw Talk Talk bottled off as support for Genesis at Milton Keynes Bowl, fast forward a couple of years and they lose the synth/pop image and create music that is as original and innovative as anything from a British band in any era. This track is a lesson on how pop music can be thought provoking, intelligent and original.

The third LP from the new hero of modern progressive music, this is an album of ghost storied themed songs, with a multitude of great players on board and Alan Parsons behind the desk. It’s already being hailed as a classic, this is the single Drive Home.

I was a big Marillion fan at their very beginning, and I devoured every note on their debut album “Script For A Jesters Tear”, and I was there when Fish even came to open Hartlepool’s very own Durham Street Studio in the early 80s,but as the decade progressed I sort of lost interest. However fast forward 10 years or so, and I picked up “Dry Land” in a fifty pence ex chart box of singles, loved it, and the new vocalist Steve Hogarth, bought the album “Holidays in Eden”, and I was hooked. Still a Marillionite to this day.

I have to return to my first love here, King Crimson, and the single release from their “In The Wake Of Poseidon” album. Strange music, stranger lyrics, completely bonkers.

For me, his greatest album ever, sonically, at the time I had heard nothing like it, the gated drums, Bob Fripps guitar bursts, Kate Bush vocals, African rhythms, even Paul Weller gets in on the act, and most of all, even some of my punk flavoured friends liked it..and a great cover.