Vinylist: Paul Smith

          Parent's collection = early days.

Lived “The Point” by Nilsson. Bought “Stop Making Sense” by Talking Heads from a school fair (Northfield, Billingham).

          I bought the guitar tablature book and learnt to play like Evan Dando.

29 mins long (or something) – perfect.

          I hesitate to recommend anything I like to an unknown listnership, but if you like lo-fi pop such as The Raincoats, then you might like “Silver Fox” by Silver Fox.

          I've had Ray Parker, Jr.'s “Ghostbusters” theme in my head for the past few days and it's starting to get to me.

          Moving, emotional, excitable, melodic, basic, complex. This record continually reaffirms my belief in the power of a rock and roll band, as archaic a notion as that has become.

          Hushed, minimal music – beautiful use of woodwind. Terribly moving and a person in total control of their instrument – what a vocalist.

          “Crazy In Love” by Beyoncé ft. JAY Z is a total winner. Infectious and as JAY Z himself says: “Yessir, I'm cut from a different cloth.”

           Kate Bush - “Hounds of Love” is timeless and uplifting. Her voice is unique and so is the way she looks at the world, incorporating myth and fantasy into her music (without being naff).

          Unless a clueless inheritor chucks this in a skip, there's little chance I'll part with the cash!

          I have a copy of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”. It belongs to an old schoolfriend's dad, but she scratched my CD of soft rock so I kept it.

          Rock and Pop basic discovery: “The White Album” being available in my childhood home. “After the Goldrush” came in handy too. Thanks Mam.

          The third Neil Young reference in a row – Neil Young's version of “Transformer Man” on his unplugged album is as good as the odd original. Tender vocals.

          Matthew Sweet's “Sick of Myself” is a great power pop tune on a pretty average album (“100% Fun” if I recall rightly).

It's not “crap” but it's overshadowed by the towering opening track, which I heard in Seattle recently whilst digging for vinyl.

          I got Brian Eno's “Before and After Science” in a Utrecht record shop and the (rude) shop owner didn't realise it had the 4 original art prints inside...

Cheers, mate!

          The Go-Betweens split and reformed with “The Friends of Rachel Worth”, which I really liked. I got into the back catalogue and now I LOVE them.

          It's hard to find something so obscure now (thanks to the internet), but I'm hoping for a reissue of “Bright Phoebus” by Lal & Mike Waterson, which has been out of print since the '70s. Beautiful folk.

          The definition of weird is tricky...

I heard a song called “Detachable Penis” once, which made me laugh and had a unique subject matter!

          Led Zeppelin – heavy in every respect. Heavy musicianship. Jimmy Page's guitar playing and John Bonham's drumming are awesome (I am in awe).

          Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Walk along the North East Coast with this album on your headphones.

          The first Maximo Park red 7” that we put out ourselves. I owe that record a lot!

It looks pretty good to me too- even now!

          I've heard that Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout has lots of music on tape that just sits on the shelves, awaiting the right moment...