In celebration of the long-standing institute that is Record Store Day UK, we’ve shouted about our favourite local record stores that you should visit and now we’ve asked the Albert Hall team what their favourite record is and why!
Jenny Martin – More. Again. Forever, The Courteeners
More. Again. Forever. by The Courteeners is one of my favourite records from one of my favourite bands. When this album was released there was a lot of hype about it coming out at the time. It has some brilliant songs on it such as Hanging Off Your Cloud, which was played live for a long time before it came out. The violin solo by Elina Lin has me in awe every time I listen to it. I even went to see them play at Albert Hall where they played all of the songs from this album in celebration of it being released. It was great! I also love the artwork on the front cover so much that I had to buy it in T-shirt form.
Lucy Crossley – The Sound of Music Soundtrack
The Sound of Music is a classic and it’s a very personal record to me. One that my grandma and I would listen to all time when I was growing up. This sparked my interest and love for musical theatre which is now the love of my life. Listening to it on record sparked my love for vinyl records in general, and now I often find myself looking for bargain records across Manchester.
One I’m looking out for at the moment is Lizzy McAlpine’s Five Seconds Flat, she’s even coming to Albert Hall in June.
Saul Mendelson – R.A.M, Daft Punk
R.A.M by Daft Punk is probably my favourite album of all time, at least of this century. It’s one of the most ambitious albums out there, with collabs with Giorgio Moroder, Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, Nathan East, and Pharrell Williams. Each song has its own distinctive sound while all also having similar themes. It covers different genres of funk, disco, pop, and rock but nothing sounds out of place.
The 10-year anniversary comes out soon. They’ve already released The Writing of Fragments of Time which is 8 minutes of Daft Punk and Todd Edwards jamming out while recording Fragments of Time and if the rest of the additions for the 10th anniversary are as good as that, I cannot wait to hear it on record.
Niamh Christian – Scary Monsters, David Bowie
I’m a really big David Bowie fan and Scary Monsters is my favourite record because it’s a lot more experimental than his earlier stuff, fitting into post-punk and new-wave genres. It follows on from his previous albums with references to Major Tom, while also creating a completely new sound of its own! This particular record used to belong to my mum, she got it in the 80s when she was a teenager, making this record around 40 years old. So it is very special to me. Despite that, it’s been very well-kept and plays beautifully.
Aimee Hankinson – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, PJ Harvey
My favourite record is ‘Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea’ by the great PJ Harvey. Although I do adore her earlier work such as her debut album ‘Dry’ which greatly impacted the 90s grunge scene. There is something about this album despite its genre shift towards rock/indie that really just resonates with me.
I love that she allows herself to be more vulnerable, and her storytelling makes me feel nostalgic for a time I didn’t experience, which is one of my favourite things about vinyl. My favourite track is “Good Fortune”, it’s full of a lust for life that will make you want to go dancing down the street and perfectly captures its intentions of painting what a whirlwind romance in New York would feel like. It’s a timeless album, and it’s no wonder it won the Mercury Prize in 2001.
Hannah Tinker – Overpowered, Roisin Murphy
I remember being absolutely spellbound by Roisin when I was a young teen living in a small Northern town and stumbled across the video of her track Let Me Know. The video is her in a high-fashion-esque outfit featuring pink leather gloves, a black cape, and a white disc-shaped headpiece, dancing around a diner while normal people ignore her and go about their day in the cafe. It was nothing like I’d ever seen before and my adoration for her music went on from there. I got a copy of her second solo album, Overpowered (which features Let Me Know) when it was re-released a few years ago by Be With Records, who are coincidentally based in Manchester. Funnily enough, she’s celebrating our 10th Anniversary with us this year!
