To give you, our customers, the chance to get to know the team behind eil.com, we like to let show you what we are about and what we have been listening to lately. This week is one of our buyers, Mark.
What are your top five albums of all time?
Today, off the top of my head,
Johnny Moped – Cycledelic 1978
Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette 1979
The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me 1987
Nirvana – Nevermind -1991
Buffalo Tom – Let me Come Over – 1992
I know what I like and I like what I know…
No matter how embarrassing, what was the first piece of music you bought?
Abba Arrival, on cassette. In the long hot summer of 76, I though Dancing Queen was one of the greatest tracks ever. In fact, I still do! My old man was way ahead of his time and had already shunned vinyl as a format, so a tape player was all we had in the house.
What have you been listening to this week?
Psychedelic Furs first 2 albums – Saw them live earlier this month and the songs still stand the test of time.
Various stuff on the staff turntable – Radiohead, Stone Roses and the obligatory Iron Maiden…
What album would you recommend customers check out if they haven’t heard it before?
Anything from Stereolab – When they were knocking out albums at an alarming rate during the 90’s, you never knew what they were going to turn up with next.
What are the top five gigs you have attended?
In chronological order only,
Electric Light Orchestra – Wembley Empire Pool 1978 – 1st ever gig. Light and stage show opened up my eyes.
Damned – Rainbow, London 1979 – Opened up more than my eyes. Loud, blaring punk rock played at enormous volume against a backdrop of fighting, vandalism and general bad behaviour from both crowd and band. And the first time I witnessed Captain Sensible naked on a stage. Sadly, not for the last…
The Cure – Bercy, Paris 1985 – Enormous arena show populated by the French public who showed a bit more passion than some of the more reserved British audiences.
Kraftwerk – Brixton, London 1991 – First tour in ages and received with a lot of love amid the blips and bleeps.
The Skids – Concorde, Brighton 2017 – Proof that some comebacks can have a bit of integrity about them, not just about nostalgia.
If you could take home one item we have in stock today, what would it be and why?
I’m still waiting for another Japanese Damned Neat Neat Neat 7” to turn up. Julian said he would buy it for me, honest…
Finally, does music really sound better on vinyl?
Yes. Let’s not get technical about it (and I couldn’t) but the whole range of things from the album artwork to the smell of the vinyl makes it THE essential format.
You LISTEN to the music when you put a slab of vinyl on the deck, other formats just help you pass the time while you’re in the car/walking down the road/doing the washing up.
Terribly immature taste in music, if it has to be termed as such.
Terribly immature to criticise people’s taste in music.