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Baker's Dozen

After The Flood: The 13 Favourite Albums Of Howe Gelb, Aged 12-16
Stewart Smith , June 11th, 2012 08:21

In a neat twist on our 13 favourite albums feature, Giant Sand's Howe Gelb talks Stewart Smith through his formative records from his teenage years in Pennsylvania

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Jose Feliciano – Feliciano!

You're sayin' favourite records right? Well this is my first record. When I was a kid and I went to the record store – I must have been 12 – there was a band I heard on the radio and I couldn't remember their name or nothin', but they had the song, 'Light My Fire' and I went down to the department store, where they had a record department. The woman didn't know what I wanted and gave me the Jose Feliciano record and not The Doors. And I took it home and I played it and I was so shocked. It wasn't The Doors or rock & roll. It was so sad man. He's a great guy and everything, Jose, but ah, nobody could sing that song but Jim Morrison. We can't even try to sing it cos it sounds ridiculous. You should probably note that the main embodiment of The Doors was Ray Manzarek and that was probably the thing that set me on my way to go find that record. It was such a heavy keyboard band. And I'm sure that's why my disappointment was so bitter because Jose Feliciano is such a guitar guy. But that probably had some trajectory in my sonic life. So therefore, it'll stand as one of my favourites.