The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Gorgeous: Graham Massey Of 808 State's Favourite Albums
Julian Marszalek , March 4th, 2020 08:41

Graham Massey guides Julian Marszalek through 13 favourite albums, from Santana to Bowie, Gong, Magma, Miles Davis, and the time he went out for kebabs with Marshall Allen

I___1583253409_resize_460x400

John Coltrane - Selflessness
I originally just dipped my toe in the water with John Coltrane. The first one I got was one of his 50s albums. My friend worked in Virgin Records in Manchester when they were a small independent mail order-type shop – it wasn't the Mega Store at that point – and they had a bit of a jazz section and occasionally they lost the covers to records, and he gave me one of his records. It was quite straight jazz, but I wasn't ready for straight jazz and so it lurked around in my record collection.

Then I went for A Love Supreme, but that was too over my head at that point; it took me a while to get into that. But then I got Selflessness second-hand, and it has 'My Favourite Things' on it; it's a real out-there version of it, not the version that was the radio hit. It was recorded live and it's a record that squeezes emotion out of you and leaves you rinsed. It makes you breathe differently! It's the most engaging journey as a piece of music; it's really profound to me.

It's still a record that I return to whenever I need a good head clean. It really will wash my brain out.