This time around we feature the collection of Seattle based senior copywriter and freelance editor/writer Ben Reese. You may know Ben on Twitter as @SeattlePostrGuy.
The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
Journey – Escape. I was 9 years old. My mom and I were at the Richland Mall in Pennsylvania and she let me go into the Sam Goody record store alone. I’d never heard of Journey, but I knew I wanted some sort of rock album—and that beetle-shaped spaceship bursting out of that brilliant glass sphere said ROCK to me for some reason. It started there and I haven’t stopped believin’ since.
The record that made me want to make music was…
All of them. Sorry. Cop-out answer but true. I wish I could play anything even slightly resembling music.
The record I’ve played more than any other is…
Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West. I play the hell out of my Black Sabbath LPs, but The Lonesome Crowded West was released the month I moved to Seattle and was the first LP I purchased in my new hometown, at the SubPop Mega Mart no less. It was a welcome-to-the-Pacific Northwest baptism in squalling indie rock and it felt like every song pertained to my new situation. It doesn’t get much time on my turntable these days, but it was almost never in its sleeve for months after I brought it home.
The record that always make me feel good is…
Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. This album represents the last perfect summer of my teenage years. Every song brings back a wave of sunshine, skateboarding, and silly-to-me-now angst. If I have my way, “Good Enough” will play at my funeral.
The record I turn to when I’m feeling down is…
KARP – Self-titled LP. All the KARP albums are kickass but this one is aural Prozac. It’s amazing how well screaming “He might do it for kicks!” over and over at the top of my lungs will cheer me up, no matter how dark my mood.
The record with my favorite cover art is…
Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician. I never got the whole creepy clown thing until I saw this record’s cover. Perfect art for the craziness inside.
The strangest LP I own is…
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, narrated by Michael Jackson. This came out the same year as Thriller, reached #82 on the UK charts, earned Michael Jackson a Grammy, and is hands-down the strangest LP I own. It’s Michael Jackson telling the story of ET, and it’s not like he’s reading a script or a screenplay but rather like he’s just sitting on the corner of your bed, breathlessly telling you the tale of a lovable alien trying to find his way home. When ET dies, MJ actually cries on the record, supposedly because Quincy Jones didn’t want to do another take because he knew Michael would just cry again. It’s a double LP and it came in a box with a poster of Michael with his arm around ET. I still have the record but, sadly, the poster is long gone.
The rarest LP I own is…
The acetates for Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow. I like to think I accumulate LPs rather than actively collect them. The one exception is Mudhoney. That band has an unbelievable number of releases and bootlegs and test presses and other vinyl releases, and I’ve had just about all of them in my possession at one point or another. I suspect the person I bought these from (for an embarrassing amount) must have smuggled them out of the Reprise storeroom. They’re black, blank on one side, and very heavy. This is not my favorite Mudhoney album by far (and the discs can’t safely be played without degrading them) but I still get a thrill taking them off my shelf and just holding them from time to time.
The last LP I bought was…
Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness. Good stuff, man. \m/
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Be sure to peruse Ben’s writings at Red Fez.
Odds Man Out – https://www.redfez.net/fiction/lotto-odds-man-out-740
La Loteria – https://www.redfez.net/fiction/pulp-la-loteria-622
The Winning Ticket – https://www.shotgunhoney.com/tag/ben-reese/
The Losing Ticket – http://www.overmydeadbody.com/lsngtckt.html
Follow Ben on Twitter – https://twitter.com/SeattlePostrGuy
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