The Cocteau Twin turned Bella Union boss itemises his aural treasures: “It sounds like it’s from another universe”

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Metal Box

VIRGIN, 1979

Me and my friends were obsessed with punk. Of course, it burned out rather quickly. John Lydon was such a divisive figure, but at that point in time I still loved him. The stuff he said was confrontational but always tinged with a certain amount of intelligence. I don’t feel like that about the latter part of his career, I should add! I wasn’t a fan of anything after Metal Box, really. But when that came out, it was like, ‘What is this? What are these sounds?’ They were subverting everything they’d been in other bands. It’s such an anarchic record because they’re literally making stuff up in the studio as they go along. There isn’t another record in history that is comparable sonically to Metal Box.

CULTURE

Two Sevens Clash

JOE GIBBS RECORD GLOBE, 1977

Reggae was as important to many of us as punk. I think it was The Clash who brought this record to our attention. Joe Gibbs was the producer, and having him at the controls was really important. I love Lee Perry, I love King Tubby, but this is not a dub record – these are beautiful songs where the lyrics are really important. The singer Joseph Hill had a vision that on the seventh of July 1977, an apocalypse would happen. Back in Jamaica, people actually believed this, and all the businesses shut! It’s almost like a pop record, the songs are so catchy and memorable, and I think that’s why it’s lasted so long in people’s minds. It’s just a proper, proper, great reggae album.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Prayers On Fire

4AD, 1981

I’m sure Nick Cave has probably said a million times that he can’t listen to those early records and they’re embarrassing or whatever. But I don’t look at it like that. For me, it’s a little time capsule. When I hear those songs, I’m back in the in the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, thinking, ‘Fuck me, this the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.’ It’s so visceral and in-your-face, just pure energy and aggression, but done in such an artful way. I was madly in love with The Birthday Party for a brief period of time, and it helped my friendship with Robin and Elizabeth from Cocteau Twins because they were huge fans too. We had this little bond immediately.

TELEVISION

Marquee Moon

ELEKTRA, 1977

I’ve probably bought this 20 times over the years. It’s an immaculately made record – it’s hard to believe there’s only four four people playing on it. What’s interesting to me is that Eno was touted as a producer. He did some demos and Tom Verlaine hated the coldness of the sound. He did not want to go in the studio with somebody that would tell him what to do, that was his biggest fear. And I can totally relate to that from our career. Weirdly enough, we did meet Brian Eno with a view to him producing Treasure and that didn’t work out either! Not really anything that Brian did, more because we all realised that we should just do it ourselves.

THE ASSOCIATES

Sulk

ASSOCIATES / BEGGARS BANQUET, 1982

My first job was working at the Beggars Banquet record shop in South Kensington. Billy MacKenzie would ask me to walk his dogs for him while he was having his meetings with the label upstairs. So I already had a deeper connection with The Associates before Sulk came out. It’s one of the best-sounding records ever. I used to listen to it and think, ‘How did they do that? What instruments are they?’ It does sound like it’s from another universe. After Billy died, I got a call to ask if I’d be interested in co-producing the unfinished tracks that Billy had left behind. It was obviously very sad working on songs by someone who’s not there anymore, who you’ve idolised for twenty years. But it was a massive privilege.

PRINCE

Lovesexy

PAISLEY PARK / WARNER BROS, 1988

Here’s a bit of an outlier. I don’t know if your readers know this, but Prince was a huge Cocteau Twins fan. He wanted to sign us to Paisley Park, and he said some really lovely things about us in the press. So there was obviously a kind of mutual admiration there. I went to see the Lovesexy tour at Wembley when he played in the round. He drove a car onto the stage, it was so over the top! It was delightfully camp and very theatrical – I’d never seen anything like that before. But if you strip all that away, what he’s actually doing on those records is very pioneering and adventurous. He’s a phenomenal musician, and one of the greatest guitarists I’ve ever seen.

RICHARD H KIRK

Virtual State

WARP, 1993

When this came out, it was a very difficult period in the Cocteau Twins’ history. We’re on tour around the US in a big bus, Robin and Elizabeth have split up, and I’m stuck in the middle. When I was 17, music was all about expanding my awareness of what’s going on, energy, emotions, all that stuff. But at this point I am definitely using music as a way of just getting out of my head. I only bought this CD because I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the guy from Cabaret Voltaire.’ But it got me through that tour. It uses lots of found sounds and beats and textures from other cultures. I would lay in my bunk and it would take me off into other worlds where I could be at peace.

VINCE GUARALDI TRIO

A Charlie Brown Christmas

FANTASY, 1965

This is partly inspired by my wife, because she was like, ‘Oh, you’re gonna pick some cool records again. Why don’t you look at the ones by the turntable that you’ve been playing constantly?’ So I found A Charlie Brown Christmas. I’ve probably listened to that album more than any other – it comes out every single Christmas, without fail. It’s so joyous: the children’s choir, the jazz feel. It’s one of the biggest-selling Christmas albums of all-time, which is weird if you think about it, because there’s not really any songs you can sing along with. Obviously the motifs are very memorable, but it’s not like Slade, is it? It’s just an exceptionally evocative record. Listening to it makes you happy.

Simon Raymonde’s memoir In One Ear is out now, published by Nine Eight Books