Nyx Nótt – aka Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat – on the first and last albums he bought, and one he always returns to
FIRST
Beastie Boys
‘Licensed To Ill’
(Def Jam/Columbia, 1986)
“The first album I bought might’ve been Beastie Boys’ ‘Licensed To Ill’ when I was 13. I had loads of albums before then. I was always given them for birthdays, Christmas and occasional treats, and I got my first Walkman when I was eight. This was the first cassette I bought myself, though, because my mum absolutely hated the band and refused to buy it. Their best album, as far as I’m concerned.”
LAST
RD Laing
‘Life Before Death’
(Charisma, 1978)
“I rarely buy LPs now because I’ve nowhere to put them. I recently gave half of my records to a local Oxfam and finally joined the streaming world (Apple, though – never Spotify!). If I buy records now, they’re usually rare old things. The most recent was RD Laing’s ‘Life Before Death’ – a brilliant, hilarious, spoken word album by Scotland’s legendary psychiatrist – a near-mint copy that I managed to damage within minutes.”
ALWAYS
Slint
‘Spiderland’
(Touch And Go, 1991)
“One of my most cherished records is the white label promo of Slint’s ‘Spiderland’ that I bought from Edinburgh’s Avalanche shop on Cockburn Street when I was 17. I phoned them from school in Falkirk and when they offered to sell it to me, I walked straight out the door and got the train to Edinburgh. An album I’ll always love, although I don’t dare play the white label anymore.”
