Luke Haines reveals the first and last records he bought and the one he turns to in an emergency
The Boomtown Rats
‘Rat Trap’
(Ensign, 1978)
This is tricky, as the only people who could confirm this are dead and my memory has faded. So, it could possibly be ‘Two Little Boys’ by Rolf Harris, although I’m probably too young to have bought it myself, a more likely contender is ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ by Middle Of The Road, but the most likely choice is ‘Rat Trap’ by The Boomtown Rats. It’s a great record by an otherwise useless group.
The Moody Blues
‘5 Classic Albums’
(UMC, 2015)
The last thing I bought was this cheapo boxset of Moody Blues albums, which covers from ‘On The Threshold Of A Dream’ to ‘Seventh Sojourn’. It’s fantastic. Brummie Mellotron madness. The Moodies were totally enlightened in a Midlands kind of way. If they were from Düsseldorf hipsters would be holding special Moody Blues nights in Shoreditch cafés. ‘To Our Children’s Children’s Children’ is the best, it’s a concept album inspired by the moon landings. I’m obsessed with the Moody Blues.
Klaus Schulze
‘Irrlicht’
(Ohr, 1972)
The record I always turn to is ‘Irrlicht’ by Klaus Schulze. Klaus just has to lay one finger on some crappy early synth or organ and it just goes “Zzzzzzzzmmmmm” for about three hours… or weeks. No one has got near this. Primordial drone soup. The great thing is that this record will work for any occasion, it won’t clear rooms as people don’t notice it’s on, but it will subliminally fuck with their minds. Gotta love Klaus.
