ROC’s Patrick Nicholson reveals the first and last records he bought and the one he turns to in an emergency
FIRST
Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro
‘New York, New York’
(United Artists, 1977)
“Aged 10 I was obsessed/terrified about films, especially ones I couldn’t see like ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Taxi Driver’. So I felt very grown-up going to see Scorsese’s jazz flop. It was so boring, but I bought the LP and among the padding are Minnelli’s devastating ‘The Man I Love’, ‘But The World Goes ‘Round’ and the title song which is hers alone, Sinatra’s version evokes Trump by comparison. Fred from ROC claims his first LP is the Pistols, haha!”
LAST
Tune-Yards
‘I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life’
(4AD, 2018)
“Saw them last year unheard and bought the LP on the spot. Loved the sound: playful beats, big basslines, crazy vocals, all under a cool sunny dry production. But then the lyrics ‘I use my white woman’s voice to tell stories of travels with African men’ stopped me. If it’s meant to discuss white privilege, it somehow risks reinforcing it. She got into trouble with critics, but I like the music. Just not sure what to do with it.”
ALWAYS
David Sylvian
‘Brilliant Trees’
(Virgin, 1984)
“Sylvian left Japan and made this with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Holger Czukay, Danny Thompson and others. I don’t love the first track, it sounds like it’s trying to compete. But then we’re in this permanent hazy afternoon of introspection and distance. He’s a beautiful singer and pop writer, but also a resolute experimentalist, which he continued right up to ‘Manafon’ a few years ago. He’s my production hero. The closing title track is sublime.”
