70s: Vinyl Revival

To celebrate what would have been the 76th birthday of the iconic Marvin Gaye, Universal Music Enterprises and Motown Records will roll out a reissue over the next three months leading up to his birthday. Two classic albums, a new digital single, 7″ vinyl single and a seven-LP collection. This fantastic collection includes a vinyl of 1972’s Trouble Man soundtrack, two rare cuts from 1972, ‘Where are we Going” and “Woman of the World”. A seven-album 180g vinyl box set, Marvin Gaye 1961-1965, has been released.

“The Prince of Motown” is renowned for his massive contribution to soul music, in specific to Motown Sound, and his firm stance on racial equality evident on the 1971 classic album ‘What’s Going On’. The follow up, ‘Trouble Man’ (1972) is the mostly jazz-soul/orchestral instrumental soundtrack to the crime thriller of the same name. Released 1973, ‘Let’s Get It On’ is a combination of funk and romance which produced three hit singles, amongst them the revered title track, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

Vinyl records are indicative of 60’s and 70’s culture. At .Cent, we are all about the groovy 70’s and have asked our favourite musicians favourite 70’s vinyls.

Tom Bright moved to Australia where began writing and performing throughout Melbourne and Sydney and received air play on acclaimed Australian radio station for upcoming arists, Triple J’s unearthed. After a discussion with Mumford and Sons he was inspired to pursue his own music career. He now works closely with The Clash’s Mick Jones so it’s no surprise that his 70s sound is the iconic ‘London Calling’ due to the ‘perfect post punk mixing styles from reggae to rockabilly and some great stories of social displacement told by the late Joe Strummer and my mate Mick Jones’. His new release Skint Love/Local Bike is available now.

The Young’uns got their name from being the youngest to mix in the local folk scene. ‘My favourite 70s vinyl is Gunnerside Gill Remembered by the North Yorkshire Dales folk group Fourum‘ says Sean Cooney. ‘It was one of the few folk LPs my Dad had and I liked it for its honest seemingly simple songs inspired by historical events and characters of the Dales’. This LP has influenced him as a songwriter, helping him form direct and honest lyrics. ‘My favourite song is Census 1851 – a tiny snapshot of the impoverished life of a lead mining family taken directly from that years census’.

Here in the office, we have used May to draw inspiration from the 70s in design, fashion and music.

Our fashion editor Laura is a fan of anything by by Marvin Gaye, especially ‘Trouble Man’, she loves the gospel side to it, finding it one of his darker tunes. ‘It relates to issues in his life at the time about himself and it later became known to be one of his nicknames’. Interestingly is was opened for Mister T, a character in the film of the same name. Gaye cites this recording as one of the most honest ones he’s ever made.

Anna is influenced by her parent’s musical choices, not being able to choose between mum and dad’s favourite she has gone with both. Carly Simon ‘No Secrets’ and the track ‘It Was So Easy’ and the classic Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ and the ever emotional ‘Go Your Own Way’.

Zoe has also chosen ‘Rumours’ due to the beautiful lyrics and the romanticism of the band, citing ‘Rhiannon’ as her standout track and the powerful ‘Cry Baby’ from ‘Pearl’ by Janis Joplin. Our music man Matt has a soft spot for a soulful voice favouring Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Superfly’ because it’s effortlessly cool, addictive and inspiring.

Afraid of being generic, Tim loves David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ because it’s aurally and artistically iconic, making the lightening bolt across the face synonymous with Bowie. His favourite track, ‘Lady Grinning Soul’ is referenced as Bowie’s best vocal work, containing his highest sung note (G#5).

I guess this is a fantastic segue to my personal favourite, Bowie’s ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ and my favourite song is ‘Starman’. My other vinyl of choice would be Cat Steven’s ‘Tea for the Tilerman’ and the song ‘Wild World’ because it was the first song I could play on guitar and sing along to.

The ever eccentric and colourful Rebecca has scoured the internet to find the video to her favourite 70s sound. She loves any music produced by the glam rock band Led Zepplin between 1970-1978 but their performance of ‘Achilles Last Stand’ on June 23, 1977 definitely resonates with her.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9K-Zv_pTfk]

Our editor Jo is slightly off the cuff with her favourite being Creedance Clearwater Revival’s epic eight minute version of ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’ off ‘Cosmos Factory’ because its ‘kinda genius’.