RECORDS COLLECTORS
7 Records I’d save in a fire
David Atkinson from the Music and More YouTube channel on his favourite version of Leonard Cohen’s voice, refusing to sing along and why shredding always sucks.
Photo: David Atkinson on the Music and More YouTube channel
25 April 2026
Started collecting: 1972
Number of records: 12,000
Estimated value: Unknown
Selling England by the Pound
1.
Genesis
A school friend lent me this. I must have been 14 or 15 at the time. He said, ‘Listen to this record, but look after it’. So I said, ‘Yeah, of course!’ Nowadays vinyl is so precious we don't want anybody touching it. Anyway, I played it and it was amazing!
It's got the epic ‘Firth or Fifth’, which every member of the band shines on. And it's got my favourite guitar solo ever from Steve Hackett. Lasts about three minutes. There's not an ounce of shredding. It's just a melodic line composed by Tony Banks, the keyboard player. It’s just such a thrill.
The album opened my ears to something other than what was on the radio. It was my coming of age, changing me from somebody who heard music to somebody who listened to music.
Love over Gold
2.
Dire Straits
Before Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits were a serious band who wrote songs that referenced my hometown of Newcastle. Their compositions gradually got more epic over time. The opener on this album ‘Telegraph Road’ goes on for 14 minutes or something. But it’s a masterstroke in restraint. You think that at 14 minutes long, Mark Knopfler would throw the kitchen sink at it. But no.
Symphony No. 3
3.
Camille Saint-Saëns
This just completely blew my socks off when I first heard it. Absolutely fantastic! I used to have friends around and I'd say, ‘Listen to this’. I’d put it on, turn out the lights and turn it up high. And when the organ came in, people would jump out of their seats. It was just amazing!
In the third movement, there's a pause. And then you get this massive church organ (and I'm talking massive!), and there are these great big chords. The last movement is the most thrilling music I've ever heard. It just gets higher and higher and higher. It's so dramatic, you've got the whole orchestra playing at full volume. It’s just amazing!
Time Out of Mind
4.
Bob Dylan
This album really resonated with me with its themes of mortality and loss. ‘Not Dark Yet’ is just incredible. I actually saw him on the tour for this album. I'd seen him before and thought he was bloody rubbish! But there was something that clicked on this particular night. I'm not a sing-along-at-a-concert kind of guy. I've been five metres from the stage at some gigs and everyone is going nuts. And I'm just standing there and it's just me 100% focused on the artist. I don't like anybody telling me when I've got to sing, stand up or clap.
So I kind of forgive artists like Dylan who don't do this audience participation thing. If that's how they want to present their art, that's fine. I kind of respect it.
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
5.
Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays
It's not jazz, it's not prog, it's not ambient and it's not new age; it's all of those things together. It's so beautiful. Sometimes the music is a little bit congested; at other times it completely opens up — all you can hear is the guitar. It's just so intimate. These two guys play off each other so brilliantly, without either of them showing off. It's just, again, a lesson in restraint. They could do so much but they choose not to and that's really fascinating to me. I love this album.
Unorthodox Behaviour
6.
Brand X
It's kind of a fusion album. So different from what Phil Collins was doing in Genesis. But there's four guys here. They play off each other so well and you can really follow each of the instruments along. The opener ‘Nuclear Burn’ is spectacular. My brother's got this software that can isolate instruments and he sent me the isolated drum from the first track. He said it's full of errors and he's losing the tempo a little bit, but it's so alive!
People think Phil Collins is just a pop singer, but of course he's a lot more than that. You can tell he's playing live and improvising. It’s just incredible. This is a demonstration disc for me. When people come here [to my music room] and want to hear incredible, jazz-fusion type drumming, I'll turn it up.
Ten New Songs
7.
Leonard Cohen
I think a lot of music critics come from a literary background; they're writers first and music fans second. They focus on the lyrics and, of course, there's not many people who are better with words than Leonard Cohen. I bought The Best of Leonard Cohen back in the 1970s. But the production was so austere and the instrumentation almost non-existent.
But on this one he's got Sharon Robinson working with him. And it's a much warmer sound with a keyboard and drum machine. The thing that really grabs me about this album is his voice. He sounded very reedy in his early singing. But here it's all wisdom and gravitas. His voice is so rich I’d buy a record of him reciting the dictionary!
And lyrically, again, it's mortality, loss and regret. Maybe it's my time of life, but this stuff really resonates with me these days!
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