It’s difficult to imagine anyone left on the face of the planet (already familiar with the man’s work, that is) who isn’t aware that singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding and critically acclaimed novelist Wesley Stace are one and the same. Henceforth, he has announced that he will record under the name Wesley Stace, and hopefully never again be asked why he assumed the name of a 1967 Bob Dylan album, misspelling and all. “It’s like what happens at the end of a Spider-Man or a Batman movie,” says Stace. “When the superhero reveals his true identity to his girlfriend.” “Girlfriend” may be the operative word on Stace’s new album, Self-Titled (Yep Roc), in which a 47-year-old man, now comfortably married and living in Philadelphia, reflects back over the loves of his younger life. Stace will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Stace: I love this format best of all. I think everything should be available on 12-inch, possibly only on 12-inch. I would ditch all other formats. (I even love albums being re-released on 12-inch at 45 rpm even though it screws up the order.) Things sound louder and bassier and more disco-y on a 12-inch single on almost any record player. There are scientific reasons for this. Here’s a very quick and probably embroidered (but I did hear it on a radio documentary) version of how the 12-inch came to pass:
Record label needs a seven-inch of one song by Friday night, so producer takes track to the cutter. But they have no more seven-inch acetates so, out of desperation, they put it on a 12-inch, simply so the record label can get the song they want when they want it. But when they cut it, they put it in the first ‘track” of an LP, and leave the rest as a big run out groove. They think this looks silly. Producer has an idea: Couldn’t the needle cut deeper if the grooves were stretched out across the whole record—wider, deeper grooves equal more volume. Yes! They take it down to the dance club, and it’s 10 times louder than everything else the DJ is playing. The birth of disco! Great story!
I just checked the accuracy of this twice-told tale out—the producer was actually engineer Jose Rodriguez and the record label was DJ Tom Moulton, and the acetate was actually a 10-inch, but it’s mostly accurate.
Among my favourite 12-inches are: “Oh Bondage Up Yours” by X-Ray Spex on Virgin, because the grooves are so wide you could ride a bike through them (or actually etch the lyrics in them) and it’s the best sounding I’ve ever heard that song; a red vinyl Casablanca label “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer with 16:30 minutes of “Love To Love You Baby” on the other side (full disclosure: this does not run on 45 rpm); the Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch EP (a reissue but excellent); ABC’s “The Look Of Love” (but only because it has four parts, three of which are inessential); “Loving The Alien” by David Bowie, because it’s the only 12-inch I’ve ever seen that comes in a gatefold with a poster as well; the Prince 12-inches, which are all great because they’re packed with weird versions and remixes that may or may not have landed on CDs, though they also mainly seem to run at 33 rpm (which is always a slight disappointment); that new Goat 12-inch previously mentioned; oh and Sister Sledge’s “He’s The Greatest Dancer,” which has become my number one groove of all time, and ever.
Bring a clutch of these corkers into the kitchen, throw them on the portable turntable, open some wine, get a meal cooking, and party all night.
Video after the jump.
