A story about a vinyl record given to me as a souvenir from the UK by a friend I met in Georgia.
While living in Georgia, there was an event that I am sure I will never forget for the rest of my life.
When a male friend I first became close with after arriving in Georgia went on a trip to the UK, he bought me a vinyl record as a souvenir.
He remembered that I liked records and went out of his way to choose one while thinking of me at a record store during his travels. That sentiment made me happier than anything else.
An unexpected souvenir from a trip
What he handed me was a 1972 album titled "Twice Around The Houses" by an artist named Jonathan Kelly.
To be honest, I knew neither his name nor this album at all. When I asked my friend, it turned out he didn't know the album either; he had chosen it based on intuition and the atmosphere of the cover—a "cover buy."
The cover photo shows a man walking down the street wearing a coat with a newspaper tucked under his arm. That cool, somewhat melancholic look certainly had an aura that made you want to pick it up.
Because my life abroad limits the number of records I can keep on hand, the weight of having one more record gifted by someone's hands like this slowly warms my heart.
Meeting "Madeleine" after dropping the needle
I returned to my room and immediately dropped the needle on the player.
What flowed from the grooves was a warm, slightly bittersweet folk-rock sound. There is a special excitement that comes from listening to something without any prior knowledge.
Among them, the song that particularly captured my heart was "Madeleine."
With a friendly and emotional melody that somewhat reminds me of Paul McCartney, and a composition that gently wraps around you, it had a catchiness and warmth that felt like a touch of The Beatles, and I fell in love with it instantly.
It felt like a strange miracle that such a masterpiece, which struck such a chord with me, was sleeping inside a record my friend had chosen relying only on the jacket.
A memory of a record I will never forget
Music is mysterious. In an age where you can listen to any song in an instant by searching on a subscription service, there is the fact that someone chose a record for me and carried it across borders.
Every time I drop the needle on the record, along with the texture of the jacket, the thoughtfulness of my friend at that time and the joy of the moment it was handed to me come back vividly.
Even if the number of records I have is small, this one record here is packed with a dense story. While listening to "Madeleine" in my room in Georgia, I thought that I would never forget the memory of this day and this sound for the rest of my life.
[Works introduced today]
Artist: Jonathan Kelly
Album: "Twice Around The Houses" (released in 1972)
Recommended track: "Madeleine"
This is a "special record I will never forget" that a friend brought me as a souvenir from the UK. I hope you will take the time to experience their warm musical world.