Jonathan Bree – 10 All Time Favs

14.08.2020
Jonathan Bree hides his face behind a latex mask. Well, right. But that’s not the most remarkable thing about the new zealander. Because he is first and foremost a first-rate songwriter. He told us which 10 records have shaped, improved and formed him.
Jonathan Bree
After The Curtains Close Black Vinyl Edition
Lil' Chief • 2020 • from 21.99€
Jonathan Bree: It’s a varied listen but they were pioneers of slacker attitude recording, it doesn’t get any effortlessly cooler than tracks like Kangaroo or Holocast.

The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers (Beserkley) (1976)
HHV:477843:Black Vinyl LP###
Jonathan Bree: I might not listen to it much anymore but this album and all of Jonathan Richman’s work has played a massive part in my musical upbringing. ‘I’m straight’ was probably the track that connected which me in my later teens when I actually was no longer the hippie Johnny character and was going through similar frustrations.

HHV:200622:Vinyl 2LP###
Jonathan Bree:** When it came out I was still a child drumming in a goth band. I remember the singer of my band turning to me as she listened to her freshly purchased copy and saying »this is historical, you’ll remember this day«. As funny a statement as it is, I do remember it, and though there are other albums of The Cure I probably listen to more, it’s still their finest moment. For the last two years we’d put this album on the front of house sound system before walking out on stage to perform. I also had a go at covering »Lovesong« with my old band.

Jonathan Bree: Another discovery during my teens when I started to write music was this album. Tracks like »Some Velvet Morning« and »Sundown«_ really inspired me to try my hand at writing duets. Billy Strange’s arrangements are formidable and no doubt have been influential as well.

Jonathan Bree: Okay, maybe it’s a bit of a copout to put a various artists movie soundtrack in here, but this is probably one of the most played albums of my life. It’s still gets generous spins in the car, it’s got to be the best soundtrack of all time. It features other 80’s heroes of mine The Smiths, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen. Also as a side note: I love this movie. I wrote a song called »Duckie’s Lament« about Jon Cryer’s character Duckie.

Jonathan Bree: It’s a bit obvious but hey there’s no way I can’t include an album by the best band of all time. »The White Album« is my favourite of theirs, probably because it is so diverse. It utilizes the studio but it’s also when they pulled back from pushing the psychedelic stuff which definitely put a timestamp on those recordings. To me tracks like »Happiness Is A Warm Gun« are timeless. A good tour van game to play is make your own single LP version of »The White album«. Always leads to good debate about the merits of certain tracks over others and no band member makes the same list. Oh and you can’t beat that bass production on »Dear Prudence«_.


You can find the Vinyl records by Jonathan Bree in the [HHV Records webshop](https://www.hhv.de/shop/de/jonathan-bree-vinyl-cd-tape/i:A108500D2N4S6U9.)