Video may have killed the radio star, but not even streaming could slay vinyl. In 2017, the same year that Sony Music announced it would begin vinyl record production once again (after a near 30-year abandonment of the medium), Craig Wright opened his record-centric music store Innersleeve Records (199 Main St., Amagansett, 631-604-6248) — and not a moment too soon. Wright, who spent his formative years working at the dearly departed Long Island Sound (we remember) now offers new printings and used versions of all genres of music, as well as guitars on consignment and the accoutrements that go along with them.
We checked in with store manager Chris Clark (whose family used to own the now-shuttered guitar shop across the street; it’s kind of poetic, right?) for his five must-have albums for any collection. Here’s what he had to say:
1. Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On” (1971). “Off the bat, this soul record was a huge influential, important album at the time. And the message still resonates today.”
2. John Coltrane, “A Love Supreme” (1965). “To me, this is something easy enough that you can put it on in the background at dinner and it’s not out there and crazy and distracting, but it’s interesting enough to just listen to and take it all in.”
3. Stevie Wonder, “Innervisions” (1973). “This is a great, important soul record. Plus [Wonder] plays almost every instrument on the album himself. The songs are great, the composition is great. You can pick individual songs and also overall really get a sense of the range of his skills. There are funny moments, moments that make you think, sad moments — that’s a lot on one album.”
4. The Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967). “As far as psychedelic rock goes, you’ve gotta have this. At the time, it was a different kind of sound first touched on by the Beach Boys with ‘Pet Sounds,’ but it moved to a more orchestrated form of rock beyond pop radio songs. The sounds and texture on that album are pretty impressive still, I think.”
5. Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973). “This was a hugely influential record. There are themes in it that are universal and that anybody can understand, whether taking the songs as a whole body of work or individually. It changes a lot — there are a lot of different sounds here, especially for a four-piece band. It was very unique at the time, and certainly greater than the sum of its parts.”
