Remember that record that changed your life all those years ago? Try putting it on now. If it truly meant something to you, you’re probably signing along like you just don’t care. Isn’t it amazing how you can remember lyrics to songs you haven’t heard in five years? Perhaps it’s something you’re embarrassed to admit you like. No matter, we all have those! Maybe it’s a record that you think is tremendously underappreciated. That’s what Record (Re)Collection is all about. So, let’s talk! This is your column too and we want to hear some of your stories. Seriously people, if you’ve got a story about a record you love and the mark it has left on you, send it to us! We’d love to post it.

First up, we’ve got Robert Suchan, lead singer/guitarist for indie rockers Koufax. Be sure to check out the band’s new record Strugglers when it drops on September 23rd via Doghouse Records.

Band: Mercury Rev
The Album: Deserter’s Songs (V2)

This 1998 record by the upstate New York rockers certainly has found a lot of play over the past decade for me. It is a beautifully arranged record with strings, Wurlitzers, glockenspiels, orchestral drum, set drums, electric guitars, choirs, and a character vocal with hooks but all done in good taste.

Read more after the jump.

This was at a time when every musician seemed to be name dropping Pet Sounds and the desire to arrange as well as Brian Wilson’s “chamber pop.” Deserter’s Songs (not sure if it was their intention) certainly came close if not better. The lyric in opener “Holes” (”of all the stones I throw, how does that old song go?”) has always been such a great pensive moment for me as a listener. At that time of my life, I was doing a lot of international touring with some long flights, and the record had the ability to function as meditation for me. After a show or before a long trip, I’d find myself singing, “gonna leave the city, gonna catch the Hudson Line ’cause you know I love the city but I haven’t got the time” from “Hudson Line.” At the time of its release, I was barely out of my teenage years, and still reluctant to embrace saxophones. The sax line after that aforementioned lyric changed that for good. Again, to pull off all of the instrumentation on this album with taste and class is a feat in itself. While I remember this record best in seasons of autumn and winter, a recent listen (July 2008) on a hot summer day in central Europe proved just as satisfying, making it truly a timeless gem for all seasons. Contrary to “Goddess on a Highway” lyric, “And I know it ain’t gonna last.”

Tags: Koufax, Record (Re)Collection, guest column //