I’ll be honest with you. I don’t normally read the Creative Review. I always feel a bit out of my depth flicking through its pages, like the people who have contributed to it are somehow on a higher creative plane than I am.

One thing I do know a lot about though is the Pet Shop Boys. So when I saw that the special vinyl edition of their most recent album “Yes” – created in collaboration with Farrow and The Vinyl Factory – has made it into the 2010 Creative Review Annual I was delighted.

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When I was a kid I used to absolutely love spending time on the sofa, headphones firmly stuck to my head, listening to a wide variety of LPs that were stacked in in the corner of our living room. I’d spend hours listening to a wide variety of music staring intently at the album covers as the music drifted into my ears and allowed my mind to create stories influenced by the pictures on the album art in front of me.

Now… I’m not going to confess what albums I used to listen to as a child, although am sure if my sister read this she would happily divulge the musical crimes of my youth (Mr Roboto by Styx may appear in that list of crimes), but one of the many album artists that had a profound impact on my imagination growing up was the incredibly talented Storm Thorgerson.

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