This thread comes from a comment by sourpus elsewhere.
He talks about albums that are always near to you and every now and then you just have to welcome back into your life. I think that we all have some of these.
It isn't like you have to hear them all the time, indeed sometimes you really have to take a break from them, but they are massively important to you.
Here are some of mine.
Pink Floyd "Dark Side Of The Moon"
OK, a fairly predictable choice, but this means a lot to me. It brings back such wonderful memories of my teenage years.
Joni Mitchell "Ladies Of The Canyon"
The first Joni album I heard and the one that I grew to love the most. It isn't her most mature work or even her best, but it is special.
Bob Dylan "Highway 61 Revisited"
This is the real deal, it is where the whole counter culture 1960s starts, in my opinion. Bob wrote the greatest single song ever and opened the album with it. "Like A Rolling Stone" changed everything.
CSN and Y "Deja Vu"
I actually like the CSN album better overall, but I fell in love with someone special with this as the soundtrack. My love for the album lasted a lot longer than my love for the person
Bob Weir "Ace"
A Grateful Dead album in all but name. It has some great Dead classics on it. This is the one on this list I no longer own. The CD seems to be unavailable and I lost the vinyl a long time ago. This lives on in my memories only.
Genesis "Foxtrot"
I adore "Supper's Ready" and the rest of the album is pretty good too. I lost my virginity to this album so that is why it means so much to me.
k.d lang "Ingenue"
Simply a classic. It means more to me than I think I can even say. It got me through a lot of difficult times. k.d speaks to me, she says things that I have felt, she sings about feelings I have had, and still have today.
King Crimson "Lark's Tongues In Aspic"
It is just awesome; brutal, overbearing, delicate, soaring and in places achingly lovely. If I could only ever own one CD, this is it.
Van Morrison "St Dominic's Preview"
Not only a great album, but another part of the soundtrack to my life. I shared a lot of my life with someone who was very special to me, she still is in many ways, but we parted. Our lives took different paths and it was impossible to walk on both of them at the same time.
Bob Marley and the Wailers "Natty Dread"
This was the soundtrack to the hot Summer of 1976 for me. Whenever I hear it, it reminds me of sitting on Clapham Common, by the pond, getting stoned with friends and heading off to the pub as the evening set in, to drink ice cold lager, picking up kebabs on the way home and then smoking more dope late into the night.
Bruce Springsteen "Born To Run"
I came late to appreciating Bruce. I first heard this with another lover. She was a huge Bruce fan, as was the boyfriend we were cheating on while he was at work. It became a very messy situation, but when I hear the opening harmonica of "Thunder Road" I am transported back to a very exciting time in my life. "T" had a VW Beetle cabriolet and hearing that song just reminds me of waiting for her to pick me up for a drive somewhere, romantic as hell, I know, but it has a special place in my heart.
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@ carole - great idea for a thread. Here are ten* albums that really mean/meant something to me - not by any means my desert island top ten but a list of stuff with particular memories:
Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant. Which is, of course, one of the greatest album titles of all time - but it's also the album that finally convinced me that Belle & Sebastian were the real deal. I'd heard others of theirs but this is the one that really clicked with me - the rest is history...
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five - blew me away when I first heard it and still does it for me now. It was the soundtrack to my younger daughter's first summer and it always brings back memories of her as a wee 'un.
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Choir - Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares - just rediscovered this recently. Sounds great on the Bose speakers!
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife - I suppose this isn't there yet - but it will ALWAYS remind me of RR and the 'Spill - and all you guys [wipes manly tear from eye]
Everything But The Girl - Eden - this means one thing and one thing only - ToffeeGirl.
The Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin - listened to this on the way back from my mum's funeral. The two are now inseparable.
Focus - Focus 3 - the album of my early teenage years - the 16 minutes of Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! is on my funeral list (sorry, getting a bit morbid now)
Hatfield & The North - Hatfield & The North - a slightly later teenage album. Can't not picture my bedroom at my parents' old house when I hear it.
Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever - Probably my favourite album of all time - not a dud track on it. A rare instance of a group in mid-season form and a reminder that OJ weren't just Edwin Collins - this album would be nothing without James Kirk.
Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback - I think I can remember where I was when I first heard every new Prefab Sprout album - but this one has very strong memories of driving around Loch Ness with ToffeeGirl as we discovered its magic.
Pulp - Different Class - I will still enjoy listening to this when I'm dead - it's that good - it never lets me down.
Squeeze - East Side Story - I must have been very happy when I used to listen to this album every day - everything about it just seems right.
Steely Dan - Katy Lied - this is one that I probably only listen to three or four times a year - and every time it sounds so fresh that it's like listening to it for the first time.
Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise - the first time I heard this, I knew I'd discovered something special. Perfect music for a long journey - just hit 'repeat', sit back and enjoy...
The Wedding Present - George Best - this is my album OK? Mine, do you hear? Mine!!!!!
* Ten? Fifteen? Who's counting???
...a-a-a-a-n-n-d ... here's another thread stopping me from my overdue work admin: this time fighting with Microsoft Picture Manager (to resize / upload some photo ID applications to my accrediting body on their terms, before someone starts with the "Ah, but if you had a Mac and used ..." advice, thangyew)!
Anyways - I'll stick to a UK 10 rather than ToffeeBoy's US-sized 10 . . . ;o)
UFO - Obsession
The record that started it all for me. Not the first LP I ever bought, or even necessarily my favourite UFO album, but WOW does it hit the spot or what?!?!!
Black - 1991 (or 'untitled' or eponymous if you prefer).
Doesn't matter if it's me or DarceysMam packing the holiday CD case, this is usually first in, but in the spirit that this thread is intended, the album gets played less frequently when I'm at home: I don't need it as much, somehow.
Thin Lizzy - Life-Live
Yes, I'm the strange one who prefers this to Live And Dangerous. Lizzy fans the world over pity me!
Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85
Aah, the soundtrack to my Uni placement year in a miserably vile Northants village. Sitting out on the balcony of my warehouse flat with a beer, some sunshine and this LP made life feel a lot better than it actually was.
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
As I splashed on the boxed set CD versions of ReMasters, I rarely play any Zep LP's in their intended running order anymore, but when I need a fix ...
Queen - News Of The World
For a decade, this was the ONLY album three musically-disparate brothers agreed on (the first LP the youngest ever bought). I don't *need* it often, but when "family" is called for, this still does the job.
Free - Fire And Water
The album that used to fulfil the function that Spirit Of Eden does now. Music to calm the savage beast.
Melissa Etheridge's first LP
Um, my post-break-up album. Less said the better, I think.
Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy
Kind of the opposite to Fire And Water. Whereas the Free LP is actually very short but feels much longer because of its soothing properties, this one tends to finish and leave me thinking "Huh? Where did that go?". Thus a fantastic record to work or revise to, because the fix is almost subconscious.
AC/DC - Powerage
Slightly different, in that I was FORCED to know this inside out as 3 of the songs were part of the set of the teenage covers band I had a brief stint in. When it does beat at least three other DC albums to the top of the pile, I'm instantly transported back to a farmhouse attic room near Chester in the late 70s, with memories of the guitarist's pride&joy black Les Paul, the bass player's world-class greasy acne, home brew snaffled from the drummer's dad, and a packet of Polos waiting in the saddlebag of my Raleigh 3-speed outside!!! Not sure that really squares with Bon Scott's idea of a Rock And Roll Damnation, but sod him for writing the out-of-place "Ma's own whippin' boy" in the chorus! I only found out what that line really was via Google last year; I had to deliberately mumble on every single take!!!!
Anyway, enough already, I've got three hours of video and around 400 holiday snaps to transfer to PC, as well as some creditor ppwk from the liquidators of a bust customer before I go to bed.
Carole, you can still buy Ace from the GD shop: http://www.deadnetstore.com/Commerce/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductGuid=5105dcac-b461-47e7-b4bf-649f8798b230&CategoryGuid=5916daae-a70d-4161-ae44-4b6f2c9d7a48 is the gateway to this bit of your past. Unfortunately, it's not a download, so you have to pay international shipping. And the exchange rate isn't as good as it was. But still, what price memories, eh?
Take care. (Didn't see you on the mothership this week. All OK?)
But, Carole, Play.com are saying they have it in stock, too, for £9.91 including poastage! Here's the link: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2808935/Ace/Product.html And it's the remastered version (on the GD albums I've heard, remastered usually means 'much improved sound').
Set that card a-workin'!
Oooookayyy..
Songs Our Daddy Taught Us by the Everly Brothers
The Everlys started their careers singing on their parents' radio station in Kentucky, and these are American folk songs, which are often American versions of British folk songs, as I soon discovered.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The first album I ever bought, and very useful for making my parents rush screaming from the room.
Folk Roots, New Routes by Shirley Collins and Davey Graham
This was lent to me on a semi-permanent basis by a boyfriend of one of my friends...he was so relaxed about the loan that I didn't bother to buy my own copy. This I deeply regretted in later years, after it was deleted; and, when it finally came out on CD and I bought a copy, I found I remembered all the words perfectly.
Concrete Routes, Sacred Cows by the Cock and Bull Band
This was my first Cock and Bull record and (perhaps) my favourite - I have it on vinyl and tape, anyway. I used to go out with the band and sell the records for them; very excited to hear that they're doing a special tour this year for the 30th anniversary of this record, so I hope that means it'll be released on CD at last (and I'll be able to see them).
Desperado by the Eagles
I love every single thing about this record and have ever since I bought it - especially the title track and its reprise, which for me sum up all the poignancy of the decline of the old West (cf Butch cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Also sounds great when sung in the stairwell at my place of business.
The Up Escalator by Graham Parker and the Rumour
Bought this solely because there's a track (Endless Night) featuring Springsteen, but soon found that all the other tracks are wonderful too.
The River by Bruce Springsteen
And speaking of...this is the record that saved me, when I was at a very low ebb, because all the people on it are trying really hard, although not all of them succeed. So just to try hard seemed like a good thing. Thanks, Bruce.
Lovely work displacement fodder, Carole. Only half a dozen from me because I rattle on so:
Back To The World - Curtis Mayfield
My absolute favourite album containing at least three (the title track, Only A Child Again and Keep On Trippin) of my absolute favourite tracks by my absolute favourite artist, and it's one that I discovered, out of a posse of Mayfield obsessives.
Quick almost tangential recollection of a dialogue that sums up my mum:
Me: Oh no! Curtis Mayfield's died.
Mum: Ah, who was he?
Me: He was my favourite musician.
Mum: He must have been old then.
Me (quickly doing maths while reading Guardian report): He was only 58.
Mum: Oh...do you want bacon for breakfast?
I'll Catch The Sun - Sonny Criss
1988. Newly graduated with an unusable degree. The plan was to celebrate each dole cheque with the purchase of one new album. The first fortnight saw the acquisition of an Eric Dolphy album. Two weeks later, the phrase "West Coast with an East Coast sensibility" was playing in my head when I stepped into Circle Records in Victoria Street, above the lesbian bar. Never heard of this alto saxophonist before but the album seemed to fit the bill. Got it home to my record player with one working speaker, fell in love and played it for the rest of the afternoon.
Perfect Angel - Minnie Riperton
No particular narrative here. It's just gorgeous.
three more to come
Doesn't seem to be letting me post so I'll tantalize you with the other three until I get this working again
Let's try once more:
Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
Still the ultimate talmudic text of hip-hop for me. I remember being frothy with anticipation weeks or even months before this came out. And its impact was enormous. The density of production was far removed from anything heard in hip-hop before: it can probably be credited as a source for the development of techno. And then Fight The Power, 911 Is A Joke, Brothers Gonna Work It Out, Who Stole The Soul - enormous tunes - and in Revolutionary Generation, there was enough confidence to critique the group's own gender politics on previous albums.
Down The Highway - Jim Croce
Swamp Dogg's Greatest Hits??? - Swamp Dogg
My introduction to each of these two singer-songwriters, both of whom seem to have emerged from the type of fiction paperback you'd take with you if you were travelling around the States. Dogg would be an Elmore Leonard or Chester Himes; Croce a Steinbeck or Carson McCullers. And I think I know every breath between each inflection of every lyric on both albums.
My infrequent favourites are non-Dead albums, obviously.
Getting Pink Floyd's Piper At The Gates Of Dawn from my local record shop was a huge moment for me. Just listen what noises you can make! Is this pop music?
Nico's The Marble Index. Always a disturbing listen, so can only be done infrequently. But, due to her voice and John Cale's arrangements, utterly entrancing.
Ry Cooder's Into the Purple Valley opened my ears to another new world, and is forever part of the Manchester hippy scene I brushed with.
Little Feat's Sailin' Shoes is just such Louisiana sunshine (well, I imagine it is..).
Soft Machine's Volume Two. Breathtaking changes, musicianship and humour. And Robert Wyatt's unique voice.
Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food. The one that hooked me into Mr Byrne's strange world: Judy's in the bathroom, inventing situations....
PJ Harvey's Dry. So harsh and original.
Shrimp Boat's Cavale. Off-kilter joy. So many individual notes seem to be out of tune and yet it works.
Erm, any chance of those Guardian bold, italic and link buttons here? My HTML isn't really up to much.
Chris - thanks for the Play.com link, credit card has been suitably abused.
The last time I looked there, the only copies of Ace were really expensive and when I asked the man in Fopp to check the availability of Ace, he said their systems had it logged as unavailable.
Still, it will be mine again in a week or so.
Also, I love some of your choices, the Floyd, Ry Cooder and Little Feat albums are all great.
I almost put Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music and Floyd's Meddle on my list in the first place, but I wanted to keep the numbers down. Tommy would have made the list if I had stretched it out to 20 CDs.
@ Chris - html code for bold and italics is very easy. Just enclose the text you want to embolden (is that a word???) like this:
bold
or:
italics
Well the way I relate to this idea is those albums that I've played endlessly over the years and which I continue to play; perhaps I should put them all together so that if ever there was a fire I could just grab them and run. Going back a few decades I'd include Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, though Hwy. 61 would be close, BoB is a perfect album, not a bad cut on it and great musical arrangements.
Beatles would have to be in there, loved Revolver and Rubber Soul, hard to choose.
Bob Marley, another impossible choice, they're all great but if pushed it might be Exodus because of how it fit into my life back then, used to love to dance to Exodus.
I discovered BMW at the same time that I first heard the soundtrack to 'The Harder they come', that's on the list for all the great groups and songs it introduced me to; Toots, Jimmy Cliff, Melodians, Many Rivers, Rivers of Babylon.
Joni: Could be 'Clouds' though anything else from that era would also do. My first wife hated Joni and Dylan so much that when we divorced in about '70 I felt that was a major cause, how could you stay married to someone who absolutely didn't share your musical taste.
Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks' got a lot of play though I haven't bought any of his later stuff.
A group that I went nuts over back in the 60's was Quicksilver Messenger Service, I thought their 'Happy Trails' album was superb, so much so that we came together to make a documentary film about them, I spent a lot of time with them at concerts and in the studio but the film idea died as the group dissolved.
Duke Ellington: I'm the sort of collector that for artists I like/love I buy everything they release, that's very hard with Duke, but there's several early ones that have had repeated play, 'Historically Speaking' on Bethlehem rates very high, the classic '30's band playing a dozen great cuts; another album that gets played a lot just for one cut is 'Ellington Uptown', the cut is the vocal version of 'Take the A train' by Betty Roche, best ever version and I've probably got at least a dozen others.
Louis Armstrong: He formed the All Stars, a small group in the '50's and I bought all they recorded, a personal favourite, 'Louis plays WC Handy', though 'Louis plays Fats Waller' would also be in there.
Errol Garner: One of the all-time great pianists, a guy who anyone can recognise with just 2-3 notes, amazing. I first bought his 'Concert by the Sea' in UK before I left but I now have several copies just in case.
If I had to choose another reggae artist it would be tough but Gregory Isaacs might be him and I'd go for his earlier stuff, perhaps 'Mr. Isaacs' or 'Soon Forward'.
Graceland has to be on the list, I'm into my 3rd-4th copy by now plus the DVD, wonderful album though I'm sure I could include others by PS just as easily.
Finally, one that got me started with African music, 'Bamely Soy' by M'Bilia Bel, a wonderful singer from then Zaire who's backed by the greatest back up band of Soukous musicians, this REALLY is dance music!
I just took a quick scan of my vinyl and realised how many I'd missed, no Who, Stones, Culture, Ella, Basie, Nina, Gil, Miles, Floyd, Brubeck et.al. who should along with many others all be included. Sorry to be so long winded.
Chris
You use this symbol to open the html tag <
the you use i for italic or b for bold
then you close the html tag with >
then you put your text string then you cancel it by doing exactly the same thing but putting a / before the i or b
Doh!!!! My html instructions weren't very clever were they - must ... engage ... brain ... in ... future. Of course I could claim that it was post-modern irony - an attempt to deconstruct the concept of writing instructions in an environment where ... [stop it. Ed]
So, that's
bold
and
italics?
Actually, I've just realised all I need to do is open a Guardian blog comment window, put my comment in there, use their buttons and then copy it all back over here. Then I don't have remember anything. I find that concept more comforting.
But thanks for the instructions, CB and TB. Especially what I'll treat as the Zen version.
Oh, and now I've discovered that trick, I can post a link to a recording of the Grateful Dead concert that took place at the Fillmore West exactly 40 years ago this Friday (plus time difference), in which the Dark Star and Saint Stephen that appeared on Live/Dead were played. I don't know if you've ever heard what went just before the opening fade-in, Carole, but it does add another dimension. The rest of the gig had some good stuff, too.
Live/Dead is, of course, one of my must-save-at-all-costs-in-the-event-of-emergency CDs.
good topic Carole!
not definitive, but the first few that spring to mind of albums that I don't listen every day, but always come back to:
Nirvana - Nevermind
- the soundtrack to my early to mid teenhood. I remember vividly what I was doing and how I felt when I found out Kurt had killed himself. It still makes me sad to think what else he could have contributed to music.
Mogwai - Young Team
- taught me that music didn't need lyrics to be powerful and affecting
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
- in my book, the most beautiful album of all time. Listened to it near constantly when I got broken up with in my mid-twenties.
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
- obvious I know, but I love it!
The Sonics - Here are...
- my favourite US band of the 60's and subsequently my fave US 60's album
Jam - In the City
- The Jam were the perfect mix of Mod and Punk and are close to my ideal band!
Bonnie Prince Billy - Master and Everyone
- sublimely (sorry!) sweet and beautiful and melancholic all at the same time.
...I could go on for-literally-ever.....but those were the first to spring to mind
Why won't this stupid system let me post?
Okay, that was me. I've just spent quarter of an hour pouring out my heart; the system refused to post it, and then swallowed it altogether. Too tired to reconstruct it - spent all day wrestling with fEC costing tools and the Je-S system (you don't want to know) - so will leave it until tomorrow, or some time.
Hi Carole - good post. I have half the albums you mention!
Old favourites that spring to mind for me are:
'Tapestry', Don McLean
The first album I ever bought. My best mate had 'American Pie' which is the better album but I loved Tapestry because it was mine. Check out Magdalen Lane.
'Not'til tomorrow' - Ralph McTell
My parents bought this for me one Christmas and sat politely in the front room and listened to it on Christmas day. They were slightly bemused. I love 'Barges' and 'Another Rain'.
'Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion' - Roy Harper
I first heard RH on Radio 1 'In concert' and couldn't believe my ears. Amazing.
'An Acoustic Confusion' - Steve Tilston
His first album - brings back memories of my first bedsit.'Normandy Days' and 'Sleepy Time on Peel Street' particularly evocative.
'Paranoid Android' - Radiohead
Brilliant. I played it to my best mate and she said she just wantd to take them home and give them a nice cup of tea.
Foo Fighters - 'In Your Honour'
Predictably I like the acoustic CD best but it's all good.
John Martyn - 'London Conversation'
So good I still listen to it. Often.
Wishbone Ash - 'Argus'
Our eyes met across a crowded dancefloor - The Dug Out 1979 - 'Blowin' Free' was playing. The relationship lasted 16 years which was pretty good for something that started in the Dug Out.
'Kulanjan' - Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate - the birth of my son. Well, the labour, anyway.I was out cold for the arrival!
Bob Dylan - 'Blood on the Tracks' - not a big Dylan fan but this got me through my first weekend away from home, working in London when I was 16. And I had the flu.Jack of Hearts.
I could go on, and on, and on ...
My turn, my turn...
sourpus – growing up with music
Okay, so the theme is, ‘Albums I can still listen to that were either formative or just part of the fabric of my life and the changes I went through’
Now, first of all, im really a singles man. Fortunately for me, I lived my first few years addicted to my sister's little read Dansette and all the hundreds of eclectic 45's she left lying around
the bedroom floor. But there were albums...
50,000,000 Elvis fans cant be wrong
This was actually only a sleeve - the wrong one! The record inside was actually another Elvis 'hits' album released around the same time as '50,000,000'; half of the tracks were from the Sun Sessions material. It was the first album I can remember seeing (and playing)in our house. 'Blue Moon', 'Mystery Train' and 'I forgot to remember to forget' were the first songs (apart from singles) by Elvis that I ever heard.
Beatles for Sale
This was the second album I can remember seeing in our house. I played it so much, I knew it back to front. I would imagine myself in the band and play along on tennis rackets, cushions and whatever I could find - to the whole album, end to end, again and again. It was their first grown up album looking back.
Strangers in the Night-UFO
My first rock concert. This album
was like my first drugs. At thirteen! It physically 'sent me' and (given the right mood) still can sometimes.
The Freewheelin’Bob Dylan
When I heard this, I knew something had happened to me; that i'd taken a step towards my future. Together with 'Times they are a changing', it revolutionized my idea of what a song could do - however cliched that sounds.
You cant hide your love forever–Orange Juice
High five on this one, Toffeeboy! I saw Orange Juice, on this tour, supported by Jonathan Richman. The album gave me a sense that my own generation could write and perform music which was joyous and not only angst-ridden. It also musically referenced many of the great singles I grew up listening to.
Ocean Rain – Echo and the Bunnymen
This was also a 'my generation' thing, although I dont think I ever really felt part of any generation fully. Ocean Rain transported me into otherness, which is something ive always enjoyed more than any other feeling.
The Modern Lovers (first album)
This album was like The Bible for me. My love for Jonathan is well documented, but the first ML's album was something else. For a while, they seemed like the perfect ship, helmed by the perfect captain.
Grace - Jeff Buckley
This album took over a year to mean anything to me whatsoever. But when the penny dropped, it dropped as far and as fully as any record ever could. I am wordless at the thought that it was more or less the only shot he was ever gonna get to take. Perfection.
This is it – The Strokes
Like Television before them, this band had the look, the sound, and the moves that have always sat closest to what I wanted a band to be. For a while - I was living in Russia at the time - this album ruled my world.
Cobblestone Runway – Ron Sexsmith
I could have picked from many of Ron's albums. The more I listen to him, the more im convinced that they should bottle his songs and sell them as tonic for everything that ails.
Ows about that then, guys and gals! Eur-a-eur-a-eur!!
I am so loving what people are posting here.
Ali - Argus great album, I was listening to it last Sunday. I love it.
And the Dug Out. That takes me back, i spent many a long night in there - the place was a bloody firetrap looking back, but a great place. Interesting clientele too.
After the Dug Out was closed down by the Council, I moved on to the Western Star Domino Club and the Tropic in Stoke's Croft.
I bet you did too. We must have crossed paths at some time, without knowing it.
Lovely thread, folks. Would jump in, but am feeling to lazy to 'Spill an autobiographical discography just now. Have been listening to "Never As Black" in the car a lot lately as I just reaquired it &, by coincidence, it seems to fit the times we find ourselves in.
hello lovely people, just posted a quick hello on mothership too, as usual i've been skulking around reading the spill for the past three weeks but always at a slightly silly time of night when i ought to be in bed so never got round to posting, now i'm copying a bunch of cds to put on my mp3 player so glued to the computer at least for a little while. i have so enjoyed reading this thread, it made me realise how much i missed your company. i've been thinking about my seismic records, and how quite a few of them seem to come from a single period, when i had a revolt against britpop that meant i would only listen to american indie for three years (fyi, it was delgadoes peloton and belle seb's if you're feeling sinister that encouraged me to start listening to british music again. i guess the three key albums are pavement's slanted and enchanted, slint's spiderland and palace brothers' there is no one what will take care of you. oh, i was going to write more but the computer has suddenly decided it doesn't want to copy doolittle: bad computer! and i've just noticed the time and realised i need to leave the house very soon if i want to be back in time to cook lunch for a pal who's coming over. will return to this later, assuming no new babies arrive inconveniently early...
Albums I can’t live without causes real problems when it comes to Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan, Low, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Van Morrison but I’ve finally settled on “Bop ‘Til You Drop”, “Blood on the Tracks”, “Songs For a Dead Pilot”, “Superwolf” and “Common One”, because, although there are individual tracks on other albums I adore, these are the ones where I love every track (except the almost unlistenable last track on “Common One”. Dear God, that’s a dirge.) I used to listen to Common One over headphones when I lived in North Africa and by September each year would be dreaming about the sound of rain to “Summertime in England” and Haunts of Ancient Peace”.
It’s also been a real conflict between Slint’s Spiderland and Explosions in the Sky’s “Those That Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those That Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever”. Finally, they are both staying in.
Hendrix has to be “Electric Ladyland” though it’s been a tough fight between that and “Axis: Bold As Love”. It’s the long version of “Voodoo Chile” that finally swings it.
Nick Cave will be represented by “The Boatman’s Call”. I played this obsessively when I first got it and it still gets regular outings.
Boards of Canada “Music Has the Right to Children”. It’s just the best chill-out music ever and a slightly sinister title just to keep you on your toes.
Charles Mingus “Mingus Ah-Um”. Again, a tough choice among the jazz.
Beta Band “Hot Shots Two”. I walked through St James’s Park to work on many a morning with this on the headphones.
Dirty Three “Whatever You Love, You Are”. I acquired this at the same time as the Beta Band and they got played alternate mornings through the park.
“Sapphie” by Richard Youngs is last on the list. Three long tracks lamenting his dead dog apparently but his voice is so high and his Scots accent so strong that I couldn’t swear to it. This is the most recent album on the list as I’m not sure I can give classic status to anything more recent. The following are potential stayers:
I think Wolf Eyes may find a place eventually. I’m dithering over Graceland. Sufjan Stevens is probably going to make it as are The Melvins. Neu! should get in somewhere… oh, it just goes on and on…
CaroleB - ahh, those were the days ... have you seen the book "Where's my money"? Link: http://www.wheresmymoney.org.uk/
It's about working in the unemployment benefit office in Nelson St, Bristol, in the '70s. It's very funny and has a resonance for me as I worked in the DHSS at the time, in Fishponds. Anyway, to get to the point, it mentions lots of the Bristol pubs and clubs of the time - quite a nostalgia trip (OK, if you can remember it, you weren't there, I know ...)
I'll have to look that one up, Ali.
Thanks.
I used to spend a fair amount of time in the pubs along King St in the early '80s. We also used to go to the Coach and Horses at the top of Blackboy Hill as well, and the Mauretania at the bottom of Park St.
Because I knew a few nurses, I used to go to the Mandrake too.
Yes ... the Mandrake. Also Chutes (Park St) and the Dockland Settlement, The Granary, Tiffanys (when I was really young!), Coach & Horses and the Kings Arms at the top of Blackboy Hill (Keith Warmington and Steve Payne used to play there). Plus ... Eldon House (opposite QEH) and most of the Clifton pubs - Corrie Tap, Greyhound, Royal Oak (used to have a picture of tombstones on the wall and Thin Lizzy on the juke box). The Plume of Feathers on Hotwells Road (Jonathan Richman on the juke box), the Nova Scotia, The Shakespeare (Totterdown), the Orchard (docks) and the Ostrich. Then we used to cycle to Bath as well ... small wonder I don't drink much these days!
I'v e been thinking about this since the post came up and here's what I thought of:
Outkast's ATLiens: their second album, but I didn't really like the first one when it came out. It's another one of those that remind you of a particular time.
What's Goin' On by Marvin Gaye: This is one that can't be taken out too often for obvious reasons, but when listened as a suite, it still kills.
Trouble man could have tipped it though.
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way: You already know...
Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks
Daft Punk - Homework: when I belatedly accepted electronic music in my ears.
I think that's all i've got at the moment.
One I realise I should have put on my list is the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat. I got my first Dead album, Anthem Of The Sun, around the same time I got this and it's an interesting contrast. The opening lines of Anthem are 'The other day they waited/ The sky was dark and faded/ Solemnly they stated: "He has to die"'. While Anthem resonates with death and joy, White Light/White Heat is full of death and violence, mainlined. Both albums leave you (well, leave me) sated.
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