UKC

There's a thing going round on Facebook at the moment asking people to list ten books that have some significance for them... I thought I'd do it with albums. They don't have to be your favourites, they just have to be significant in some way. If you want to explain why, even better.

Ten albums. Over to you...

In reply to Tall Clare: I'd seen other people doing the ten books thing; I'm rather glad no-one's asked me as narrowing the list down to just ten would take some time. Albums now; that might be even more difficult.

Decisions, decisions...time for a cup of tea and a rumination.

T.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Graceland - Paul Simon. Just always liked it
Substance - New Order. Arguably the first credible record I REALLY liked
Velveteen - Transvision Vamp. Again - just really liked it, it is underrated. This really isn't anything to do with perving at Wendy James either - always thought she looked quite trashy!
So Tough - Saint Etienne. An ambitious work of genius (this is overlooked because it's also catchy pop). Stands up very well today.
Morning Dove White - One Dove. This was my token "non-jangly indie band" album when I started uni in the early-mid-1990s, and everyone else in halls was tediously playing Screamadelica. My ownership of the One Dove album made me cooler than them.
Live Through This - Hole. Cathartic classic. I was never interested in Nirvana.
The Black Swan - The Triffids. I like a lot of Triffids albums but for a while this was the only one I owned.
Gentle Creatures - Tarnation. In which I learned that country music is good.
Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants. Always curious about this band I had never heard, as they were referenced everywhere (Hole's Live Through This has a cover of a song from it!). It has a unique sound, I love the deadpan vocal and the way it's not guitar-driven.
Rock it to the Moon - Electrelane. Changed my life, including getting me back into music after a fallow period. Inspirational.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
Screaming Trees - Dust
Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion
Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Colour Haze - All
Janes Addiction - Nothings Shocking
Dinosaur Jr - Where you been
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The God Machine - scenes from the second storey
Quotsa - songs for the deaf

In reply to Tall Clare:
only 10 ?
Kind of blue /Miles Davis
Blood on the Tracks /Bob Dylan
Recovery / Runrig
Handful of Earth / Dick Gaughan
Planets/Holst (have several versions)
String quarters by Debussy & Ravel
Heavy horses /Jethro Tull
Plutôt guitaire /Maxime Le Forestier
Mi Tierra /Gloria Estefan
Rust Never Sleeps / Neil Young

although only one Dylan is tough & I would really want some reggae, some Nick Drake, Fairport Convention/Sandy Denny but can't decide which albums

In reply to Tall Clare:
Now That's What I Call Music! 8
Now That's What I Call Music! 13
Now That's What I Call Music! 22
Now That's What I Call Music! 23
Now That's What I Call Music! 35
Now That's What I Call Music! 39
Now That's What I Call Music! 47
Now That's What I Call Music! 54
Now That's What I Call Music! 69
Pinky and Perky Down on the Farm.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Funny you should mention this. I'm doing a huge iTunes cull at the moment and have just graduated to the 'O' section. But whilst in the 'N' section, I deleted all but two Nirvana tracks.

In reply to Clauso:

You're the musical equivalent of me. When asked my favourite books yesterday, I cited a couple of Roger Hargreaves' finest...

In reply to omerta:

I was tempted to include something by The Wombles, but struggled to justify their musical prowess over that of Pinky and Perky who were true visionaries.

In reply to Clauso:

<nods> I understand

In reply to Tall Clare:
Significant rather than favourite is an interesting one.

* The Offspring - Smash - about the first album I owned, and the one that got me listening to modern stuff
* Radiohead - OK Computer
* Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
* Mogwai - Come On Die Young
Significant early steps towards weirder and more experimental stuff.
* V/A (Metalheadz) Platinum Breakz 1
Probably the first drum and bass thing I got into, although I've generally been more interested in working back to stuff that came before the Headz than in the stuff that came later.
* The Rub - Hip Hop History - this is a series of downloadable DJ sets rather than an album, but it's responsible for more or less everything I know about oldskool hip hop
* Lee Perry and the Upsetters - Super Ape
* The Congos - Heart of the Congos
Crucial (for me) reggae selections.
* Miles Davis - Bitches Brew. Most of the jazz that I know, I got into by checking out solo projects from Miles Davis sidemen, and my dad's copy of Bitches Brew was where I started with Miles.
* Demdike Stare - Tryptych. Sort of representative of relatively current weirdness.

Of those I probably still listen to Lee Perry, The Congos, Miles, Platinum Breakz, the Hip Hop History things, Demdike Stare and the Aphex Twin, although I the Offspring is the only one I'm really not that bothered about.

In reply to Clauso:

I discovered that the jungle book LP, when played at 45rpm features a lot of Pinky and Perky. Luckily I never played it backwards at 45 or Pinky would have hypnotised me into stealing a mixed bagful of bazooka Joes and pineapple chunks from Woolworths.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Marquee Moon, by Television, changed my musical landscape completely.
Bach's Goldberg Variations, as played by Glenn Gould, has some of the most sublime music. I love it.
Crocodiles, by Echo and the Bunnymen. Just cos.
Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, by Charlie Mingus. Another one that opened my ears to different things.
Blue, by Joni Mitchell. A beautiful collection of songs.
Travelator, by The Egg, is a reminder of a very special time, place and person.
Better Living Through Chemistry, by Fatboy Slim. I played this over and over and over again when I got it. Another one that opened new doors.
Psychocandy, by The Jesus and Mary Chain. Noise!
Fireball, by Deep Purple. First album I bought, and it still rocks.
Smoke and Mirrors, by Trigger. Another one that reminds me of a time and place and person.
Flight Paths, by the Paradise Motel. I immersed myself in this at a particularly bad time, along with the Bunnymen's 'What are you going to do with your life', and they're reminders of coming out the other side.

In reply to Tall Clare:
1.Neil's Heavy Concept Album, Neil Weedon Watkins Pye. The first album I bought with my own earnings and my introduction to pseudo-hippydom.
2.Mr Fantasy, Traffic.
3.The Land of Grey and Pink, Caravan.
4.The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, The Incredible String Band.
5.Hergest Ridge, Mike Oldfield.
6.The Hurdy Gurdy Man, Donovan. I met him at a festival and we chatted for about half an hour before he signed this CD. Top bloke.
7.Pungent Effulgent, Ozric Tentacles.
8.Sabotage, Black Sabbath.
9.Nantucket Sleighride, Mountain. Loved the title track ever since watching Weekend World with Brian Walden in the 70s.
10.Fish Rising, Steve Hillage.

In reply to Tall Clare: OK...

Jethro Tull - Aqualung. Jethro Tull were the first band I 'discovered' by myself; friends were listening to Genesis, Yes, Deep Purple and the like but Tull were a band I'd heard on the radio and sought out more of. Following a first 'greatest hits' purchase, this was the second album of theirs I bought and it's been with me ever since. Not their very best - that's Heavy Horses, I think - but it's been played at intervals since I was 18 and I still think the anti-religion rant of 'My God' is a fine thing.

Camel - A Live Record. A bit of a cheat this, as it's really two albums; the first one selected live tracks and the second a live version of The Snowgoose. Though it's been re-released on an expanded CD version, I still programme the CD player to play the six tracks featured on the first disc of the LP in the order in which the were placed there. Again, a second album purchased after first hearing (and buying) Nude, which is another fine, fine record.

Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink. Another discovery, when I was in my mid-twenties, and another that's played regularly. Possibly the apex of progressive Canterbury-scene whimsy.

Indigo Girls - Rites Of Passage. I always skip pass the execrable cover of the Dire Straits song 'Romeo and Juliet', but the rest of the album is marvellous. Again, another group discovered by my own curiosity (something of a theme here, it appears) rather than something friends were playing.

John Martyn - Solid Air, and
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. Both classics, and for good reason. Tend to get played towards the end of the evening. Another end of the evening play is

Tom Waits - Blue Valentine. It was a close call between this and Raindogs and yes, it does have some weak tracks (the first track is dreadful, a cover of 'Somewhere' from West Side Story) but the rest of it is magnificent stuff. I once got a piano player on the Zeebrugge - Hull overnight ferry to play and sing 'Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis'; it was gone midnight and there were still some kids up with their parents, but you've never seen a bar empty of kids quite so fast as that one did.

The Horslips - The Book Of Invasions. A bonkers concept album (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Invasions_(album) ), and their best album by a country mile. The vinyl version I have is better, not because of some vinyl-sounds-better-than-CD thing, but because the first track on the CD has been re-done and doesn't really match the sound of the rest of it.

Peter Gabriel - So. His best album, and Mercy Street is a particular favourite.

The newly trendy Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love. 'Nuff been said about this recently, but it is a tremendous piece of work.

Richard Thompson - Mirror Blue. There are some sublime tracks on this; King Of Bohemia and I Ride In Your Slipstream are particular favourites.

And that's my ten*. It pains me to omit Argus by Wishbone Ash, The Morrigan Rides Out by The Morrigan, Ommadawn by Mike Oldfield and In Search Of Space by Hawkwind, and on a different day any one of those might be in the list instead of something I've chosen.

T.
*On reviewing this before posting, I've seen that it's actually eleven. Ooops...

In reply to Tall Clare:

Blue - Joni Mitchell
Who's Next - The Who
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse - The Faces
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake - The Small Faces
The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion - the Incredible String Band
The Beatles (White Album)- The Beatles
How Dare You - 10cc
Rock and Roll Animal - Lou Reed
Next - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie

Ten from my teens all related to memories of people and events, mostly good some not quite so good.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos 1-4 - First significant classical album bought
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - First jazz album I enjoyed
Mr Bungle - Cabaret Voltaire - sounded different
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - coolest album my parents owned!
Paco de Lucia - Entre dos Aguas - given to be by a Spanish friend of the family when I was a child. Incredible album
Freewheelin - Bob Dylan - my favourite Dylan, such a great talent at a young age
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - not my favourite sabbath album but their most striking
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland - great introduction to the electric guitar and excellent lp cover for a teenager
Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation - fusion!
Ry Cooder - Buena Vista Social Club - who doesn't like this album!

In reply to Clarence:


I was a big fan of Mountain, I'm pretty sure the bit they used for Weekend World was from the live version on "Mountain Live, The Road Goes Ever On"

In reply to Hat Dude:

Could be, I'll have to dig out the original. It was WW that made me seek out the album though.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Minor Threat - complete
CRASS - stations of
Subhumanz - The day the county stood still
Buzzcocks - singles going steady
Damned damned damned
Bouncing souls - manical laughter
Public enemy - It takes a nation
Boogie down productions - by any means
Decendants - milo goes to college
Eric B and Rakim - paid in full

In reply to tony:



Ooh you just reminded me of what I need to put on one of the threads about covers. The Paradise Motel's version of "Drive" by The Cars is just HEAVENLY

In reply to Tall Clare: Seems a better use of my time than writing a grant application so here goes:

Waking Hours - Del Amitri: My school mate Ben (now a guardian film journalist) brought it into a music lesson, first time I heard the word "Indie" a lot of the rest follow from this. I brought in Queen - The Miracle.

Spartacus - The Farm: Me and brother clubbed together our pocket money and bought this tape, I guess was the first deliberate album I bought that reflects my music tastes

Leisure - Blur: First listen on a walkman on the bus down to a school trip to Aachen

August and Everything After - Counting Crows: Tape to tape copy from a mate, whenever I hear a song for it now it just transports me back to 6th form

Definitely Maybe - Oasis: The sound of starting university, sing alongs at the student union, the album cover on my wall!

If you're feeling sinister - Belle and Sebastian: Sound track to a uni walking club trip to Scotland

Young Team - Mogwai - game changer started an eduring passion for all things mogwai, slightly tragically I realized I am wearing the t-shirt today too.

Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada (an EP strictly) - GSYBE partly because it was recommended to me after chatting about mogwai with someone in a record shop in Flagstaff, during a great holiday, but mainly because it's great

The Decline of British Sea Power - BSP - The sound of entering the real world, first proper job, living in Nottingham, regular gigs at the Social and Leadmill. They were still sounding good at the End of the Road festival last weekend too.

Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam -Ghostpoet - Just to bring the list up to date and is a bit different to the rest, had it blasting out of the car on a series of sunny sport climbing trips to Chapel Head Scar last year.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I'm going off to Google "Coolest Albums Ever". Frankly I've never heard of half of the stuff that folk have posted on here. I don't see the Spice Girls ANYWHERE

In reply to Ava Adore:


I'll tell you what you want - what you really really want

Mine, in no particular order:

1. Ritual de lo Habitual - Jane's Addiction - one of the first albums I can remember having to make a concerted effort to listen to. That, and my mum going bananas over the cover artwork...
2. Diamond Mine - King Creosote & John Hopkins - it's been something of a soundtrack to the last year or so.
3. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Aphex Twin - this formed the soundtrack to my last two years of art school.
4. The Decline of British Sea Power - British Sea Power - early thirties, in-car soundtrack to various Friday evenings heading off for climbing weekends.
5. And out come the wolves - Rancid - this spent two significant periods in my life, one during my first year of art school when I was mostly just stoned and paranoid, and then again in my late twenties when I'd lost my way.
6. Live through this - Hole - again, first year of art school, and then I rediscovered it and played it a lot last year. Various family issues meant that I felt like I was reliving my late teens, so it was all rather fitting.
7. () - Sigur Ros - a brief period living back with my parents in my mid-twenties after my head caved in somewhat. Set me off on a love of a lot of Icelandic music
8. Old Low Light - Kathryn Williams - I spent so much time listening to this that it feels like it's worn a groove into my head.
9. Last Splash - Breeders - soundtrack to a particularly good summer of larking around when I was eighteen.
10. Bryter Later - Nick Drake - because it's like a multifaceted stone; it keeps coming back to me in different ways, with different songs having relevance each time.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Spirit, 12 Dreams -- Just fab
Incredible String Band, 5,000 Spirits -- Lots of instruments
G. Dead, Live Dead -- Resplendent dragon music
J. Airplane, After Bathing at Baxters -- Like, trippy
Quicksilver MS, Happy Trails -- Guitar slingers
Joy Division, Closer -- Creamy depressives
Can, Saw Delight -- Groovy groove
Durutti Column, LC -- Echoey
Dylan, Blonde on Blonde -- On this one the drums really shine, and I like the keyboards. Lyrically Bob outshone himself, too.
Bunnymen, Heaven Up Here -- Strictly for protein

In reply to Ava Adore:


I'm actually finding it quite cool - it's kind of interesting when something that I really like fits into someone else's tastes even though they're clearly quite different in some other respects.

1. Human's Lib - Howard Jones - first concert for me and had to hitch it back from dundee aged 14.
2. Hats - The Blue Nile.
3. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
4. Leftfield - leftism - can't be beaten.
5. Renaissance The Mix Collection - Sasha and Digweed. Start of my collection of mix CD's. Just edged out # 4 in same series, Ian Ossia.
6. Nothern Exposure - Sasha and Digweed. Just pure class.
7. Man with a movie camera - Cinematic Orchestra.
8. Global Undergound 13 Ibiza - Sasha - best running tunes ever.
9. Buzzin Fly vol 2 - Ben Watt. Super smooth.
10. Global Undergound 40: Hamburg - Solomun - Just received it today and it's only been on for 20 mins. A welcome return for GU city series.

In reply to Ramblin dave:


Yup, I have been checking out the rest of the list from some that intersect mine using spotify. Finding some cool stuff I had overlooked. I love these threads, you can't put this kind of stuff on Wikipedia.

In reply to coachio:

Leftism is such a good album love it

Prodigy - Experience
Herbie Hancock - Future Shock
Portishead - Dummy
PNAU - PNAU
Empire of the Sun - Walking on a dream
Daft Punk - Homework
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Fat Freddies Drop - Based on a true Story
Order Odonata - Dragonfly Vol 1

In reply to Tall Clare:

Space - Spiders, the first album I bought
Hundred Reason - Ideas above our Station, the support act at the first big gig I went to and I ended up like then more than the main act (Papa Roach)
Prodigy - Fat of the Land, the album to have when I was at school
Lemon Jelly - Lost horizons
Pendulum - In Silico
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
UNKLE - War Stories
65 Days of Static - The destruction of small Ideas

In reply to Tall Clare: No particular order

1. Yes - 90125... been listening to it 25 happy years and its still a regular although I am also very keen on The Yes album and Fragile, less fond of the middle overblown era although I do own Tales From Topographic Oceans in extended form... 3 CDS and 6 tracks.
2. Tull - Songs from the wood - for me the quintessential mid era Tull... although I listen to Crest of a Knave more often now.
3. Mike Oldfield - hats off to those name checking other albums of his but Tubular Bells 1 as I still love it - my 4 year old son loves it.... my 2 year old daughter loves it and it did carry me on to different and in some ways more challenging albums like Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn and the bliss of listening to Incantations straight through on longer car journeys these days.
4. Stranglers - The Collection.... an amazing compilation that resulted in me owning every Album released by original line up, most of subsequent line ups, and much of the solo and Hugh Cornwell work also
5. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto Number 1 in D Minor - amazing introduction to classical music.
6. Michael Nyman - The Kiss and other movements... adore Water Dances, the Nose List song is just barking and Images were introduced is an amazing example of what a trained voice can actually do. 'Modern' classic at its finest.
7. Rush - Grace under pressure. Oft overlooked from 80s synth era but a strong album and more importantly the first I really got into. From here I now own everything else the band have ever done, have read most of Neil Peart's books and have seen them 4 times. I don't necessarily idolise every album but I'm happily listening to most of them still. For more 'credibility', Caress of Steel and 2112 deserve mention, and counterparts is the last 'good' one in my opinion.
8. ACDC - Back in Black - last saw them in Glasgow 2 (3?) years ago and they still rocked, despite knocking on 60.....
9. Mary Gauthier - Mercy Now. A country singer who has really lived. No bubblegum and rhinestones on this one. Check the lyrics to 'I drink' for a flavour of her particular reality.
10. Led Zep 1. Astonishing in its time and still now.

In reply to Tall Clare:

My stamp album.

In reply to Clauso:











Brilliantly refreshing!

In reply to Clauso:
Dark side of the moon- Pink Floyd
Elder sentiments - Prolapse
Flood epiphany - the yellow trouser fronts
Beech spam- The early trees
Party time!- Russ Abbot
School Boy Blues- The Crankies
Love handle - The Pink Oboes
Contemporary jazz- square triangle
Nursery favourites- Iggy Pop
Cornflake Girl- Kellogg's bowl
Plasterers Radio- Whiteface

In reply to Tall Clare:

Mine are....

A Walk Across The Rooftops by The Blue Nile - evokes poignancy like nothing else

The Smiths by The Smiths - first listened to this while reading Dead Babies at the same time; my cultural induction circa 1995

Second Toughest In The Infants by Underworld - one song, in particular, sends me right back...

August And Everything After by Counting Crows - drinking and meeting and hurting and falling into love and then out again; when I was first part of a 'gang'

Night Train by Oscar Peterson - first eye-opener to jazz and led me to find more of Peterson's epic work

Raw Like Sushi by Neneh Cherry

Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos

Loveless by My Bloody Valentine

Mozart's Requiem (his difficult second album)- first piece of classical music I fell head over heels with

Liszt's La Campanella - not strictly an album but this has the biggest significance of any music; often, I find it very hard to listen to.

In reply to Tall Clare:

1) Queen - Queen II. Was totally obsessed with this album as a young child.
2) Red Hot Chili Peppers - What Hits?! The album of my early teenage years. This is a nice walkthrough of some of the better funky stuff from RHCP's early career. About 10 million times better than the MOTR crap they release now
3) White Zombie - Astro Creep: 2000. Brilliant memories of this tiny little rock/metal club I used to hang out in when I was 18 or so
4) Rancid - And Out Come the Wolves... One of those albums that always makes me smile (and often results in the needle touching 100mph if I am driving)
5) Rolling Stones - Flashpoint. A live album that was the soundtrack to the time I spent in S America after my PhD
6) Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night. I actually don't like this much, but it is inextricably linked with childhood memories of Sunday afternoons playing outside while Mum cooked roast dinner
7) Faithless - Reverence. Listened to this a lot in my early 20s, soundtrack to many climbing trips
8) Gomez - Bring It On. Linked in my head with university club climbing trips and an unrequited crush
9) Led Zeppelin II. One of my favourite albums anyway, but also something that I listen to a lot with Dad, usually over beer and a curry
10) Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Not my favourite Floyd album, but it reminds me of driving through Scotland at night accompanied by a display of the northern lights
11) An honourable mention for The Counting Crows - August and Everything After

It's odd, most of these I wouldn't put down in a list of favourite albums and I don't listen to much any more, but they are all albums that can pull me back to a particular time in my life.

In reply to kathrync:

1) Jethro Tull - Aqualung, first record bought from my pocket money
2) Motörhead - No sleep ´til Hammersmith - First hard rock / metal album
3) J.S. Bach - Mass in B minor by Phillip Herreweghe - The one classical recording that taught me to compare different recordings of the same piece. Costly exercise, as I chucked out half of my classic CDs over the next few years just to replace them with better stuff.
4) Gillian Welch - Revival
5) Händel - Giulio Cesare in Egitto with Tuva Semmingsen - discovered my favourite mezzosoprano (bought it because of Andreas Scholl)
6) Son House - Death letter
7) Lynyrd Skynyrd - One more for the road

In reply to Tall Clare:

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Darkside of the Moon - Pink Floyd (the first albums I ever bought)
Automatic for the People - REM
Achtung Baby - U2
Lord of the Rings - Bo Hansson
Pawn Hearts - Van Der Graaf Generator
The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage - Peter Hammill
Nadir's Big Chance - Peter Hammill
Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - The Pogues
Big Calm - Morcheeba

In reply to Tall Clare:

Not sure about top ten as it can very with my mood. The top two never changes though:

Hawkwind: Space Ritual (CD version with 'Shouldn't do that' on it) and
Planet Gong: Floating Anarchy. Usually skip the first track though.

These are the albums I keep coming back to. Don't know why I think they're so good, I guess I just like heavy rock with some psychedellic oddness.

In reply to nastyned:


I'd say that for favorites, for sure. But the question in the thread is a bit different (and possibly more interesting) - it's specifically "significant" albums - ones that you'll never forget first hearing, ones that opened you up to a new style or a new band, ones that are inextricably linked with a time or place or person...

In reply to Clarence:


Yeah, partly that or partly seeing how the same album can make sense in the context of very different tastes - eg some people listen to Krautrock as an extension of prog and psychedelia, some people listen to it as a radical, politically charged forerunner of post-punk, some people listen to it as a minimal, repetitive forerunner of electronica...

In reply to Tall Clare:

Wading through my records bring up these beauties from the past, all treasured then and now.

Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic
Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Johnny Cash - American III
Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits - Vol 1
Leftfield - Leftism
The Clash - London Calling
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang
Stones Roses - Stone Roses
Mississippi John Hurt - Last Sessions

In reply to Tall Clare:

riiiight
1. New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. Because it's brilliant
2. Rush - Signals Not their best or most definitive, but the album of the first gig I went to
3. Richard Thompson Rumour and sigh See 1.
4. Fairport Convention - A History of... where my folk rock began. Seedy shared houses a la Angel Delight
5. Kate Bush Hounds of Love - women and hormones and stuff
6. Peter Gabriel So. That's how you do a live gig
7 Genesis Nursery Crime. I'm sorry. Actually, no I'm not
8. Levellers - Levelling the land. For Blue Straggler, but also a mis-spent youth
9. Hawkwind - In search of Space For all the evenings at Leicester Rock Soc. in the '80s
10 The Oysterband - Holy Bandits. Yes, well the Oysters have sort of helped me navigate adulthood.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I see you point but I couldn't really think of albums with signficance other than I really like them. Maybe I need to ponder more...

In reply to Tall Clare:

Great thread Clare but I'm going to have to ponder for a while

In reply to Tall Clare:

UFO - Strangers In The Night: on the sixth form common room turntable almost constantly when first released; one of the best live albums ever…

The Clash - London Calling: simply magnificent from beginning to end…

Cowboy Junkies - Lay It Down: happy memories of Lundy…

Queen - News of the World: the first 'proper' album I ever bought and the point in life my parents finally realised there was no hope…

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run: the first 'proper grown-up' album I ever bought; been a massive fan ever since…

REM - Reckoning: saw them performing Pretty Persuasion form this album this on Whistle Test; changed my view of 80's music…

Robert Plant - Pictures at Eleven: there was life after Led Zeppelin after all…

Screaming Trees - Dust: the godfathers of Grunge…

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street: the 'other' London Calling; not many bands manage a double album with no duff tracks…

Jeff Buckley - Grace: Cliched I know, but his cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is just great…

In reply to Tall Clare:

What a great idea. I haven't listened to 9 of these for about 20 years, but they are the ten that meant the most at the time. Listed in approximate chronological order of my hearing them, starting from the age of about 10 until 17- the formative years obviously

Wings - Band On The Run

Eerily pre-dating Alan Partridge by about 15 years, I thought this was far jollier and easier to sing along to than my parents' only Beatles album, the rather pedestrian Beatles Ballads collection

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

I used to ask to leave the dinner table to sit by the speakers and sing along to Walk Of Life - how I loved that synth riff. It was the first single I ever bought (the second being Snooker Loopy by Chas and Dave)

Queen - A Night At The Opera

My mate Dan and I used to be able to sing half a dozen Queen albums word (if not note) perfect from start to finish. I remember we annoyed a lot of Ramblers on the Cleveland Way belting this whole album out once on a hike with the Scouts

Meatloaf - Live At Wembley

I was beginning to discover girls by now, and those backing vocals to Took The Words made me feel a bit funny inside. I wasn't 100% sure why

Guns and Roses - Appetite For Destruction

Getting a (tiny) bit rebellious now and was delighted to find that my parents didn't like the album cover one bit. My friend Simon was learning the guitar and demanded I went round to his house to listen to him the moment he'd (kind of) mastered the Sweet Child Of Mine solo

Levellers - Levelling The Land

Yes Becky Ford, I still remember you

Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4

Terrible cardigan but great guitar sound and tunes. Beginning to get into Indie

Pixies - Doolittle

Proper weird and very cool. Bought some cherry Doc Martens after listening to this, wore them to a party, left them in the hall and some nasty boys in track suits pi$$ed in them when I wasn't looking

Belly - Star

Who remembers that brilliant BBC2 show called No Nirvana, Nevermind? Live performances from the best American Indie bands of the early 1990s. Obviously, being a teenage boy, I couldn't keep my eyes off Tanya Donelly and the amazing bass player in the bikini. Probably the only band ever where nobody ever looked at the (male) lead guitarist

Sugar - Copper Blue

The moment it all changed forever. The first few seconds of chugging riffs were no different to many other sounds of the day, then BOOM. Behind the lines "hours slipping by as you watch the worlds collide" was the most sublime guitar sound ever recorded in the studio. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and a lump came to my throat. I spent the next six months telling my mates to forget Pavement, Dinosaur Jr and the rest and that Bob Mould was God. Over 20 years later and this record still gives me goosebumps and I still listen to it most weeks

In reply to philipivan:


Now THIS brings back memories!! I was watching THE Old Grey Whistle Test one night (MANY moons ago Edit. 1982! GULP ffs) and saw a band performing a song called "Little sister". I was completely BLOWN AWAY. I was desperate to know who they were.....cue "Whispering" Bob Harris at the end and all I caught was "Barracuda"! Next day I went to my local record shop and believe it or not when I said "Barracuda" The guy laughed and I bought "Bop till ya drop". Been a BIGGGG fan ever since.

youtube.com/watch?v=PkAiNeZmJMo&

ENJOY

OH and thanx for the memories Phil!
P.S. I'll post MY top 10 soon! GREAT THREAD!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Metallica- Ride the Lightning- first vinyl i ever bought.
Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream- Just class.
NOFX- Goodbye and thanks for all the shoes- Greatest modern American punk album ever and the album that opened me to things other than metal and thrash.
China Drum- Goosefair- criminally underrated band that were the soundtrack to my 3/4th year at high school and lifted me out of a Nirvana shaped hole.
Tool- Lateralus- Just the best guitar album ever recorded by one guy.
Screaming Trees- Uncle Anasthaesia- just awesome. Mark Lanegan has the quintessential bluesey/dirty rock voice.
Pink Floyd- Wish you were here- soundtrack to my entire first year at uni getting wasted.
Green Day- Dookie- soundtrack to the summer of my 16th year on earth. Legendary for all sorts of reasons!
Peatbog Faeries- Faerie Stories- my reintroduction to (a variation)of trad Scots music I was brought up with and which has shaped my current musical tastes.
Ed Alleyne Johnson- Echoes- brought about a love for violin.

In reply to Ava Adore:


I don't think that I've ever been so jealous of anyone

In reply to Tall Clare:

Phew .. . . Ok here goes!

1. Sergeant Pepper . . . . I had a copy of ELP' s Pictures At An Exhibition, thought it was pish and swapped it for this. Mind blown

2. Live & Dangerous. . . . Bought with my first week's wages ( £23.24 ) and then spent some of the following weeks (£4) on a ticket to see them at The Glasgow Apollo.

3. New Boots & Panties . . . . So rude!

4. Power In The Darkness ( TRB ) . . . .little bit of politics.!

5. Sheik Yerbouti ( FZ ) I may well have smoked my first joint whilst listening to this.

6. Peter Gabriel . . . His first album = rainy days in suburban Glasgow

7. Abandoned Luncheonette ( Hall & Oates ) first flat.

8. Recovery ( runrig ) Glasgow gigging . . . . .took my daughter to Glasgow Yooni yesterday for an open day and got a bit nostalgic!

9. Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too ( New Radicals ) Cuillin Ridge Choons.

10. What . . . . . .? You only gave me ten . . . . . .?

In reply to Tall Clare:

Hell, here's another one. Not heard these for what, 30 years?

The Beatles, Rubber Soul -- Mop top marks
Soft Machine, Two -- Or is it One?
Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirly Birds, Potatoland -- Sometimes, Randy, you know it makes me feel strange
Love, Forever Changes -- One sublime side, forget the other
Roy Harper, Flat Baroque and Berserk -- Et tu, Roye?
B52s, Whammy! -- Hello, I'm Cindy, and I am a Pisces
The Only Ones, The Only Ones -- Space travel's in my blood
The Velvet Undergound, The Velvet Undergound -- Shiny, shiny
Pink Floyd, Piper at the Gates of Dawn -- Lime and limpid green
John Martyn, Solid Air -- It's husky, man

In reply to Sam Beaton:

Great post Sam. I don't know quite few of these but now I'm going to have a listen to at least your last three.

In reply to crustypunkuk:

Is he the guy in Gutter Twins? I love Idle Hands and Bete Noir.

In reply to coinneach:


Not a significant album for me but definitely one of my favourites!

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Yes Dave - he is the guy in the Gutter Twins...

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Indeed. If you're into his voice, there are lots of Desert Session cds with him too too!

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Specials - The Specials
Too Much Pressure - The Selecter
World Shut Your Mouth - Julian Cope
Black Celebration - Depeche Mode
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Odin - Julian Cope
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Beautiful Collision - Bic Runga
To Lose my Life - White Lies
Log Bomb - Bob Log III

Can we have classical music? If so:
Symphony Number 3 (the Dawn Upshaw one) - Gorecki

Yeah, my list goes up to eleven.

In reply to Sam Beaton:

Some crackers there (and the explanations!) and yes, Copper Blue - what an album! Must dig it out -I have it on vinyl but no turntable, and on CD but that's buried in the depths of my car...

In reply to hokkyokusei:




'Death' off that is one of my all time favourite songs. Good choice!



I was going to include that! Bah!

In reply to felt:


Really, which is which? I think the whole album is pretty much flawless

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Screaming Trees were outstanding on the No Nirvana, Nevermind programme too. Must be available online somewhere, surely

In reply to hokkyokusei:




Great choice. Just brought back an awesome memory of seeing the Selecter live. After the gig we got chatting, I was 18, Pauline was............
I F*cking love Ska!
And I'll always love Pauline!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Sod it . . . . I want a top 20 !

10. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs ( Derek & The Dominos ) Eric Clapton at his absolute peak. Guitar breaks to cry to. Duanne Almann is pretty good too.

11. American Pie ( Don McLean ) Hello Vincent . . . .. Farewell virginity.

12. Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol IV ( Ivor Cutler ) Genius

13. Solid Air ( John Martyn)

14. Other Voices Other Rooms (Nancy Griffiths) was our Honeymoon soundtrack and still playing tunes from it with my band 21 years later.

15. In The Heart Of Saturday Night ( Tom Waits) who is this guy?

16. Street Legal ( Dylan ) my favourite Dylan album

17. Gold ( The Carpenters) what a voice!

18. Love Is Hell ( Ryan Adams ) just for I See Monsters

19. Air Cut ( Curved Air ) a moment in time

20. Abbey Road

In reply to Tall Clare:
I saw this earlier on fb via a mutual friend...so, and in no particular order, ten albums (might be difficult narrowing it down) which have had a real significance in my life, some, but not all of which I still listen to!

UB40 - Labour of Love...the first album I ever got into (aged 11) which sparked off a lifelong love of music and lengthy career in it too. I so wanted to be Ali Capmbell!

Metallica - Master of Puppets...turned onto this aged 15 in 1988 by my guitar teacher Gizz Butt. It blew my mind but inadvertently was the reason why I ended up with a Slayer tattoo a couple of months later!

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds...spawned a passionate love affair with the Beach Boys that endures to this day.

Bread - The Sound of Bread (compilation)...after hearing 'If' on the radio and not knowing who it was by I asked around until a friend lent me this album. Still one of my favourite bands 20 odd years later.

The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band...at the age of 18 and having spent my whole life regarding the Beatles a over-rated scouse gits I smoked my first joint whilst listening to this album. Let's just say my life went seriously awry for the next decade!

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon...an extension of the above.

Queen - Sheer Heart Attack...I discovered Queen and became obsessed aged 13 and this album was always my favourite.

Yngwie Malmsteen - Odyssey...after hearing this at 16 I spent the next year trying to be him and even persuaded my then girlfriend to buy me a £1000 Yngwie signature model strat!

Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness First Finall...my favourite Stevie album, discovered at a time when I needed it most. It lives in my car!

The Carpenters - Yesterday Once More (compilation...I first heard this aged 18 and it made me realise that I loved songs more than anything, regardless of their stylistic setting.

In reply to crustypunkuk:

They're still gigging, and still awesome.

In reply to Nicholas Livesey:

Didn't I nominate you, good sir?

In reply to omerta:

Oh, so that's what moniker you use on here eh?

You nominated me for the books one...I can't read so couldn't join in!

In reply to Tall Clare:

1. Hunky Dory - David Bowie

that was the easy bit, thinking of another 9 might take a little longer

In reply to Padraig:

I had a sandwich today. Fish on Ry.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Well tis a tought one, but i like a challenge!

In no particular order:

Beach boys Greatest hits - Used to listen to this album every night when i went to sleep when i was really little, and i suspect i learnt most of the lyrics while i was asleep!

Nivana - Nevermind. It was the first album i bought, aged 10, and introduced me to the idea of listening to music that was outside the mainstream

Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz 2 - huge album for me, I bought it as i discovered i loved big bass, and subsequently decided to go to uni in Bristol in search of a decent drum and bass scene.

Aphex Twin- come to daddy EP - I went to visit my older brother at uni in london when i was 16 or 17, we went to a drum and bass night and earlier that evening i watched the come to daddy video in his flatmates room, i'd never seen or heard anything like it. And so began my love of electronica and other weird and wonderful music types.

Aphex Twin Selected ambient works volume 2 - I lost my virginity to this album and wrote a very complex poem about it... "I lost my virginity to aphex twin, ambient works volume 2 i think".

Eels - Beautiful Freak - I went to visit my dad while he was working in new york, and we drove around in a big american camry thing listening to this album as we drove across the brooklyn bridge, not particularly earthbreaking bit a very vivid, happy memory

Mu-ziq - Royal Astronomy - again, something i went to see with my brother, but also an album i used to listen to with one of my best friends, and would drunkenly sing along to. A happy memory from my days at uni.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion - A shared favourite of mine and my wife, she walked down the aisle to the intro to the song 'My Girls'

Gravenhurst - Fires In distant buildings - An artist I shared a passion with with one of my friends who unfortunately dies in an accidental(?) overdose. I'll never know. the bleakness of the lyrics and beauty of melody was kind of apt for his incredibly funny, but equally tragic life.

Lubomyr Melnyk - Corollaries. I simply love this album from start to finish, so moving, so beautiful. whatever mood i'm in, it supercharges it!

In reply to hokkyokusei:

It was about 15 years ago i saw them, and the small crowd was entirely old punkers, but as a young man introduced to it by a workmate, i ended up winning, And after a drink at the bar after the gig might i say that Pauline was absolutely stunning given that she was at that point in her late 40s and was more than happy to have the attention of a healthy young man!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Abbey Road
Rock Machine Turns You On (CBS sampler)
Flat Baroque and Berserk
The Who Live at Leeds
Led Zeppelin II
Hot Rats
History of Fairport Convention
Speaking Tongues
Rain Dogs
Swordfishtrombones

In reply to Fredt:



I wonder if Tom Waits is disproportionately popular among climbers, and if so, why? Apart from the obvious fact that climbers have taste...

In reply to Tall Clare:
Ok

Sergeant Pepper: not purchsed until much later but so influential in that it had the best collection of the sort of songs that made me happiest as a kid. Clever clever ground breaking pop.

Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous... my brothers and I used to listen to Tommy Vance and the Friday rock show and so became very rock influenced and from that time this was amongst the first albums I brought and certainly the first I fell in love with. Raw animal joy.

Dark Side of the Moon: production perfection so much so that it can still send shivers down my spine these days and the social critique hasnt dated. Towards the peak but nearing the end of my old rock (British Progressive) phase.

The Lamb lies Down on Broadway...still not sure what this means but found it completely hypnotic and it cemented my long love affair with Gabriel's work and signalled the death of my older rock phase.

London Calling: I was always with the punk movement in terms of sensibilities and loved the wonderful singles but this was the album that did the most for me and also showed the way for what could follow. Pips the much more sleazy but still brilliant Ratus Novegicus.

Lodger: Bowie does punk. It and Heros blew me away and really got me into his back catalogue. I'd always liked the singles and his flamboyance but was too young at the time most came out to see what it all added up to.

Specials, The Specials the ska two-tone movement sort of came out of where the Clash were taking me but linked into quite a few other things. One of my brothers was at Coventry Poly at the time. Social Commentary and pure joy in the music. At the time UK music possibilities seemed to be expanding in so many directions that what I perceived as a slow down in the mid 80s was a bit of a shock.

The Queen is Dead, Smiths: the height of their pomp where misery became art and it became like a warning signal to me that leaner times for me were setting in. It's probably an age thing as well as I certainly think teenage to early twenties are really important for music and that my times were one of those lucky times.

Asleep in the Back, Elbow: which I found utterly gorgeous and is perhaps a sign I was at last mellowing into middle age.

In reply to Tall Clare:

That was nine. I was trying to think of something that summed up the period from the back part of the the 80s to the mid noughties and all the albums that involved changes and new hopes and joys (all not quite as bright as in my youth). Some Brit pop was good (Different Class would be the one that affected me most there) all the dance related stuff that reminded me of punk and post punk (maybe Blue Lines ?) but probably the one I listened to most is sad old Radiohead's Kid A.....maybe indicating slow ossification ?

In reply to Sam Beaton:

1. Good; 2. Not so much

In reply to Nicholas Livesey:


Yep, forever lurking!

In reply to omerta:

Hardly recognised you as you've lost your accent

In reply to Ramblin dave:


As the Daily Mash once said "Save money on buying a Tom Waits album by asking a tramp what he thinks about his ex-wife while kicking an accordion around"...

In reply to Clarence:


Excellent! Even tho' I think Tom waits is great

In reply to Sam Beaton:

Agreed. I love the latest cd version with the extras of all the takes for one of the songs and the 2 guitar solos.

In reply to Greenbanks:


Me too!

Also:
http://terrycraig.tumblr.com/post/49393367961

In reply to crustypunkuk:

you



This'll interest you then

http://www.belgrade.co.uk/event/three-minute-heroes

In reply to Hat Dude:

No, that's too much nostalgia...

In reply to Tall Clare:
Even tougher than the book challange still here goes

Iron Maiden - Number of the beast Because it's just great even now after 30 + years still stands up well.

REM - Automatic for the people - Discovered when my first child was born and played (too loud and repeatedly for most of a year) I swear it has a soothing effect on her now aged 20.

Marillion - Missplaced Childhood - The whole album was an awakening to me and the potentials / pitfalls of life, gets rather down but finishes with optimism. The title track continues to be my phone ringtone, for and album thats more than 30 years old.

Tuck & Patti - Tears of Joy, I just love the cover versions, in my opinion some of the best versions I have heard.

U2 - Rattle & Hum, Nothing beats "Still Havn't Found" live with the Harlem Gospel Choir. Oh wait Joshu Tree was great as well, argh!

Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith

Sex Pistols - Nevermind the B! Probably anyone of the live or bootleg albums I had were better, but I still have this in my car for those moments I need to feel wreckless again.

The Pogues - (Best Off) Because it's always fun

Oh no, now I'm stuck

Has to be some Pink Floyd (Probably Division Bell), Queen (Probably Greatest Hits just because I've bought it on every media), Oh I need some Boss as well, Born in the USA no wait Ghost of Tom Joad,

STOP! New Model Army Vengence! has to be one of the top ten especially when I'm really angry!

Music, I always think I'd like to do desert island discs but the trouble is every day would be a new list.

I could listen to Snow Patrol, Keane, Early Coldplay, Elbow, Mumford & Sons etc all day in the car, but someone regularly in there puts a stop to it!

No look there is no Ramones, Undertones, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Dylan, Manics, Pulp, Smiths, Paul Simon (Graceland & Rythum of the Saints)

TEN ALBUMS IS JUST NO WHERE NEAR ENOUGH.

Quick check reveals 6,500 tracks in the car. Why not publish your car / Ipod playlist instead!

In reply to Clarence:


Pahahahahahaaaaaa!

In reply to Tall Clare:
1 Beatles: Rubber Soul / Revolver.
Still have the original (mono) vinyl I grew up with. Those boys could write songs and play very well.

2 Cream: Disraeli Gears
Another album I grew up with. Clapton is playing Gibson guitars on this, before he jumped ship to Fender. Absolutely the finest electric guitar tone on record. Don't think Eric ever attained this level of aggression again in his solos.

3 King Crimson: Larks Tongues in Aspic
Apart from being a virtuoso on the Les Paul, Robert Fripp takes a rock band to the outer fringes of what's (very listenable). Completely changed my take on rock. Which leads on to...

4 Nirvana: Nevermind
Kurt's fave band was prog outfit King Crimson. Here he delivers a proper rock album with pop hooks and wrests control back from the dirge of 80s hair metal. One of the most important albums. And gave us Dave Grohl!

5 Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
The last blast from the Bomb Crew before the sampling police shut them down. Complex, political and they understand counterpoint. 48 Preludes and Fugues for the 20th Century.

6 Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffitti
The biggest baddest album from the biggest baddest rock band of all time. No need to say more

7 Dr Feelgood: Stupidity
Best live album ever. Wilko! Simples. Saw them so many times!

8 Slayer: Seasons in the Abyss
For Slayer it will always be 1990, no better reason

9 Jeff Beck: Wired
My best guitarist ever.... And great tunes

10 Joe Satriani: Surfing with the alien
Almost like a new metal version of Jeff Beck. He gave Steve Vai lessons you know!

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Phil Collins - But Seriously - Pretty cringeworthy but my dad used to play this in the car when I was little

Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible - sound track of my teens

The Clash - From Here To Eternity Live - how I discovered punk

Radiohead - OK Computer - took me a while to get into this when I first heard it as a teen but it opened my eyes

Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures - soundtrack of my early twenties

White Lies - To Lose My Life - always reminds me of the mountains for some reason

Dire Straights - Brothers in Arms - basically just for the title track, the interplay of the guitar and vocals is awesome

Marillion - Misplaced Childhood - criminally unfashionable, but fantastic in a kind of pretentious prog-rock way and some great guitar

The Killers - Hot Fuss - Like every other indie kid at the time, this was the soundtrack to university parties

Green Day - American Idiot - punk and prog rock in one package, maybe not life-changing but it stuck a chord at the time

In reply to Tall Clare:

Good thread

Steeley Span - Original Masters. My Mum and Dad's cassette played on family car journeys. Sowed the seed for my exploration of folk in later life

Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream. First pre recorded cassette bought with my own money. Parents scornfull that I had wasted my money but played it to them on car journeys anyway, wincing through the sweary bit on Helter Skelter

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast. Underage drinking, parties, girls. Fantastic record and fantastic times

The Fall - Live at the Wich Trials. Heard at the house of an older friend and started a 30+ year (so far) obsession with the group. Honourable mention also to Can's Soon over Babaluma

Big Black - Atomiser. Unemployed. Back at parent's house after Uni. Angry, angry, angry

Gaye Bykers On Acid - Stewed to the Gills. Ill fated trip to Arran with mates. Missed the ferry so bimbled round the Kyles of Bute for the Easter weekend, stoned out of our heads and playing this relentlessly

Alice Cooper - Schools Out. Owned the record for years but we played it a lot when me and my wife were first married. We still play it a lot - now a family favourate

New Model Army - The Love of Hopeless Causes. Not my favourite of theirs but released at a crucial time. My son was almost named Justin

Eat Static - Abduction. Repetitive Beats. Wow, what have I been missing for the last 10 years ! Honourable mention also to Banco De Gaia

Chris Wood - Handmade Life. This is such a powerful record. A solitary favourite.

In reply to Ramblin dave:


Agreed. And other people's nominations have set me searching for things I'd forgotten about. I'll have to unpack the boxes with the CDs in and find the optimum spot for the hifi to sit (I've recently moved house) and do some listening.

T.

In reply to Tall Clare:

1. T.Rex - T.REX. First album i ever bought
2. Deep Purple. made in Japan. My bro took me to see them in newcastle when I was 11. bought the album soon after and still think it's one of the greatest live albums ever.
3. Yes - the yes album. Fist yes album I got, again, following a concert visit at an early age. I really started to get into prog - watching Chris Squire was hugely influential in me dropping the clarinet, recorder and guitar and picking up the Bass.
4. jethro tull aqualung. Bought this on the way to a job interview in newcastle - foud out the job was for door to door selling so passed on the interview and went home to listen to the record. Much better decision IMO.
5. Bob Dylan - another side of.... - My first introduction to Bob. still know all the words to Motorpsycho nitemare.
6. james taylor - Sweet baby james - purloined from one of my brothers. Have so far worn out my standard vinyl and have had to replace it with 180gm. Love this early 70's california hippy stuff
7. carole King - tapestry - as above. I could listen to this all day. also, the first album I replaced on 180gm.
8. Dream Theater - falling into infinity. Got into DT quite late on and only as a result of an interview with john Myung when this album came out. Needless to say I've become a huge fan as a result.
9. Ricki Lee Jones. Quite likely the most perfect debut album I've heard. Chuck E's in love was constantly on the Juke box during my first year of legal drinking. brings back lots of memories .
10. Kate Bush - the kick inside. takes me back to the age of 17 seeing a goddess on TOTP for the first time. Some really excellent bass playing on the album too.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Oh gosh, how could I have forgotten this one?

Donald Fagen - Nightfly

In reply to Tall Clare:

Close to the Edge - yes - first one I ever bought!
Selling England by the Pound - Genesis favourite prog
Dark Side of the Moon
Donovan - Fairy Tale
Blur Parklife
Gorillaz Demon Days
67-70 Beatles
Fold your Hands Child etc - Belle and Sebastian
Ac od St M in the F - Vaughan Williams collection
Peter Gabriel 1

In reply to Tall Clare:

Hi Clare! (waves from a great distance)
Nothing like a good short list to lure me in.
In no particular order:
1. Hats - The Blue Nile. In 1989, this was the soundtrack of my first year back in Britain as a 25-year old having originally left when I was 5.
2. Homogenic - Bjork. So wonderfully melodramatic and I do love a bit of drama in my music.
3. London Calling - The Clash. I can tell you there was nobody else in my particular backward corner of provincial Australia who was listening to this when it came out!
4. Victorialand - Cocteau Twins. Still one of the most beautiful records I have ever heard.
5. Violator - Depeche Mode. Still makes me think of a fantastic trip to the Kaisergebirge in Austria to bag some Hermann Buhl classics back in '91. We wore out the tape (does anybody remember cassettes?)
6. Extractions - Dif Juz. One of 4ADs least known gems.
7. 76.14 - Global Communication.
8. Daily Operation - Gang Starr. I've been listening to hip-hop for over thirty years now and this is probably the pick of the crop. Guru & Premier at the very top of their game.
9. Mezzanine - Massive Attack. My liking for Liz Frazer's singing and the wonderful opening track (Angel feat. Horace Andy) mean this one pips Blue LInes at the post for me. (I actually like the Heligoland album from 2010 as well.)
10. Really can't decide the last one but it could be Loveless by My Bloody Valentine or perhaps a Pixies album (but which one?) or maybe even Rickie Lee Jones self-titles debut from 1979?

Anyway, nice to see you're still out their musing Clare, hope all is well with you and yours.

In reply to omerta:



As did I!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Tales From New York - Simon and Garfunkel
Leftism - Leftfield
After The Goldrush - Neil Young
Space Ritual - Hawkwind
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
I See a Darkness - Bonny Prince Billy
Infected - The The
NMTB - The Sex Pistols
Rage Against The Machine - RATM

In reply to Dave C:



<whispers> Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, go on, you know it makes sense...

In reply to Hat Dude:



Now THAT's what I call music….

In reply to graeme jackson:

.....

Did you hang out with my mates? That looks like their record collection!

In reply to Tall Clare:
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Killers - Iron Maiden
Somewhere in Time - Iron Maiden
For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music
Thin Lizzy - Thin Lizzy
Communique - Dire Straits
Obscured by Clouds - Pink Floyd
If You Wait - London Grammar
Straight Between the Eyes - Rainbow
Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple

In reply to Dave Warburton:

I have to comment on this Dave...

Perfect Strangers was the first album I heard which led to a few years of Deep Purple obsession...the solos on Wasted Sunsets still chill me to the bone 25 years later!

Killers was a great album too, those solos on Prodigal Son...fantastic, though I'm surprised at no Number of the Beast or Powerslave as you're evidently a Maiden fan!

Also good call on Obscured by Clouds, a real gem for 'real' Floyd fans

In reply to Nicholas Livesey:

Hi Nick,

I just wish they'd done another album with Di'Anno. But never mind. Caught Somewhere in Time & Sea of Madness just about steal it for me Somewhere in time wrt Dickinson albums.

Likewise with Wasted Sunsets solos. Couldn't quite squeeze in a David Coverdale album though.

I listed these 10 as they're the albums I know i've played over and over - A SIGNIFICANT number of times.

In reply to Tall Clare:
The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Rush - 2112
Pink Floyd - The Wall
The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow
The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Easy Pieces
Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy
The Wedding Present - Tommy
The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4

The sound track from 10 y.o. to 20 y.o. a period when music could literally change your life.

In reply to Dave Warburton:

Di'Anno really had something and there are some gret track on 'Iron Maiden'.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was the last Maiden album I bought which I did prefer to Somewhere in Time. I was never really into Piece of Mind but Revelations was a fantastic track especially on Live after death...now there's an album, "Scream for me Long beach"!

Are you familiar with the first two Coverdale albums? Northwinds is especially good

In reply to Tall Clare:

Great question - I've given myself 11, because the first one isn't really an album (and one of the others is only an EP really).

Various Artists - Various Artists
A compilation tape my Dad always used to play in the car of awful 70s nonsense like Steve Miller Band, Foreigner, Bozz Scaggs, Dr Hook etc. I was too young to know better and loved it. The cassette was labelled only 'Various Artists' and my sister and I laboured under the misapprehension that that was the name of a band for far longer than we really should have.

Innuendo - Queen
First album I remember owning, aged 10 or thereabouts. I remember spending hours carefully transcribing the lyrics into a notebook for no particular reason. I still have a huge soft spot for the title track.

Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers
The first album I bought with my own money, aged 14, and one which marked a real turning point, from a kid that wasn't bothered about music to an indie obsessive who pored over the NME every week.

OK Computer - Radiohead
The first Radiohead album I'd ever heard, bought on the day of release having heard Paranoid Android on the Evening Session. The first time I felt like I was ahead of the curve among my friends in the sense that I was the one telling them they had to listen to this, not the other way round. Also the start of a lengthy love affair with the band.

In-Sides - Orbital
Because it was the first electronic music I got into and I remember spending hours playing Doom whilst listening to The Box on repeat. Every time I listen to it I still see pixelly imps everywhere.

The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
The first time music really terrified me. The opening bass riff from Archives of Pain gave me nightmares for weeks. Then I started paying attention to the lyrics and realised that it was a whole lot scarier...

Slain By Urusei Yatsura - Urusei Yatsura
The first band I saw live (well, technically that was the support acts Magoo, who were ace, and Prolapse, who remain the worst band I've ever seen). The bass player had a brilliant skull hologram between the pickups of their bass which inspired me to take up bass playing.

Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Bought knowing nothing about them other than that they were meant to be good. Probably the first instrumental music I'd ever really listened to that wasn't meant to be danced to. It blew my mind.

Aenima - Tool
Having spent years vociferously denouncing all metal as pointless and dull, hearing this for the first time forced me into an embarrassing climbdown. It was worth it.

Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
The album that forced me to admit as a teenager that just because my parents liked it, it didn't mean it was necessarily awful. Even The Corrs massacre of Dreams couldn't stop me loving this album.

Antidotes - Foals
Because it's brilliant. Because I don't know anyone else who likes it (although I'm sure there must be plenty of such people out there, it's hardly super-obscure). And, because it was the first time I let myself fall in love with music made by really irritating people.

In reply to Clauso:


I was with you until you chose 54 over 53.

In reply to Nicholas Livesey:

I've got Northwinds, yeah. Haven't got my mits on the other one, but it's got the more mellow version of one of my favourite Coverdale tracks on it (Blindman).

I recently found the original backing instrumentals for Iron Maiden tracks on Youtube - stops me writing lyrics into documents (and obviously the instrumental work is incredible).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9BCFE52456A72AB4

In reply to Tall Clare:

Okay, these are not in any order, and what order there is probably reflects the memory prompting I've had reading through all your posts:

Substance by New Order. Can't believe I'm opening with a greatest hits album. But this chronicles the single most influential (on this century, anyway) run of singles by any band. And I was there. In the front row.

Darklands by The Jesus and Mary Chain. The relentless patter of Glaswegian rain raised to a sonic epiphany

The World Won't Listen by The Smiths. Could equally have chosen the Queen is Dead but this selection was more of a soundtrack to my life. "There is a Light..." is the greatest song ever written. No argument.

The Bends by Radiohead. (OK Computer, everyone else? Are you kidding or were you just late to the party?)

Torn between Diamond Dogs and Ziggy Stardust for the obligatory Bowie. The latter is better but DD was the first record I got stoned to (and climaxes with the never bettered segue into Bowie's favourite hit.)

Exile on Main St by The Rolling Stones. Who needs Screamadelica when you have the original?

The Joshua Tree by U2. I hate U2 but in Eno's hands they made the best American Rock album. Ever. With the best rock into. Ever.

Fear of Music by Talking Heads. Eno again. Perfectly crafted urban angst.

Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. The best album of the last ten years and a worthy 21st century follow up to Talking Heads' best work.

The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses. Still have the baggy hoodie. What a statement the opening and climax make. The middle ain't too shabby either.

Symphony No 2 The Resurrection by Mahler. Quite simply the most beautiful music ever written. If any record highlights the futility of list-making, then this would be it. Damn, that's 11. Oops.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I can't do 10, but I can just about squeeze it to 12...

automatic for the people - REM
protection - massive attack
adventures beyond the underworld - the orb
this wheat - wheat
worker's playtime - billy bragg
leftism - leftfield
let love in - nick cave ad the bad seeds
agaetis byrjun - sigur ros
beautiful freak - eels
pet sounds - the beach boys
ben folds - ben folds five
lanterns on the lake - gracious tide take me home

In reply to Tall Clare:

Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Liege and Lief - Fairport Convention
Zero She Flies - Al Stewart (I was living in a bedsit at the time)
Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart
Millstone Grit - Mike Chapman. Even if he is a miserable git.
Desire - Bob Dylan. Favourite for nostalgic reasons...
Good as I Been To you - Bob Dylan - cited by Jim Perrin, no less.
Avalon Sunset - Van the Man - the soundtrack to the best two weeks I ever spent in the Alps.
Been on the Road So Long - Alex Campbell. Saw him at Cambridge in 1977. The real thing.
The River - Bruce Springsteen.

Bit of an arbitrary list, really, there's plenty more that should be on there. Good job considering the amount I'm driving at the moment.

In reply to Dom Whillans:

Ha, what's the odds of Pet Sounds being in two consecutive lists!

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Should be on a damn sight more lists, too... it knocks Sgt Pepper into a cocked hat.

In reply to Dom Whillans:

Preferred 'Holland' myself

In reply to Dom Whillans:


But it's not a list of great albums, it's a list of albums that were significant to the individual in some way. I'd like to see more of folks reasoning and not just lists.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I like like making lists, and I like music:

Bonobo - Black Sands
Bonobo - Late Night Tales - this is a compilation album, and has introduced me to some amazing tunes.
Bonobo - The North Borders - I generally love every album this guy has done, but these 3 are my favourites.
Incubus - Make Yourself - my teenage years in a nutshell, nice injection of nostalgia.
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II - blew my mind when I was 15, STILL MIND BLOWN.
Bread - Anthology - reminds me of growing up and my mother playing this lovely album.
The Stone Roses - Stone Roses - why wouldn't this be on a list of meaningful albums.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way - summer in one album.
Memory Tapes - Seek Magic - really interesting samples and mixing, just a really subtle but addictive album.
Odesza - Summers Gone - a recent find, but this album also encapsulates summer and travelling for me.

In reply to Tall Clare: in no order of importance

Ten, Pearl Jam. Changed me forever. Played it today, still stunning.
The Works, Queen. First album I bought. Still love it.
RATM, RATM. Game changer. Fresh as daisy, hard as diamond.
The Crossing, Big Country. Porrohman, stunning.
Permanent Waves, Rush. 3 nerds at the height of their powers.
Selling England by the Pound, Genesis. Progtastic.
Dirt, Alice in Chains. Darker than the blackest night, yet uplifting.
Live after Death, Iron Maiden. Best live album ever. Just possibly.
The Downward Spiral, NIN. Reznor at his best.
Aenima, TooL. More complex than string theory, more musical than Mozart.

Andy F

In reply to Aztec Bar:

I agree with Pink Floyd but I have never heard of the rest and can't find any information on them on the internet, are you sure they are real and that you are taking the as serious as you should?

In reply to Tall Clare:

In no particular order:

Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Pearl Jam - Ten
Metallica - Metallica (the black album)
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
REM - Automatic for the people
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
White Buffalo - waiting to go home
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Johnny Cash - Can't choose a album

In reply to Tall Clare:

Good idea.

Genesis - Invisible Touch.
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction.
Metallica - ...And Justice for All.
The Beatles - Revolver.
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin.
Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.
Nomeansno - Wrong.
Nomeansno - Live + Cuddly.
D.O.A. - Something Better Change.
Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese.

(Bands that just missed out - Alice Donut, Butthole Surfers, Pixies.)

In reply to NMN and others:


I want explanations, dammit!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Too right...great thread theme and it seems some people are just putting up faves rather than what you asked for.

In reply to Tall Clare:

great thread- lots of music i've never heard of. listening to can's 'animal waves' atm and wondering if there's been more than one significant album in common yet? i think i've got a couple with felt..(could you give us another 10 please

In reply to Tall Clare:

Beach Boys Greatest Hits - (Early 1970's compilation) First LP I purchased
Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother - Waking up early morning soaking wet at the Bath festival & seeing the Floyd live on stage with full choir playing this
Who Live at Leeds - soundtrack to my 6th form days
Dave Brubeck Take Five - Opened my ears to jazz
Led Zepp 3 - had to queue in Boots on the first day of its release.
Donny Hathaway Live - First girlfriend loved this
Stranglers Rattus Norvegicus - Early climbing trips with everyone knowing every lyric on the A5 trips to North Wales
Fashion Fabrique - Drug fuelled evenings with climbing mates
Chris Rea - Wired to the Moon - Bivying out under the stars in the Hindu Kush
LCD Soundsystem - Old enough to be a grandad & still bopping away

In reply to andy farnell:

"Live after Death, Iron Maiden. Best live album ever. Just possibly."

You might be right, it is a truely brilliant live album. I would say "just possibly" too because for me, it is challenged and possibly beaten by Ozzy Osbourne Tribute. The production on that album is brilliant and it doesn't miss a beat, whereas I would say Phantom of the Opera and Number of the Beast are not great on Live after Death.

In reply to KindofBlue:


But are you losing your edge?

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Well...you wanted writing:

Kate Bush - The Dreaming
http://devonrecordclub.com/2011/11/02/kate-bush-the-dreaming-round-17-toms-...

Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/06/07/prefab-sprout-steve-mcqueen-round-29-...

Big Star - Sister Lovers
http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/02/09/big-star-thirdsister-lovers-round-21-...

Tom Waits - Bone Machine
http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/09/27/tom-waits-bone-machine-round-37-toms-...

Slint - Spiderland
http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/02/14/slint-spiderland-round-46-toms-select...

Captain Beefheart - Clear Spot
http://devonrecordclub.com/2012/11/07/captain-beefheart-clear-spot-round-39...

Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime
http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/05/08/minutemen-double-nickels-on-the-dime-...

The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle
http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/07/30/the-go-betweens-liberty-belle-and-the...

The Associates - Sulk
http://devonrecordclub.com/2011/06/16/the-associates-sulk-round-10-toms-sel...

The Chills - Brave Words
http://devonrecordclub.com/2011/06/29/the-chills-brave-words-round-11-toms-...

In reply to tomrainbow:

...and in 11th place one of the most underrated bands ever and probably the Belgium's best musical export:

http://devonrecordclub.com/2011/03/04/round-3-toms-selection/

In reply to Tall Clare:

In no particular order:

Blue, Joni Mitchell
Unhalfbricking, Fairport Convention
Blood on the tracks, Bob Dylan
Live in London 1968, Tim Buckley
Abbey Road, The Beatles
the stone roses
the Bends, Radiohead
Deja vu, CSNY
American Beauty, the Grateful Dead
Pet sounds, The Beach Boys

In reply to nick ingram:

To continue with the spirit of the thread, can you explain their significance?

In reply to Tall Clare:

ok.
Blue, Joni Mitchell

I once spent two terms at Uni with an old Music Centre which had a radio but could not play the collection of CDs I had managed to keep hold of. It had a record player though and there was a second hand record shop in town. £1.95 landed me a Joni Mitchell album, Blue. I'd never heard it before but I knew some of her work and that my Dad liked her when he was younger. Wow. and Wow. In fact I never bought another record for ages. Some nights I'd lay there listening intently to each word uttered, each line, each song. The book unfolded. By the end of the second term I could pretty much play every song on the guitar, had cried because of the music I was listening to, had seemingly understood more about the world from a woman's point of view. I had grown slightly.

Unhalfbricking, Fairport Convention
You can get some duff Fairport albums but you can get some utter crackers. A girlfriend bought this because it contained a couple of classics she knew. The first time I heard A Sailor's Life, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. This was my introduction to better composition, building anthemic patterns whilst jamming as a collective, attempting to paint words over a growing palette of musical colour. Really enjoyable. Really real. Part of me and my style.

Blood on the tracks, Bob Dylan
My first love and I would lay up in her room, madly in love, unable to pull our hands from each other and sometimes unable to get up to fix the repetitious jump in some of the tracks. There was no blood, only love, for the first sweet time.

Live in London 1968, Tim Buckley
Someone told me about Danny Thompson having joined Tim Buckley on a tour for a show or two and that one of them had been recorded. I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere and then it was re-released. I wasn't that much of a Buckley fan, but the voice alone was enough to draw me in a bit. His studio work always seemed a bit tinkywinky and I didn't get it. I looked at the tracklist and played the longest tracks first. At the time I was in my first band and had a PA in my room, with a CD player attached. Good Christ. I sat there and listened to Wayfaring Stranger/You Got Me Runnin and wondered how I had not possibly imagined the potential of a 12-string. Dumbstruck and stoned, I wondered at the mistakes, the passion, the detuning, the moments captured of a live recording.

Abbey Road, The Beatles
The medley always got me. It's as composite a professional production job as ever I've heard. When I got married, we took three CDs to the venue, but only Abbey Road would work in the player, so we had to spurn Bach's Cello Concerto and something else I can't remember and suddenly choose three songs from Abbey Road. She walked in to 'Come Together', we signed to 'Because' and we left triumphantly to 'The End', after I'd tugged her dress and made her wait until the drum solo before walking out. Love you, Love you, Love you, Love you... and in the end etc. It was all really lovely.

the stone roses
1989, the radio was full of nonsense and the kool kids were going to raves and enjoying dance music - which was frankly all a bit plastic. Thank Elvis for the Manchester scene of which The Stone Roses spearheaded it's authentic content directly at me. I didn't want to dance to anything else.

the Bends, Radiohead
This was a cultured body of work that was so much more than Pop Music and a taste of things to come. By the time this came out I was an accomplished musician and writing some great stuff - if a little folky and harmony based. the Bends pulled me back from the dangerous edge and reminded me that vision, engineering and production with loud loud guitars could work too.

Deja vu, CSNY
My Dad had this when I was a toddler and I didn't rediscover it until I was about 18 or 19. For a while it was all about the harmonies, and hazy memories of hearing some of the motives and middle eights as a youngster, then it was about the content. After a while the idea of the album as a collection of songs by individuals, with added vox by everyone else in the collective really spoke to me and I can probably trace back all of my volition to buying a guitar to listening to this record.

American Beauty, the Grateful Dead
travelling round the States with a girlfriend, we'd had this horrendous argument in the Utah heat, resulting in my having poured runny butter all over her and the inside of our Mercury Cougar. We found a laundry and silently set about washing our clothes, not a word to each other. there was a Juke Box. For some reason there was a lot of Grateful Dead albums on it and I chose the studio one, loaded it up and we sat on the step in the sun, shared a fizzy drink and a joint, and opened our ears to some kind of newness. It was like a funny, slightly old-fashioned but well-crafted storyteller that was straining but not trying too hard. Attics of my Life was just a dream song, with really pure sound. Even the silly songs like Trucking had their place. We made up after that.

Pet sounds, The Beach Boys
This album contains the perfect pop song ever created in God Only Knows. No magic, just genius and drive. No charm, just sheer mathematically advanced arrangement. How could I leave this off my list. The mono version is best. On balance, it always ends up in every top ten I've ever compiled regardless of the criteria I used to compile the list.

In reply to nick ingram:


As one does.

Love your description of American Reality, spot on. The harmonies on "Attic" are genius, up there with Spirit's "We've Got a Lot to Learn".