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Jumping on the bandwagon
It seems that everyone is doing lists at the moment. Who am I to buck a trend?
Having said that, a music list cannot possibly be written with only single songs on it. I have a collection of some 800 albums in one format or another, so individual tracks are almost impossible to recall in one go. So here is my favourite album list - and even here I've taken liberties by grouping some together.
Let's face it, this is not a subject for the Wisdom of Solomon. Oh, and yes. The list does show my age...
King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic/Starless and Bible Black/Red. Not officially a trilogy, but a brief period in the band's history where the core members stayed together to produce three albums. Larks' starts with a great deal of improvisational and jazz oriented rock with harder guitar edges underneath. As the sequence progresses, the guitar/bass/percussion ensemble grows in power as the fripperies (no pun intended, Crimheads) are stripped away one by one, until with Red we get the raw an uncompromising power of the band. Bloody marvellous.
Wings: Band On the Run Macca's finest post-Beatle hour. A classic must have of the '70s.
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells II. A reinterpretation of the 1973 classic, by the same bloke. How pretentious can you get? Lovely.
Michael Nyman Band: The Essential Michael Nyman Band. Contains much of the music appearing in Greenway's movies. Bloody fabulous and ethereal, a bible for minimalist musicianship. Incidentally, the album played on loop provides a workable soundtrack to Pabsts' 1929 silent classic, Pandora's Box starring the incandescently beautiful Louise Brooks. Absolutely stunning.
Spooky Tooth: The Last Puff. You really had to be there... Their cover of the Beatles' I Am The Walrus sounds like it was sung by Joe Cocker on Strepsils.
The Beatles: Abbey Road. In many ways, Sgt Pepper's part II. Less groundbreaking but a harder edge. The last time the band worked together.
Deaf School: Second Honeymoon. AT times sub Roxy Music, this is almost a concept album from 1976. The band came in with punk, surfed the New Wave and went away again after 3 albums in 1979. Sadly unavailable on CD, my vinyl copy acts as a master for my mini disk. If anyone EVER sees it on CD let me know. Please!
Kate Bush: The Kick Inside. Quintessentially English, groundbreaking. Still unbelievable nearly 25 years later. And she was only 16 when she wrote half the tracks.
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass. Magnum Opus triple album from 1970. The 'Quiet One' broke out and showed the others how to do it. The title track has pulled me through so many down moments.
The Beatles: Rubber Soul/Revolver Two albums written and recorded virtually back to back in 1965-1966. Post touring Fabs flexing their musical muscles. Every bit as ground breaking in their way as Pepper.
Caravan: If I Could Do It All Again, I'd Do It All Over You/ For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night. Progressive jazz-rock at its best. They lost it a bit later, but these are from a band at their peak.
Jane Siberry: Bound By The Beauty Canadian Chanteuse exponent of 'Country and Eastern' Unlike any other artist I can think of.
Renaissance: Scheherazade and other stories. Largely acoustic and melodic prog. The soaring vocals of Annie Haslam. Just beautiful.
Mott The Hoople: The Ballad of Mott the Hoople. Glam Rock gone mad. Oh, but Roll Away the Stone and All The Young Dudes....
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Some albums are old and dated before they are made. This one is still fresh after 30 years. Defined Glam Rock.
John Kirkpatrick: Going Spare. Folk madness by a sometime member of Fairport Convention. Sadly unavailable on CD. The track What do you do in the day? is a masterpiece of released frustration/irritation.
Fairport Convention: Meet on The Ledge. Classic and original Fairport. And Sandy Denny....
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon. Enough said.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Gorilla. Supreme '60s silliness. Bloody marvellous.
Vivian Stanshall: Sir Henry At Rawlinson's End. The Ginger Geezer, The Master. Beyond words.
And that, Dear Reader, is that. I am off to iron a shirt, have a shower and feel incredibly old all of a sudden...
Having said that, a music list cannot possibly be written with only single songs on it. I have a collection of some 800 albums in one format or another, so individual tracks are almost impossible to recall in one go. So here is my favourite album list - and even here I've taken liberties by grouping some together.
Let's face it, this is not a subject for the Wisdom of Solomon. Oh, and yes. The list does show my age...
King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic/Starless and Bible Black/Red. Not officially a trilogy, but a brief period in the band's history where the core members stayed together to produce three albums. Larks' starts with a great deal of improvisational and jazz oriented rock with harder guitar edges underneath. As the sequence progresses, the guitar/bass/percussion ensemble grows in power as the fripperies (no pun intended, Crimheads) are stripped away one by one, until with Red we get the raw an uncompromising power of the band. Bloody marvellous.
Wings: Band On the Run Macca's finest post-Beatle hour. A classic must have of the '70s.
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells II. A reinterpretation of the 1973 classic, by the same bloke. How pretentious can you get? Lovely.
Michael Nyman Band: The Essential Michael Nyman Band. Contains much of the music appearing in Greenway's movies. Bloody fabulous and ethereal, a bible for minimalist musicianship. Incidentally, the album played on loop provides a workable soundtrack to Pabsts' 1929 silent classic, Pandora's Box starring the incandescently beautiful Louise Brooks. Absolutely stunning.
Spooky Tooth: The Last Puff. You really had to be there... Their cover of the Beatles' I Am The Walrus sounds like it was sung by Joe Cocker on Strepsils.
The Beatles: Abbey Road. In many ways, Sgt Pepper's part II. Less groundbreaking but a harder edge. The last time the band worked together.
Deaf School: Second Honeymoon. AT times sub Roxy Music, this is almost a concept album from 1976. The band came in with punk, surfed the New Wave and went away again after 3 albums in 1979. Sadly unavailable on CD, my vinyl copy acts as a master for my mini disk. If anyone EVER sees it on CD let me know. Please!
Kate Bush: The Kick Inside. Quintessentially English, groundbreaking. Still unbelievable nearly 25 years later. And she was only 16 when she wrote half the tracks.
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass. Magnum Opus triple album from 1970. The 'Quiet One' broke out and showed the others how to do it. The title track has pulled me through so many down moments.
The Beatles: Rubber Soul/Revolver Two albums written and recorded virtually back to back in 1965-1966. Post touring Fabs flexing their musical muscles. Every bit as ground breaking in their way as Pepper.
Caravan: If I Could Do It All Again, I'd Do It All Over You/ For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night. Progressive jazz-rock at its best. They lost it a bit later, but these are from a band at their peak.
Jane Siberry: Bound By The Beauty Canadian Chanteuse exponent of 'Country and Eastern' Unlike any other artist I can think of.
Renaissance: Scheherazade and other stories. Largely acoustic and melodic prog. The soaring vocals of Annie Haslam. Just beautiful.
Mott The Hoople: The Ballad of Mott the Hoople. Glam Rock gone mad. Oh, but Roll Away the Stone and All The Young Dudes....
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Some albums are old and dated before they are made. This one is still fresh after 30 years. Defined Glam Rock.
John Kirkpatrick: Going Spare. Folk madness by a sometime member of Fairport Convention. Sadly unavailable on CD. The track What do you do in the day? is a masterpiece of released frustration/irritation.
Fairport Convention: Meet on The Ledge. Classic and original Fairport. And Sandy Denny....
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon. Enough said.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Gorilla. Supreme '60s silliness. Bloody marvellous.
Vivian Stanshall: Sir Henry At Rawlinson's End. The Ginger Geezer, The Master. Beyond words.
And that, Dear Reader, is that. I am off to iron a shirt, have a shower and feel incredibly old all of a sudden...