(no subject)
Yeah, so 15 albums meme,
Really hard to know where to start with this one, so here we go, in no particular order, and utterly disregarding the 15 minute rule.
1. Bob Dylan, I could pick one from a number of Dylan records, Blood on the Tracks was the soundtrack to a huge chunk of my childhood on long car trips and such, Highway 61 Revisited is utterly amazing but not as life changing as say, Desire and Street Legal which were a combined obsession of mine for a number of years, but to pick the best and to me most important Dylan album, it has to be Bringing it all Back Home an awesome work that just hit a switch inside my head when I heard it, on a scratchy old casette that had belonged to my dad, I listened to it until the tape disintegrated, I read and re-read the lyrics, both with and without the music, I grew up with Dylan's music, and this stands out, a highlight of highlights.
2. Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows, I used to say that my entire life could be summed up in the two beats between the slow bit and the fast bit of Roseability. Analysing it now it seems incredibly silly, but that's how I felt at the time. That oddity aside it's a great album, stuffed with great songs.
3. Spacehog - Resident Alien, At times over the past decade or so I've hit a bad patch, and in those bad patches I've usually reached for this album, it's a pretty lighweight effort to be honest, there's nothing particularly emotional or heartfelt in there, but it's incredibly fun, and has never failed to put a smile back on my face, even if it was just for a few minutes.
4. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine, when I discovered this it had already been out for a long time, I first heard the singles in Fibbers, up until then I'd been listening to Britpop and Simon and Garfunkel and such. RATM was a whole other world, and the savage left wingery was the perfect soundtrack to what I now think of as the Socialist Worker years. Also a feature of this era was stumbling around Dublin having drunken who can sing Bullet in the Head fastest contests. I lost my copy somewhere along the way, but I got a present of it again recently and rediscovering it, every song still sounds as fresh and as exciting as it did the first time.
5. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, just an incredible collection of great songs, Josh is my favourite artist who is still releasing new music, and each album is better than the last. The quality of the song writing is top notch. Hugely recommended.
6. American IV - Johnny Cash, I liked Cash before this, but this just put him in another league. Jaw droppingly good.
7. Portrait of an American Family - Marilyn Manson, I was a fan, I'm not anymore, but way back in the day, this was it for me, I wasn't a huge fan of Antichrist Superstar and by the time Mechanical Animals came out interest was waning, Holy Wood got a couple of listens, haven't even heard anything since, but that first album when it was new and raw and people were scared by the big eejit. There are some fine moments, the intro to Wrapped in Plastic has stuck with me for years, and Cake and Sodomy is just such a brilliantly preposterous piece of angry young man posturing.
8. Mosely Shoals - Ocean Colour Scene, I was into the whole Britpop thing in a big way in my teens and this was my favourite album, I also loved Oasis, Cast, The Charlatans. A decade and a bit later the albums don't hold up so wel, but this album was what I listened to the day after a Friday night gig in the Olympia, or on walkman from the last bus home from the gig which might be the only time you'd be out for a month or more, this was what went on the stereo when I was supposed to be studying. I loved it.
9. The Ramones - Ramones Mania, At the age of 21 I was listening to anything that had a guitar in it, I liked elements of nu-metal, was developing a love of Classic Rock, was a huge fan of Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and the like, I was aware of Punk Rock, but never really got into it. Ramones Mania changed all that forever, it's not really an album since it's a Greatest Hits collection, but it was my jumping on point for what would become one of my favourite bands of all time.
10. London Calling - The Clash, I don't really need to say anything more about this. It just is one of the 15 best albums ever, no question.
11. Neil Young - After the Goldrush, again, just one of those classics Heart of Gold was the first dance at our wedding, which kinda says everything really.
12. Tom Waits - Closing Time, I'm running out of steam by now, luckily this is another one of those albums that needs no real explanation, most nights I sing Ol 55 or Midnight Lullaby to my son when he has trouble settling down to sleep.
13. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible, I was torn between this and Generation Terrorists for this list, both are great albums, both were favourite albums of mine at one time or another. But songs like "Faster", "PCP", "Revol" and ""Ifwhiteamerica..." just put this over the edge, it's angry and gritty and James Dean Bradfield is one of the most under rated guitarists around, why doesn't he solo anymore ?
14. Bell X1 - Neither Am I, many great memories listening to this album, if you were there you'll know.
15. Symposium - On The Outside, this was an album that I loved for reasons I can't explain, I can't pick out why this band grabbed my attention so much, or what about this album that made it stand out, but I could listen to this all day everyday for weeks on end, I still drag it out and dust it off, and it sounds great, but in fairness, it's mostly nostalgia now.
Honourable mentions have to go to
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Amen - We have come for your parents
A - How ace are buildings
Rancid - And out come the wolves
Hayseed Dixie - Let there be Rockgrass
Dixie Chicks - Home
AC / DC - Live
Sepultura - Chaos AD
Van Halen - Van Halen I
Oasis - Definately Maybe
Therapy? - Troublegum
Cat Stevens - Tea For the Tillerman
Paul Simon - Graceland
Tom Robinson - Power in the Darkness
National Prayer Breakfast - Sociables Prefer Pop Music
South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut - Soundtrack
And so many many more.
Really hard to know where to start with this one, so here we go, in no particular order, and utterly disregarding the 15 minute rule.
1. Bob Dylan, I could pick one from a number of Dylan records, Blood on the Tracks was the soundtrack to a huge chunk of my childhood on long car trips and such, Highway 61 Revisited is utterly amazing but not as life changing as say, Desire and Street Legal which were a combined obsession of mine for a number of years, but to pick the best and to me most important Dylan album, it has to be Bringing it all Back Home an awesome work that just hit a switch inside my head when I heard it, on a scratchy old casette that had belonged to my dad, I listened to it until the tape disintegrated, I read and re-read the lyrics, both with and without the music, I grew up with Dylan's music, and this stands out, a highlight of highlights.
2. Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows, I used to say that my entire life could be summed up in the two beats between the slow bit and the fast bit of Roseability. Analysing it now it seems incredibly silly, but that's how I felt at the time. That oddity aside it's a great album, stuffed with great songs.
3. Spacehog - Resident Alien, At times over the past decade or so I've hit a bad patch, and in those bad patches I've usually reached for this album, it's a pretty lighweight effort to be honest, there's nothing particularly emotional or heartfelt in there, but it's incredibly fun, and has never failed to put a smile back on my face, even if it was just for a few minutes.
4. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine, when I discovered this it had already been out for a long time, I first heard the singles in Fibbers, up until then I'd been listening to Britpop and Simon and Garfunkel and such. RATM was a whole other world, and the savage left wingery was the perfect soundtrack to what I now think of as the Socialist Worker years. Also a feature of this era was stumbling around Dublin having drunken who can sing Bullet in the Head fastest contests. I lost my copy somewhere along the way, but I got a present of it again recently and rediscovering it, every song still sounds as fresh and as exciting as it did the first time.
5. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, just an incredible collection of great songs, Josh is my favourite artist who is still releasing new music, and each album is better than the last. The quality of the song writing is top notch. Hugely recommended.
6. American IV - Johnny Cash, I liked Cash before this, but this just put him in another league. Jaw droppingly good.
7. Portrait of an American Family - Marilyn Manson, I was a fan, I'm not anymore, but way back in the day, this was it for me, I wasn't a huge fan of Antichrist Superstar and by the time Mechanical Animals came out interest was waning, Holy Wood got a couple of listens, haven't even heard anything since, but that first album when it was new and raw and people were scared by the big eejit. There are some fine moments, the intro to Wrapped in Plastic has stuck with me for years, and Cake and Sodomy is just such a brilliantly preposterous piece of angry young man posturing.
8. Mosely Shoals - Ocean Colour Scene, I was into the whole Britpop thing in a big way in my teens and this was my favourite album, I also loved Oasis, Cast, The Charlatans. A decade and a bit later the albums don't hold up so wel, but this album was what I listened to the day after a Friday night gig in the Olympia, or on walkman from the last bus home from the gig which might be the only time you'd be out for a month or more, this was what went on the stereo when I was supposed to be studying. I loved it.
9. The Ramones - Ramones Mania, At the age of 21 I was listening to anything that had a guitar in it, I liked elements of nu-metal, was developing a love of Classic Rock, was a huge fan of Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and the like, I was aware of Punk Rock, but never really got into it. Ramones Mania changed all that forever, it's not really an album since it's a Greatest Hits collection, but it was my jumping on point for what would become one of my favourite bands of all time.
10. London Calling - The Clash, I don't really need to say anything more about this. It just is one of the 15 best albums ever, no question.
11. Neil Young - After the Goldrush, again, just one of those classics Heart of Gold was the first dance at our wedding, which kinda says everything really.
12. Tom Waits - Closing Time, I'm running out of steam by now, luckily this is another one of those albums that needs no real explanation, most nights I sing Ol 55 or Midnight Lullaby to my son when he has trouble settling down to sleep.
13. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible, I was torn between this and Generation Terrorists for this list, both are great albums, both were favourite albums of mine at one time or another. But songs like "Faster", "PCP", "Revol" and ""Ifwhiteamerica..." just put this over the edge, it's angry and gritty and James Dean Bradfield is one of the most under rated guitarists around, why doesn't he solo anymore ?
14. Bell X1 - Neither Am I, many great memories listening to this album, if you were there you'll know.
15. Symposium - On The Outside, this was an album that I loved for reasons I can't explain, I can't pick out why this band grabbed my attention so much, or what about this album that made it stand out, but I could listen to this all day everyday for weeks on end, I still drag it out and dust it off, and it sounds great, but in fairness, it's mostly nostalgia now.
Honourable mentions have to go to
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Amen - We have come for your parents
A - How ace are buildings
Rancid - And out come the wolves
Hayseed Dixie - Let there be Rockgrass
Dixie Chicks - Home
AC / DC - Live
Sepultura - Chaos AD
Van Halen - Van Halen I
Oasis - Definately Maybe
Therapy? - Troublegum
Cat Stevens - Tea For the Tillerman
Paul Simon - Graceland
Tom Robinson - Power in the Darkness
National Prayer Breakfast - Sociables Prefer Pop Music
South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut - Soundtrack
And so many many more.