This is it, the last entry in my Twenty Albums that had an impact on me meme that I was tagged in many, many moons ago. And I thought for the last one, I'd save my favourite album of all time. The one album I really couldn't do without - the one album I could never tire of.
Nine Inch Nails' album, The Fragile.
For me, it is the perfect album. It's long (2 CDs designated Left and Right) and contains a wide variety of musical styles. The first track, Somewhat Damaged, builds by layering industrial noises to incorporate Trent Reznor's softer vocals, to eventually ending with Reznor's shouting "Where the f*** were you?" over deep noisey guitars.
A few tracks into the album and we're presented with my favourite song of all time - The Wretched. Best listened to with The Frail instrumental track before it serving as a build-up to an angry shout at the world and how things just suck...
"The clouds will part and the sky cracks open, And God himself will reach his f***ing arm through, Just to push you down, just to hold you down. Stuck in this hole with the sh** and the piss, and it's hard to believe it could come down to this..." "It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, It didn't turn out the way you wanted it, did it?"
God I love that track.
Just after that we're treated to the first proper single of the album, We're in this Together, which Debs and I always listen to when the world seems to kick us in the ass. Amazing .
I could go through the rest of the album like this and rave about how great every track is, but I won't. It's perfect. There are no bad tracks on The Fragile.
And then, Trent Reznor had to top it off with another couple of versions of the album. I mean, who else has three versions of the same album on their iPod for walking in to work? The Fragile: The Definitive Edition was released in 2017, with additional tracks and slightly extended versions of a handful of others. And then there's The Fragile: Deviations, an instrumental version of the album, with instrumental versions of all the tracks with vocals, and slightly different versions of all the instrumental ones (if that makes sense)? Anyway, it's different. It's great. And essential for a sad Nails-fanboy like me.
(I post this just as Nine Inch Nails have released another two albums of instrumental work for free to see us through the hard times of virus isolation. God, I love Nine Inch Nails. Thank you Trent.)
Here's where there may be a lot of people who follow me on Facebook who suddenly think I've lost all cool and credibility. Not that I really had any. Yes, Thirty Seconds to Mars.
God, I loved Thirty Seconds to Mars. I first saw the video for Attack on MTV and thought "Isn't that guy the one from Fight Club?" and sure enough, Jared Leto was that singer. The track that followed, The Kill (Bury Me) was played all the time on MTV thanks to its cool video tribute to The Shining, and I remember asking Debs for that album, A Beautiful Lie, for Christmas that year. Had no idea what the rest of it was going to be like, but I really liked the singles.
The album was great, and after weeks of playing it a LOT, I tracked down their eponymous first album - which, strangely, I liked even more. A Beautiful Lie sounded like it had taken some influence from The Cure, while the first album felt a bit more U2. There is one track on that first album, The Mission, that has been a constant inspiration for my RPG, WILD.
"I opened up my head inside and find another person's mind..." "Into the wild..."
Again, I listened to those albums a lot. and followed their fanbase, The Echelon, and kept track of Jared Leto's social media. There was a call out for vocal samples for their next album, and even photos for the cover (the tiger image above was the default cover, but 2000 fan photos were also used as covers - I don't think the ones Debs and I submitted were used).
This Is War is a crazily powerful album. Fuelled by the EMI lawsuit, it's filled with anger, operatic shouts, Queen-like stomping, and cinematic moments. My favourite track is easily Stranger in a Strange Land which still has me questioning why Jared Leto hasn't made that jump into film scores.
On November 25th, 2010, I drove us all the way down to Brighton to see them as part of the Into The Wild tour, and it was bloody amazing.
The next album is pretty awesome too, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams. While promoting this album I spotted Jared Leto tweeting about being at Soho Sq in London if anyone else wanted to go, and I messaged Debs instantly. Crazy that we were, within an hour we were on a train and headed to London where a group of fans had gathered. The band arrived, and played an impromptu flash gig for about thirty minutes before they rushed off to a waiting car and before the cops came and dispersed the crowd.
Jared Leto in his full-on Jesus look at Soho Square in London. Photo by me (standing on a bench)
We went to see them again 21st November 2013 at the Nottingham Arena as part of the Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams Tour, which was cool (and certainly easier to get to than Brighton for us). A tour where they added circus-style acts to spice things up on stage.
And that's about it. Their last album, America, felt like a massive disappointment after the cool and edgy music that came before it. With weird collaborations with other artists, strangely looped synths and autotuned vocals, it just didn't do it for me. There were a couple of really stand-out tracks, and Monolith once again made me question why Jared Leto isn't doing epic film scores.
With the departure of Tomo Miličević during that tour, leaving just Jared and Shannon Leto as the band, I wonder where they will go next. Hopefully, back to their roots...
We finally hit the 2000's in my "20 Albums that had an impact on me" thing that was going around Facebook. This one's a bit like one of my previous posts - the one for Bush'sSixteen Stone - where I took a chance on an album with very little knowledge of it, and it turned out to be amazing.
I have to admit, I'm a big fan of The Matrix. I love all of the movies, the anime, the comics, and even liked the first video game (never played the Path of Neo, or Matrix Online). But I guess my first exposure to the music of Rob Dougan was The Matrix. I had a couple of his tracks from the soundtrack albums, and I remember being back in that Virgin Megastore (where we picked up the Bush album) and seeing the rather cool cover for Rob Dougan's album Furious Angels.
I don't know what did it, but I decided to take a chance on it. Maybe it's because it was two discs and the second disc was all instrumental, I figured even if I didn't like the vocal tracks I could listen to the instrumental ones, imagine I'm in the Matrix a bit more, and it would be great music to have on while I was writing.
However, the first disc, the one with the vocals, is just as awesome. I'd not heard Rob Dougan's vocals before, so when the first vocal track, the title track from the album, started up, I was kinda stunned. A strange, gravelly and defeated sound, like an energetic Tom Waits, with lyrics that often sounded like he was spitting them out through gritted teeth.
"It's not like you stayed at my side Or you called me a priest You searched through my mouth To check for gold teeth You were pawning my shoes as I bled You left me for, left me for, left me for dead."
Fantastic stuff. With club-like drum machine rifts, mixed with an orchestral score that takes inspiration from Elgar and Chopin, with those gritty vocals. Amazing.
After that, Rob Dougan kinda vanished. He's resurfaced recently with some studio recordings - massive orchestral pieces with choirs. Must check that out.
Disclaimer - I was going to put the next album by Stabbing Westward on this list (Darkest Days) as I think I prefer that album, but Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel is such an iconic album, and the one that really got me into Stabbing Westward that I thought I'd better go for this one instead.
Like Bloody Kisses and Metropolis before this, I was introduced to Stabbing Westward by local metal legend Steve. He did his usual "You like Nine Inch Nails, you should listen to this," and played a few tracks from this and their first album Ungod (which I was always know as "Ungoo" as the writing on the cover makes the "d" look a bit like an "o").
See what I mean?
Anyway, Steve was right. They really sounded like a mix of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode, with plenty of really angry vocals and lyrics that pushed all the right buttons in me. First track on WBB&PI don't Believe starts with these amazing lyrics (just what I keep saying to myself even now)...
"I'm such an asshole, God I'm such a stain, I just keep f***ing up, Again and again. I don't believe, I don't believe, That I could be so stupid, and so naive."
Stabbing Westward are/were great, and I love their first three albums to bits. Their fourth album, just titled Stabbing Westward, didn't really do it for me, and the band broke up shortly afterwards. They have, thankfully, recently reformed with a new EP that is sounding pretty darn cool. Good to have you back.
Another one of those awesome albums recommended to us by local metal legend Steve. Steve knew we liked the cool, dark, gothy music and recommended this album by another band we'd never heard of - Type O Negative. Fronted by giant Pete Steele, I've never heard vocals as deep as that on a rock album before.
The standout track from the album, Black No1 (Little Miss Scare All) is the ultimate goth anthem, though at its heart it's really kinda mocking goths. I do have a bit of a soft spot for the noisy anthem We Hate Everyone.
Loved this album, and went out and purchased the slightly angrier Slow, Deep and Hard. Always blooming amazing, and the albums that followed are pretty darn epic too. Such a great loss when the world lost Pete Steele ten years ago.
I have to thank our good friend "Metal" Steve (as we know him) who we first met at our local comic shop. Absolute legend that he is, and a recognisable face in the local metal scene with a collection of albums that would make even the most hardcore music collector jealous. Steve introduced us to a great deal of music that we would never have experienced that really stuck with me over the years. So much so, this entry AND the following two albums were all by artists that were recommended to us by Steve. Thanks man!
Steve knew I liked Nine Inch Nails and The Sisters of Mercy, and did his best (when he wasn't recommending extreme metal from bands whose names looked like thorn bushes) to find the coolest stuff we'd be interested in. One of these was a little known band called The Whores of Babylon.
Amazing album.
Dark and operatic, with fantastically epic elements that drew upon filmic scores (even incorporating dialogue from Hellraiser at one point), the album Metropolis came along just as we were starting to play the Kult RPG (which has a realm called Metropolis). So many elements of the album (falling angels, dark urban settings, biblical themes) resonated with the game, and it's a brilliant album on top of that.
I remember they came from Bristol and had ties to fellow Bristol musicians Portishead (Beth Gibbons appears on one of the Whores tracks if I remember correctly). I wonder whatever happened to Whores of Babylon? I'd have loved to have heard more...
I'd left Uni, and there was little on the horizon - I mean, my art wasn't brilliant, and I really didn't want to be an animator, despite getting a degree in it. Debs was working in graphic design, and I really wanted to get into publishing my own comic. I remember listening to MTV2 (as it was, before it became MTVRocks) where they played all the rock and indie music, and being fascinated by Radiohead. Creep was always on, the anthem of every weirdo like myself, and the cool new singles from their second album were getting a lot of air-play. My Iron Lung and Fake Plastic Trees were amazing, and I marvelled at Thom Yorke's vocals, but the video for Just was absolutely mesmerising.
I remember we bought The Bends on CD and played it in our little rented house for the first time and loved it. It played constantly, and I went out and bought their first album (Pablo Honey) soon afterwards.
One song on The Bends really resonated with me - Street Spirit (Fade Out). I don't know why, but it really stuck with me. When I put together the first issue of my comic, Missing, that I self published back in '98, the opening scene was set to that song.
When OK Computer came out in 1997, Radiohead did a tour with big festivals and arenas - but to warm up, they toured some of the smallest venues they could find. One was a little seaside town just up the coast from my hometown, and the moment I saw the announcement I was on the phone to book tickets.
September 4th 1997, at Bridlington Spa, Radiohead played a blisteringly amazing set. We were sat in the balcony, right in the middle, second row, and we were incredibly close to the band in such a small venue. The strobe lighting was intense. I think it was during Climbing Up The Walls or Planet Telex that I honestly thought something had flicked a switch in my brain and I was just going to go into seizures.
One of the best gigs ever. Second only to Nine Inch Nails. Phenomenal.
I still listen to a lot of Radiohead, and have always said that, come that fateful day, at my funeral I'd like How to Disappear Completely to be played. I hope that's a while off yet.
Next on my little list of albums that shaped me, is another recommendation while I was at art college. Martin introduced me to some really cool and weird stuff. He got me listening to Sonic Youth, Ice-T, Bodycount, and more... But the album that left the biggest impression from this time is Doolittle. I'd not really heard any Pixies music before, but they were a real revelation. Martin got me into them just before they released their album Trompe le Monde so I had a whole wealth of back-catalogue to catch up on.
Doolittle is brilliant and bonkers. With amazing graphic design by the late, great Vaughan Oliver (who everyone at art college wanted to be), each track was something very different. It's hard to describe the combination of biblical epic stories, surreal Dali movies, and odd love songs that make up the album, with each track a surprise.
I mentioned in the last post that my art college friends in Hull were very supportive and introduced me to some great music. Besides keeping me sane by introducing me to the wonders of Curve, there were a couple of other albums that had a big impact at art college.
The first was Faith No More's second album, The Real Thing. I had their first, Introduce Yourself, as I really liked We Care A Lot, but it wasn't until Mike Patton took over vocals that Faith No More really became EPIC.
Gareth introduced me to The Real Thing, and it was our "album of the year" the first year we were at art college. We played it to death.
Crazy bonkers fusion of rap, metal, funk, and everything else they could throw at it. And still a great album.
Dumped. Yeah, just after Valentine's Day as well. I remember it well.
Anyway, wasn't happy. My first real girlfriend had broken up with me, but my friends at art college rallied around me and tried to keep me distracted so I wasn't wallowing in self pity. One of my college friends had recommended this band called Curve earlier, and I'd heard a lot of their EPs (Ten Little Girls, The Coast is Clear, etc.). In an act of complete synchronicity, just after the breakup at the end of Feb saw the release of Curve's first proper album - Doppelgänger.
Curve were described as shoegazing filth-pop, and remain number 2 in my all time favourite bands (sorry, but Nine Inch Nails are going to be hard to top). Curve were a mass of electronically constructed beats and synths, with grinding noisy guitars, and the amazing vocals of Toni Halliday echoing over the top. They were the goth music that had defined me so long before, only angrier and noisier. They were dark, doom-laiden, and hated the world (one of their later albums is called Open Day At The Hate-Fest).
I still love Curve. There was a long period when I thought that it was just three albums (Doppelgänger, Cuckoo, and Come Clean). Then came that Spider-man movie trailer using Hell Above The Water, and I discovered they were back - new albums, and even a load of unreleased stuff you could get from their website. I was so happy.
Unfortunately, it didn't last, and 2005 they called it a day. The talk of a reunion is always looming on the horizon and I live in hope.
Confession time. In my late teens, my music taste was pretty crap. I listened to pop. Shiny, happy, bubblegum pop. I got a bit adventurous when my hormones took control and I realised that someone I like-liked at school listened to something - the main reason why I started listening to stuff like Meat Loaf, Phil Collins, or Black. Otherwise, I listened to pop. Johnny Hates Jazz, Tiffany, The Christians. I hadn't really found myself musically. Even though I'd left school by now, I hadn't really progressed with my music tastes. Sure I still listened to Talking Heads, or Mike Oldfield, but it wasn't until one fateful evening watching Top of the Pops that my life was changed.
You have to imagine boring old me, sitting at home watching Top of the Pops when on come The Sisters of Mercy. I'd never heard anything like it. I remember talking to my friends the day after and we were all in the same state of awe. I think three of us went out and bought Floodland that week, and it was just a matter of time before the previous album, First and Last and Always, and all of the original EPs, became household items in everyone's life in our group.
Black leather jackets were the norm (though I never had one, strangely), and by the time I went to art college in Hull I'd gained goth biker boots from the coolest place in Hull (Function 1 - back when it was hidden on the other side of the city above a warehouse, behind a secret door marked "Beware of the Leopard"... okay, I may exaggerate the last bit, but it was a strangely secret place). A great place for some really cool black shirts with single colour prints of Sisters EP covers on the back...
The Sisters of Mercy was just the start. It was a gateway to The Sisterhood, The Mission, Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim and All About Eve (more on the Eves later).
Floodland really spoke to me - it was dark, bleak, epic, doom-laiden and kinda summed up my late teens perfectly. Still a great album.
I signed up to The Reptile House, the Sisters fan club, and got the long sleeved t-shirt, and even the rude t-shirt with the lyrics from Driven Like the Snow ("F*** Me and Marry Me Young") that I had to cover up when I was at art college. The Reptile House longsleeve still fits and I wore it to the advance screening of the first half of Edgar Wright's "The Worlds End", as I knew Simon Pegg's character (Gary King) wore one in the movie. It prompted Edgar Wright to come over and have a chat with me about The Sisters, and asking Andrew Eldritch if he was okay with them using the t-shirt and one of the songs in the movie.
I managed to see The Sisters of Mercy play on one of their more recent tours. Andrew Eldritch and Doktor Avalanche with a host of other musicians you couldn't really see for the smoke machine. Eldritch hopping about the stage in an ice hockey jersey still had the energy and bite after all this time. I just wish he'd record something new.
There was a real spate in the 80's of TV showing cool stuff and completely changing our music listening habits. I remember there was a special night on BBC2 (I think) that looked at music videos, and they did almost an hour looking at the music videos of The Cure, and my awesome friend Coop went out the following day and bought their best of album (Staring at the Sea), and it was a slippery slope to him becoming a completist, buying all of The Cure's albums in a relatively short period of time.
For me, it was Channel 4 showing the Talking Heads movie, Stop Making Sense. I'd seen their music videos before for tracks like Once in a Lifetime, but I remember seeing a trailer for the movie's C4 screening and David Byrne's amazing oversized suit and I knew I had to watch it.
C'mon, just watch that opening sequence with David Byrne walking out onto the stage alone with a cassette recorder and an acoustic guitar to perform Psycho Killer, and you know you're watching something special.
The rest of the band gradually assemble over the following songs, and the whole thing was genius. The following week I went out and purchased the album, and like Coop before me, it was a slippery slope to buying their entire back catalogue, and I'm still a fan today.
I do have a fond memory of trying to convert a girl I was at school with to listening to Talking Heads. I had Speaking in Tongues on a cassette in my cheap not-a-Walkman, and she agreed to give it a go. She really enjoyed Burning Down The House, but when it got to the second track, Making Flippy Floppy, I think she thought I was suggesting something dirty and she stopped listening!
I've noticed that a lot of the music I'm picking are not your traditional "love" style songs... Let's face it, their second album is called More Songs About Buildings and Food - and that features my favourite Heads song (also in the movie Stop Making Sense) - Found a Job - a song about a couple (Bob and Judy) who are so bored with TV they start writing their own shows. Brilliant.
Welcome to the Pleasure Dome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984)
"Oh, Frankie."
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a weird one for me. Some of their music was jaw droppingly brilliant - made all the more epic by a lot of post production by legendary producer Trevor Horn. And yet, some of their music was just snippets of cover versions, or whole tracks of them sitting around talking trying to be cool "lads".
My first exposure to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, again, was a trip to see relatives in London. Staying with my grandparents, my uncle who had introduced me to The Boomtown Rats was watching British Channel 4 music programme "The Tube" especially as FGTH was going to be on. He said, "You have to watch this."
It was probably because he was trying to be all controversial as Relax had been banned by the BBC and The Tube was going to reshow the music video for Relax that they'd filmed. It was good, but I wasn't totally convinced.
And then along came Two Tribes. With its controversial video, epic sound, and legendary number of remixes, Two Tribes would become a bit of an obsession of mine. I bought as many remixes as I could find, and when the album came out I was one of the first in line.
Listening to it now, it's not a brilliant double album - but it is a brilliant single album. Take out all the mucking about and weird tracks and you have a solid and amazing work of epic production and mammoth sounds.
I bought the 12" for The Power of Love, but my interest was already starting to wane - though my obsession with Frankie Goes to Hollywood (along with Holly Johnson's cartoon haircut on the cover of the album that looked like mine - back when I had hair - as well as the weird link with my middle name) lead to the creation of my nickname that was given to me in the 6th form at school and has stuck ever since - Frankie.
I have a distinct memory of buying Rage Hard, the first track from their follow up album on 12" from Sydney Scarborough's in Hull, and discovering I had two copies of it in the sleeve. Being the sadly honest person I am, I went back and returned one of them (much to the disgust of some of my mates). That 12" (the Tour of the 12") is a brilliant novelty version of the record, teaching you how a 12" remix works with a voice over.
Strangely, that was the end of my FGTH purchases. I liked Warriors of the Wasteland, but never bought it, or the album Liverpool... and by that time, the band itself imploded and I moved on to other things. Sorry Lads!
Ah, The Police. I'm a big fan of The Police, but got into their music relatively late. I'd heard their singles, liked them, but never really bought any of their albums. I have a distinct memory of one of my sisters buying one (I think it was Regatta de Blanc) and saying that she'd taken it back to the store the following day as it had lots of swearing in it.
Again, it was visit involving relatives that exposed me to some new music. I was staying in London with my uncle and aunt, and staying in their front sitting room on a portable bed arrangement. In the room was the family's stereo and their record collection, and I remember buying some blank cassettes while I was there so I could copy some albums while I was there to listen to properly when I got home. One of those albums was Ghost in the Machine (another one with some swearing in it, sorry sis) and I was mesmerised by some of the weirder, etherial tracks at the end (Secret Journey, Omegaman, Darkness).
Then came their next album, and Synchronicity II was released as a single. Here was a track that was about mundanity (you know I like that, after my entry on The Boomtown Rats last time), interspersed with the weirdness of a strange Cthulhoid creature surfacing from a loch and lurking towards an unsuspecting home. How freakin' cool is that? Synchronicity II was my favourite track of everything for a very long time.
Other great tracks on Synchronicity include the weird Mother, and the melancholy King of Pain. Great album where the big hit single, Every Breath You Take, is possibly my least favourite (mostly as it's really creepy and stalky).
I started with the Greatest Hits album (Every Breath You Take - The Singles) and quickly progressed on to the Message in a Box complete recordings set. Still fab now.
The Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979)
Continuing my look at twenty albums that had a major impact on my life, we come to 1979's "The Fine Art of Surfacing" by The Boomtown Rats. Everybody and their dog had heard of the Rats by this time, being famous for dethroning John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's Grease song from the top of the charts with Rat Trap years before. By the time I Don't Like Mondays hit the charts, the schoolyards were filled with kids talking about what the song was really about. It's a sad state of affairs that these incidents have become more and more commonplace... but let's not get into that.
I was introduced to the album by my uncle (I think that's right) Ian. He was a couple of years older than me and we only really saw each other once or twice a year. He lived with my maternal grandfather, and "aunt" (who was actually my step-grandmother?) in east London. Ian introduced me to some great music that influenced me as a kid - one being Frankie Goes to Hollywood (we'll come to that later) and the other was this album. He bought it on cassette while visiting my parents "up north" and we listened to it when he first got it. On first listen it was cool, but I distinctly remember the weirdness of some of the tracks - Having My Picture Taken is really quirky, and not the usual topic of music at the time, and both Nothing Happened Today and When The Night Comes are about mundane life, being bored with work, and not the standard love songs that really dominated.
"Frankie, you're no different from any of the rest, They've nailed you to your table and they've chained you to your desk."
And then the album had weird secret tracks at the end of each side that I'd not experienced before. The end of side one finishes with a repeating laugh track with "Stop laughing, that's not funny" repeated over it (very creepy)... and side two ends with a sign off for the Rats leaving the Ensign Record label - "That concludes episode 3..."
Months went by and a friend at school in my class was obsessed with Adam and the Ants and asked if ever I saw any magazine articles about the Ants I should save them for her, which I did. She asked what music I was into, and I knew the sort of magazines she read wouldn't cover the weird synth-instrumental stuff I was listening to (Oldfield, Jarre, etc.) so I thought back to that album and said The Boomtown Rats are alright... She surprised me with a mass of clippings from music press about them.
When my birthday was approaching, I was asked what I wanted and I asked for the newest Rats album - Mondo Bongo - which one of my sisters kindly bought for me and proceeded to make me play in front of my parents. Luckily they weren't listening too hard (first record I owned that had "shit" as a lyric), and I quickly progressed on to buying The Fine Art of Surfacing on vinyl.
I bought Surfacing, Mondo Bongo, and V Deep again a few years ago on CD and they still hold up really well. Great albums, all of them.
Continuing my Roll Your Own Life bit of nostalgia, looking at twenty albums that had the biggest impact on my life, we come to the second one - Mike Oldfield's Crises.
It was about this time that I started tabletop gaming, and the friends I played D&D with all had a great influence on me with my music choices. It was my first exposure to cool instrumental artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis. Even weird and high-concept albums like The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony (what a title)...
It was also my first exposure to Mike Oldfield. I'd heard bits of Tubular Bells when it was on the news and documentaries, and I was fascinated that someone could record a whole album alone playing all the instruments. However, I think it was Coop who introduced me to Crises. Hell, what an album. Everyone remembers Moonlight Shadow as the big single, while Oldfield was trying to get some bigger commercial success - but it was the A Side, the twenty-minute long title track that I was most drawn to. There were loads of cool elements to it - the whole opening in epic, and echoes Tubular Bells a little before you get the vocals bit about six minutes in. Then it changes to the "Watcher in the Tower" bit (about eight minutes in) that always went down a storm with the D&D group, and then builds to this massive musical extravaganza towards the end of the track.
Still cool today.
Side B was filled with individual tracks to be more commercial, leading with Moonlight Shadow (though bear in mind, in the US sides A & B were flipped and an extra track, Mistake, was added), and a handful of other tracks that were pretty cool. I know Shadow on the Wall, Oldfield's branch out into slightly heavier music, was a bit of a fave.
I still have very fond memories of listening to this, and Five Miles Out.
First of all, thank you to everyone for your kind words over the loss of our beloved cat, Marla.
It's been tough these last nearly seven weeks, and it's been hard to concentrate on anything without memories coming flooding in. I've been away from social media, and away from most things except the day-job and staring into space. However, things have slowly been progressing with WILD, and there's some really exciting news on the horizon...
But, I need to get back to writing.
A few days ago, I was tagged in one of those Facebook things where you post something each day and tag a friend to get them involved. (Thanks Milo!). This one was twenty albums that defined you, shaped you as a person, and had a major impact on your life.
I started to do it on Facebook, but I didn't feel like torturing other people by tagging them, but then I thought about it - Why am I just posting a picture of an album on Facebook? There's no backstory - no reason for why that album had an impact. I started working out my list (not an easy task) and I'm finding it a great distraction from grief - and also, if I write a little about the posts and I can see it as a warm up exercise for actually doing some proper writing on what I should be working on.
Someone I worked with in a different dayjob used to get up at 6am to write a short story - some flash fiction - each morning. I'm not getting up that early (though I'm usual up for 7am) but this may get me back into the habit of throwing words down on the computer.
So here we go. A new part of my autobiographical series of posts I call "Roll Your Own Life" - it may not be daily, but I'll try to do 20...
The Music That Shaped Me (part 1) - From the Tea-rooms of Mars (1981)
I'm really not doing these in any sort of chronological order, just as they come to me, so please bear with me.
Up to this point, I guess my music tastes were really whatever my parents listened to, or the Star Wars soundtracks, but electronic music was starting to fascinate me and I remember seeing Landscape on Top of the Pops playing Einstein-A-Go-Go and thinking it was different, nerdy, and really cool. I also remember the lead guy from Landscape, Richard James Burgess, being interviewed on Tomorrow's World about drum synthesisers.
I hadn't really bought a lot of music before this. I had some soundtracks, some ELO, the odd single here and there, but I remember getting this album and loving it. The opening track European Man had the most epic opening for an album I'd ever heard before, and could imagine it being the opening titles to a movie.
And then there was the second single from the album, Norman Bates. At the time, I'd never even heard of Psycho, but my mother was a big fan of Hitchcock movies and related the story of Psycho to me so I understood the record. And next time it was on TV, I was sure to watch.
The other stand out track for the album was a really odd one called The Doll's House. I have no idea what it's about - a weird instrumental thing with echoing voices, creepy noises and a drum beat over the top. I listened to it repeatedly trying to fathom out what was going on, but still have no idea.
Certainly worth checking out if you like early 80's electronica.
This blog post is about audio tapes. I know it's a strange topic to pick, as I've not really discussed music here before, but it's mostly inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy and its "Awesome Mix". With the release of the second movie just a few days away, what better time to talk about Awesome Mixes, mix tapes and cassettes in general.
A few of my old tapes (yeah, very Goth) and my wife's old Walkman (that still works - mine died long ago)
This was also partly inspired by both my lovely wife deciding to sort out part of the spare room for her projects and stumbling across our boxes of audio tapes (and a couple of old personal stereos), and also by watching Th1rteen R3asons Why on Netflix - a series that stunned, shocked and left me in an emotional puddle on the floor. Before you complain and say "doesn't that glamorise suicide?" I'll stop you there and say I don't think it does. It's horrible, traumatic, but is getting people talking, and that's a good thing.
Anyway, this post isn't about Th1rteen R3asons Why. I may come to that in a later post.
This post is about audio tapes. Remember those? I do. Yes, I'm old. Audio tapes for me had double the use as not only where they a great way to record music, and even voice recordings, but they also held data for my old, trusty ZX Spectrum. Nothing quite like the old days of waiting thirty minutes for your game to load from the screeching sound of data transfer.
But Guardians of the Galaxy really made tapes popular again. Maybe the combination of that and Th1rteen R3asons will bring a new renaissance of tapes, just as vinyl is now the go-to media for real audiophiles?
Guardians of the Galaxy's Awesome Mix (vol 1) is the tape that Peter Quill's mother gives him before he is abducted from Earth. They're tunes his mother loves that she has selected for him, and so have an emotional resonance as well as being great choices of music.
At my day job, we decided to take this one step further. While I can't get my parents to make an Awesome Mix for me anymore, we decided we'd each try to create our own Awesome Mix. The rules were simple:
1) Select 12 songs that have an emotional meaning for you - remind you of your childhood, your parents/guardians/friends/family. 2) The first 11 must be songs that you listened to before you started buying your own music. 3)No duplicate artists. 4) Compile them into a list - an Awesome Mix - think carefully of the running order. 5) The final song on your Awesome Mix should be the first single you ever bought for yourself, not bought for you.
(That last rule is one I added, not everyone at my day job has stuck to that one)
There you go! Your very own Awesome Mix (vol 1).
So, without further ado, I present my own Awesome Mix for your audio enjoyment.
1) Jive Talkin' - The Bee Gees May 1975 - RSO Records
My dad was a huge Bee Gees fan. He seemed to play them constantly in the house and in the car. Our old house had a "front room" which was only really for when the weather was good, but it was where dad had set up the record player and during the summer the big bay windows would open onto the tiny street outside and the Bee Gees would fill the air (probably to the annoyance of our neighbours).
2) The Chain - Fleetwood Mac Feb 1977 - Warner Bros
I remember my sister saying to my dad, "Have you listened to Fleetwood Mac? They sound a bit like the Bee Gees and it's the music from Formula One?" My dad used to watch a lot of motor sport (hell, he used to watch a lot of sport), and I think this was my sister's way of getting him away from listening to the Bee Gees constantly. Thankfully, it worked. The Chain is still a work of genius (and it's no surprise that it appears on the official Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Awesome Mix).
3) Nightflight to Venus - Boney M July 1978 - Atlantic
My dad used to play the drums. Not professionally, but he was in the "work band" at the hospital where he worked as a nurse. I knew he played the keyboards a little, but I didn't realise his musical background until we found his piano qualifications from the London Academy of Music when we were clearing my parent's house.
Anyway, being a drummer, he loved this. Probably because it owes a lot to one of his favourite singles, "Dance with the Devil" by Cosy Powell.
So that gets an honourable mention, but isn't on my Awesome Mix.
I do have a distinct memory of going to a "do" that was being held at the hospital where he was working. A Christmas do or something like that. I can't remember. I just remember it being in a big hall, with a stage for a band, and dad letting me sit behind the drum kit - but I wasn't allowed to touch them. Last thing they needed was an out-of-tempo racket ruining their evening. It was so cool. Shame I can't drum very well (if my playing Rock Band is anything to go by).
4) Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers 1969, Reprise Records
My mum had a bit of a liking of country music. Well, both of them did really. I remember them videoing the Country Music Awards every year so they could rewatch the good bits - not that I remember them actually watching the tapes. I remember my mum liked Kenny Rogers, and for some reason this one always stuck in my mind. While I preferred "The Gambler" myself, this one stuck in my head for the bit about taking his gun and shooting her. Even as a youngster that sounded shocking.
5) Do You Wanna Dance? - Barry Blue 1973, Bell Records
You're probably thinking "WHO?" In 1973, this guy had a few hits including Dancin' on a Saturday Night, and this one. It was very glam, very over the top. Dad had the album - I remember it had a weird label in the middle of the vinyl that looked odd when it was going around. I can't remember much more than that, but after researching this Awesome Mix I've had this song stuck in my head for two days...
6) (I Lost My Heart to a) Starship Trooper - Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip 1978, Ariola Hansa
I was so obsessed with Star Wars when it came out, that I have a distinct memory of going to a department store with my parents and my dad deciding to buy a record. One of those compilation albums (long before the "NOW" series ever started). He picked out a few, and couldn't decide which one to go for and asked me to have a look. I knew a few of the tracks on them thanks to listening to the Top 40 on a Sunday evening, but Starship Trooper stood out as it was kinda sci-fi. So the album with that on it became the album of choice. This leads to the next one...
7) Denis - Blondie 1978, Chrysalis
We put the aforementioned album on when we got home, and the first track on side 1 was "Denis" by Blondie. I can't remember what the second track was, but I remember my dad said that I'd picked the one with lots of punk on it, but he didn't mind the first one as his name was Denis, even spelled that way. And I would grow to be quite a fan of Blondie.
8) The Ballroom Blitz - The Sweet 1973, RCA
Not inspired by my parents' music choices this time. This one's thanks to my childhood friend from school who I'll just call Jinx incase he doesn't want to be named. Jinx was his nickname, though I don't think he liked it much. Jinx started with the whole "buying records" before me, and I remember going 'round to his house and him putting this on. I think his music tastes, and him buying singles, is what inspired me with my first music purchase, but that's a way off yet... Good choice of single, Jinx.
9) Misty Blue - Dorothy Moore 1975, Malaco
Not my usual music choice, but this one brings back fond memories of my dad. For some reason, he really wanted to listen to it, but he didn't know if he had it. Of course, I didn't know who sang it, dad proceeded to sing a bit of it for me, and I set to looking through all of his vinyl, every track on every compilation album looking for it for him. I don't think he had it in the end, but I know he always loved that song.
10) Tiger Feet - Mud Jan 1974, RAK
Mum, however, liked her music a bit more up-tempo. While she couldn't dance due to her disability, she loved anything with a good beat that she could bop around to - and Tiger Feet by Mud was one of her favourites.
11) Summer Night City - ABBA Sept 1978, Epic
As for choosing my own music, I do have a distinct memory of listening to ABBA (This was before I had my own music to choose from). My parents had a really cool "Best of ABBA" album (Greatest Hits Vol 2) and I remember listening to this on my folks' stereo in that front room. That was before I bought my own first single and everything changed.
12) Eighth Day - Hazel O'Connor 1980, A&M
Before this, I'd had a few records of my own that had been bought for me. I had a couple of singles (ELO, the Theme from Monkey, etc.) and a few albums (mostly Bond themes, Star Wars and War of the Worlds), but the first single I remember going out and buying for myself, with my own pocket money, is Eighth Day by Hazel O'Connor. Probably inspired by Jinx (who had Breaking Glass as an album if I remember correctly) and that music video that looked like Tron before Tron even happened (though I don't think I've ever seen the movie Breaking Glass)... It was epic, sci-fi, and unlike anything I'd ever heard before.
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There you go. My Awesome Mix (Vol 1).
What would yours be? And what rules should constitute a Volume 2?
Until then, listen to music, dance, watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and enjoy.
As part of my birthday prezzies this week from my lovely wife, I was treated to an evening of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds. Something I've always been intrigued with seeing as a live production but we've never managed to make it to any of the actual concerts.
Thanks to the recent trend in showing theatre productions in cinemas, last year we managed to see the rather cool production of Frankenstein with the legendary casting of both Sherlocks, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. An amazing bit of acting by all involved (when we saw it, Cumberbatch was Victor, Miller was the creature), and I'm stunned it hasn't been released on DVD yet.
After the success of seeing that in the cinema, we were intrigued to see that they were showing a recording of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds in cinemas.
Jeff Wayne conducts War of the Worlds live on stage
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I'd always loved that album. I have distinct memories of the record, dating right back to primary school. It was part of the school's routine that each class had to host and sometimes "perform" the school assemblies. I remember distinctly that we hosted one demonstrating basic first aid and after the assembly I had to fake passing out in the crowd to see if the rest of the children had taken in the information... they just really ignored me...
Anyway, I have a memory of standing in assembly and one of the other classes was putting on their presentation and while we were waiting for the talking to start and for all of the classes to arrive, they were playing The Eve of the War. I'd never heard anything like it before, and I was fascinated. I asked the others in my class what it was, and one of my friends (though I use the term lightly as he did make part of my school life miserable) identified the record as he had it.
The "Dead London" image from the LP booklet. Always held a
morbid fascination with me as a kid.
It was immediately on my birthday requests. I think it was the only thing I asked for that year, and was my main birthday present. Two glorious LPs worth of it, with a book with all of the lyrics and pages of awesome artwork. Mum didn't understand why I would want such a thing, she couldn't see why I'd want a record of someone telling me the story of War of the Worlds. Of course, the moment she heard it, she realised - it became one of her favourite albums ever.
I had a poster magazine as well. Remember those? I still have loads of poster magazines (probably worth nothing now as the posters took their turns decorating my bedroom walls) from various movies, from the first Star Wars, through Tron, Indiana Jones, and Ghostbusters... But I remember I had the second issue of the War of the Worlds poster magazine. I loved that magazine, as it had blueprints for the Fighting Machine. Typically, I took it to school one day, and it was gone.
Blueprints of the Fighting Machine from the poster magazine.
Wherever you are, I'd like it back (even though it's almost 30 years later...)
Anyway, that album was always one of my prized possessions. Not worth anything except sentimental value, I do still have that double album. I have it on CD now as well, and still listen to it. It's still fantastic.
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The production we saw was the "Next Generation", with slightly more drums and new artists. Liam Neeson showed that even as a hologram he has immense stage presence. Jason Donovan was absolutely amazing as the Parson Nathaniel, and Ricky Wilson did a great job as the Artilleryman, recapturing part of the David Essex-ness about it while still making the role his own.
The whole stage production was rather excellent, and is due to be released on DVD/BluRay in November.
