I was then watching one of my favourite films of all time, 'High Fidelity', and this brought the question back to me again. John Cusack's character, Rob, talks about his top 5 records for certain circumstances in this life and I wondered if I had a short list of something regarding music in me. It certainly seemed more plausible than 10 albums anyway so I had yet another think.
I don't think I can honestly say an album has necessarily changed my life. I have certainly listened to some that have made me change the way I feel about music or have been significant at a certain point of my life, but changed it. I'm not so sure. Bearing in mind I have always had a lot of music around whilst growing up, I don't really consider albums as being time sensitive so I can't catalogue it in this way. If you look at what I'm listening to at the moment, it's as much old as new. In fact as I'm writing this I have been listening to 'Frampton Comes Alive' which was released in 1976 and makes it as old as me. This doesn't influence me in any way and I go backwards as well as forwards with my musical taste.
If I had to choose an album that stands out as a defining moment of my life, I guess I would have to say 'Woodface' by Crowded House. It was the first album of theirs that I heard and bought and it started my ongoing love affair with them which has never waned. They are still my favourite band of all time and without this album I would never have been as dedicated as I am. This was the album that got a lot of people into their music due to songs like 'Weather With You' and I guess it came along at the right time for me when I was looking for something. It was 1991 and I was still at school. I wasn't one of the cool kids, but I wasn't one of the picked on kids either. I was somewhere on the outside, not really fitting in anywhere. I guess music was a way to escape for me and I kept it to myself.
It had a big influence on what I wanted to do with my life and I made the decision that I wanted to be a studio engineer. Ideally I would have liked to be a musician, but my talent was somewhat lacking so I looked at getting into it from another angle. My college courses were based on this, but sadly I dropped out due to the pressure and my dreams of working on some top albums died with it. Speaking to a friend recently who is a session musician, he tells me that studio engineering is very different now to how it was back then. I had to go off and learn about physics and mechanical mathematics as you needed this type of understanding for the job, but now it's all about computer programming. How times change.
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| This hand should belong to me... |
I was never really into female singer songwriters much, but when I heard this album it was like a wow moment and something resonated inside me. I had never heard anything like it before, the voice, the piano, the lyrics, it was amazing. I think it was probably 'Silent All These Years' that I heard first and it hooked me in. She is still my favourite female singer songwriter and I have most of her albums. Strangely though, I can only find 1 or 2 people that enjoy her work too which I think is a real shame. One other female singer that I very nearly included in this post was Bjork with her album 'Debut'. It's a similar story with this one, although I was introduced to it by a friend so it doesn't stand out to me in the same way. A great album though with some fab tracks on it.
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| Go and listen to this album |
I have been introduced to a lot of music over the years, but I think it was during my late teens that this happened the most. I was working at my first job (which I hated), but I had a friend there who was older and liked a lot of the same things as I did. He taught me a lot about music and made me a tape (yes a tape!) of amazing tracks which included bands like Sugar, Stereolab, The Blue Aeroplanes and many more that I had never heard of. I think it's only now that I realise the meaning behind giving someone a compilation tape, but unfortunately that ship sailed a long time ago and in fact said ship married someone else. Anyway... One of the other bands I was introduced to was The Divine Comedy. It was at the time their album 'Casanova' was out and on a whim I bought it, mainly to impress him. I had no idea that I would in fact grow to love it so much and they became one of my favourite bands. I've seen them live and still have their songs on my iPod today. Defining moment? Maybe.
So far all these albums have been in the past, but what about recently music? I considered if there was anything that I bought not long ago which I could say changed my outlook on music. The one that stands out to me the most is 'Solaris' by Elliot Minor. I'm late to the party with this band, and in fact I'm so late that they have just played some final, goodbye concerts. Fuck it. I can tell you exactly why I listened to them and it was all because of Twitter. They followed me on there and, as I always do, I went off to find out what they were like. I had no idea what they were about, they looked like some boy band with guitars and I didn't hold out much hope, but I am nothing if not interested and willing to give anyone a chance. I found them on YouTube and the first song I listened to was 'The Dancer'. As soon as it started I knew this was different. They were strings involved for fucks sake. A rock band with string arrangements, WTF was I listening to. I was blown away and have been ever since. Albums were purchased and I have also got my friend Paul into them too. He said the exact same thing as me when I played their music to him "Why have I not heard of this band before?". It's a great shame that we are so late with this one, but am I glad I have them in my record collection? Hell yeah! Did this album change my life? Well, no, but it certainly cemented the fact that there is new music out there to be discovered and that in this time of social media and online marketing, Twitter is a great way to find cool music. So much so, that this is going to be the basis of my next post.
But back to life changing records. I guess hearing 'Brothers In Arms' by Dire Straits was another moment I can remember. Maybe they are not such a cool band, but it was the guitar solos that got me. My brother came back from camping and told me that he had heard it there and liked it so much that he'd brought the tape. I listened to it with him and could see why it appealed to him. I haven't listened to it in a long time, but I can remember hearing it back then and thinking it was important. It could well have been this that got me into the guitar as a leading instrument, I don't know. Say what you like about Dire Straits, but man, Mark Knofler can play the guitar.
Speaking of guitars, I asked my friend Paul whether an album had changed his life in any way. This is what he told me:
"It’s 1986, I’m 13 years old and just
discovering music. I remember it clearly, I was at home and on the radio I
heard ‘Friends Will Be Friends’ by Queen.
Although the song was catchy, and the vocals
were impeccable, it was the guitar that caught my attention. I was already
learning to play classical guitar, but this was different, the tones, the
warmth it exuded and the melodic playing, it was if that guitar was actually
talking to me, and then it changed, another tone, and then another with a
different feel and it made me think (and that was unusual for me). How can one
instrument do all that in the space of 3 minutes?? I knew from that day on that I needed an
electric guitar.
On purchasing the album ‘A Kind Of Magic’,
that the song was taken from (gatefold vinyl) I heard a plethora of tones,
sounds, squeals, harmonies and chunky rhythms all from Brian’s Red Special and
my love affair with Queen, and perhaps more importantly the guitar had begun.
Now it was 3 years later that I finally
persuaded my parents that classical guitar wasn’t the instrument for me and
they agreed to buy me an electric one, a Marlin Slammer cheap beginner’s
package with amp, lead, strap and plectrum!
It didn’t stay in tune, the tone was awful
and I couldn’t play anything that wasn’t offensive to the ears. But I loved
every minute of it.
Many years later, I have bought, sold, given
away, broken and acquired many guitars, amps and effects pedals. I have played
in numerous bands, played full venues that seated thousands of people and recorded
albums. I have met some great people and some not so great people in the
eclectic world of music.
Would I have done all this if I had not
discovered ‘Queen’? I honestly don’t think I would.
I believe I can honestly say that ‘A Kind Of
Magic’ changed my life". @PaulCooper01
I guess I could go through my record collection and pick out my favourite albums, but that isn't what this is about. It's about whether I can say certain albums have changed my life. I'm still not sure if I can, but I can look at my musical journey and say that some things stand out more than others. They may not be cool or popular choices, but they mean something to me. 'August and Everything After' by Counting Crows was the first album I wrote a review about. 'Sheer Heart Attack' is my all time favourite Queen album and the first one I bought on vinyl. 'Greatest Hits' by the Eagles was one that I stole off of my dad and copied. 'Rubber Soul' is the only Beatles album I own. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.
When Rob in High Fidelity rearranged his record collection, it wasn't by chronological or alphabetical order. It was autobiographical and I can totally get that. In fact, it might just be the way to go...
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| Not my vinyl I'm afraid |
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