Around about a montgh ago, one of the fellow Spurs fans that I follow on Bluesky Steve Shearman reposted the post below with his own first choice for the challenge. It seemed that it might be fun to have a go myself and started that day.
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Where it all started. |
As you see, part of this was to make no comment or put them in any kind of order, literally its just a case of using a picture of the album cover to show your choice.
I decided I would be as spontanious as possible and try not to think too much about it until the moment that I would make my daily post. That is a lot more difficult in practice than in theory as I tend to overthink even the most simple of decisions. I also thought that when I've finished the twenty days it would be quite theraputic for me to put down my reasons for making the choices I did.
This was how it panned out:-
DAY ONE
DARE - THE HUMAN LEAGUE (Released October 1981)
This was a very easy place to start for me. The album that spawned the number 1 single don't you want me probably spent as much, if not more time on the record player in my bedroom at home than any other. So much so that it developed a scratch on the very short version of the theme from 'Get Carter'. As a 12 year old I thought that track was rubbish any way but it was only when I was older and saw the seminal British movie of the same name staring Michael Caine that I realised what they were doing. Listening later to their earlier releases led me into other artists like John Foxx and even Jean Michel-Jarre. Hearing it today, it doesn't sound dated at all. Its just brilliant pop music. Front man Phil Oakey also obviously had one of the great haircuts of the 80's as well
DAY TWO
SCREAMADELICA - PRIMAL SCREAM (Released September 1991)
I can distinctly remember walking from my office to Our Price in Crouch End, North London to buy this CD on its day of release. It marked a change of direction for Primal Scream who to me had previously been a jingly jangly but perfectly acceptable indie band. Now I'm not suggesting for a moment that drugs had anything to do with this but if they did then we should all be grateful. This amazing fusion of indie and dance set a very high bar for albums made by British bands that followed in the decade that gave us Britpop. The remixes are wonderful, incredible production and the beautiful guest vocals of the sadly departed Denise Johnson. Primal Scream never again hit these heights but then again Lucas Moura only ever scored one hat-trick in a Champions League semi final, didn't he?
DAY THREE
ELLA AND LOUIS - ELLA FITZGERALD AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Released October 1956)
Producer Norman Granz (founder of Verve Records) had the idea to record an album with arguably the greatest and most influential musician of the 20th Century alongside without doubt the greatest female vocalist of the same period. Oh and he got the Oscar Peterson Quartet, the greatest jazz quartet of their time to play the music. Remarkably, given the quality it only took two days to make. One to rehearse, one to record. Granz picked the songs but Louis Armstrong had the final say over the musical direction. These are simple but classic tracks. The beauty of this is the contrast of Ella's chocolate like vocals to Louis' gruff but wonderful diction. Its all in the timing as well. Louis trumpet solos always at exactly the right time and for the correct duration. You can feel the genuine warmth and affection they had for each other. Its magnificent from start to finish.
DAY FOUR
THE STONE ROSES - THE STONE ROSES (Released May 1989)
Obviously I've never heard every single musical artists debut albums but of the ones I have heard I'd argue this is the best of the lot. The leading band from the blossoming Manchester music scene from that period the Roses were definately the coolest of the lot. Their influence on a whole generation of people, both in fashion and the music that shaped a lot of the bands that would become household names during the Britpop period has never been understated. Playing it today you realise the confidence they had. For example to start with 'I Wanna Be Adored' which takes a while to build up instead of crashing straight in with something more in-your-face. For me, there's never been anything like it before or since. I also think the time taken to release the follow up (over five years) helped to build up the reputation of this record.
DAY FIVE
ABSOLUTELY - MADNESS (Released September 1980)
Apparently, nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be but Madness is / are where it all starts for me. 'Baggy Trousers' was the first 7" single I bought with my own money (Derek's Records, Turnpike Lane) and this LP was also the first one I bought with my own money (Woolworths, Edmonton Green) for the princely sum of £3.99. So influential, it's great pop music but it also lead me to the stuff I still love to this day like the other Two Tone bands, old school ska, I could go on. I love the fact the inner sleeve contained an evolution, members wise, of the band although this is the classic line-up. I can put this on today and it still entertains and amuses in a way that hardly anything else does.
DAY SIX
THE QUEEN IS DEAD - THE SMITHS (Released June 1986)
The Best Album from The Best Band Of The 1980's. I'll qualify this by saying that I'm including bands that only released material in that decade. The Smiths put out an incredible amount of material in a relatively short time, the music of Johnny Marr married perfectly with the lyrics of Morrissey and never better than on this record. From the opening bars of the title track through to the close of 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others' its near to thirty-seven minutes of perfection. It was this record that brought me back to the band after a hiatus of at least five years when I couldn't bring myself to listen to any of their music after Morrissey's descent into a right-wing schill. It almost broke my heart that someone who wrote some of the most beautiful lyrics in music history could hold those abhorrent views. I haven't forgiven or forgotten but I can't deny myself their music, specially not this LP.
DAY SEVEN
PUSH BARMAN TO OPEN OLD WOUNDS - BELLE & SEBASTIAN (Released March 2005)
This is actually a compilation LP, made up of the 7 EP's the group released for Jeepster Records between 1997 and 2001. To me, these tunes are 'indie' music perfection. Gentle tunes with clever lyrics and catchy melodies which sometimes speed up and get a bit heavier when necessary. Another band to have released a large amount of material, all of which is of a really high standard. Included in this is the track 'Lazy Line Painter Jane' which has to be one of my favourite tracks from this or indeed any other era. Being a gathering of singles, there's no filler which makes for nearly two hours well worth listening to.
DAY EIGHT
SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS) - DAVID BOWIE (Released September 1980)
It was borrowing this record from the Public Library in Bush Hill Park, Enfield that was my gateway into David Bowie. I'm not old enough to have followed his career previous to that but the borrowers fee for an LP, which I think was about 15p for a fortnight, was probably the best 15p I ever spent. It probably helped to intrigue this 11/12 year old that the lead single 'Ashes To Ashes' had the most wonderful and at the time most expensive in history promotional video. Its only later you realise that there are guest appearances from the likes of Pete Townsend and Robert Fripp. It was also Bowies last collaboration for two decades with producer Toni Visconti.
DAY NINE
OK COMPUTER - RADIOHEAD (Released May 1997)
They used to say that everybody could remember where they where when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot. Well I can remember where I was the first time I heard this LP. I was in the kitchen of my flat making some dinner. I put the newly purchased CD in the player and what I heard over the next 53 minutes or so changed what I thought about music from then on. I'd never heard anything like it. I really liked the previous album The Bends, but this was something so different and thought provoking. This record gave Radiohead licence to do whatever they wanted for the rest of their career and nearly thirty years later they continue to release both individually and as a group interesting and thought provoking music.
DAY TEN
SOUND AFFECTS - THE JAM (Released November 1980)
I've been lucky enough to have six dogs in my lifetime and picking a favourite would be impossible just like trying to narrow down just one Jam album to include in this list. In the end I plumped for Sound Affects because I think its the nearest to the Kinks influence in their music that I really adored. The magnificent wordplay of 'Thats Entertainment' and the clever look at the British Class system of 'Man In The Corner Shop' alongside 'Start' with the riff possibly er borrowed from The Beatles 'Taxman' help make this a great listen. Probably not rated as their best but more than likely the one I've played more than any of the others.
DAY ELEVEN
REVOLVER - THE BEATLES (Released August 1966)
Imagine being a young progressive who liked football and pop music in late summer of 1966. You had a Labour Government under Harold Wilson promising to modernise Britain and fly on the coatails of Swinging London, the England football team had just been crowned World Champions at Wembley and the Beatles had yet another incredible album out. With the benefit of hindsight its difficult to take in the volume of high quality music written, recorded and released by the Beatles during this period. To have done all they did and pretty much wrapped themselves up by the end of the decade is quite phenominal. With regard to this particular record, all you really need to know is that it contains 'Tomorrow Never Knows' which may just about be the best thing they ever did.
DAY TWELVE
IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK - PUBLIC ENEMY (Released June 1988)
Any of the current billionaire rappers or indeed the ones who just happen to be multi millionaires definately owe a debt of gratitute to Public Enemy. Alongside Run DMC I believe they paved the way for mass media acceptance of the genre. One of the biggest ironies being that Public Enemy were and still are a very political group. Any cursory glance at their lyrics and message show this but it didn't stop vast commercial success. This is another of those records thats brilliant from the first beat to the last, spawning hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic. Not only is this one of the best records of the 1980's its also one of the most important, given how the music business and media has changed in the years after. Listen to 'She Watch Channel Zero'. It could have been written today.
DAY THIRTEEN
DEFINATELY, MAYBE - OASIS (Released August 1994)
Well they're back next year after a decade and a half sabbatical. There's probably a couple of hundred million reasons why the live shows are happening but a whole generation of people will either be there or be very interested to see how it goes. This was where it all started for the charismatic brothers from Manchester, a raucous, noisy, rough around the edges debut album that at the same time has contains some very clever lyrics penned by the older of the brothers Noel. Younger sibling Liams vocals suit the songs completely making this in my opinion the 90's generations equivalent to 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. Its funny because its hard to believe Liam is a man in his fifties because this record will always make him seem forever young.
DAY FOURTEEN
PORTISHEAD - DUMMY (Released August 1994)
I've only been to Glastonbury once in 1995 and I queued for literally hours to get into a smallish tented venue to see Portishead. I imagine they were booked about the time the album was released but virtually a year later they were one of the most talked about and sucessful bands in the UK. Haunting lyrics beautifully perfomed by Beth Gibbons allied to that trippy Bristol sound made for atmospheric, smoky tracks that you can imagine playing in the background of any world-class drama. And they did, because this work of genius was used basically as the soundtrack to the best television programme of its era, the BBC drama about the London based young lawyers, 'This Life'.
DAY FIFTEEN
HAIL TO THE THIEF - RADIOHEAD (Released June 2003)
After 1997's 'OK Computer' I'm sure Radiohead's record company allowed them to do whatever they wanted. I'm also sure they would have done that anyway. Next came 'Kid A' initially resisted but now acknowledged as a work of genius, then 'Amnesiac' and then two years later 'Hail To The Thief'. I never thought they could surpass 'OK' but in my mind this record does. Its appropriate to reuse the phrase 'from the opening bar to the last note' as its a sweeping musical treat. Thom Yorkes unique voice and sometimes bizarre lyrics combine with the bands peerless musicianship. Includes 'Where I End And You Begin' which is the best thing they've ever recorded.
DAY SIXTEEN
ROLLED GOLD - THE ROLLING STONES (Released November 1975)
I lost my last Uncle, Charlie, just over a year ago and its thanks to him that this record makes this list. I must have been around 13 when he gifted me his copy of this album. I guess I probably mentioned at Christmas that I'd heard 'Satisfaction' on the radio. At that point in time (approx 1982) to a 13 year old the Stones were just a bunch of old men playing stadium rock .....funny that, and I suppose he wanted to show me otherwise. And boy was he right. From the brilliant early cover versions of R'n'B classics right through to 'Gimme Shelter' this basically coughs up all the best stuff from the 60's. Definately a world class collection of singles.
DAY SEVENTEEN
13 - BLUR (Released March 1999)
There were a couple of albums between this and Blur's 1994 commercially successful 'Parklife', one of which (the self-titled 'Blur') I flit between with '13' as the best thing they've ever done. I think the tiebreaker with this one though is the track 'No Distance Left To Run' which whilst not containing a brilliant cameo apearance from Phil Daniels is the best thing they've done. By 1999 Blur had moved on from pop and indeed Britpop and were writing and recording 'grown-up' music which reached its zenith with this record. They've gone on to make more thought-provoking and interesting records and there's also been side projects and solo stuff consummate with musicians of their standing and abilities.
DAY EIGHTEEN
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PINK FLOYD (Released March 1973)
According to information from various sources this is either the third or fourth best selling album in history. Its the biggest selling record of the 1970's, proving that it is possible to be both great and popular at the same time. Pink Floyd in their different guises have always been at heart musicians. Dark Side only came out six years after 'Sgt Pepper's' but I reckon it changed music in a very similar fashion. Its experimental but at the same time seems to have an eye on being commercially successful. Weirdly the first time I heard this was on tape in my Dad's car. Weird because he is a jazz / easy listening fan and thats what we normally had on journeys but for some reason he played this. I thought it was great and bought it as soon as possible afterwards.
DAY NINETEEN
THE SPECIALS - THE SPECIALS (Released October 1979)
One of the words used in the original post to define the choice on the list was 'influenced' and I suppose that if for example you looked in my wardrobe you'd have to say this record has definately influenced me. Like thousands of boys and girls my age as young kids we were captivated by Two Tone and The Specials were at the the top of that tree. Loving this led me onto Prince Buster and the Ska giants, which inturn took me to Blue Beat, Rocksteady, Lovers Rock etc. All down to a bunch of guys from Coventry singing about issues that initially as a 10 / 11 year old I just didn't understand. I knew it sounded bloody great though.
DAY TWENTY
CAFE BLEU - THE STYLE COUNCIL (Released March 1984)
I reckon that if I'd have been the age I was when this album came out at the point The Jam started I'd have really hated it. With hindsight I can understand why the old school Jam fans took against Wellers new band The Style Council because it was certainly a departure from what he did before. This record is like a collection of everything the 25 year old Weller wanted to do. From the beautiful 'You're The Best Thing' through the funk influenced 'Strength Of Your Nature' to the jazzy 'The Paris Match' it encompasses many different styles. While The Jam were as English as Roast Beef and Village Cricket this record has heavy European influences, cafe culture and cycling feature in the accompanying videos. A taster of what was to come from the Modfather post his Jam success.
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