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1
Barclay James Harvest - Once
Again There
may not be such a thing as the perfect piece of music or the perfect album
and of course it's all down to personal taste and opinion. For me this is
simply sublime. I
have written more about this album than any other. It is simply by
far and away my favourite album of all time as you will find if you follow
my musical links throughout our pages. It is hard to put into words the importance of this album to me. It
contains my favourite three BJH songs - Mocking Bird, She Said and
Galadriel and has an overpowering beauty. I
just have to listen to this album to be reduced to tears - and that
doesn't happen lightly. There has never been an album to equal this one for mood setting. It
reminds me vividly of a part of my life long since gone. I love to play it late at night on headphones and with all the lights
off. Then the swirling melodies remind me of great times. To me this is as perfect as rock music gets.
Virtually ignored by the critics, it is a wonderful collection of prog
rock that in my eyes will never be equalled or surpassed. In addition
Mockingbird remains my favourite pop/rock song of all time. Play
Once Again through we7.com |
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2
David Bowie - Hunky
Dory
This
was the first of an amazing trio of albums from Bowie that continued with
Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. I can't think of a mainstream
artist who has produced three such perfect examples of their art in
succession. For me Hunky Dory was the pinnacle of Bowie's songwriting
ability.
I
first saw Bowie live in Harlow, Essex, somewhere between Hunky Dory and
Ziggy Stardust. I have memories of Bowie playing the first half of the set
at the piano featuring much of the material from Hunky Dory before
unveiling the Spiders From Mars Band for an electric Ziggy set for the second half. This
album attacks the senses like virtually no other. It has a feel of
greatness about it. Great albums have no weaknesses. This is a great
album. For sometime I never got past the first side of the album - it was
that good. I continually played Changes, Oh You Pretty Things, Life on
Mars, Kooks and then went back to play them again. It
was only later on that I realised that there were gems on side two as
well. Songs of passion - the art school feel of Andy Warhol and Song for
Bob Dylan and The Bewley Brothers was just one of those songs that
confused but amazed. Above
all the thing that makes Hunky Dory a great album is the atmosphere it
emits.
Play
Hunky Dory through we7.com
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3
David Bowie - The
Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Every
song a gem. Every song important in the history of rock music. Every song
dripping with class. This was where Bowie had been heading for - the weird
androgynous character, the space artist insisting that we lose our
sensibilities and enter his world with 11 songs about space, time and a
new world.
All
you need to do to realise the greatness of this album is to transport
yourself back to the early 1970s - a time of political unrest, three day
working weeks. A time of rebellion where the fanciness and experimentation of the
60s had given way to the harsh realities of a rather aggressive decade. This
album is released and you play the opening track "Five Years"
and the lyrics "News had just come over, we had five years left to
cry in, News guy wept when he told us, earth was really dying." One
of the most apocalyptic songs to be written and all this with a melody
more akin to a love song - pure magic. The
great music just continues throughout the album. Soul Love, Starman, Lady
Stardust, Star, Ziggy Stardust and the sheer brilliance of Rock N Roll
Suicide. These are the songs that are quite extraordinary in their power.
Alongside them are the great rock efforts like Suffragette City, Moonage
Daydream and Hang On To Yourself. This
album has a brilliant balance. Bowie said it all in Ziggy Stardust with
the immortal line "Ziggy played guitar" and how.
Play
Ziggy Stardust through we7.com
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4 Mike
Oldfield - Tubular
Bells
Tubular Bells is one
of the most original pieces of rock music ever penned. Sadly it was the
peak of Oldfield's creativity. He trod a similar path with some success with
Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn, but then the whole thing became rather tired
and dull.
The
result was simply that Oldfield soon ran out of ideas and today is still
trotting out the same tired old stuff with dull regularity. Tubular
Bells, however, is magnificent. It turned me onto a whole new style of
rock/contemporary music and is still unique amongst what I would refer to
as the borderline prog rock catalogue. Thanks
to film and television, virtually everyone is familiar with the opening
sequences - irrespective of whether they know where they actually come
from. The whole work builds and builds - occasionally dropping down to
produce a sublime melody. Music
can evoke a taste, a smell, a period of time or a memory. Tubular Bells
achieves all of this. There is one pastoral part that to me is one of the
perfect passages of music. It makes me think of walking along a particular
riverbank in Norfolk on a lovely hazy warm summers day with boats tied up
to the bank. I have never found out quite why. Tubular
Bells scored heavily on originality and sheer beauty and I would liken it
to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and a number of Mahler's symphonies in
being a perfect illustration of the landscape - a tone poem of immense
power wrapped in a fragile framework. It
is difficult to see how Tubular Bells could ever be bettered in its
particular field..
Play
Tubular Bells through we7.com
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5
David Bowie - Aladdin
Sane
This was the third of Bowie's classic
albums that seemed to role so effortlessly through the early 70s. After
Aladdin Sane I felt that Bowie's prowess as a songwriter of quirky and
catchy rock/pop songs dropped off. Over the years he has had other high
spots but never reached the excellence of Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and
Aladdin Sane.
Well over 25 years on this
one still excites with the jazz piano of Mike Garson on Lady Grinning Soul
maybe suggesting some of the experimentation that Bowie would be
undertaking in the future. Drive In Saturday, Time, The Prettiest Star are
all seminal Bowie. This album showed a man at his creative peak and reminds
us that Bowie was a great artist. Listen to these songs and you can see
exactly where bands such as Suede come from. Ziggy
had gone, Bowie had moved on but everything was still okay with the world.
Every track here is another absolute gem - as good as anything Bowie
wrote. Ironically the one track I'm not fond of is Let's Spend the Night
Together - a song borrowed from the Rolling Stones. This album is about
the human condition with songs such as Panic in Detroit, Cracked Actor and
Time. Again there are so many highlights. The Prettiest Star is one of my
favourite Bowie songs. Many
many years later when Bowie's input had sunk through experimentation. I
looked back on the trio of albums as Bowie at his peak and thought
"why can't he write songs like those any more?" But time passes
and Bowie's journey had many miles to run.
Play
Aladdin Sane through we7.com
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6
Rod Stewart - Every Picture
Tells A Story
A
great rock anthem - one of the finest pure rock events of all
time. This is where Stewart combined everything that was good
about his persona at the time and reached heights that he would
never again live up to. It trod the same
mixture of rock, blues, folk and country as previous albums, but in a much more
grown-up way and included three Stewart classics and a bunch of
others that weren't far behind. The first two albums suggested a
singer trying to come to terms with a style that would suit his
throaty lyrics. Here he found that style with a vengeance. The cast list on this
album reads like a who's who from 1970s rock and included The
Faces, Maggie Bell, Madeleine Bell and the glorious mandolin
playing of Ray Jackson from one of my all-time favourite groups
Lindisfarne. Stewart's ability as a
songwriter came on leaps and bounds, particularly with the two
classics Maggie May (co-written with Martin Quittenton) and the
glorious Mandolin Wind (my all time favourite Stewart track), the
latter evoking so much atmosphere within its perfectly crafted
five and a half minutes. The title track is another masterful,
punchy and raunchy Stewart winner and elsewhere the album
overflows with great songs that seem to mesh. He returns to the
Dylan catalogue with "Tomorrow is a Long Time" does an
excellent job on Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right"
hacks into his arrangement of "Amazing Grace" and then
finishes off with the stunning Tim Hardin "Reason to
Believe." It seems incredible to think that "Maggie
May" and "Reason to Believe" were released as a
double A side single. Surely this has to be the two greatest songs
ever put together on a 45. Without a doubt this was Stewart at his
peak.
Play
Every Picture Tells a Story through we7.com
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7
Dan Fogelberg - The
Innocent Age
I
returned to this album after a number of years, fearing that it would no
longer hold the power that it once did. I needn't have worried. It still
reduces me to tears, For
sheer poetry I regard it as the greatest piece of pop/rock music ever
written - comfortably eclipsing anything by Dylan. It
is hard to see how The Innocent Age could have been improved. A song cycle
taking us from the cradle to the grave, it still sends shivers down my
spine. Individually the songs are poignant and simply wonderful with an
engaging wistfulness that it is difficult to describe. Collectively they
make one of the greatest comments on life and love. The
poetry, the great songs just keep coming with three in particular meshing
together with a huge wow factor. Run for the Roses is the haunting story
of a horse and the Kentucky Derby, Leader of the Band is simply the
greatest song ever written about a father-son relationship and Same Old
Lang Syne is about a broken relationship and the author coming across a
lost love at Christmas-tide. And
if those three are the highlights, the remainder aren't far behind in both
power and beauty and the whole album rounds off with the brilliant Ghost
that just leaves you feeling stunned for quite some time afterwards.
You
will see from my musical favourites list that Leader of the Band comes in
at number 10 and Same Old Langs Syne at 37 in my top 100 all time tracks.
Play
The Innocent Age through we7.com
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8
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Neil
Young found some kind of style with one of
the greatest albums of all time. Gone is the waffle. Everything on
Goldrush is stripped down to its bare essentials This album
regularly appears in top 100 lists and it is easy to see why. I defy
anybody to listen to Goldrush and not end up singing along. Every
single song is a gem in its own right. Here Young had created a
style and feeling all of his own. This was near genius at work as the
list of songs shows: Tell Me Why, After the Gold Rush, Only Love Can
Break Your Heart, Southern Man, Till the Morning Comes, Oh Lonesome
Me, Don't Let It Bring You Down, Birds, When You Dance I Can Really
Love, I Believe in You and Cripple Creek Ferry - virtually
unsurpassed songs. The brilliance is that so many people
have heard these songs but probably don't realise that every one of
them was penned by Young apart from Don Gibson's Oh Lonesome Me
which Young still manages to twist into his own. Young's voice was
never better, his songwriting superlative and arguably the height of
his career.
Play
After the Goldrush through we7.com
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9
Paul Williams - Just an Old Fashioned Love Song
Waking Up Alone/ I Never Had it So
Good/ We've Only Just Begun/ That's Enough for Me/ A Perfect Love/
Just an Old Fashioned Love Song/ Let me Be the One/ Simple Man/
When I Was All Alone/ My Love and I/ Gone ForeverA
lovely collection of under-stated ballads from a very fine songwriter who penned many hits for the Carpenters
from We've Only Just Begun (the original of which is included
here) to Rainy Days and Mondays. Along the way Williams also wrote
the score to Bugsy and managed an appearance on the Muppet Show.
There is a beautiful simplistic feel to the material here with a
very laid back collection of songs that illustrate how the art of
songwriting can be so wonderful.
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10
Matthews Southern Comfort - Matthews Southern Comfort
It
may be country music, but it has a lyrical and folksy feel to it
and some excellent and original songs.
Play
Matthews Southern Comfort through spotify.com
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11
John Stewart - California Bloodlines
John
Stewart was a very under-rated songwriter not even remembered for
his best known composition - Daydream Believer. This beautiful
album oozes California sunshine. It's an album about the state,
about friendship, about old people but above all a beautiful
evocation of the American landscape and a country celebration.
Play
California Bloodlines through spotify.com
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12
Lindisfarne - Fog On the Tyne
Gloriously Geordie, gloriously out
of tune - a fusion
between folk and rock but with a identity all of its own
from the opening harmonies of the brilliant single Meet Me on the
Corner to the last chords of the title track. This album included
many of the most endearing Lindisfarne moments. Alan Hull's
sharply observed songs, Ray Jackson's excellent musicianship were
very much to the fore on an album you felt warm and cosy about
playing in the local pub at the beginning of the 1970s. Great
albums have a feel of their own. This has feeling and atmosphere
in spades
Play
Fog on the Tyne through we7.com
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13
The Strawbs - Grave New World
The Strawbs entered a
golden period with an album that showed
they could mix stark realism and powerful melodic music with
whimsy. In parts this is one of the bleakest albums I have ever
heard. Then there are some deliciously lighter moments. Vocally Dave Cousins
had found his niche. Songs like Benedictus and New World are stark
and desolate and Queen of Dreams played havoc on my ears when I
first listened to it on headphones and was the track I always
played to test out new stereos or speakers. Amongst all the angst
and even bitterness Tony Hooper manages to conjure up a piece of
vaudeville with Ah Me, Ah My. This was a band
capable of writing stunning material that held the listener
enthralled whilst at the same time showing that they were still
developing. On the previous album this mix didn't quite work, here
it did totally. For me it conjures up memories of a time and
place, just where I wanted to be.
Play
Grave New World through we7.com
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14
Richard Harris - The
Yard Went On Forever
Richard
Harris' collaboration with the genius of Jimmy Webb produced some
stunning songs on two albums - Tramp Shining and The Yard Went on
Forever. Tramp had a more pastoral feel to it and included the
classic MacArthur Park. But of the two Yard is more experimental.
Here Webb's music has more
complexity to it here and there is a thematic feel holding the
project together. The title track is a strange affair written
almost in the style of MacArthur Park. Elsewhere there is great
beauty in the pieces which weave melodies in a complex fashion as
in The Hymns from the Grand Terrace and the whole thing rounds off
with one of Webb's most plaintiff songs in That's the Way It Was.
Play
The Yard Went on Forever through we7.com (tracks 10 to 17 on this
album)
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15
Deep Purple - Deep Purple In
Rock
The album by which all
heavy metal music should be judged and quite simply the most
perfect record of its genre ever released. This album has
virtually everything - guitar riffs to kill for from Ritchie
Blackmore, exceptional vocals from Ian Gillan and wonderful
keyboards from Jon Lord. The album still sounds fresh almost 40
years after it was released and in Child in Time, Purple hit
heights that they were rarely to achieve again. Child in Time is
one of those blistering pieces of rock music that builds and
builds and is in the same league as the brilliant Emerson, Lake
and Palmer track "Take a Pebble" and King Crimson's
"In the Court of the Crimson King" as arguably the
finest trio of prog rock tracks ever written. The great thing
about this album is the way the band manages to capture the highs
and lows, the quiet almost soulful sections written alongside the
banshee type vocals. It's almost as if the band have stepped
outside themselves to write such classics as "Speed
King" et al. This is the bands' incomparable legacy to its
genre.
Play
Deep Purple in Rock through spotify.com
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16
Pink Floyd - Dark
Side of the Moon
Floyd
threatened for some time to re-write the rock music history books
and that's what they did.
Dark Side of the Moon became not only Floyd's most successful
album but one of the most successful albums of all time period. So
what is it that sets it apart from many other Floyd album? Well
from the start you get the feeling that this is the album the band
had been working towards. Previously there had been hints. But
here the sounds and the instrumentations are all harnessed towards
giving the album meaning. Likewise Roger Waters began to find his
voice and songwriting skills. Virtually every track on this album
could and has found itself in a Best Of situation. The twin tracks
Speak to Me and Breathe set the standard - strong melodies
interwoven with sound and texture. On the Run is a swirling
package of noise that fits right in and gives way to the famous
clock chiming that introduces Time with its strong bass and drum
passages and wonderful life and death struggle lyrics that say
so much and can speak to us all individually. Time is one of the
great rock poems of the 20th century. The great thing about Dark
Side of the Moon is its sparsity. There is nothing extraneous
about the material here, it's almost as if its a celebration of
life itself. But the great success of the album is the beautiful
way it all hangs together and all you have to do is luxuriate in
its brilliance and drink in the mood and textures. This is
perfectly illustrated by Us and Them where the quietly delivered
vocals help the piece to swirl and comfort and then reach a
blissful crescendo. Put simply this album makes you feel
good.
Play
Dark Side of the Moon through we7.com
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17
Elton John - Elton John
I'm
not a huge fan of Elton John's, although he does come up with some
gems from time to time. This album - his first- came from the days
when he was feeling his way and hadn't turned into the gay icon of
the future. It has my three favourite Elton John tracks on the one
album. I never get tired of
listening to this album There is a wonderful lyrical feel to the
album both in the words and the music with classical cello-based
interludes weaving in and out of the songs. It is impossible not
to love "Your Song" one of the most romantic pieces ever
written in pop music. My other two favourite tracks are lesser
known Elton John songs. First Episode at Hienton is a beautifully
free-wheeling almost rambling song about a relationship and The
Greatest Discovery is delightful. Throughout Bernie Taupin's
lyrics are spot on. This is a beautiful album, full of unmissable
melodies and even the rockier songs are delivered with panache and
great skill as the weave into the overall effect.
Play
Elton John through we7.com
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18 America - America
Some albums just sound good, however many times they are played. Some are
just part of the growing up experience. Here is one of those albums - part
of my musical heritage. The album oozes class and warmth. It's full of
period pieces with attitude, close harmonies and instantly hummable
choruses and hooks. In the folk rock canon this album has undeniable beauty and as a first
album compares with and betters most in its genre. Songs of love, songs of
desire. America could at times be obtuse with their lyrics, never more so
than on the hit single Horse with No Name. This track was excluded from
the vinyl album I first bought but has subsequently been restored and the
album is more representative of the group with it included. It's just one
of those albums that sits well with the world from which it comes.
Individually I Need You is one of the most romantic songs. This album made
me sit up to close harmony groups like The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash
and Young etc. It also made America enter into my consciousness as one of
my favourite bands
Play
America through we7.com
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19
Pink Floyd - Wish
You Were Here
If Dark Side of the Moon was the
height of Floyd's achievement. Wish You Were Here was very close
behind. To start with it includes the 25 minute magnum opus to Syd
Barrett "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" which is to my mind
the best thing the band ever did which is just as well because the
other three tracks take up only 18 minutes between them.
Thankfully they do not greatly diminish the album but naturally
limit its scope a little. Welcome to the Machine is an nihilistic
view of the world, Have A Cigar is a Roger Waters' take on the
music business and Wish You Were Here deals with alienation. Floyd
were by this time becoming very adept at writing very deep lyrics.
The album doesn't hang together quite as well as Dark Side but it
did complete a superb double for the band.
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20
Barclay James Harvest - Barclay
James Harvest and Other Short Stories
The first thing that strikes you about this album is the wonderful
production which sounds as good today as it did in the early seventies. To me this album represents the true original BJH sound and all these
songs feel like comfortable personal friends that have grown with me over
the years. The album kicks off with one of BJH's best songs - Medicine Man - which
still sounds fresh. Woolly Woolstenholme's Someone There You Know is much more of a
straightforward song and simpler than the classical pieces that he is
better known for. Harry's Song sees John Lees in an aggressive tone of
voice and this is a contrast to the beautiful Ursula (The Swansea Song)
one of the most stunning and evocative songs ever written by Woolly. Little Lapwing is a simple and effective Les
Holroyd song and he
follows this
with the wistful Song with No Meaning. The only weak link is the rather strident Blue John's Blues where
John's vocals are reduced to a shriek. But the best is saved to last with
the double header The Poet/After the Day. Two individual songs, they
dovetail brilliantly and many fans take them as one. The Poet is
Woolstenholme's
most stunningly poetic song and After the Day is Lees' apocalyptic
prophecy. The first time I heard these two was at a concert in 1971. They
finished the evening to them in a flurry of dry ice and grinding noise.
One of the strongest ends to a concert I have ever seen. The overall feel of this album is one of peace and
tranquillity,
emphasised by the orchestra which almost brought about the band's
financial ruin.
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21
David Bowie - The
Man Who Sold The World
I
view this as a stepping stone album towards the greatness that was to
follow. Bowie was defining his style. He was almost there, almost
achieving his aim of taking on the rock world. Some of the songs are mini
epics in their own right. The album gives the feel that Bowie was evolving
his songwriting style. It is a stark album that would eventually lead to
collaborations with Eno and his German experimentation period. The
album starts with another epic in the form of the Width of the Circle
which showcases Mick Ronson's extraordinary guitar work and also makes us
realise that the 1970s are upon us and threatening to bring something
frighteningly good in the world of music. The cosiness is being wrenched
out. There is madness within this track and the album as a whole. To see
an illustration of this just listen to the weirdness of All the Madmen. It
is on this album that we first get an idea of the depth of Bowie's vocals,
sometimes sung and sometimes snarled. And of course the cover changed. My
early LP version has a young looking Bowie doing a high kick whilst
playing his guitar. This was changed to the famous cover of Bowie in a
dress. It
was almost as if Bowie was battling with his demons, his sexuality and
what ultimately would be his musical genius. After the early Anthony
Newley style songs this came as a bit of a shock. There was plenty of rock
songs - indeed this was probably Bowie's heavy rock opus. It is a
thumpingly good album. When I returned to it after a number of years to
write this review I was absolutely gobsmacked by its power and sense of
direction. The title track remains one of Bowie's best
songs - and was even recorded by Lulu!
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22
Judy Collins - Judith
I fell in love with this album from
the first time I heard it. An excellent fusion of folk and rock
and a mix of (then) contemporary material with more traditional. I
read a review that said Judith didn't quite know where it was
going and Collins didn't quite know whether to cast aside the more
traditional folk aspects in favour of a more modern approach. That
to me is the beauty of the album - the strength of the material
where Collins' songwriting is every bit as good as the more
traditional numbers. She contributes three songs here, rich in
poetry from the song to her son "Born to the Breed" to
her tribute to Duke Ellington "Song for Duke." The album
opens with a sublime version of the excellent Jimmy Webb song The
Moon is a Harsh Mistress (surely the definitive version of the
song). She then takes us through songs by Jagger/Richards
"Salt of the Earth" and of course her biggest hit with
Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". City of New
Orleans and the hyper-romantic "I'll Be Seeing You" are
also excellent on one of those albums that just has a feelgood
factor about it.
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23
Janis Ian - Between the Lines
One
of my favourite albums by a solo female singer-songwriter. It's
one of those records that seem to have been with me for ever. It
was a huge international success and includes the stunning single
At Seventeen - a song about teenage angst and living with
imperfections in the American Dream. It's a rights of passage
song. Elsewhere Janis Ian manages to mix ballads with more soulful
and jazz orientated songs. There's straightforward love songs
(When the Party's Over), homely pieces ( Tea and Sympathy ), smoky
bar room pieces (Bright Lights and Promises). songs about
loneliness and old age (In the Winter), broken dreams and
relationships (Between the Lines). Its in equal parts a sad and
uplifting album - one to be cherished from start to finish.
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24
Lou Reed - Transformer
I
can remember a friend of mine telling me about this amazing new
single from Lou Reed. He was referring to Walk on the Wild Side -
one of the great anthems of modern culture. I don't use the word
anthem in the usual overblown sense for Walk was full of trendy
riffs and hooks. It just seemed to be out of the anthemic mould,
On the strength of the single I bought the album. It was weird to
say the least. A list of characters that could only have come from
New York - gays, lesbians, leather. It conjured up an Warhol
styled art scene all of its own - "Precious you hit me with a
flower." And of course it also included the sublime Perfect
Day which was eventually to become Read's most enduring love song.
Reed never hit these heights either before or after
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25
Charles Aznavour - Aznavour Sings Aznavour Volume 3
Accepted
this is another strange choice but an album that once again has
been with me for so many years. Aznavours French accent is perfect
on some beautiful songs of love, hate, relationships and broken
promises. It almost has a French Leonard Cohen feel about it. It
is full of torch songs that was to be so influential on artists
such as Marc Almond et al.
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26
Harry Chapin - Short
Stories
Short
Stories arguably saw Harry Chapin at his songwriting best - with all the rough
corners smoothed out. It is full of classic heart-wrenching Chapin
songs including the brilliant WOLD - the story of an over the hill disc
jockey. It's a story of lost opportunity and confusion and contains my all
time favourite lyric "Sometimes I get this crazy dream that I just
took off in my car, but you can travel on 10,000 miles and just stay where
you are." Chapin's
ability to invent characters that we love and feel sorry for in equal
measure are never better underlined than in "Mail Order Annie"
and "Mr Tanner." Mail Order Annie has much in common with
Better Place to Be from Sniper and Mr Tanner tells the story of a singer
who is ridiculed for putting on a public concert that he is talked into
doing. This song introduces us to the rich backing vocals of Big John
Wallace. Song
for Myself brings in elements of gospel. A beautiful album of angst and
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27 Kate and Anna McGarrigle - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Another
stunningly beautiful album full of memorable songs and including
the exquisite Talk to Me of Mendocino. I once visited the
Californian seaside town purely on the strength of this one three
minute song. This may be the stand-out track on the album but many
of the others aren't far behind. It is a magnificently moody feel
with that strange Canadian-French feel that Kate and Anna injected
into their records.
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28
- Don McLean - American
Pie
Occasionally a song comes along
that is so unique in its delivery, its originality and its power.
Such was the case with American Pie. I first heard this song in a
pub in Harlow, Essex, whilst at journalism college. Somebody put
it on the jukebox. I was amazed. Here was a song of epic
proportions, a song that said so much, a song with so many
interpretations that somehow seemed to sum up music of the 1970s -
but music from before and music to follow. Few songs deserve to be
called epic - American Pie certainly does. It's simply one of
those songs that you soon learn by heart, soon becomes part of the
psyche but still sounds fresh on very play. And the thing about
this album is the other songs all have their own power and
relevance. There's considerable beauty here in the form of the
wonderful Vincent and the almost incomparable Crossroads and also
social conscience with the Grave. Once again McLean hits all the
right spots.
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29
Barclay
James Harvest - Barclay James Harvest This was the first BJH album but the third of the band's offerings to
be added to my collection. I have documented elsewhere how I became a fan
of the band after attending their gig at Harlow Technical College on 13th
November, 1971. For those wishing to read this account
please follow the following link by
clicking here. At that time the band had either just released or were in the process
of releasing Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories. This I bought
along with Once Again which still stands today as my favourite album of
all time. It was a short while later that I completed my collection of BJH
by adding the first album. I still believe those first three albums all have their own unique
feel. Other Short Stories is perhaps the most commercial of the three,
whilst Once Again has the three outstanding BJH tracks - Mocking Bird, She
Said and Galadriel and is also full of stunningly beautiful mood music. The first album falls somewhere in the middle. It is getting on for 40
years old and of course belongs to another period in time. Some of its
charm comes from the dated almost pompous feel - and I mean that in the
nicest way. Here was a band following in the best pretentious traditions
of the very early 70s when music was more of an explosion. The album is full of monstrous Gothic splendour and the orchestral
sounds that at times threatened to bankrupt the band. All the great BJH
early trademarks are here - Sweeping classical arrangements, quirky lyrics
and a great richness. Barclay James Harvest is music for a winter's night - music for curling
up around the fire. It was a band willing to experiment, to take
themselves into areas where they knew they might be vilified. They were
never a fashionable band, they were never mainstream and this album, more
than perhaps any other, illustrates just why.
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30
Tom Waits - Closing Time
This was Waits' first album and oozes charm and beauty.
I never get tired of hearing some of these songs. Indeed it is one of
the most laid back albums that I possess.
Waits fuses jazz, soul and pop with plenty of hints of the boozy,
cigarette ridden voice that emerges in later albums.
This is my favourite Waits album due to its accessibility. It also has
two of my favourite Waits' songs in "Ol' 55" his paean to
Americana and the superb "Martha".
"Martha" is arguably the best song he ever wrote with its
lost opportunity angst, haunting melody and wonderful lyrics.
This song was a few years ago murdered by Meatloaf but I noticed that
recently British and ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler nominated it as the one he would like to have played at his funeral.
Elsewhere there are so many highs and so few lows. A subdued and
highly melodic treat.
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31
The Who - Tommy
This album probably more than any
other got me into rock music and gave me the ability to in many
ways think outside the musical box if you'll pardon the pun. I was
absolutely astounded the first time I heard Tommy and it has
remained one of my favourites ever since. It was just the concept
of a rock opera that left me gobsmacked. Not only that but the
excellent way Pete Townshend fused rock with classical music and
the haunting way Roger Daltry delivered those See Me, Feel Me,
Touch Me, Heal Me lyrics. Many fans of the Who (indeed probably
most) seem to prefer Quadrophenia as being more worldly and more
realistic and in many ways it was but Tommy has a magic all of its
own. The plot may be slightly ridiculous but that is almost its
main charm. It takes us away from reality for a while and surely
that's what musical theatre is all about. It's one of those albums
that I know so well that I can instantly sing virtually every
track. The Who were pushing the rock boundaries (remember this was
released a year before the golden 70s hit us). It was almost a
farewell to the 1960s and a progression from everything that had
been happening from 1965 onwards. It has its moments of high
musical drama and even the more slightly silly songs had a
starkness and blackness to them. And there are plenty of
underlying themes from corruption to exploitation and
disillusionment. Here the Who had done something distinctly
different. It was to be a blueprint for much that followed.
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32
Neil Young - Harvest
I'm sure many people
waited eagerly for this release and I was certainly one of them. The
fear was that it would be a huge disappointment after After the Goldrush -
well it wasn't. Harvest has taken on almost a mythical feel over the
years. Many consider it his best work and certainly it met with
critical acclaim and is still talked of today. When Young releases a
low key, tuneful album it is always described as "The New
Harvest" and the composer also references the album many times
in his subsequent offerings. It was more progressive
than Goldrush. To me the songs aren't quite so effective but there
is no denying the power and beauty of an album that once again
contained some outstanding music with the likes of
"Harvest", "A Man Needs a Maid" "Heart of
Gold" (I can hear you singing it now) and two songs with much
stronger messages "Old Man" and a foray into drug culture
"The Needle and the Damage Done."
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33
Love - Forever Changes
It seems difficult to come to terms
with the fact that this classic album is over 40 years old. It
sounds as fresh and vibrant as ever. Think of rock psychedelia and
only a handful of albums and bands come to the fore. Yes the
Beatles, yes The Beach Boys and yes Love. Somehow they were the
epitome of Los Angeles chic. Forever Changes was the band's third
album - somehow you always feel it was their first. It shows them
at their artistic highpoint. Few songs on any level can compare
with the exquisite feel of "Alone Again Or" or the sheer
beauty of "Andmoreagain." Quite rightly this album
regular makes it into greatest albums ever list. It just has
something extra about it. A feel, a mood. It fostered many similar
albums from lesser bands but has always risen above criticism and
quite rightly so.
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34
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Sometimes memories can deceive.
Whilst people were singing the praises of Dark Side of the Moon
and Wish You Were Here I always viewed Meddle as my favourite
Floyd album. That was due as much to the sands of time as the
music - in other words I remembered it from an era that held
particularly happy memories for me. So how would it sit when I
returned to it for the first time in many years? The tone of the
album is set by the opening track - one of those that starts so
quietly you wonder whether there is something wrong with the
computer or the stereo. Then it gives way to one of those
rollicking instrumental passages that hurtle along, gathering pace
as it goes and giving way to real rock riffs and occasional
caveman like grunts. It all gives way to another piece of Dave
Gilmour/Roger Water's whimsy in the quietly beautiful A Pillow of
Winds - the kind of soothing music that became something of a
signature for the band. Fearless is a rather throwaway song that
for some strange reason ends with the Anfield football choir
singing "You'll Never Walk Alone." San Tropaz sounds as
if it could come from the Syd Barrett era and Seamus is a silly
blues song complete with dogs howling. Which just leaves us with
Echoes - another magnum opus of 23 minutes plus. In true Floyd
style it starts quietly and then builds with some lovely melodic
vocals. Overall I would describe Meddle as a very low key
harmonius album with a distinctive feeling of peace about it -
some outstanding music, some more throwaway. Returning to it is
like meeting an old friend, although over the years it may have
lost some of its power it's still a fair achievement.
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35
Harry Chapin - Danceband on the Titanic
Even by Harry Chapin's
exacting standards this is a superb album with so much happening
and it ends with the epic There Only Was One Choice - a brilliant
song that continually changes tempo and tack and even at
over 14 minutes seems to end all too soon. This is a highly
evocative album.
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36
10CC
- 10CC
Just occasionally an album that
should be badly out of date sounds really fresh despite the
ravages of time. So it is with 10CCs first album which has always
been one of my favourites. If you don't end up singing along with
this album, then there is something seriously wrong with you. 10CC
have always been one of the most idiosyncratic British bands -
always original, always clever in a ultra quirky way. I remember
buying the vinyl album when it came out from a small independent
shop in Norwich called Mouse Music which is long since gone. I
took it home and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now returning to it after
36 years it seems just as fun and vibrant as ever. It
spawned four hit singles including the classic The Dean and
I and covered so many genres from doo wop to pseudo death songs
(Johnny Don't Do It). Here was a band cutting across styles with
some beautifully irreverent music.
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37 Emerson,
Lake and Palmer - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
How often do we find
with classic groups that their first album is arguably the best?
That certainly holds true with what is a classic prog rock album
before the flights of fancy overtook them and they began to
produce rather bombastic over the top rock. It shows without doubt
what a great band this trio could have been. Okay they stayed
pretty good but at times they allowed their virtuosity to run away
with them. Here it is more or less kept in check although there
are signs at times of Keith Emerson running away with himself. Overall there's just
enough discipline to keep this album together and that's what
makes it an all time classic to be celebrated alongside the likes
of Deep Purple in Rock. Many of these pieces are timeless and I'm
a big fan of Greg Lake's voice which is absolutely sensational on
the classic "Take a Pebble" which lasts well over 12
minutes but somehow never manages to run away with things and is
beautifully brought back on track by Emerson's keyboards.
"Lucky Man" isn't quite as effective but elsewhere there
are certain hints of where the band is likely to go but in a more
responsible less over the top style than on later albums. This
will always be one of my favourite albums of all time and quite an
achievement for an album released in 1970.
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38
Richard Harris - Slides
If
there was ever a reason for travelling this album is it. Harris
takes off on a journey and returns with regrets. I hate to admit
it but this Tony Romeo written album reduces me to tears virtually
every time - talk about a weakness. November Song is full of
beautiful imagery and the title song - mainly spoken is hugely
haunting. A teacher is under threat for his teaching methods and
the fact that he connects with his children. So he shows them
slides of his journey , the places he visited and the people he
met. This album is haunting in the extreme. At times Harris' voice
breaks and often he doesn't reach the high notes - but really who
cares. A beautiful hidden gem.
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39
My
Boy - Richard Harris
This
album is one of my guilty secrets. For a hellraiser, Harris did
more than his fair share of navel gazing and My Boy takes us
through his relationship - falling in love, the birth of a son,
the broken relationship, the divorce, the disillusionment. A
beautiful summation of love and failure and much of it is seen
through the words and music of Jimmy Webb who provides four of the
songs here. It is an album that has to be listened to in order and
in its entirety. There is starkness but considerable beauty. And
how many people know that Harris recorded the original version of
the Phil Coulter/Bill Martin title track a long time ahead of
Elvis Presley's version
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40 The Beach Boys
- Surf's Up
Don't Go
Near the Water/ Long Promised Road/ Take a Load off Your Feet/
Disney Girls/ Student Demonstration Time/ Feel Flows/ Lookin at
Tomorrow/ A Day in the Life of a Tree/ Till I Die/ Surf's Up
I guess
that in most circles Pet Sounds is generally thought to be the
Beach Boys greatest achievement. I prefer their ecology album
Surf's Up which seems to be able to encompass ecological themes
within some typical BB harmonies even if a couple of the tracks
like Take a Load Off Your Feet are rather corny if you'll forgive
the pun. Disney Girls is simply wonderful and the title track is
possibly my favourite all time BB track - a wonderfully evocative
collaboration between Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. You don't
have to be able to understand the lyrics to know that something
special is going on here.
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41 King Crimson
- In the Court of the Crimson King
21st
Century Schizoid Man/I Talk to the Wind/ Epitaph/ Moonchild/ The
Court of the Crimson King
The title
track is probably my favourite prog rock track of all time and the
remainder of the album is a shining example of progressive rock at
its best with a sprinkling of jazz fusion and that wonderful
swelling sound that all the best prog bands seem to have mastered.
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42 Lindisfarne
- Nicely Out of Tune
Lady
Eleanor/ Road to Kingdom Come/ Winter Song/ Turn a Deaf Ear/ Clear
White Light/ We Can Swing Together/ Alan in the River with
Flowers/ Down/ The Things I Should Have Said/ Jackhammer Bluse/
Scarecrow Song.
Lindisfarne's
debut album introduced us to a crazy Geordie Band who produced
music that was exactly what the title suggested "Nicely out
of Tune" From the wonderful mandolin infested title track to
the northern blues, Lindisfarne chucked plenty into their albums
with this and Fog on the Tyne typically English and typically
brilliant.
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43
The Strawbs
- Bursting at the Seams
Another wonderful
atmospheric album to follow the brilliance of Grave New World.
This album was full of powerful vocals from Dave Cousins and
musical excellence. It included some of the band's strongest
material and one of their greatest achievements with Tears and
Pavan, a true fusion of rock and classical. Dave Lambert joined
the band to bring a stronger rock element and the band survived
despite allegations that they had forsaken their folk roots for a
more progressive rock sound. Ironically Bursting at the Seams
contained their most successful single - Part of the Union - a
pretty dire singalong written by Hudson and Ford and totally
unrepresentative of the band's material. The album showed the band
to be emerging as original stylists and, although not having the
power or feel of Grave New World, it proved to be more accessible
to many fans, reaching number two in the UK album charts, compared
with the previous album's high point of number 11.
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44
Don McLean - Tapestry
I suspect like many people I turned
to Don McLean's first album after hearing the single and album
American Pie. That in itself is no bad thing. Tapestry is full of
home spun Americana philosophy and a fine introduction to the
man's work. From the opening strummings of Castles in the Air, you
just know that here is a special singer songwriter - an engaging
voice allayed to some stunning lyrics. Castles in the Air is a
fine opener - containing many personal statements. General Store
and Magdelene Lane bring us down to earth with songs about small
town America - almost story songs with the introduction of the
latter reminiscent of the opening chords of a child's song.
MacLean then changes direction completely with some wonderful
ecology poetry on the title track.. Orphans of Wealth follows a
similar pattern - overtly political and caring. Here was almost a
protest singer who could write love songs like And I Love You So
and powerful ballads, but also make personal statements and cover
so many different genres with equal ease. This is a gem of a debut
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45
Supertramp - Crime
of the Century
The essence of a classic rock/pop
album is atmosphere. The whole needs certainly to be more than a
sum of the parts. The album has to have a wow factor. Often you
cannot describe in words just what that wow factor is. Certainly
this is the case with Crime of the Century. Genuinely
good songs merge together to produce a stunningly good album
of the mid seventies. Somehow they seem to steal from the times.
It was no fluke that many of these songs became part of a staple
Supertramp set. You could be forgiven for believing that this was
the band's debut album and not their third brought out four years
and a few financial worries after their first. It is a richly
rounded offering. From the opening wails that start School you
know that something special is brewing. No pointless
experimentation here - it all feeds in effortlessly to produce
some powerful songs with the indelible Supertramp style. School
hammers along at some pace, Bloody Well Right is perhaps a little
too overblown whereas Hide in Your Shell is my favourite all
time Supertramp song - a wonderful marrying of music and lyrics.
Dreamer is quite rightly one of the band's most popular pieces and
the title track is another example of their art form.
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46 The Beach Boys
- Pet Sounds
Wouldn't It
Be Nice/ You Still Believe in Me/ That's Not Me/ Don't Talk (Put
Your Head on My Shoulder)/ I'M Waiting for the Day/ Let's Go Away
for a While/ Sloop John B/ God Only Knows/ I Know There's an
Answer/ Here Today/ I Just Wasn't Made for These Times/ Pet
Sounds/ Caroline No
Having said
that Surf's Up is my favourite Beach Boys album I have to nod in
agreement that Pet Sounds is a classic, full of some of the
sunniest and greatest pop music ever written. God Only Knows has
to be the most romantic pop song ever written and this album is
choc full of classic tracks. Little more needs to be said as most
of the album is just so instantly recognisable.
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47
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
Some of my albums take on an almost
mythical proportions due to not being played regularly. Sometimes the
legend of an album will far outweigh its reality. So I returned to Days of
Future Passed for the first time in many years and found it an interesting
introduction to the group. Denny Laine was long gone and here we were
faced with a fusion of classic music with pop/rock and poetry (the kaftan
effect). At times it tips the nod to Gershwin's An American in Paris and
at others is an amalgam of styles. Somehow it maintains its freshness and
never lapses into dull repetition. It doesn't take too much
imagination to see how the band would move from this classical
phrase into more mythical areas.
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48
Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority
I first
heard this at grammar school and it sounded so different - so
American with that blend of horns and brass section and some
wonderful music. Chicago were later to morph into a primarily
pop/ballad band but this was them at their pompous best,
continually churning out what seemed to be a never ending series
of double and even triple albums.
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49 The Enid - The Spell
Another of
my strange choices. The Enid are/were a strange hybrid prog rock
group who produced a series of classically inspired albums. I
picked this up very cheaply in a second hand CD shop and loved it
from first play. Strange vocals, over-blown orchestration and a
thematic story - in other words all the things I really love about
rock music
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50=
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Now
I expect to get some flack for not having a single Beatles album
higher than number 50 in my top 50. Especially when I accept that
without doubt the Beatles are the most important band in the
history of pop/rock music. Their contribution to popular culture
will never be equalled let along eclipsed. Their entire body of
work is wonderful and that's what makes it virtually impossible to
single out any one album.. They didn't record anything approaching
a bad or even average offering. So to pick one out is difficult. I
have gone for Abbey Road because it's one of their lesser
acclaimed albums but perhaps my favourite. I found the White Album
a little too perverse, a little too jokey, whereas Abbey Road
keeps the fun element without ever allowing it to run away with
the music.
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50= The Beatles
- Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Many
critics regard Sergeant Pepper as the greatest rock album of all
time. I would fall short of that appraisal but it was certainly a
groundbreaking album in a pivotal year for rock music. Other
critics claim 1967 as the birth year for popular music. Again that
is tragically unfair to what has gone before. There is no doubt,
however, that the evolution of the Beatles which began with Rubber
Soul and continued with Revolver climaxed here. Famous songs,
famous album cover. Whilst not being a full concept idea, the
Beatles did use their alter Sgt Pepper egos to construct a
framework that in many ways was a precursor to the strange feel of
the White Album which was to follow a year later. One of the
mind-boggling things about the Beatles was their ability to
produce such quality in a very short space of time. Now it's hard
to realise that Sgt Pepper came out just four years after Please
Please Me. The albums are so different despite the ease with which
the natural progression can be clearly seen. Sergeant Pepper is a
mixture of serious song writing ("She's Leaving Home,"
and "A Day in the Life") with the rest of the album
which seems to be a set of wonderfully idiosyncratic songs that
work on many levels. There was evidence of blossoming psychedelia
in the shape of George's "Within You Without You" In
some ways the success of Sergeant Pepper was simply was a
collection of songs without any notable singles. The great
Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were left off the album
and released instead as a double A sided single. A shelved project
to produce an album linked to childhood and everyday life saw a
number of songs with that theme appearing on Sgt Pepper. There is
a huge dollop of everyday life and growing up in "She's
Leaving Home," "When I'm Sixty Four", "Lovely
Rita" and "A Day in the Life." At this point in
their career the band had become tired and disillusioned with
touring and that turned them into a studio band and presumably
gave them more time to experiment with mysticism etc. That is one
of the things that made Sgt Pepper such a highlight in recording
history as the band had extra time to try out new ideas.
Beatlemania was in effect almost finished and that turned the
group into much more mature songwriters.
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