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| The album sleeve for House of the Holy collides Arthur C Clake's best novel, Childhood's End, with the most interesting place in Ireland, The Giants Causeway, with the greatest band in the world at the time, Led Zeppelin |
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A list which is always changing, always evolving, sometimes devolving. At the moment the present stay of play is below and in a month or two it'll be different again. You'll notice no Beatles (not a big fan) or Springsteen (played him to death unfortunately although Nebraska might squeeze in there) or rap (I like individual songs but albums of the stuff?) This isn't a PC list like Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums or a hipster collection like the NME list. Its merely my favourites. Old fashioned? Out of touch? Sure. I've limited myself to one album per artist and you'll notice that most of the records are in that sweet spot 1965 - 1979 when books, films and records were just better.
1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
2. Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan
3. Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
4. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
5. OK Computer - Radiohead
6. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
7. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
8. Pink Moon - Nick Drake
9. Liege and Lief - Fairport Convention
10. Franks Wild Years - Tom Waits
11. Parallel Lines - Blondie
12. PJ Harvey - PJ Harvey
13. I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen
14. The Smiths - The Smiths
15. Dummy - Portishead
16. Horses - Patti Smith
17. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
19. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
20. The Undertones - The Undertones
21. Automatic For The People - REM
22. Legend - Bob Marley
23. Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
24. Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield
25. The Ramones - The Ramones
69 comments:
Also I forget to mention that I limited myself to only one album per artist, otherwise there's be 4 Zep albums, 3 Rolling Stones etc.
Aah.Had an anorak moment in the car this morning talking about this with my partner!
In no particular running order
1.The Bends - Radiohead
2.OK Computer - Radiohead
3.Back In Black - AC/DC
4.Roseland NYC Live - Portishead
5.At Budokan - Cheap Trick
6.Powerage - AC/DC
7.Takk - Sigur Ros
8.Definately Maybe - Oasis
9.Tellin Stories - The Charlatans
10.Curtains - Tindersticks
11.Master Of Puppets - Metallica
12.Achtung Baby - U2
13.Urban Hynms - The Verve
14.The Big 3 -60FT Dolls
15.Trailer Park - Beth Orton
16.Stories from The City - PJ Harvey
17.Sweet Oblivion -The Screaming Trees
18.A Design For Life - The Manics
19.Mechanical Resonance - Tesla
20.A Norther Soul - The Verve
Paul
Cant argue with any of those. You might be right too that The Bends is the better Radiohead album. I get somewhat disconcerted to think that its David Cameron's favourite record.
I went off Takk when I learned that Gwyneth Paltrow had it playing as she delivered her first child. Eeech.
You'd rate Definitely Maybe over Whats The Story?
I don't tell people my fav music as I once told someone my favourite song and they laughed at me so hard ill never utter the two chord wonders name again. Funny enough I just heard recently Wish You Were Here song, I didn't know it was an album. Printed the chords out to learn it.
Funny how you be put off things!I'll never listen to Takk again without that in my head.
I think it's all down to good memories.Definately Maybe might have the edge as I spent many nights in bars/parties singing my head off to it with a few mates.
i would have to thank Mark and Lard for a couple on the list,particularly Tindersticks and Beth Orton.Curtains is really a beautiful album.
As you can see I was a metalhead and its kind of hard to leave it behind.I've tried introducing the delights of Motley Crue to my better half,but she's having none of it.
Listening to Achtung Baby to the death at the minute.I love the rhythm between bass and drums.Its very much Larry Mullen's and Adam Claytons album.
Cameron probably thinks he's got something in common with five posh blokes and thats why he likes it.
Thanks for listing Van Morrison. Never heard the original Astral Weeks, but the live concert cd from a few years back is excellent.He's timeless. Hope to read the biography by Greil Marcus soon. Has anyone else read it?
Is the Causeway really Ireland's most interesting place? Inishmore's over-touristed but Dun Aengus is still stunning.
Thanks for listing Van Morrison. Never heard the original Astral Weeks, but the live concert cd from a few years back is excellent. He's timeless. Hope to read the biography by Greil Marcus soon; has anybody else read it?
The Causeway's really Ireland's most interesting place? Inishmore's over-touristed - understandably so, it's beautiful - but Dun Aengus is stunning.
Sorry I printed the same message twice - technical difficulties!
Frankie
Music is so subjective laughing at someone's choice of listening is absurd. Unless its Ice Ice Baby.
Paul
I have a pathological hatred of U2. It may be a pathological hatred of Paul Hewson but, regardless, its there.
Yeah Cameron and the Radiohead boys are all posh and they're all from the Oxford area. So there's that.
Anon
The Causeway and the Causeway Coast. Can't be beat.
Sometimes I think that Astral Weeks may be the greatest album ever made. Get yourself a copy.
Has anyone else listened to an album called Marquee Moon by the band Television? That's a good one.
Urban Hymns is a beautiful album, too, and I kind of wonder why the Verve didn't become more popular in the US.
Adrian
What ever happened to Feargall Sharkey? What did people in Northern Ireland think of That Petrol Emotion back in the day?
100% with you these 3
3. Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
4. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
16. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix
A few on my list would include:
-Appetite For Destruction - Guns-n-Roses
-Alice in Chains- Dirt
-Morrison Hotel- The Doors
-Foreigner 4- Foreigner
-Live Bootleg - Aerosmith
-Frampton Come Alive- Peter Frampton
-Definitley Maybe- Oasis (Supersonic breaks the tie with WTSMG)
- Exile on Main Street - Stones
-Van Halen 1 & 2 (tie)- Van Halen
Anon
That Petrol Emotion were good. Sharkey became an A&R man after a strangely successful solo career.
Sean
Morrison Hotel over The Doors? The Doors has The End on it.
Exile on Main Street is pretty good value isnt it?
Adrian, yeah, "The End" oh man, what a tune, but "Peacefrog" is on MH, which is prob my fave Doors song. If "Riders on the Storm" was on either one of them, the choice would be easier.
Status Quo. Just one song. Ill get my coat.
Is it foolish to like a song even though you have no clue what it's really about? I don't really know what Morrison's trying to say in The End, and the lyrics to The Black Angel's Death Song sound like Lou's making them up on the spot - and doing a good job - and I could listen to both those songs every day and not get tired of them.
Is it foolish to like a song even though you have no clue what it's really about? I don't really know what Morrison's trying to say in The End, and the lyrics to The Black Angel's Death Song sound like Lou's making them up on the spot - and doing a good job - and I could listen to both those songs every day and not get tired of them.
Nobody's mentioned country yet, so I'd like to mention Johnny Cash live at Folsom Prison and the albums he made with Rick Rubin.
I used to work at a gourmet health food store where my co-workers tended to say things like, "I love soul, but I hate country" and "I'll listen to anything but rap and country." I think soul and country have plenty in common. Now I work in a chain supermarket where some people listen to nothing but rap and country, and everyone respects Johnny Cash.
Adrian, I was wondering if groups like The Undertones appealed to listeners in Northern Ireland despite social divisions. And I was wondering if people think pop brings people together.
What a great list! I'm listening to Velvet Underground now. What did you think of Lulu?
My first thought - Mothers of Invention, Freak Out.
What a fun excuse to go through my iPod. Not so much on the "legacy" stuff and no idea how these will age with time, but I listen to 'em everyday right now. In no real order:
1. 1372 Overton Park-- Lucero
2. Piper at the Gates of Dawn-- Pink Floyd
3. For the Damned, the Dumb and the Delirious
4. Reign in Blood-- Slayer
5. Invitation Songs-- The Cave Singers
6. Wildflowers-- Tom Petty
7. Heart Shaped World-- Chris Isaak
8. Velvet Underground-- Velvet Underground
9. Smell of Female-- The Cramps
10. Astral Weeks-- Van Morrison
11. LA Woman-- The Doors
12. Going Out in Style-- Dropkick Murphys
13. The '59 Sound--Gaslight Anthem
14. The Universe is Laughing-- Guggenheim Grotto
15. Distances-- H.U.V.A. Network
16. Lyre of Orpheus-- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
17. Valley's of Neptune-- Jimi Hendrix
18. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood-- Neko Case
19. Rodeo Songs Old and New-- Chris Ledoux
20. The Dirty South-- Drive By Truckers
The artist for #3 is Big D and the Kids Table.
When the detective in Fifty Grand went into Starbucks for her first immersion into whiteness, I laughed that Paul McCartney was playing on the stereo. Adrian, did you pick him because he was the whitest-sounding artist you could imagine?
Well go on then....
Kozmic Blues-Janis Joplin
Madonna- Madonna
Live Rust- Neil Young
American Idiot- Greenday
Live at Budokan- Bob Dylan
London Calling- The Clash
Off The Wall- Micheal Jackson
Rehab-Amy Winehouse
Innervisions- Stevie Wonder
Rubber Soul- The Beatles
Album of the week- The Pierces- You & I
No mention of The Police, eh?
I'd have to have Zenyatta Mondatta
This could go on forever.I could quite happily add Dog Man Star by Suede.
I couldn't stand U2 either,it was only when I started to spread my musical tastes a little in the early 90's that I got Achtung Baby.I really don't like the first couple.As for Bozo,well,where do you start?
Pretty interesting to see Alice In Chains,Neil Youngs Rust and Slayer in here as well.Not quite easy on the ear,but all great.
Anon-I Think at the time it certainly brought people together and still does.Stiff Little Fingers still tour and draw a crowd from all over.
Mind you Dave Mustaine certainly drew the crowd together in hating him applauding the IRA at a concert in Antrim!
haha...always interesting to look at desert island discs..some goodies there...while we have the lists going here is my two cents..mind you it is early here in case del dan so i retain the right to change....these are in no particular order either:
Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
Rattus Norvegicus - Stranglers
Tago Mago - Can
Keyboard King of Studio One - Jackie Mittoo
In the Dark - Toots and the Maytalls
Feast of Wire - Calexico
Raindogs - Tom Waits
The in sound from way out - Beastie Boys
Highway to Hell - Acca Dacca
Stooges - Stooges
Raw Power - Stooges
At home with you - X
Oh the list goes on....and on hehe
And I fucking hate U2!!! That Hewson character can go suck a fuck. So there!
Sean
Yeah I like Peacefrog too.
Frankie
Well all that denim can hurt the eyes...BUT they play the Croperdy Festival (Fairport Convention's fest) and Ridley Scott recently said that he's fan. And if its ok for Sir Ridley...
Anon
Lots of good country out there. For me I'd go with something by Dolly or Gram Parsons or the first Hank Williams album.
Phil
Lulu? I dont know, I'm more of a Dusty Springfield guy myself.
Shulla
Apart from the Chris Isaak I'm with you on all of those.
I think the Cramps may have sold more posters for college dorm rooms than actual records.
Anon
Well if I had to rate the Beatles solo work I'd go Lennon, Harrison, Starr, McCartney but thats just me. I do like the Guns and Roses version of Live and Let Die.
Frankie
Not a bad one there, but dont you mean Back To Black for the tragically late Miss Winehouse.
Crawdaddy
Those albums can be patchy though can't they? I suppose Synchronicity is my favourite. I remember long Sunday afternoons playing Dungeons and Dragons with Synchronicity chugging away in the background.
Paul
I dont like Stiff Little Fingers as much as the Undertones. I dont think they're quite as deep. Suspect Device is a great song but does it compare to Jimmy Jimmy or Teenage Kicks?
Also I was never a fan of the Nazi imagery.
Dan
The Stranglers, Beastie Boys and Stooges get heavy rotation on my iPod. Iggy is the man.
And since you're also a Tom Waits fan have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49tTzEifY6M
Adrian, did you see that Paul Hewson is quoted in the new Desmond Tutu biography? A review I read of the book suggested gently that he and other celebrities quoted in the book seem immune to the editor's pencil.
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volume II
Elis e Tom, by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Hewson sees Africa as his own personal fiefdom. Every issue I get of the New Yorker seems to have a fashion ad of Hewson walking through the African savannah wearing a designer safari jacket or whatever it is. The guy's a world class tool.
Oh yeah.Back2Crack. I'd like to take that out and squeeze a Quo album in there...only kidding I'm cool really.
The review said the celebrity reminiscences tended to take the lame form of "The first time I met him he was ..."
I remember three of the celebrities it named: Hewson, Jackson Browne, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Yep, that's quite a little list of three celebrities.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Great album, the name of which I can't remember. They're like Springsteen but better.
Van Morrison - Magic Time; The Philosopher's Stone
Daniel Lanois - Acadie
Sarah Vaughan - The Roulette Years
The Saints - All Fools Day
Anything by Caetano Veloso (a good friend of David Byrne, and the only singer who should be allowed anywhere near a song like "Feelings")
Phil Ochs
The Clash - Sandinista
Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento - Milton and Gil
Television - Marquee Moon (NYC c. 1980)
Radio Tarifa - Temporal
In 1995 in the Irish Republic, I was surprised to note the popularity of Neil Diamond, and a little distressed at the popularity of Garth Brooks. But in the North on the Shankhill Road, a kid was selling Patsy Cline tapes. Do Northerners have better taste in country?
Is it to late to weigh in on the subject of Bono's prose? I still think "The Chairman of the Board" was actually worse than Steven Webber's Huffington Post piece. It was completely pointless, mawkish, self-indulgent, and the worst display of stage-Irishness since Riverdance.
This is great stuff.Lots mentioned which I'm going to have to listen to.
Yep Adrian,Teenage Kicks is without a doubt a better song than anything SLF have ever done.
I seem to have started a thing about Bozo.Sorry!
The Minutemen - a Los Angeles trio from the mid-eighties - "Double Nickels on the Dime" is a great album if you can still find a copy.
Did you go to see Portishead at the Harvest Festival on Saturday? I did notice that they tagged the event as "the festival for civilised people" but I'm sure someone as resourceful as you could have got in nevertheless.
Frankie
At least tell me that they've lost the pony tails
Peter
A tax dodger, an (alleged) wife beater and a poor lady under house arrest.
Cary
hadnt heard of them before but I see they do a lot of work with Springsteen which means that they must be pretty good.
Anon
Neil Diamond is a God in Ireland. My mum went to see him a couple of months back. He played several of the hits he wrote for the Monkees.
Bono's piece on Sinatra might be the worst thing I've ever read in the New York Times I'll grant you that.
Paul
Its just their bad luck to be around the same time as a great band like The Undertones.
I'd like to see some competition for Snow Patrol.
Anon #2
I remember this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDr25zjd4yM&feature=related
David
I did not go. Still working against a tight deadline.
Also Beth Gibbons's voice live might be more than I could handle.
I saw Southside Johnny years ago, one of the best rock and roll converts I've ever seen.
Nice look at The Cold Cold Ground from Peter Rozovsky here:
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/2011/11/adrian-mckinty-belfast-tour-guide.html
And from John McFetridge here:
http://johnmcfetridge.blogspot.com/2011/11/cold-cold-ground.html
Snow Patrol,one of the most boring bands in the world.
Paul
Yeah they are, bless them...
Lulu, the new album by Lou Reed and Metallica. I wanted to like it, I really did, but it recalls Metal Machine Music. Good luck getting through it.
http://algorhythm1.blogspot.com/
Phil
Hadnt heard of it. Metal Machine Music is a brilliant album to put on at the end of parties when you want to get rid of people. Trust me it works.
Houses of the Holy is such a fine album. Aaaah yesterday.
My husband played cricket with someone whose wife went to every Neil Diamond concert in Oz some years back. (It is a while since he played cricket.) Not just in Ireland, I'm afraid...
Barkeeps could play Metal Machine Music instead of saying, "Time, gentlemen. Please!" or "Last call!"
Adrian,
Are the Ramones and Kind of Blue new to the list? Sketches of Spain is another nice one.
Was punk a British invention, or an American one?
Kate
They are back in, yes.
Good question about punk. I reckon it was invented in CBGB's around 73-74: NY Dolls, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Blondie...and then it migrated to the UK where it took off. Middle America didnt really get punk until about 1992.
Adrian-
What, No Horslips? Can't have a list like that without "The Tain".
But I guess you really don't care for the band...none of the characters in your books ever listened to them, and you mention music quite often.
Ken
Yeah I remember they were on Downtown Radio a lot in the 70s and 80s. Not really my cup of tea. If I was going to take one celtic fusion folk rock band I'd probably up for Thin Lizzy.
1.Patti Smith - Horses
2.The Modern Lovers - Self Titled
3.Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
4.Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
5.Television- Marquee Moon
6.Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
7.Radiohead - In Rainbows
8.Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
9. Talking Heads - 1977
10.The Radio Dept - Clinging To. A Scheme ( Swedish pop genius)
11.The Ramones - Leave Home
12.Ween - The Mollusk
13.Dexys -Don't Stand Me Down
14.Can - Monster Movies
15.Neu -Neu 2
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