It's the Riff....

The latest challenge has been thrown down by Mr W....

"Right, after a lot of indecision and prevarication, the next challenge is out there.  And it's the Riff. The guitar line (and it has to be the guitar line) that turns a good song into a classic.  I want your top ten riffs.  No more than two or three bars. Played to death by young boys in guitar shops. Long of hair, behatted and beaded, no doubt.  I'm not talking solos here, I'm talking riffs. Ba-danga-danga-da-dang dang. Ba-danga-danga-da-dang dang.  You know what I mean."

Firsly lets start with one that always tops riff charts and won't be in my list .... step forward Smoke on the Water. Sorry but I find this song so boring and if I ever hear the story behind the song again I think I will scream!!!

Now that I have that out of my system let's go!  So in reverse order....

10. Last Night - The Strokes

For a period at the start of the new century they were the hottest band around.  A great first album that they have never been able to match.  This is a great song and if you looking for riffs this certainly has one of the all time greats.  Simple but so effective and drives the whole song.

9. Doctor Doctor - UFO

Now I could have a top 10 of riffs just featuring UFO songs and the riff meister himself Michael Schenker.  This is one of their best and still gets the crowd bouncing to this day.

8. Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

Now strictly this is part bass and part guitar riff.  But this cannot be left off the list as Jack White's riff drives the whole song, along with Meg White's wonderful minimal drumming and is a great example of how less can be more.

7. Paint it Black - Rolling Stones

Now most top 10 riff lists will include the Stones but it will be (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.  However I believe this another great example of how a riff interwoven with the drum track can really make a song move up to the next level.  Always loved this song with it's Eastern flavoured riff.

6. House of The Rising Sun - The Animals

Now Paul's challenge suggested songs played by young boys in guitar shops and when I was a lad and all my friends picked the guitar for the first time this is the one that they all learnt to play first.  The riff is basically the song and love the way that the Hammond organ comes in and follows the guitar part.  Another example of simple is best and a timeless classic.

5. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne

Featuring the sadly missed and legendary Randy Rhoads.  A song that features at least two classic riff lines - nothing quite matches the opening riff when the main part of the song kicks in - the Crazy Train is off and running!

4. Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

The grunge riff classic. Had a whole generation of young boys in the early 90s learning Kurt Cobain's classic riff.  Unfortunately led to bands like Bush so maybe not such a good thing!

3. Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Great riffs should have the ability to get under your skin and this one from sublime, and under rated, John Frusciante certainly does that. I think I couldn't get this out of my head for about two years!

2. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses

One of the most memorable and famous riffs in the last 20+ years.  Probably one of the greatest starts to any song ever and all thanks to the excellent guitar work from Slash.  Their greatest song by far and the heights were never matched again.

1. Paranoid - Black Sabbath

This is the riff bar none from another of the masters of the riff Tony Iommi.  A staple of every rock club in every town and never fails to get a floor full of blokes all pretending that they can play guitar.  A true classic.  Here it is in all its glory....

So there you have it!  As ever a really difficult task of narrowing down my favourites and some narrowly missed out so I have to give a few honourable mentions to ones that nearly made it including Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix, Ever Fallen in Love - Buzzcocks, This Charming Man - The Smiths, Down Down - Status Quo, Spirit of Radio - Rush plus many more that I haven't got time to list here.

Over to you now Paul!

What *were* you thinking?

As can be found on Paul's blog here I throw down another challenge.  Albums you have bought but now you just ask yourself why???  Well here is my list. I am not proud and actually very embarrassed about some of these.  All I can say was that I was young at the time....

1. She's the Boss - Mick Jagger

I have no idea why I bought this album.  I hadn't really liked anything the Stones had done since the early 70s so why I went out and purchased this I cannot recall.  Given that the credits has a talent list to die for including Jeff Beck, Ray Cooper, Sly Dunbar, Bernard Edwards, Rabbit Bundrick, Herbie Hancock, Nile Rodgers, G.E. Smith, Tony Thompson & Pete Townsend this album is just dreadful.  I have really tried to like it and once a decade I try again but sorry it is still almost unlistenable.  I repeated this all over again with his next solo album Primitive Cool which is just as bad if not worse. Don't ask me why I repeated my mistake - I must have been having a memory failure at the time!

2. Hooray for Boobies - the BloodhoundGang

Bought on the strength of the single "the Bad Touch" which I did find funny at first, probably on the strength of it's video.  The album is basically the same joke over and over and over again ("A lap dance is so much better when the stripper is crying", "Magna Cum Nada", "Yummy Down on This" to name just three "classics"!!!).  It lost it's novelty after one and half plays and after that it became very unfunny and just tedious.  Not to be recommended....

3. Pocket Full of Kryptonite - Spin Doctors

Another album I bought on the strength of one track I loved ("Two Princes" - which I still like today).  Allmusic describes the album as "full of the loose, leisurely three-chord pop/rock jams".  Yes there is that dreaded word "Jams".  A jamming session may be fun for a band and it's mates down a small pub/club on a Sunday evening but not as a full proper album.  This album is not in anyway offensive but it is just so completely boring and seems to go on forever!  Every time I have tried to listen to it I just lose the will to live way before the end....

4. Heartbeat - Don Johnson

I can't believe I am admitting owning this album!  I have no excuses or mitigating circumstances.  I just went out and bought it.  It is average at best and completely awful at it's worst.  If I remember correctly a song called "Coco Don't" would end up on trial for crimes against music!  I haven't played since the 1980s and that is the way it is going to stay - I haven't been tempted in over 20 years to dig out the record and put it on the turntable....

5. The Return of Bruno - Bruce Willis

My god it just gets worse and worse!  I am so ashamed.  I liked Moonlighting and Die Hard but it is no excuse for paying hard cash for this.  At least I wasn't the one who commissioned and released it - step forward Motown!!!  This album has nothing to redeem it and features Bruce murdering classics such as "Under the Boardwalk", "Young Blood" and "Respect Yourself".  No more to say really - I will get just get my coat and leave....

6. Rhythm and Stealth - Leftfield

I really don't like Dance/House Music.  Nothing personal but just isn't my thing.  So why I bought an album that features just that I have no idea.  I can't even remember buying this album but yet it is in my record collection just sitting there staring at me and collecting dust.

7. Release the Stars - Rufus Wainright

Does anyone actually really like Rufus' music or does no one want to admit it?  I downloaded this album on the back of strong reviews at the time and was interested to find out what all the fuss was about.  I quickly found out that I really didn't like his voice or the theatrical pop opera music.  It got played once and may never be played again....

8. The Miracle - Queen

It is very sad when one of your favourite bands releases a really poor album and this is just such an example.  I remember RAW, a short lived rival rock weekly to Kerrang!, reviewing this and raving how it was a return to their 70s best.  Trust me it wasn't....

9. St. Anger - Metallica

Another example of decline in a great band.  To be honest Metallica's albums had been getting worse for most of the 90s and it reached this low point in 2003.  The recording of this album and the band's near implosion is captured in the classic music documentary "Some Kind of Monster".  The album itself is almost totally devoid of anything that can be described as a tune, has a very weird drum sound mix, has no guitar solos and is just relentless mess of noise.  Avoid at all costs but watch the documentary - it is a classic!

10. Permission to Land - the Darkness

Now I should never let curiosity get the better of me!  I had the misfortune of seeing the Darkness before they broke big playing a small pub/venue the Monarch in Camden.  My friend Jim's band at the time (International Jetset) had been supporting and I was told I had to see this lot.  I walked out after three songs as I hated the preening idiot lead singer/guitarist for both his stage antics and his really annoying voice! I should just have walked out of the store when I saw this album on the display racks in MVC.....

Now for the top 20 favourite songs...

Now I have laid down the challenge for Paul ... top 10 songs! Same criteria, only one per artist and as before not what you think should be the greatest songs but the ones that mean the most to you personally.

Having thrown down the gauntlet I felt that I had to pick it up myself.  Failed miserably to cut it down under 20 (and still needed to make some hard choices!). These are the songs that always come to the top of my mind when thinking of something to search for and play. They may not be the best technically or the greatest songs ever written but they are what appeals most to me. As before only one entry per artist allowed! Here goes in no particular order….

1. Motorcycle Emptiness – Manics

In my opinion one of the most perfect songs ever written with a fantastic opening. Still makes the crowd go mad at their gigs. Reminds me of a holiday with the lads to the Greek island of Ios.

2. London Calling – the Clash
If Paul celebrates his local area this is the one that captures my home town. Played at QPR before games. Mick Jones a big QPR fan. Enough said!

3. Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
This song just creeps up on me every now and then and I can’t get it out of my head for the rest of the day and have an urge to spin round the room!

4. Babe I’m Going to Leave You – Led Zeppelin
Just builds and builds and love the sound of Mr Plant singing away from the mike that is picked up on the remastered versions.

5. Help! – The Beatles / Tina Turner
The original is my favourite Beatles song (just!) but I also love the slowed down soul version of Ms Turner that sounds like someone looking back over their life.

6. My Hero – Foo Fighters
A great song with a fantastic drum track. Also works really well as an acoustic version.  Also great for a sing a long in the car!

7. Ace of Spades – Motorhead
The metal song and the heaviest bass sound. Should carry health warning for playing in car though as always have urge to drive faster and more aggressively!

8. One – U2
Change of pace needed. One of the great slow songs. Used to be played a lot when drunk late at night after getting home after the pub.

9. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
What a voice and another track that just sounds great. 

10. If I Can Dream – Elvis Presley
If you want to know why this particular Elvis song please read one of my previous blog's here.

11. This is not America – David Bowie & Pat Metheny
I know this is not an obvious choice for Bowie (from an obscure film “The Falcon and the Snowman”), comes from the artistically wilderness years of the mid-80s and a song that I took years to find a copy of after not buying at time (pre-downloads). Just love the vocal.

12. Try a little tenderness – Otis Redding
One of the great sing in the shower songs!

13. Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
Another song that often creeps into my consciousness and a great soul track.

14. Tom Traubert's Blues – Tom Waits
Vocals you either love or hate … I love them – my parents hated them! A great story telling song. However if you want to remain my friend never ever mention or play the Rod Stewart version to me….!!!

15. Goldfinger – Shirley Bassey
Had to have one Bond theme on the list and this one is has a strange reason! A friend, Phil, used to sing it when drunk backed by a human chorus doing the orchestration. He then did this at one wedding reception and it then became a tradition – if Phil hadn’t sung Goldfinger it didn’t matter what the Vicar or Registrar had said you weren’t properly married! Phil even sang it at me & Mrs D's wedding reception.

16. Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones at their best and most dangerous before they became an “institution”!

17. Super Trouper – ABBA
Can’t have a list of great songs without ABBA! Reminds me of Sunday afternoons as a kid after Sunday lunch and before the Big Match with Brian Moore.

18. What a Waste – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
Altogether now …. “Because I chose to play the fool in a six-piece band, First-night nerves every one-night stand. I should be glad to be so inclined.What a waste! What a waste! But I don't mind.”

19.Enjoy the Silence – Depeche Mode
Could have been my theme tune at one point. Great lyrics and music.

20. Our House – Madness
Reminds me of being at school and school discos! Another London song.


There we go! I have even more on my list and looking back over the list I can't believe that, for example there is no Jam or Bruce in it, but you have to stop somewhere!!!! If I was to do it again I would probably come up with a different 20! 


Over to you now Paul….

My attempt at a list of top 10 albums....

My fellow blogger Paul was set a challenge to come up with his top 10 albums.  The full details of the challenge and the list he came up with plus some excellent reviews can be found here.

In a minor way I also joined the challenge and I just wrote down the top 10 albums that leapt into my mind. No over thinking what is artistically better just what have been some of the albums I have always turned back to (for example I know the Beatles for Sale is not by any stretch of the imagination the best Beatles album but this was the first one I got given & I fell in love with).



Recent albums have been excluded as I believe that albums take time to mature (just my opinion and I can understand why you might include them in your own list) and the fact that some that I have loved on release haven't weathered well (Wish by The Cure & Robert Plant's Faith of Nations spring to mind). This has counted out Bruce's Magic album, Motorhead's Motoriser, The '59 Sound' by the Gaslight Anthem and Ian Hunter's Man Overboard, all of which have rarely left my virtual turntable since purchasing them in the last couple of years.


Also live albums have been left out which excludes some of my most played albums of all time in UFO's Stranger in the Night, Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Live at Brixton Academy, Ozzy's Randy Rhoads Tribute album, and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust the Motion Picture.


I have also stuck to Paul's criteria of no greatest hits and only one album per artist. So finally here is my top 10 (in no particular order):

1. Darkness on the Edge of Town - Bruce Springsteen

Now if you read the comments on Paul's original blog you will see that this was originally Born to Run.  I thought really long and hard on which Bruce album I should include (remember only one per artist!) and actually on reflection this is my most played Bruce album and the one that I still go back to the most.  This certainly isn't easy listening but I love the sound and it really works for me as an album.  So by a photo finish this just gets my vote!

2. Violator - Depeche Mode

As close to perfection that any album that I own.  Another album with a fairly dark heart but what great songs and the production is stunning.  Given this album is 20 years old it still hasn't aged a day.  Also features one of my favourite songs of all time in Enjoy the Silence.

3. Beatles for Sale - the Beatles

Now for any of my choices this is probably going to one of the most controversial.  I know that this isn't the best Beatles album by a long way and some even consider it to be their worst.  However this is the first album I was given by my dad and it sounded like nothing I heard before on my little record player (with built in speakers) and made me fall in love with records and started off a life time of buying and listening.  I recently treated myself to the remasters box set and listening to it again made my go straight back to that moment and for that reason alone it had to be in my top 10.

4. Grace - Jeff Buckley

I bought this album unheard soon after it was released.  Not because I heard anything about it but I was a fan of his father's work and was interested to see what his son sounded like.  Wow a voice as distinct and interesting as his dad's but with his own style.  As the allmusic.com review states "Grace sounds like a Led Zeppelin album written by an ambitious folkie with a fondness for lounge jazz" which is a great description!  An album I still go back to a lot.  What a shame we only have one proper album, a set of demos and a clutch of live recordings from such a wonderful talent.

5. End of the Innocence - Don Henley

This is the one album that might surprise some people and certainly the least "hip" one on the list.  This for me is just a great album, with fantastic melodies and arrangements and one of the great lyricists.  A shame that he has only done one more solo album in the last 20 years.

6. Master of Puppets - Metallica

A real change of pace and certainly one of the great heavy metal albums of all time.  An album that has not only aged well but one that I will pick out of all their albums to listen to again and again.  Also demonstrated that they were so much more than just a thrash band.

7. Gold against the Soul - Manics


Another one that will probably cause debate.  Not that there is a Manics album in the top 10 but why this one?  The Manics are probably my favourite band of all time and it was a hard choice to pick one.  This is not their best album, that would be Holy Bible or their most popular, Everything Must Go would have that honour, but the one that took them from just a band I liked to one I loved.  It features some great songs in From Despair to Where, Life is a Landslide and Roses in the Hospital.  However Scream to a Sigh tops all that and is one of my all time favourites.

8. The Rise and Fall - Madness

Another difficult decision for another of my all time favourite bands.  I still think that this is their most complete album (before last years The Liberty of Norton Folgate) and another one that I must have warn the vinyl nearly all the way through with repeat playings over many years. 

9. All About Eve - All About Eve


Goth folk rock! Loved this album at the time, still love it today although the production has dated a bit.  Love Julianne Regan's voice and the guitar playing of Tim Bricheno is excellent.  Only track I could do without is their biggest hit and due to the Top of Pops debacle the one they will most remembered for - stand up Martha's Harbour!

10. Pretenders - Pretenders

What a debut album and another as close to perfection that you are going to get from a fantastic band (which it was at the time and not just Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers and the latest recruits).  What great songs and brilliant playing.  A true classic! 




As there was only 10 allowed there was always going to be those that were considered and just missed out.  Bubbling under would be:- The Gift - the Jam, Wrecking Ball - Emmylou Harris, Mock Tudor - Richard Thompson, Disintegration - The Cure, Everything's Different Now - 'Til Tuesday, Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos, Honky Dory - David Bowie, The Game - Queen, Blue - Otis Redding, Foxtrot - Genesis and Placebo - Placebo.

Paul and I have done our lists - why don't you do your own???