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 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???
