27 October 2006

Just take those old records off the shelf~~

The following are my favourite albums. My benchmark is I will list a fave singer or a group and I can only nominate one album from their complete works as my all time favourite.

Those that know me really well will not be surprised by some of my choices here. Afterall, English football is not just Chelsea and Formula One is not only Schumacher.


AC/DC : "Back In Black"
My first AC/DC album. Also the first album released after the death of Bon Scott. Panned by a lot of reviewers but hey, who else can do a song like "You shook me all night long" huh? (Although Quiet Riot's "Come on feel the noize" came close).

Al Stewart : "Year Of The Cat"
This album is what one would call a one hit wonder but what a massive one. The title track Year Of The Cat must have been one of the most memorable intros to a song in pop history.

Alan Parson's Project : "Turn Of A Friendly Card"
I used to think that APP best works are albums like I Robot, Eve and Pyramid until one day a friend loaned me his copy of Turn Of A Friendly Card. Game People Play is sheer cheesy disco but it got me real good.

ABBA : "The Album"
Me thinks ABBA hit their best form with this album and it all went downhill from there.

Bee Gees : "Children Of The World"
Yes I know. Why not Saturday Night Fever or Spirits Having Flown.... they came close. But COTW is pure Bee Gees before they went big time disco. Nights On Broadway is classic.

Beatles : "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Need I say more?

Black Sabbath : "Paranoid"
I picked this solely because of the title track. I am not really that big on Black Sabbath so if you have recommendations do drop me a comment.

Bob Seger : "Nine Tonight"
Ok, the problem with Bob Seger is he tends to have one or two good tracks on each of his albums so it is hard to pin down which album is better until I found this live album Nine Tonight. Everything is here. If you think the studio version of Hollywood Nights is hot, wait til you hear the live version.

Bruce Springsteen : "The River"
Liked it because of the title track. On a bad day, it makes one feel very suicidal.

Cold Chisel : "Twentieth Century"
A lot of people prefered Circus Animals. Me? I prefer Twentieth Century, despite it being more commercial. I think it is the last Cold Chisel album before they broke up.

Dan Fogelberg : "An Innocent Age"
In "Leader Of The Band", Dan Fogelberg has written the perfect tribute song to fathers, and is also a karaoke tear-jerker, if you can find the song in karaokes. I found it once only.

Deep Purple : "Live In Japan"
This the first album on western music I ever listened to when I was young, and for an innocent kid, this has a very marked effect on my psyche and possibly explains why I am very partial to heavy metal later. Other kids were humming Take Me Home Country Roads while I was screaming "Nobody's gonna take my car~~~"

Dire Straits : "Love Over Gold"
Do not tell me Brothers In Arms is better. Brothers In Arms appears better because it is so commercial! (Money For Nothing). To really appreciate Love Over Gold, listen to it over a high end hifi set (not a mini compo) and you will be able to see Mark Knophler's tongsils. It is that good.

Duran Duran : "Rio"
What's a heavy metal rock fan like me listening to Duran Duran? They are not that bad you know. They hit their peak with Rio. The rest is crap.

Eagles : "Hell Freezes Over"
I used to think the original version of Hotel California is a classic, the solo ending and all that, and I still do. But I prefer the unplugged version now, probably because I have listened to the original version 1,836,692 times....

E.L.O. : "Discovery"
Yes, you scream Commercial!!!! Of course Discovery is commercial. It came out riding the late 70s disco wave, mirror balls, strobe lights, dark blue underwear and all that. Ok, Out Of The Blue came close but missed out by a whisker.

Fleetwood Mac : "Rumours"
You want to know why Rumours is Fleetwood Mac's best album ever? Go buy one and listen. If you don't like it, I will give you your money back.

Iron Maiden : "The Number Of The Beast"
I am not that big on Iron Maiden. There are probably better IM albums than this.

Jackson Browne : "Running On Empty"
An album consisting of studio and live tracks. Running On Empty must be J. Browne best effort ever, but you need to listen to it a few time to let it grow on you. Best track : The Load Out/Stay.

Journey : "Frontiers"
You hate that Steve Perry wail. I loved it!

Kansas : "Vinyl Confessions"
Reviewers slammed Vinyl Confessions as crap. Me? probably, but where on Earth can one buy a Kansas album for one Autralian dollar? I did.

KISS : "Dynasty"
This came out around the time of ELO's Discovery so it also very disco. I don't really like glam rock, but I find Dynasty palatable.

Led Zeppelin : "The Song Remains The Same"
Yes, Zeppelin IV is better and all that. TSRTS is a live album. I am biased because of the visuals (I went and saw TSRTS the movie ).

Lionel Ritchie : "Can't Slow Down"
This is Lionel's best solo work, me thinks. Correct me if I am wrong.

Mark Knophler : "Local Hero"
Local Hero is a movie set in Scotland. Mark Knophler did a few instrumental tracks on it. The Wild Theme is unbelievable. Drive somewhere where there are green hills, preferbly with cattle or sheeps roaming. Put Wild theme on. It will blow your mind. It did for me in Fraser National Park, Australia.

Meat Loaf : "Bat Out Of Hell 2 - Back Into Hell"
I am partial to anything written by Jim Steinman. Enuff said.

Michael Jackson : "Thriller"
Come on, you really need me to comment on this?

Mike Oldfield : "Tubular Bells"
Do you know that it took a long long time before I realised that The Exorcist used Tubular Bells for the music in the movie?

Moody Blues : "Long Distance Voyager"
The only thing I knew about the Moody Blues before this album is Nights In White Satin. This is the only MB album I ever bought.

Neil Young : "Live Rust"
Neil Young. Some called him a one tone guitar man. Twang twang twang. But put him together with Crazy Horse and select track "Like A Hurricane", earthquake on a Richter scale of 8.0!

New Order : "Blue Monday 12" Extended EP"
Thump thump! Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump hey pass the Ecstacy marn thump thump thump thump thump thump....

Pet Shop Boys : "Discography"
If one wants to know what Pet Shop Boys is all about, Discography is it.

Pink Floyd : "The Final Cut"
Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall, bla bla bla... they are better I know. But for me, The Final Cut is it. Don't know why. Maybe the time I bought this album I was in a very down state. It was circa 1986, my Dad has just passed away and what is better than listening to Roger Waters/David Gilmour wail about death death death?

Queen : "Live Killers"
Best live Queen album of them all.

Rainbow : "Long Live Rock & Roll"
Not much to comment on this one. I just like it.

Rush : "Hemispheres"
What? You don't know I dig progressive rock?

Steve Winwood : "Back In The High Life"
For 5 years I have always thought Steve Winwood is a Negro (from Arc Of A Diver) until I saw the cover of Back In The High Life.

Styx : "Pieces Of Eight"
Blue Collar Man, marn. Blue Collar Man! You like Cornerstone? Go stand in the corner!

Tangerine Dream : "White Eagle"
Another of my odd tastes

Toto : "Africa"
Will anyone write a song as memorable as Africa again?

U2 : "Live At Red Rock"
Curiously, I never liked anything by U2 after this album. This is the innocent U2, not the U2 trying to score Top-40 number ones.

Jon & Vangelis : "Friends Of Mr. Cairo"
Collaborations by Jon & Vengelis are darn good, and FOMC is the best of them. Try it.

The Who : Tommy
Pass the weed marn, pass the weed.

Okay, there you have it. I may have forgotten one or two artiste/group but the above are my favourite albums. You would have noticed that my taste in music is like rojak (mixed) and covers various genres but that's me. If there's something worth listening to, the genre is unimportant (did I tell you I also listen to Eminem?).

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some kickass albums there!! :-)

Joash Chan said...

Just today I bought the Hell Freezes Over DVD!! I had the video tape in the house previously & I missed it so much. It's a very good album...

tihtahpah said...

Definitely Eagles-Hell Freezes Over for me! What about Carole King's Tapestry- one of the best too, and i thought U2's The Joshua Tree was good (With or Without You and I Still Haven't found What I'm LOoking For)

Wombat said...

joash chan : You have Hell Freezes Over on VHS tape???? How come?

tihtahpah : I know Tapestry is a good album, but Carole King is not one of my fave singers, see? As for U2, yes, a lot of people prefer Joshua Tree but like I said, it was a close fight with Live At Red Rock and I can only choose one album. :-)

Anonymous said...

Our taste in music is so similar, it's scary. I have all the albums you listed above, save one or two. And I'm betting Rkaru has the same.

philters said...

i think the solution to the Love Over Gold and Brothers In Arms crisis is Dire Straint's Private Investigations album, no?

Wombat said...

philters : There is never a Dire Straits album named Private Investigations. PI is just a song on the LOG album.

Anonymous said...

I dig Deep Purple & Led Zepplizine 2,but any Uriah Heap fan here?

Wombat said...

I tried to listen to Uriah Heep once. Not my cup of tea.

philters said...

bro, its called Private Investigaions: The Best of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler. a 2005 album. the best ofs are compilations tho, but a soltion nevertheless:)

philters said...

... and uriah heep is not too bad if you're driving on the highway with the windows rolled down:)

Wombat said...

philters : All my life I have only bought one Uriah Heep album in the 70s. Cannot even remember the title. Just can recall that the cover imitated the raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima during WW2.