Dean’s favourite albums #20- Tea for the Tillerman – Cat Stevens

Clocking in at only 36 minutes or so, Mr Stevens (now Mr Islam) does not waste any of this time carving out a stunning album that leaves you wanting more. Even the closing track, the title track (which might be known to some of you as the theme music from The Extras) only goes for 1 minute, finishing before it even began.  In some ways, a musically simple album, there are just so many lovely tracks to enjoy. The lesser known tracks like “Miles from Nowhere” are “Longer Boats” are great, and then there is the hits like “Wild World”, a break up song where Stevens gives his ex some advice. It’s a curious track, because depending on how you view it, it’s a man showing genuine concern for his ex, but on the other hand it could be viewed in rather cynically. The highlight of the whole album though, is the ultimate generation gap song, “Father and Son”, where Stevens, singing as two characters, the father and then the son, perfectly sums up a situation where the older father is trying to impart the wisdom of experience to his son, yet the son feels that his thoughts and feelings and not being heard, which drives him away. Forget your Westlife and countless other covers of this song, you can’t beat the original. If you don’t know this track, see the link.

 

One other thing that I can’t explain – I have no idea who or what the Tillerman is (but I hope the tea was enjoyed). Happy to hear any theories on this topic.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpX1ZjuaiA

 

As we move into the teens, #19 brings us into the nineties, and an album from one of favourite artists – but not the critically acclaimed album.

Dean's favourite albums #21 - Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

I  own a number of Bob Dylan albums, but do find them hard to get into at times.  You usually have to be in the right mood to hear Dylan. His voice can be grating at times, his lyrics sometimes undecipherable, but that is what you get with a singer songwriter!  You won’t  find any of the signature Dylan tracks like “Blowin in the Wind”, “Like a Rolling Stone” or “The Times are a Changing”  on “Blood on the Tracks”, but what you do get is an album full of tracks dealing with heartbreak, anger and loneliness.   I haven’t taken the time to study the lyrics in detail, but you don’t need to, Dylan uses his voice to convey these emotions perfectly. The tracks might be lesser known, but they are certainly not inferior tracks.  There are highlights all through the album, but the stand out track is probably the opener “Tangled Up in Blue”, which would have to be up there as one of Dylan’s best.

 

PS – remember I said I don’t like long songs – this is another album with two seven minute plus songs on the track listing!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwSZvHqf9qM

 

Coming up at #20 – some more singer-songwriter folk rock from the seventies – but no long songs!

I hope you are enjoying my list, and all comments gratefully received.

Dean’s all time favourite albums - #22- Bat Out of Hell – Meatloaf

After previously telling you all that I don’t tend to like long songs, I now include another album that is full of long songs. Meat’s terrible performance at the AFL grand final a few years ago probably demonstrates that he is on the tail end of his career, but when he was on, he was fantastic, and no one else can rival his theatrical lyrical delivery. My highlight of the album is the epic “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (refer to link), which even features a baseball commentator and some amazing entendres. And how good is it when Ellen Foley jumps in and sings her part? Sensational stuff. According to Wikipedia, so it must be true, this is the second highest selling album of all time in Australia (second only to Whispering Jack) so there must be plenty of closet Bat Out of Hell fans out there.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPMMitJDYg

 

Coming up at #21 – a musical heavyweight (not in the same way that Meatloaf is a heavyweight though!)

Dean’s all time favourite albums - #23 – The Lexicon of Love – ABC

Are you surprised with this selection? To be honest with you, I am completely surprised that its on my list! I found this album in a discount bargain bin at JB Hi Fi and thought I would give it a go, and I liked it right from the first listen. Maybe because its not like much else in my collection, I don’t know, but for some reason it struck a chord with me.  Focusing on a loose theme of heartache as the singer moves in and out of relationships, the tracks are unmistakably from the 80’s, but haven’t dated much at all. “Poison Arrow” and “The Look of Love” are probably the most well known, but I have a soft spot for some of the lesser known tracks like “Many Happy Returns”.

 

The link features the track “Poison Arrow”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9mJuqBipE0

 

Coming up at #22 – some theatrical over the top rock!

Dean’s all time favourite albums - #24 – Cosmo’s Factory – Creedence Clearwater Revival

As a general rule, I am not a big fan of long songs (but you will see some notable exceptions as this list goes on), so you would think that an album that opens with a seven minute track, and then also contains an eleven minute cover of Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” would not be my thing. But this is great rock, and the album is well balanced, spacing out the longer so...ngs with catchy rock like “Looking Out My Back Door”, (see link if you are unfamiliar with this song), "Travellin Band" and "Up Around the Bend"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ouHs24EkLA

Coming up - #23 – will be time for some 80’s new wave pop, with very little similarities to CCR.

As always, any thoughts, comments or predictions most welcome

Dean's all-time favourite albums - #25 - About a Boy - Badly Drawn Boy

To start off my list, I turn to the low-fi indie pop of UK singer/songwriter Badly Drawn Boy. This album was composed as the soundtrack to the film version of  Nick Hornby penned novel “About a Boy”. Full of pleasant melodies this is a joy to listen to. Even the little (dare I call them filler) tracks that were needed for the movie are not at all grating. My highlight though is “A Minor Incident”, which is essentially a suicide letter. Heartbreaking.

 

For each entry I will also try and include a youtube link in case you are unfamiliar with the artist or album. This is a link to the track “A Minor Incident.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEE5LeUYOBI

 

Looking ahead – for each entry I will give you a little hint for the next upcoming album. For album #24, its time to head to the seventies for some swamp rock!

Dean's Top 25 favourite albums of all time

Hi All

 

I have been a bit slack on the music output on facebook/blog recently, so to make up for it, I have decided to tackle a challenging topic – my favourite albums of all time. I love reading these sorts of lists, but to now have always resisted doing my own, quite simply because it is hard. Tastes evolve and change over time, and even the mood you are in at a particular moment can have a huge impact on the order that the albums are ranked it. So, I am going to open up my collection and music tastes for ridicule, and present a countdown of my top 25 favourite albums.

 

Here are my ground rules:

·         I must own the albums on the list (probably a no brainer – why would one of your favourite albums be something you don’t own?)

·         The list is a list of my favourites – not of “best albums” or “most influential” or “most groundbreaking”. Therefore, you will see a mixture of popular albums, critically acclaimed albums, more obscure albums and albums that might not be technically brilliant but I like. In some cases, I haven’t even chosen the best album by a particular artist.

·         As it is a list of albums – greatest hits, best of’s and the like are not eligible, although interestingly, I do have quite a lot of these sorts of albums in my collection.

·         Live albums can be considered eligible, although, without revealing too much, it is rare that a live album would be good enough to make it to the list (but just wait and see, you never know)

·         I haven’t necessarily invoked the rule that only one album per artist is allowed, but I must admit, I probably did have some thought for this in formulating the list. It would be a bit boring if the list contained the entire back catalogue of a prolific artist.

·         No set rules on number of albums per era – from my perspective, the release date of an album is irrelevant. The music is either good or it isn’t good!

·         All genres are eligible and indeed, I hope you consider the final list to be quite diverse.

·         I will reveal the list over time, when I get to it. Might list several albums in one go, or might keep you waiting ages for the next instalment. I have twins that keep me busy – I will get to it when I get to it.

·         Please feel free to share your views on the albums I list – positive or negative – I am interested in your views, but be gentle with my music tastes.

 

So sit back and enjoy the ride!