My Favourite Music

iTunes player says I have 38 days of music, back to back. I have a lot more than that, loads of tracks for DJing on a one terabyte external hard disk. The iTunes ones are mostly my “collection” of music, although my own music of 38 albums is also in the iTunes library.

 

This article started as “note down a few things” but I soon realised it was going to be much bigger than that.

 

I don’t actually listen to music that much now but…

 

The very early music I was aware of, before the age of five (and beyond the nursery rhymes album my mum used to play to me), were: 10cc – The Original Soundtrack, my dad used to play it, a double album of Bohemian Rhapsody inspired quirky music by the bonkers 10cc band. Dvorak – New World Symphony. The hits of 1973, my mum still has this album, which included Kung Foo Fighting, The Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both of Us, Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree, Seasons In The Sun, Saturday’s Alright For Fighting. I used to love that album when I was a kid. The Sparks song is the only one I’d actually play now. I spent a long time loving the Dvorak one.

 

The first single I bought was Ultravox – Hymn. I loved the wobbly guitar noise. However, Midge Ure is Scottish and the grammar of the lyric annoys me. I did like Ultravox once but the music didn’t stand the test of time. I also liked Status Quo and Slade, I thought they were so “heavy”! I saw Quo at the venue in Thetford Forest, two guys Very Far Away and no video screens so you could actually see them. I liked the Slade Alive album for a long time.

 

After this I got too interested in Prince. It started with 1999 when he re-released it just as Purple Rain came out. I had all his albums at one point upto Batman. I later got Crystal Ball, which is awful. I then revisited many years later with The Rainbow Children, which is an odd album. I decided for sometime that his actual best album was Dirty Mind. I stopped listening to his stuff a long time ago. To be honest he really screwed me in the head. I expect Lady Gaga fans are hypnotised in the same way. I had to push him away as there was something fishy with the agenda.

 

As 1989 came round and I’d been listening to Simply Red – Picture Book and INXS. Dance music was gaining my attention. This was House Music and Acid House. Dance music and Rave then consumed me for sometime. The led onto German Techno and Psychedelic Trance. I went to quite a few raves. My favourite tracks was Rhythm on the Loose – Break of Dawn and Sub Sub – Space Face. Happy days, maybe, or a massive head fuck, IDK.

 

Break of Dawn has a vocal sample “I’m surprised to see your suitcase at the door, remember the good times, don’t you want some more?” which was a vocal sample from Jocelyn Brown - Love's Gonna Get You. The tune is a breakbeat over a cool bass with a funky piano sound. I found it beautiful when I first heard it.
More info: https://www.discogs.com/release/50670-Rhythm-On-The-Loose-Break-Of-Dawn

 

Space Face has a sample "My God it's full of stars" taken from the film "2010: The Year We Make Contact", sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey". It’s a happy uplifting tune with wonderful breaks and synth sweeps. A rave “wave your hands in the air” tune.
More info: https://www.discogs.com/release/55892-Sub-Sub-Space-Face

 

Anyway… moving on…

 

If I was asked who my favourite musicians are the first two that come to mind are: Gary Numan and Richard H Kirk. Though that is a bigger can of worms as this article will address.

I saw Numan at the UEA in Norwich many years back. My first introduction to him was “Cars” back in the day. The video was awesome and Numan looked so cool, like Avon from Blakes 7. The synth sustains were what made “Cars” for me. I really was then not aware of much more of his work for years but for Are Friends Electric? That track sounded futuristic for so long, until it didn’t any more. Little did I know that Numan was really a solo musician, tinkering with his synths in his bedroom. It was only much later that I got his albums. I’d only heard a smattering of his work since Cars and seen snatches of videos. I’d had fleeting glimpses of the video: I Die, You Die. Numan seems to doubt his own talent, especially the early stuff. He seems to think it was primitive, amateur. Later recordings got very plain and too polished until he re-invented himself again. My favourite track is the alternate version of I Die, You Die. That version was for the music video it seems. For me the synth sweeps of the early works were awesome.

 

I never saw Richard H Kirk perform his music (he died in 2021). Seems he was knocking the tunes out on an Atari ST for a long time. Like Numan, he was a home musician. Though, like Numan, there was a band: Cabaret Voltaire at the start (Numan had a band also at the start: Tubeway Army). I first discovered Kirk via “Mixmag” a magazine for music in the UK. They reviewed the album Virtual State. That album is my favourite and the track “Freezone” is my favourite track of Kirks. It blends African chants, bongos and electronic beats. The whole album is a masterpiece. However I think he had copyright problems as later certain track vanished from it. Kirk was only releasing on iTunes last time I looked. For a bit I was buying quite a few of his albums and he released under several aliases like Sandoz which is dub flavoured. Blacworld was another good one. Unfortunately he probably did put out a bit too much as some really was a bit pointless. Though, you never know with him, perhaps it was genius we just don’t realise it yet. Of course, his output was so much I never heard everything.

 

So, those two musicians I rated highly but it did in the end come down to liking one track more than all the others. I don’t listen to music much now and would more likely spin up just the favourite tracks. Therefore, the rest of this I shall go over my favourite tracks of different artists.

 

Heart: Barracuda. I liked the rock ballads by Heart back in the day when they had their revival but I went off those. I was aware of Barracuda even then and realised they had a past of more heavy rock. It took me a while to look into that but eventually I discovered “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You” which are awesome tracks. Barracuda is the best though. Ann Wilson’s vocals are superb and the chuntering guitar is propper heavy rock. Unfortunately they really lost their way after that. Some of the mid stuff is just so bad and the rock ballads are so cheesy.

 

Dr Feelgood – Roxette. I discovered them long after they’d been a thing. It was seeing the video of them on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Wilko Johnson with his choppy guitar style and funny duck walk. Lee Brilleaux, the singer full of charisma who you’d run away from scared. Brilleaux looked like he was from The Professionals series, a tough cop. Roxette sums them up in one song.

 

David Bowie – Queen Bitch. As a kid I used to play the Ashes to Ashes album over and over again. It was my first proper album. Scary Monsters being the best on it. After that I fell out of love with him. I didn’t like Ziggy Stardust (pre-Ashes). Then I came back to him with seeing “Queen Bitch” on Top of the Pops 2, this was an Old Grey Whistle Test performance. He was pre-Ziggy and that song is exceptional. Another song I like is “Let Me Sleep Beside You” the 2014 reboot of it. Other than that I don’t listen to his other stuff. The lyrics of Let Me Sleep Beside You are a little questionable I think.

 

Fleetwood Mac – The Chain. It became the Formula 1 theme tune when on the BBC. When I was young I thought Fleetwood Mac were terrible. That is because I was used to the heavily studio processed Greatest Hits album. On YouTube there is an old concert of them in their prime and I realised then that they are quite heavy rock really. This was with Lindsey Buckingham on lead guitar and Fleetwood banging away on the drums. The Chain is still an awesome song.

 

Jethro Tull – Cross Eyed Mary. Well, actually, Iron Maiden. I knew of Jethro Tull and wasn’t really sure. Then I heard a song by Iron Maiden which I discovered was a cover of Cross Eyed Mary. The Iron Maiden one is better. But it did lead on to me re-desovering Tull. There is a 1976 concert on YouTube which I also have on DVD. Ian Anderson was at his prime in that performance, just before his voice went. They were right at their peak at that point. I got most of their albums, right from the early blues onwards. Aqualung is probably my favourite song. I can’t bear later Tull due to his voice being shot: fags init?

 

AC/DC – Let Me Put My Love Into You. Funny, I saw this video on TV (TOTP2 again) of an early AC/DC and I thought it is superb. I also thought “they don’t do dirty lyrics”. Oh. This one is actually filthy, but it is a superb tune. I find this tune might tighter than later stuff.

 

ZZ Top – Gimme All Your Lovin’. Actually hard to know which is the best tune by them. But this one started it all for me. First hearing it on Lazer 558, the pirate radio station. I don’t listen to them now but at one time loved their music, especially concerts on YouTube. I do own most of their albums and they are consistent in how good they are. The three-piece play so well together. I liked them beyond they high point of the Eliminator album. I went off them for several years but came back to them and re-addressed their work, from early to new stuff.

 

Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart. I still think this song is their best but it’s close with “Transmission” (Dance, dance, dance to the radio). While they were good I don’t think all their output was perfect by any-means.

 

Kraftwerk – Computer World. I do like Kraftwerk, always did. Saw them on Tomorrows World back in the 70s with their “futuristic” instruments. Computer World is their most complete tune though and you don’t need to listen to the other stuff to get closer to their sound. They were so influential in dance music later in the day and many rave tunes sampled them.

 

Motorhead – Ace of Spades. How does a band make one great song and the rest are terrible? In-fact I rate Lemmy in Hawkwind more than I do in Motorhead.

 

Here are some film/TV theme tunes I love:

 

Les Reed - Girl On a Motorcycle.

 

Walter Stott - When Eight Bells Toll.

 

Matt Monro - On Days Like These. (Theme to the Italian Job)

 

Ron Goodwin - When Eagles Dare.

 

Mike Post – The Rockford Files.

 

Dudley Simpson - Blakes 7

 

Ron Grainer - Dr Who (original)

 

Albums:

 

a-Ha – Foot of the Mountain. When I was young I heard “Take On Me” the first time they released it and I liked it. They then re-released it with that video when it went stratospheric. It’s a good tune and “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” was pretty good too. I did have an early album by them but I kind of lost interest in them after that. Then, years later, I heard Foot of the Mountain which is a superb song. The whole album works and there isn’t a bad point on it. At the point I heard this album I looked back at their catalogue and I don’t rate most of it, so, Foot of the Mountain came from nowhere is a perfect album. They also tended to add a horrid echo on Harkets voice for, I don’t know what reason, on the other albums and they didn’t do that in this one.

 

The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta. I don’t like any other Police albums, I detest Sting, he’s an eejit. Sting does have a good voice though and plays the bass well, granted. They were very successful when this album came out and had more creative say, moving away from that dreadful reggae sound of earlier work. It was criticised for some tracks having no vocals but I actually like that, they are almost jamming and being that I liked dance music with no vocals I didn’t have a problem with it. The reason I list this as an album is that, as an album, it hangs together all the way, a complete album with no bad bits. All the songs have an atmospheric feel that runs throughout. The three of them were playing so well together at that point.

 

Honourable mentions: Hawkwind, Osric Tentacles, Eat Static. I seen those three live a few times and also Space Ritual (the splinter group from Hawkwind).

 

Why don’t I listen to music as much now? A lot has to do with the quality. Ashes to Ashes was on analogue tape cassette. Quo, Slade, 1973 hits, Police, Prince was on vinyl. I had a very expensive stereo in the 90s and the quality of the CD was very good. When I got Purple Rain on CD after vinyl they hadn’t done a good job of digital mastering and it was clinical after the depth of the vinyl. I didn’t listen to the CD of it much. In-fact CD sucked the life out of a lot of recordings. MP3 isn’t much better, there is something a “bit off” about it. I usually master MP3s at 320 rather than 128 bits. But the idea of MP3 is to reduce quality, to “squash” the data. I did notice with The Rainbow Children that when Prince went straight to digital the depth was much better than Purple Rain which was analogue converted to digital. It’s a bit beyond my knowledge but they have screwed with the frequencies of digital recordings as opposed to analogue. I think this goes some way to explain why I don’t enjoy the music as much as I used to.

 

There might be more to add to this article at somepoint...