1. Sailor - Trouble (1975)
This must've been one of the first LPs I ever bought. I'd got the two singles from this album - Girls, Girls, Girls and A Glass of Champagne - and the LP didn't disappoint. They were quite an unusual band, probably unique with their line-up of a double-sided keyboard instrument called a nickelodeon, a singer\guitarist who also played a South American instrument called a charango and a drummer. Along with the nautical references there were songs that name-checked places around the world such as Hong Kong and Panama and a lovely if rather melancholy number called She's My Kind of Girl. I saw them once in concert as part of one of these Sounds of the 70's tours with the Rubettes and The Sweet. They had two of the original band members and I had a chat with them in the interval. It seems that the nickelodeon had been repaired or even replaced a number of times over the years. I can imagine it not being the easiest of instruments to transport from one venue to another.
If you want to hear the charango being played have a listen to Panama - side 2 track 3.
2. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (1994)
A bleak album but one with incredible power and a reflection on the troubled mind of Richey Edwards who went missing just before he and James were due to go to the States to do some promo work. From eating disorders to the Holocaust this is not music for pleasure but it is an album I return to when I feel in need of, well, I'm not sure what. As with the blues that if you're feeling down, hearing someone sing about how bad they feel can make you feel better, with this album I guess if you're feeling fucked up this can make you realise that you are not alone and there are lots of others feeling the same way. Richey was open and honest about his battles with self harm, alcohol abuse and mental health issues and became something of a hero/anti-hero for young people who felt equally out of place and messed up in 1994.
I saw the band at the Glasgow Barrowlands on the Holy Bible tour and the one song I remember from that night was track 12 from the album - The Intense Humming of Evil.
3. Billy Connolly - Words and Music (1975)
This was an LP one of my aunts gave me when I must've been about 11. I grew up in a middle class family in Edinburgh and this was probably the first exposure I had to something very Scottish and working class. As the title suggests it is a mix of songs and bits of the Big Yin doing stand-up. The stand-out tracks would have to be the Wellie Boot Song and Harry Campbell and the Heavies. I saw Billy two or three times on stage and he was one of the best comedians I've seen. At one gig at the Edinburgh Playhouse I remember laughing so hard that it hurt. I think he was doing a story that included something about sheep shagging. I'd gone with one of my cousins who unfortunately didn't share my sense of humour and I was aware of her sitting next to me stony-faced for much of the show. But I've always loved his comedy. Pure dead brilliant, so he is.
4. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (1972)
Another gift I think from the same aunt who gave me the Connolly LP. I don't have this album any more nor the cassette that I bought to replace it but do have a couple of other recordings of Vivaldi's most famous work. I played the violin at school and played in the main orchestra as well as the chamber or string orchestra though being in the latter meant going in to school for Saturday morning practise which I would rather not have done. But we played concerts in both St Giles and St Mary's Cathedrals in Edinburgh, the first of those being quite a thrill as it is an amazing building and the acoustics were unlike anything I'd experienced before. A very special occasion. But love it or loath it the Four Seasons is a classic bit of chamber music and I never tire of listening to it.
I’d been a fan of the Rats from hearing their first single Lookin’ After Number 1. I bought that and the next three singles including Like Clockwork and She’s So Modern from this, their second album. The Rats, like The Stranglers, had kind of jumped on the punk bandwagon and they were more radio and TV friendly than the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Looking at the line-up of the Boomtown Rats the only one who looked like he was in a punk band was the keyboard player Johnnie Fingers with his spiky hair but of course the majority of punk bands didn’t have keyboard players. A Tonic For The Troops was the only album of theirs I bought which in retrospect was a bit odd as I really liked this album. There were songs about Howard Hughes, the tabloid press and suicide and also one of their biggest hits, Rat Trap. They did drift away from their punk\pub rock roots and after the guitar-less I Don’t Like Mondays they went into stranger territory with singles like Banana Republic. But Tonic remains one of my favourite albums from the 1970s and I see the Rats have recently reformed and have released a new studio album. I don’t know how many of the original line-up are in the band but good luck to them. He’s one of rock music’s characters is Bob Geldof.
6. Cara Dillon - self titled debut (2001)
What with it being Mother's Day here's an album by a mother of three and one of my favourite folk singers. I first heard Cara when one of her songs was used in a Billy Connolly TV series. I bought this, her debut solo album, around the time she supported Indigo Girls on a UK tour. She has a beautiful voice and I'll never forget hearing her sing She Moved Through The Fair (a song made famous by Sandy Denny, another of my favourite female vocalists) at a gig at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. It sent shivers up and down my entire body - one of those magical moments at a concert. And she's a lovely person is Cara. I've managed to speak to her after a couple of gigs. Once was at the end of a show in Morecambe and when I looked round, I saw I was the only person left apart from family members who had come over from Northern Ireland to see her. I got her to sign a copy of this album after an earlier gig in Stirling and she wrote "Thanks a million. Enjoy!" I still enjoy listening to this album with She's Like the Swallow probably being my favourite track.
7. Kate Bush - Lionheart (1978)
This was a difficult one as I could have chosen Hounds of Love or The Sensual World and if I was choosing a favourite KB track it would be either Cloudbusting or Rocket's Tail, one from each of those albums. But the album of hers I listen to most often is Lionheart. There are a variety of musical styles on this record and I find it a more enjoyable listen compared to the two albums that followed it. The singles Hammer Horror and Wow are both excellent songs though the first didn't even make the Top 40. A bit of music trivia for you - the album featured Francis Monkman on keyboards who, the following year, went on to join the instrumental rock group Sky which included guitarist John Williams.
8. George Harrison - The Best of (1976)
This LP has some of Harrison's Beatles compositions on the A side such as Taxman and If I Needed Someone and solo songs on the B side including My Sweet Lord and Bangladesh. It might have been the first solo record of his I bought though I remember picking up tapes of Extra Texture and Living in the Material World in a record shop in Edinburgh. But this compilation had quite an effect on me - it was one of those moments when you make a connection with a musician\songwriter and know that you're listening to something special. I've bought all his studio albums apart from the two he released while still in the Beatles. I've heard them but for some reason have never got round to actually buying copies of them. I love how he's wearing a t-shirt with an image of Ringo on the cover of the LP. Thanks for the music George.
This was a difficult one as I could have chosen Hounds of Love or The Sensual World and if I was choosing a favourite KB track it would be either Cloudbusting or Rocket's Tail, one from each of those albums. But the album of hers I listen to most often is Lionheart. There are a variety of musical styles on this record and I find it a more enjoyable listen compared to the two albums that followed it. The singles Hammer Horror and Wow are both excellent songs though the first didn't even make the Top 40. A bit of music trivia for you - the album featured Francis Monkman on keyboards who, the following year, went on to join the instrumental rock group Sky which included guitarist John Williams.
8. George Harrison - The Best of (1976)
This LP has some of Harrison's Beatles compositions on the A side such as Taxman and If I Needed Someone and solo songs on the B side including My Sweet Lord and Bangladesh. It might have been the first solo record of his I bought though I remember picking up tapes of Extra Texture and Living in the Material World in a record shop in Edinburgh. But this compilation had quite an effect on me - it was one of those moments when you make a connection with a musician\songwriter and know that you're listening to something special. I've bought all his studio albums apart from the two he released while still in the Beatles. I've heard them but for some reason have never got round to actually buying copies of them. I love how he's wearing a t-shirt with an image of Ringo on the cover of the LP. Thanks for the music George.
This was one of the first acoustic albums I bought as in the previous ten years I had been mainly listening to rock, metal and rhythm n' blues. I'd read about Michelle in the music press and went to see her play a late-night gig on the Edinburgh Fringe at the Assembly Rooms. I remember her looking rather overawed by both the venue (the room had a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling) and the enthusiastic reception from the crowd. The songs on this album were recorded live at a festival she'd been playing at with the sound of crickets chirping and trucks driving past in the background. I saw her a couple of times after that in London, one gig being with a full band at the Palladium. I lost touch with her music after her 1994 album Kind Hearted Woman though did hear some of the gospel music she released a few years later. She got some bad press after some remarks she made about LGBT people but that shouldn't detract from the fact that she's written and recorded some fine songs over the years, all going back to those Texas campfire tapes.
The sudden death of keyboard player Dave Greenfield has prompted me to finish this Top 10 of album covers and I have gone for this 1982 release. I first saw the Stranglers the following year and became a big fan of the band seeing them another six times with Hugh Cornwell including what turned out to be his last ever gig with the band in London at Alexandra Palace in 1990. But Feline remains a favourite of mine and Dave's keyboards feature prominently as Hugh played acoustic guitar on most of the album. It gave them a hit single with The European Female but I'd say this is one of their most consistently good albums. I saw Hugh many years later play Never Say Goodbye and was close enough to the stage to be able to watch how he played it and got my guitar out the next day. It along with Ships That Pass in the Night are my favourite tracks from the album. Another song from around that time worth giving a listen is Cruel Garden which also has an acoustic feel and could have been included on Feline. It was the B-side of Strange Little Girl and can be found on the compilation album Off The Beaten Track. And no doubt on YouTube as well. RIP Dave-in-Black. Such a talented musician.
