(12.09.2005 - 10:32 p.m.)
So, there I was, reading Sarika�s diary about the albums that have provided her musical gateways in life. And I thought, that�s a pretty good idea, I will rip it off wholesale and write about my very own musical gateways. So here it is. I had been subjected to all kinds of musical influences as a younger boy, being privy to my parents� musical whims on car journey�s and on the hi-fi at home. But the first time I remember hearing a song and recognising the fact that I liked what I was hearing was in 1990, when I was bought my first radio for my birthday. The song? �Birdhouse In Your Soul� by They Might Be Giants. So, by association, the parent album �Flood� was the first of my many musical gateways. I distinctly remember thinking that I didn�t have a clue what they were singing about, but whatever it was, I loved it. It just sounded like they were having so much damn fun, it didn�t matter what it all meant. From there, a fallow period ensued. I don�t remember being all that interested in much that I heard. The Farm�s �Altogether Now� single made an impression, as had Adamski�s �Killer� before it. But the next record(s) to open my mind to the possibility of something new and interesting out there in the ether, were a pair of lengthy opuses released on the same day: �Use Your Illusion 1� and �Use Your Illusion 2� by Guns N� Roses. Whilst not considered the bands finest work, they were the first rock n� roll records that I heard that made me excited. There was something slightly dangerous about the music, and the harsh quality of Axl Rose�s voice intrigued me. Here was proof that you didn�t have to be able to �make out the words� to love what you were hearing. Voice as more than just purveyor of words � voice as instrument. The next big event in my life came in 1994 � a year that will surely go down in history as my �summer of love� when it comes to music. The album? �Pride & Glory� by Pride & Glory. Whilst it didn�t sell many copies, and came under serious attack from Ozzy Ozbourne lovers everywhere, it was quite simply the finest record my ears had ever set their follicles on. An amazing blend of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Sabbath, crossed with the likes of Jackson Browne or Gram Parsons, it continues to influence what I listen to today. Where else could you find hardcore riffing, next to banjo playing that wouldn�t go amiss on an Alison Krauss record? It remains the single most important album I have ever bought. Other significant records that I bought in 1994 (even if they�d been out for a while): �Amorica� by The Black Crowes, �Balls To Picasso� by Bruce Dickinson, �Earth Vs.� by The Wildhearts, �Skin� by Skin, �Weight� by Rollins Band, �Believe In Me� by Duff McKagan, �Crank� by The Almighty, �State Of The World Address� by Biohazard, �Sex & Religion� by Steve Vai, �In Utero� by Nirvana, �Far Beyond Drive� by Pantera�.. you get the idea of the direction I was heading in. Of course, in those days, the only place to see �decent� music on terrestrial TV was by staying up until 3am to watch what became �Noisy Mothers� on ITV. Those were the days�. The music I listened to continued in that kind of hard rock and metal vein until I headed to university. Their my eyes were opened to a host of other styles and genres. And, gasp!, I found that there is worth in country and roots music. For this reason, I am listing �The Captain� by Kasey Chambers as a gateway. It opened my eyes and ears to the fact that country music, whilst still maintaining it�s roots, wasn�t all about the Dolly Partons and Tammy Wynettes of the world � country music could be fascinating, interesting and as rock n� roll as the next band when in the right hands. If you need any proof, just buy yourself and Johnny Cash record and listen through a couple of times. Failing that, you could do worse than hear the fine musicianship and gorgeous small town vignettes of Kasey Chamber�s debut LP. Her voice is matchless. She opened the gate to, amongst others: Alison Krauss and Union Station, Crosy Stills & Nash, Nickel Creek, Big & Rich, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams and Kathleen Edwards. The second biggest musical epiphany of my life also came whilst I was at university. Back in 1995, when a friend�s mum�s CD player had broken, she asked me to copy a bunch of CDs onto tapes for her so that she could listen to them in her car. Being the obliging soul that I was, I took the stack of albums and started copying them. Amongst the many discs was a 1995 compilation I won�t forget in a hurry: �Greatest Hits� by Bruce Springsteen. At first, I listened to the CD over and over, realising that I was familiar with some of the songs such as �Born To Run�, �Dancing In The Dark� and �Hungry Heart.� And after months of getting to know each fascinating narrative intimately, the guy somehow dropped off my radar until I hit uni, and some timely mid-priced reissues of his back catalogue. So, over a period of around 12 weeks, I collected all of Springsteen�s studio recordings, from �Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ� all the way through to the then newly released �Tracks� boxed set. And I�ve kept buying ever since. Springsteen�s worst music is often more interesting than most artist�s best. Simply put, he�s one of the greats, and very significant in my musical life. After Uni, there was little bothering the sales charts that had peaked my interest, but there was one album that I kept reading about in music journals and rock magazines. And when reviews keep coming, and an album sticks around as long as this one seemed to be, it becomes clear that you need to take notice. So, it was with my last few pennies, and being wholly unemployed, that I went out and bought the phenomenon that was �Lateralus� by Tool. Was it art rock? Prog? Out and out metal? The truth is it was all of the above and more. At times obtuse and obscure, at times melodic and accessible, it was, and is, one of the finest metal albums to emerge in recent years. Wearing it�s influences, from King Crimson to Bill Hicks and back again, on it�s sleeve, yet twisting them into something wholly original, the album fired my soul like nothing I�d heard in a long while. A damn fine effort, and one I would dearly like to a hear a follow up to (hear that Maynard?) Whilst guitars and drums have always held my fascination, in more recent years the world of electronic music and sampling have entered my peripheral vision. As such, it would be remiss of me not to mention the gateway into this world for me: �Entroducing� by DJ Shadow. Taking a myriad of samples from a vast vinyl collection and mixing them into something new, Shadow showed that sampling, indeed, could be an artform. Blending textures from here, there and everywhere to make a fascinating, almost ghostly album of intricate weaves, �Entroducing� is nothing short of a sampling masterclass. A lot of DJs could do worse than study it. The truth is that I could talk about music for pages and pages and pages (like many of you, I�m sure). But even if I did that, I wouldn�t be able to mention every CD that I think is worth mentioning, and I certainly would never feel that I�ve done any of them justice. So I�ll leap ahead to now. The last album that really fascinated me? �The Dissociatives� by The Dissociatives. Ex Silverchair frontman goes weird and ethereal, bleep-rock on your ass. Unsettling, haunting and wilfully �arty�, it still manages to intrigue, despite the odd foray into wholly mainstream sounds. Perhaps that�s where it�s genius lies? Either way, you could do much worse than check it out. Honourable mentions:
�A Love Supreme� � John Coltrane
�Pet Sounds� � The Beach Boys
�Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence� � Dreamtheater
�Grace� � Jeff Buckley
�Under Cold Blue Stars� � Josh Rouse
�We�re Only In It For The Money� � The Mothers Of Invention
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