Vipers' Lotus and HiFi Blog

Day 2 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome

This was an easy one as I was a total Frankie addict back in the early to mid 80's, admittedly I totally sucked in by the hype but aside from that the music was mostly brilliant and listening years later I realised just how well it was produced by Trevor Horn but back in the 80's it was all about the music, I remember getting the double vinyl on the day of release and just listening to it constantly, must have drove my parents mad, I used to even dress like them, sad I know, and one of my very first gigs was seeing FGTH at Hammersmith Odeon in 1985, I'd love to go to that gig again, I also used to collect all their vinyl, importing it from around the world, not easy before the internet I have to say, and when the follow up album was launched 'Liverpool' I queued all night outside HMV on Oxford Street where it was launched and dived under the shutters once they started lifting to become the first person to buy it in the world, crazy but great times.

Cheers,
Paul.

Day 3 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA

Bearing in mind this list is all about albums that have influenced me then nothing is bigger than this album as it fundamentally changed my life in so many ways, very much like last years brilliant film 'Blinded By The Light’ I remember going shopping with my Mum and Dad in Stevenage in 1984 and while they did their thing I popped into the local record shop and picked up a copy of this on tape then I went and sat in my parents car for my first listen, life would never be the same again, then for the next year or so I listened to it daily on my walkman on my paper round until I eventually wore the tape out.

Then quite possibly the biggest moment of my life occurred, well other than meeting Wendy of course, on July 4th 1985, Independence Day, I went to my first Bruce Springsteen concert at Wembley Stadium, at the time I only knew the Born in the USA Album, funnily enough when he sang Born To Run I actually knew that as Frankie Goes To Hollywood famously covered it for the Pleasuredome album and I thought he was singing a Frankie song, now that is sad, anyway the concert totally blew my mind in so many ways like the length of the set, the love for Bruce in the crowd, the storytelling throughout the concert but mostly the power of the music with 80,000 people singing along, BRUUUUUUCE! Since that day I have seen Bruce all over the world around 85 times, here’s hoping I can break 100 Bruce Gigs on the next tour, in my opinion there is no better way to enjoy yourself in public than going to a Bruce gig, Jungleland live really is something else.

So after that gig I got my first job working in a DIY shop in Ware and I earned £50 for my first week and I went straight down to Tracks record shop and spent every penny on the whole Bruce back catalogue, much to my Mum’s disappointment as she thought she was going to finally get some rent but that sealed the deal as I went on a journey of discovery exploring the 6 albums before Born In The USA making Bruce a really important part of my life, now he is 19 albums in and every one is a classic in my book, right I’ll shut up now as I could go on all day about how awesome the Boss is but Born In The USA will always be one of my favourite albums of all time.

Cheers,
Paul.

With you there Paul. Although I have only seen him 8 or 9 times. Pretty sure I was at the Wembley one in 85 too.

The other tape I wore out was Bat out of Hell. My parents must have been really fed up with my music.

I thought long and hard about adding Bat Out Of Hell to my list Kevin, one of my favourites but just missed the cut, should have made it my top 20 😀

Definitely my top two live bands. Springsteen first Meatloaf a very close second.

I hope you have more Springsteen in your top 12. 

Certainly no more Meatloaf. The rest were just the same again.

To be honest all 12 could have been Bruce but I need to try and keep it varied.

Day 4 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Prince - Around the World in a Day

So I guess for many Prince fans this may be a strange choice, and although I love many of Prince's albums, he really is one of my top 3 solo artists of all time, it is Around the World in a Day that really cemented my love for Prince, I spent a lot of time in the 80's listening to Prince on vinyl and tape on my Walkman and I remember distinctly going to Tracks record shop in Hertford to buy this on tape and the guy in the record shop, known Bones to anyone who used to shop there, warned me that he had a few people bring it back as it was so different to the Purple Rain album that preceded it that a lot of people didn't like it, looking back now turning to different genres turned out to be Prince's trademark but for me I couldn't get enough of it, every song is pure gold, but one song really stands out, if you don't listen to the whole album just listen to 'Condition of the Heart' Music really doesn't get any better. It was an extremely sad day when he passed away but I have some awesome Prince memories, seeing him on the Lovesexy tour at Wembley was epic and going to a few of the many nights he did at the o2 but the real highlight was going to one of the aftershow concerts he performed at the Indigo after one of the o2 gig, seeing Prince in a tiny venue just chilling with his band after already wowing 20,000 people was one of the best gig highlights of my life, it was just like the a scene from Purple Rain the movie, I think I'll be having a Prince day today at work, he was a total genius and a true legend.

Cheers,
Paul.

You're 3 from 4 with me so far Paul.  I was at the O2 for what turned out to be his final UK performances, and despite having seen him many times before, that night he just knocked it out the "Paisley".  Great choice of Prince LP, and the one I would have gone with.

 

Excellent, it's rare to find someone else who rates Around the world in a day highly 👍

 

Day 5 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

David Bowie - Scary Monsters

I'm sure that most people who are asked to list their most influential albums would always have some Bowie in there somewhere but I bet there would be such a varied variety of choices as pretty much every album he released was a classic, especially the earlier years, for me it always comes down to Hunky Dory and Scary Monsters, 2 of my all time favourites but I always lean to Scary Monsters, I just love every single track and it's slightly angst overtone, I got into Bowie in the late 80's really when his back catalogue was re-mastered and bought everything up to that point and I can remember clearly how I was blown away by how fresh it all still sounded, there is nothing like discovering a new artist who has a rich back catalogue to discover, My only regret is that I only saw Bowie live once on the Glass Spider tour at Wembley, it was such a spectacle and a brilliant gig but I always say that I would have loved to have been a teenager in the 70's as I would have been such a big Ziggy fan and would have got totally carried away with the clothes and makeup, such a great era, especially for music, but if I had to choose 1 last Bowie album to listen to it would always be Scary Monsters.

Cheers,
Paul.

Day 6 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Adam Ant - Strip

So this one will probably raise a few eyebrows as it certainly isn't considered one of Adam Ant's best or most liked albums and it was very different from anything he had done previously and I think it just shows that the albums you grow up with are the ones that stay with you as this was released in 1983 when I was 15 and was totally addicted to music and I remember distinctly buying this on tape and listening to it over and over again and if I'm honest it is probably one of my most listened to albums still today as I am always playing it nearly 40 years later. I went to see Adam Ant live last year and he was absolutely brilliant and considering he is now 65 he was dancing around like a teenager, gutted really as I now feel I have missed out on 40 years of brilliant Adam Ant gigs, out of all the 80's artists that I love it is Adam Ant I play the most and I did think long and hard about including this but not only is it one of my favourite albums of all time but most definitely one that helped influenced my taste in music so it had to be added.

Cheers,
Paul.

Day 7 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

I read an interesting article about this album the other day that said it was quite possibly the most returned album of the 90's as most people heard the song that was done of this album with Kylie Minogue which is a beautiful ballad, admittedly about death, but definitely out of step with the rest of the album which is very dark and all about murder but every song is a brilliant story and classic Nick Cave, if you don't know this album listen to 'Stagger Lee' or 'O'Malley's Bar' as both these songs are absolute classics and will give you a good taste of the album. This is not necessarily my favourite Nick Cave album, although it is up there, but it is the album that introduced me to the delights of Nick Cave, I used to travel around Europe in the 90's on a coach following Formula One and I met on a guy on the coach, hello Graham, who introduced me to this album and from that moment on I have been a big Nick Cave fan, live he is just superb, if I was going to choose one Nick Cave album to listen to though it would have to be his latest, Ghosteen, as for me this is one of the greatest albums of all time but Murder Ballads is so unique it definitely deserves a listen if you have delved into its darkness before, go on give it a try.

Cheers,
Paul.

Great choice Paul and you're right, Ghosteen is an absolute cracker of an LP if you can deal with the sheer rawness of the pain.  Ghosteen was easily my "Album of the Year" last year.

1 hour ago, DaveC72 said:

Great choice Paul and you're right, Ghosteen is an absolute cracker of an LP if you can deal with the sheer rawness of the pain.  Ghosteen was easily my "Album of the Year" last year.

Definitely the album of 2019, listening to it now, it just never gets tiring, so emotional and stirring, beautiful.

Day 8 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

I'm sure a lot of people a similar age to me would have this one in their most influential album lists bearing in mind it is one of the most popular albums of all time, it celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, where has that time gone. I really have never been a big fan of female singers, in fact this album is the only one in the 12 album list but when this was released in 1995 I just couldn't stop listening to it, it's an album that has everything from Rock to ballands with an underlying anger and angst and Alanis's voice is just so unique and strong, it is one of those rare albums where every song stands up in it's own right with no filler, the acoustic version done a few years later is also worth a listen as it is brilliantly produced so great for HiFi, if you haven't listened to this for a while put it on as it still sounds as fresh today as it did all those years ago, it's an album I will be listening to for the rest of my life that's for sure.

Cheers,
Paul.

Day 9 for the albums that influenced my taste in music!

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

In all honesty I am not sure how I got into this album as it wasn't my kind of music at all when released back in 1998 as I was really into my rock and metal back then but somehow I did and it remains one of my most played albums today, again every song on it is brilliant and whenever there is news of a new Massive Attack album I'm always first in the queue to place my order, they just don't release enough though unfortunately. This album is also very influential to me as if I had to choose one demo track to test HiFI equipment it always is Teardrop, I have used that song countless times to test a new piece of kit and used it so often long before starting HFL as I fed my upgrade path personally but even still today it is my go to track when we get new equipment in, when I went to Dave Wilson's house to hear the incredible Wilson Audio Wamm's (£1 Million Speakers) we were invited to bring one song along, my choice? yes you guessed it, Teardrop, my only fear now is that I will never hear it sound that good again as it was quite incredible.

Cheers,
Paul.

This.  Has.  Made.  My.  Day.

3 minutes ago, DaveC72 said:

This.  Has.  Made.  My.  Day.

Playing it now at work, so good 👌

Me too - although my 15 year old system is probably not on a par with the toys you have 🤤

Now, I am genuinely intrigued by your using Teardrop as a test of systems that you listen to.  I totally understand why, but it has me wondering - what else do you use?

I've actually got a 100 song demo playlist of all varieties of music but Teardrop really covers most if it in one song really.

This blog has been really interesting, as it's so far removed from my own personal choices.  However we have coincided with Mezzanine (From the Triphop genre, Portishead would be up there too).    'Angel', played through my modest Tannoy Revolutions, still makes the whole room quake with bass and foreboding...

1 hour ago, 910Esprit said:

This blog has been really interesting, as it's so far removed from my own personal choices.  However we have coincided with Mezzanine (From the Triphop genre, Portishead would be up there too).    'Angel', played through my modest Tannoy Revolutions, still makes the whole room quake with bass and foreboding...

Colour me interested...?

 

34 minutes ago, DaveC72 said:

Colour me interested...?

Well, I'm familiar with most of Artists, so there are no discoveries (but you probably wouldn't expect that).  It's a similarr enjoyment to flicking through somebody elses albums (I suppse that no longer happens).  Perhaps I'll have  a crack at this once Paul has finished his list.

The last 3 vinyl albums purchased:

• Sula Bassana - Dark Days
• Goat Girl - Goat Girl
• Darkside - Psychic

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by 910Esprit

Yeah go

4 minutes ago, 910Esprit said:

Perhaps I'll have  a crack at this once Paul has finished his list.

Go for it, certainly been a lot of fun choosing my top 12, make sure it is the most influential though and not just the Best.

Album 10

Def Leppard - Hysteria

So if I was going to choose one genre over any other as my favourite is would have to be Rock and these next 2 albums were the 2 that really started that journey with me exploring all kinds of rock and metal which really is the bulk of my music collection from Soft Rock to German Industrial Metal, it is such a diverse genre, there is just nothing better and it was Def Leppard's brilliant Hysteria album that awakened my inner rock demon. I remember it clearly when I first heard it, I was on my way to house party with some friends back in the late 80's, my mate was driving and had Hysteria blasting out the car stereo, I instantly loved it and then the next day I was straight down to Tracks record shop in Hertford to buy it on CD, it was probably one of my first CD's to be honest, I just loved the production and the power of the whole album with such strong drumming which when I found out that Rick Allen only had one arm totally blew my mind, then I found out that my Dad had Def Leppard's 3 previous albums on vinyl which I quickly claimed as my own and then played them to death confirming my love of Rock. Tomorrow's album is what I consider to be the greatest Rock album ever released.