36 Degrees Design

Five albums I’d rather not live without

written by Stuart on April 11th, 2006

It's been a while since I posted anything musical, and given that I've not found a massive amount to shout about recently, here is a run down of the five albums I just couldn't live without. Masterpieces which define my musical taste, without which I would be but half of a person. So without further bullshitting, in no particular order here they are:

Placebo - Placebo

My first musical passion was Placebo. A friend of mine from school gave me his brothers copy of 'without you I'm nothing' to have a listen to, and after that it was decided, I was a placebo fan. Unfortunately, I was also a poor schoolboy, without the means to go out buying albums willy-nilly, so when my good friend Oli moved away to Norfolk, I used his library card to get Placebos self titled debut album out from the library. Also bing a schoolboy, I had little grasp of what a terrible person I was being, but I didn't take the album back. Unfortunately, Oli moved back to town a couple of years later and started getting nasty letters from the librarian who wanted a not insignificant amount of cash in late return fines or the CD.

Elbow - Asleep In The Back

I remember wandering into the stage area at a sodden Reading festival, in, I think, 1998, again with my friend Oli. We headed for the nearest available shelter from the rain, which was the Carling unsigned tent, out of which I could hear this amazing voice, coupled with eerie guitars and pounding keys. The buzz of A&R men was all around us, and I was sure that it would not be long before this band were playing in less humble, and drier venues than this. And so it was, Elbow became the new poster boys of Manchesters indie music scene, and created, In 'asleep in the back', an album worthy of gracing any list with its presence. Garveys voice continues to amaze, and the bands talent for writing beautifully dark songs remains in their work to date.

Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

I can't quite recall how I came across idlewild, but for continuities sake, I'll guess it was Oli who introduced me to them, we tended to share our music and our musical findings, went to lots of gigs and swapped CD's while other kids our age indulged in that times generic pop offerings. Idlewild, in my view, reached a peak with '100 Broken Windows', having honed and perfected their sound following their two previous albums. More recent work has been enjoyable, but lacking the same peaks that this offers. It's an album from which any song could be your favourite, with a perfect blend between the louder rockier entries, and quieter tracks.

Radiohead - The Bends

I usually get accused of being some sort of loon when I suggest that 'The Bends' is my favourite Radiohead album, and understandably so I guess, 'OK Computer' is the poster child of Radioheads back catalogue, but for me, 'The Bends' is Radiohead before they were defined by any one album, before great things were expected of them. I, for one, don't want to live in a world without 'Fake Plastic Trees', 'Street Spirit' and 'Just'.

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

I will leave out the inevitable reference to a certain person who you could guess turned me onto the Pumpkins, but suffice to say, I am eternally grateful for having been exposed to them. This album plain rocks, its awesome, I only wish I could have seen the SPs knocking out 'Cherub Rock' and 'Disarm' live, though with reforming talk rife, maybe an opportunity will present itself yet. The pumpkins are the sort of band I think everyone into music would have loved to have been in, such amazing talents, and so many incredible songs, many of which come from 'Siamese Dream'.

Tags: Music, Albums, Placebo, Elbow, Idlewild, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins

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