Amanda’s Top Ten Albums of All Time
(and in no particular order)
"Forever Changes"
Love
Whilst I’m aware that this seminal album is to be found on a lot of people’s lists, I am also cogent of its rightful place there. For those who have never heard Forever Changes, it is almost impossible to describe; a heady mix of psychedelia, Tijuana, Easy Listening and pure, pure pop, Arthur Lee and Brian MacLean take their listener on a colourful voyage of musical delights. With strange, haunting lyrics and packed with surprises, Forever Changes is possibly the most imaginative tour de force that vinyl has ever witnessed.
(‘And if you feel that’s not the way, the go turn everybody grey’)
"Comic Strip"
Serge Gainsbourg
Gainsbourg’s career seemed to stretch as long as L’Anciene Regime, yet – for me – it was not difficult to choose my favourite album by one of my all-time favourite people. Serge hit a highpoint in the mid-late Sixties, his witty, caustic look at the music around him making Comic Strip the perfect time-capsule of ‘60s sounds. This album contains so many classic tracks that being without it is unimaginable. From the sinister Requiem Pour Un Con to the insanely go-go Qui Est In?, Gainsbourg’s metro ride through the Swinging Sixties is endlessly listenable, endlessly fun, endlessly musical.
(‘Jusqua neuf, c’est O.K, tu est IN! Apres quoi, tu est K.O, tu est OUT!’)
"Rubber Soul"
The Beatles
I’m choosing Rubber Soul as my favourite Beatle album because I find it so unbelievably evocative. Hit play, close your eyes, and you are instantly transported back to London ’65. You can almost smell the leafy greenness of the trees in Soho Square. Oh, how fab it all is.
(‘She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere.’)
"Johnny, Cock Thy Beaver"
The Dufay Collective
My very favourite ‘ancient music’ ensemble, the Dufay Collective’s imaginative interpretations of Medieval and Baroque come to an atmospheric head with Johnny, Cock Thy Beaver. Based on the ‘pop songs’ of the 17th Century, Johnny Cock They Beaver magically transports us to the taverns, coffee houses and pirate galleons of Restoration England. Samuel Pepys would have loved it.
(‘I have a house and wife in Kent, and if you’ll love me, love me now.’)
"Greatest Hits"
The Sweet
You know those special moments when you just want to listen to some really good classic rock? This album isn’t for then. This is more for those air guitar/mindless dancing/ ‘prancing like a tit’ occasions when ‘less’ in never ‘more’, and the music doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be loud. Sweet is the perfect band for people who don’t like Heavy Metal but want to spend half an hour acting like the do. The disputed kings of Glam-Rock, Sweet somehow managed to mix thrashing metal guitars with fruity bubble gum, the result a heady blend of…well…rubbish, really. The good humour, however, is contagious; Sweet is one of those bands that you can actually laugh at whilst listening, their impeccable split harmonies and cooking rhythm notwithstanding. I have never heard a non-compilation, ‘original’ Sweet album (I dread to think what they’re like), but this Greatest Hits collection has long since been a favourite for those mindless moments of musical madness.
(‘So try a little Wig Wam Bam!’)
"Love Me, Please Love Me"
Michel Polnareff
It was difficult to choose one definitive album by France’s strangest songwriter, but even though this album does not include all my favourite Polnareff offerings, its first track is Sous Quel Etoil Suis-Je Ne?, which is not only my favourite song by Michel Polnareff, but one of my favourite songs of all time. This 1968 album also features Polnareff’s first hit, La Poupee Qui Fait Non, which finds England’s very own Jimmy Page handling the guitar. A gentle, folk-rock blend of Beatle-esque pop with a Gallic twist, my first listening not only changed my life, but my opinion of the French in general. A beautiful record by a very strange man, Monsieur Polnareff can rest assured that if he ever met this ‘poupee’, she’d definitely ‘fait oui’.
(‘Je n’ai pas une idee qui fait le jour, je n’ai pas decide ce court instant d’amour.’)
"Montségur – La Tragédie Cathare"
La Nef
Secular Medieval music from the South of France takes on mysterious new heights in the hands of Canadian ensemble La Nef. Montségur bases its concept on Catharism, the heretical sect of dualistic Christians who were massacred en masse in 1208 when Pope Innocent III got fed up with them. Nobody really knows what The Cathars listened to (if they listened at all), and so La Nef have taken known 12th Century secular music from the region and given it a dualist ‘kick’. French songs are adapted to the Oriental scale, heavy percussion is overlaid with feather-fine voices, and bagpipes blend with harps. Utterly original, Montségur will satisfy all your heretical needs.
(‘O mira novitas, Et vovum guadium.’)
The Ultimate Collection
The Kinks
‘They really got me’. From my very listen to Waterloo Sunset, I have been devoted to these men from Muswell Hill (and still think that Ray Davies is England’s most under-rated songwriter). A band for all seasons, we can rock like lunatics with You Really Got Me, smile at the caustic stab of Dedicated Follower of Fashion and cry our eyes out to Days, Davies’ melancholy timbre and heart-break lyric tributes to a Britain worth preserving, but slowly slipping away. The Kinks make me homesick for England when I’m not there, and so glad to be there when I am.
(‘God Save the Village Green.’)
The Mask and the Mirror
Loreena McKennitt
An imaginative blend of Celtic, Folk, Punjabi, Pop, Medieval and even a bit of Heavy Metal, there’s nothing quite like The Mask and the Mirror. Harpist, singer, songwriter, arranger and producer, McKennitt is a true ‘Renaissance Woman’, The Mask and the Mirror a culmination of her far ranging musical interests. A sumptuous delight for both the ear mind, The Mask and the Mirror takes us on a magic carpet ride from the markets of Marakesh to the North of Medieval England, taking in Ireland, India and Santiago en route – and all at the same time! This isn’t music to dance to; this is music with which to dream. Divine.
(‘The magic lies scattered on rugs on the ground, and faith is conjured in the night market’s sound.’)
"The Draughtsman’s Contract" (Original Soundtrack)
Michael Nyman
My favourite soundtrack from one of my favourite films, Michael Nyman’s uplifting mock-Baroque score makes me truly feel good at heart, a reminder that music really is one of life’s greatest gifts.
(‘On your knees, Madam!’)
"The Graham Gouldman Thing"
Graham Gouldman
A genius of an entry! How could I get my very favourite songs by The Hollies, The Yardbirds, The Mindbenders and Herman’s Hermits onto one L.P (without hopeless cheating?) Easy. The Graham Gouldman Thing (1966) finds the songwriter himself performing the songs he wrote for others. Bus Stop, No Milk Today, For Your Love, Upstairs, Downstairs – they’re all here, and arranged in the way the writer originally intended. Before I even bought it, I knew The Graham Gouldman thing would end up on my list of Top Ten Favourite Albums of All Time. And look! I was right.
('Came the sun the ice was melting - No more sheltering now'.)
