My Life In Records

An occupational hazard I have as a songwriter is the tendency to constantly study music rather than simply listen and enjoy it. With the Kings of Convenience I’m always just a listener enjoying the beautiful songs & harmonies with clever lyrics. They just make me relax and this record is my shit! I love it. Especially the song with Feist which gives me goosebumps every time.

I know “What’s Going On” is his classic but there’s something about this LP. Along with “Doggystyle” this is easily the album I’ve listened to most in my life. It’s incredible. I bloody adore it and him. People think “Let’s Get It On” is sex on record, well it ain’t got shit on this! “I'll be stroking you in and out, Up and down, all around I love to hear you make those sounds” Go on the Marvin.

I like to fall asleep to music when I go to bed at night and no album has helped me out with that more than this. Bill Evans is a pianist (don’t laugh) and this is lovely soft jazz album where he plays the Fender Rhodes for most of it. I know the first few tunes off by heart but after that it's sleepy time I’m afraid.

When working in that record shop I’d been trying to work my way through the Jazz A-Z section and had been finding it very tough going. Then through all the jazz wankery came the voice of an angel. Chet Baker’s smooth voice – I was in love. His music always puts me at ease and relaxes me. This album has been with me through thick and thin, the ups and downs of relationships and helped me when my father died. These are songs to live your life by with great lyrics sung by a wonderful singer.

I worked in a record shop for years and must have listened to thousands of albums in my time there but few have ever had the impact on me that this one had. I remember putting it on one day and the second the chorus kicked in on the first song “Care of Cell 44” I was blown away. I then listened to it every day for weeks. Colin Blunstone’s voice is flawless and the band are phenomenal. Since then it has become one of my favourite albums and the Zombies probably my favourite band ever. Also “Butcher’s Tale” gives me goosebumps like no other song.

I nabbed this from a radio DJ’s office when it came out as I noticed the cover photo was a remake of a Serge Gainsbourg record I owned. It’s a hilariously dirty record and was the soundtrack to a relationship I had. We used to listen to it loads together and was always a great laugh. Reminds me of fun & naughty times.

I remember back in 1996 when this album came out it getting amazing reviews and reading how the whole album was made up completely of samples. I was about 15 and had been messing about with samplers for maybe a year, but was already becoming obsessed with it. The idea of an album being made entirely out of samples appealed to me so much so I had to buy it. I remember getting it and being so excited to hear it but to be honest the first few times I listened to it I couldn’t wrap my head around it. To an avid hip hop listener this was pretty far leftfield. The rhythms, tempos and mood of the music were really fresh at the time (and still are in my opinion). Then one day it clicked and I remember thinking to myself imagine what this would be like with rapping on it. I think this was the big push I needed to start taking making music more serious. As time has past this LP has become my favourite album of all time. It has influenced me more than any other record I’ve ever heard. It paints such amazing pictures and tells more of a story to me than most lyrics every could. Also “Building Steam With A Grain of Salt” is the soundtrack to my life.

Another album that had a huge effect on me when I was growing up. This record is incredible. Its so much fun but its never throwaway. It combines unbelievably animated emcees, innovative ways of recording & the beats are so clever. When I was young I remember some of the older hip hop heads always telling me De La Soul “3 Feet High & Rising” is THE hip hop classic but once I heard The Pharcyde debut I always felt it was a superior version of what that was trying to do. I personally still prefer this record over that and its easily one of my favourite records ever. I have listened to it 100’s of times. Its got everything, songs about being with a dude, wacking one off in the jacks, wanting to be president and of course “Passin Me By”. This album was so ahead of its time and most of the beats still amaze me to this day.

I remember when I was probably 13, someday my 3 best mates called over to play some footy in my back garden. My mate, Paul, said he had a great album on tape we had to hear. So he pops in this album. I remember thinking it was pretty great and then the song “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit” came on. That is the exact moment my life change forever. I remember thinking “What the fuck is this!”. It was like nothing I had ever heard or imagined. I had never been so effected by a piece of music before in my life. It just floored me. I quickly copied the album on to tape and listened to it over and over again. I still love the album to this day so much so I have it on vinyl and CD (the sign of a classic in my book) and I honestly believe this album changed music forever and is one of the greatest albums in any genre of all time. Classic!

I wasn’t that interested in music when I was younger. I was football crazy, football mad. Then in 1992 I heard 2 albums that I really liked – the House Of Pain and Kriss Kross debut albums but then in 1993 when I was 12 I heard “Doggystyle”. I remember a guy in school brought it in and we all copied it. It was everything your parents didn’t want you to hear. I must have listened to that tape 1000’s of times. I know every single word on that record except for about 6 lines when it changed from Side A to Side B. Classic album. Snoops flow is just so listenable and Dre’s beats are incredibly on point. This record has had a huge influence on me and my life.