Music thats blown you away!

[Winkle]

Has a record come out from an album or on general release that as absoulutly blown you away? I am very middle of the road when it comes to music with only heavy metal that does nothing for my eardrums. Here are my top 10, just for the shere "wow facture" when they were released. They are my choices, but most of them would not get in my top ten but once I heard them I could not stop playing them over and over again till i was sick of them......


(1) Thin lizzy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX7H2LFSA5M&feature=related
(2) The Specals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TeUbYvXS0
(3) U.B.40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiMo9u-EkPY
(4) Frankie goes to hollywood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic0tVFYvRZ0&feature=related
(5) Level 42 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVFsOguAzn8
(6) Encore en fois http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYdpy5f4Nik
(7) Oasis (not my favourite Oasis song mind you) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYdpy5f4Nik
(8) Space Cowboy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_kZetNY5so
(9) ian van dahl "Castles"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn4jFFbVFW0
(10) The The (not everybodies cup of tea, but hey!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okz5Ejb946U)

Whats your favs......?

 

[MK Shrimper]

When I was younger, Down Under by Men at Work. Couldn't stop playing it to the chagrin of my dad :D

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve.
Supersonic - Oasis.
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana.
Chocolate - Snow Patrol.

 

[Firestorm]

The first Clash Album

I first heard it several months after its release, I was at a bit of a low at the time (out of work etc) and not listening to much music as everything on the radio was pretty banal , then my mate played me the Album. Instant impact !

 

[Winkle]

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve.

That was number 11 ( how weird is that).

 

[MK Shrimper]

After the "event" shall we say there was;

Going Underground, Anarchy In the UK and London's Burning.

Also I forgot "Landed" by Ben Folds.

 

[Uncle Leo]

First time I heard Bjork's third album 'Homogenic' I was bowled over by it. Not that it would be anywhere near my all-time top ten now, but ten years ago it just blew me away.

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

Assuming you mean that when you hear an album for the very first time and immediately love EVERY track unconditionally then i think i have two albums with the "wow" factor for me

Muse - Showbiz and Soundgarden - Superunknown

 

[Slipperduke]

The first time I heard that Sigur Ros album in 2001 it gave me shivers. It was like being back in the womb, if the womb was filled with hairy Vikings playing guitars with violin bows.

The first time I heard Portishead (Live in NYC) and 'Roads'. There was a loud snapping sound and my heart cracked in two.

Bit of a cliche, but having listened to nothing but Iron Maiden and Metallica up until 1994, Oasis and 'Live Forever' pretty much changed my life. Apparently, it wasn't mandatory to write songs about historical warlords and paralysed soldiers. It seems you could write songs about living in England and not being sure what to do with yourself as well.

Having read Nick Hornby banging on and on and on about 'Thunder Road' by Bruce Springsteen, I thought I'd better have a listen, having missed it completely before. Hornby made one critical error. He didn't bang on about it enough. Superb Americana.

A friend of mine once observed that if I liked Radiohead so much, I must surely like Jeff Buckley more. "Who's Jeff Buckley?" I asked. He handed me a CD, pointed at 'Grace' and left me alone for five minutes. When he returned, my soul was twice the size.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

The first time I heard that Sigur Ros album in 2001 it gave me shivers. It was like being back in the womb, if the womb was filled with hairy Vikings playing guitars with violin bows.

The first time I heard Portishead (Live in NYC) and 'Roads'. There was a loud snapping sound and my heart cracked in two.

Bit of a cliche, but having listened to nothing but Iron Maiden and Metallica up until 1994, Oasis and 'Live Forever' pretty much changed my life. Apparently, it wasn't mandatory to write songs about historical warlords and paralysed soldiers. It seems you could write songs about living in England and not being sure what to do with yourself as well.

Having read Nick Hornby banging on and on and on about 'Thunder Road' by Bruce Springsteen, I thought I'd better have a listen, having missed it completely before. Hornby made one critical error. He didn't bang on about it enough. Superb Americana.

A friend of mine once observed that if I liked Radiohead so much, I must surely like Jeff Buckley more. "Who's Jeff Buckley?" I asked. He handed me a CD, pointed at 'Grace' and left me alone for five minutes. When he returned, my soul was twice the size.

This is what music is meant to do to people, superbly written.

As a child The Beatles Red & Blue compilations simply made me happy.
My mum's Bob Dylan lp made me realise I was a kid and there was alot i didn't understand.

In my teenage years i can remember 4 songs that, well, changed me, that made me realise who i was, and feel alive.
Radiohead - Creep
Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
Manic Street Preachers - Roses In The Hospital
Suede - Animal Nitrate

Later on in 2002, it was Bright Eyes 'Lifted' that i bought on a whim that spoke to me like it had known me all my life. The obsession with Conor Oberst's work remains.

Then a couple of years ago Joanna Newsom's 'Ys', sometimes you hear something and it makes you sharply inhale because it's so staggering, it felt like i was inhaling the whole way through the album, and when it was over i could finally exhale. amazing.

There have been so many others too, but these are the ones that stick out.

I Love Music :)

 

[MrB]

Like Slipper, I was honed on Maiden, Metallica and similar during the 80's and early 90's and it took a couple of albums to make me realise there was more to life than verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus.

In Sides - Orbital (1996)
Possibly the most unique, beautifully crafted piece of techno you could imagine, teh whole album blends perfectly and sounds as fresh now as it did when it was released. The almost half hour long Out There Somewhere is almost classical in it's complex composition and I never tire of listening to it. I've loved everything that they've produced but this one was just special.

Ten - Pearl Jam (1991)
For someone who never really got into the whole Nirvana thing, this was the album that announced to me the arrival of teh Seattle scene, though PJ were a bit different to their peers in that they had intelligent lyrical content alongside great driven guitar rhythms. I have ever album they've released since but for me this is still their standout with every track worthy of a listen on it's own. Black is still one of my all time faves.

Ill Communication - Beastie Boys (1994)
Such a wide variety of rap, rock, hip hop and jazz fusions, such a long way from Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn! Contained the legendary track Sabotage which I was pleasantly pleased to find on Guitar Hero III :)

 

[Napster]

Gerschwin's A Rhapsody in Blue turned me onto American classical music

Ronny Jordan's album "So What" made me go to my first gig, and made me appreciate Miles Davis, then hard bop jazz, then Monk, Coltrane and so on.

A Tribe Called Quest's first album - fun hip-hop, rather than the gangsta stuff around at the time.

and when I was about 10- the Best of the Beach Boys, which was such a mind-blowing experience.

 

[Winkle]

Just breezing through youtube and found this baby, which at the time was the dogs gahoonners! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bsuvFoi55I&feature=related

 

[Uncle Leo]

Thinking about this a bit more, the first time I saw 'Midlife Crisis' by Faith No More on MTV was a pivotal moment for me. I was 13 years old and still thought Guns N Roses were the apogee of musical brilliance.

After seeing/hearing that song, I started looking in new directions - going down a few dead ends! - but it really opened my eyes.

 

[Benfleet A1]

This never fails to give me the shivers

http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5g4mQk96Aw

 

[MrB]

Thinking about this a bit more, the first time I saw 'Midlife Crisis' by Faith No More on MTV was a pivotal moment for me. I was 13 years old and still thought Guns N Roses were the apogee of musical brilliance.

After seeing/hearing that song, I started looking in new directions - going down a few dead ends! - but it really opened my eyes.

Good point, Angel Dust was an amazing album. Their record company used the working title 'Alienating Your Public' as it was such a departure from The Real Thing and they weren't happy with it. It's a shame they weren't around for longer.

Little known fact, Courtney Love was at one stage the lead singer of Faith No More in the 80's!

 

[derek duvall]

Splinter - Sneaker Pimps.

 

[MrB]

Going back to my metal roots both Burn My Eyes by Machinehead and A Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera were albums that made you sit up and take notice (which I'm sure Al and Brettie Angell will back me up on!!). In both cases the opening tracks (Davidian and Mouth For War respectively) had real brutal but totally engaging opening riffs which drew you in for 60 minutes of controlled agression. Still both regulars on the iPod 15 years after release.

 

[Cricko]

Blimey ...far to many in my lifetime....

Revolver when I was a Kid.
Dark side of the Moon blew me away.

I always have had a perchance for soft music so...add.

Crime of the Century. Supertramp.
Van Morrison...Anything.
Neil Young , After the Gold Rush and Harvest.

Modern day....

The Verve ......Urban Hymns.
REM...Greatest hits...as they have made far to many great songs.

Currently Amy MacDonald,This is the Life and Elbow,The Seldom seen Kid.

The list could go on and on.

 

[BrettieAngell]

I swear I nearly shot my load when I first heard Enter Sandman by Metallica, seriously though that moment changed my life.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Blimey ...far to many in my lifetime....

Revolver when I was a Kid.
Dark side of the Moon blew me away.

I always have had a perchance for soft music so...add.

Crime of the Century. Supertramp.
Van Morrison...Anything.
Neil Young , After the Gold Rush and Harvest.

Modern day....

The Verve ......Urban Hymns.
REM...Greatest hits...as they have made far to many great songs.

Currently Amy MacDonald,This is the Life and Elbow,The Seldom seen Kid.

The list could go on and on.

Blimey agree with you pretty much completely John, although I will add.

Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Tommy - The Who
Transformer - Lou Reed
Piper at the gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd

Probably way too many more.