Favourite Album/Song

[didcot]

As the title suggests what's your favourite Album or song and why? Songs and albums are generally linked, but not necessary.

 

I will kick off with Def Leppard's Animal. It was playing on Radio 1 in the summer of 1987. I'd left school and had 10 weeks off before starting my apprenticeship. I spent that time extending my Dad's shed with my Grandfather ready for a new lathe. Probably the last time I spent a significant amount of time with him and I still miss him.

I'd never heard of Def Leppard before and Animal just hit a chord and I've been hooked ever since. I've worn out the album Hysteria several times over.

[J. S. Bach]

E. Power Biggs/Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BVW 565.

[Hroth]

One of my favourite LPs

 

 

Probably heard it on Radio 3 when it first came out....

 

Just spent the last 20-odd minutes listening to it.  I'm envious of the transcription deck, etc being used to play it. Well out of my price bracket!!!

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Hroth
A few more words...

[RANGERS]

Favourite album would be the Fleetwood Mac masterpiece,”Rumours”. Perhaps the most rounded collection of tracks ever made (but not the cassette version, that was rectangular….😉), each stood on its own but was an integral part of the whole.

 

Favorite track is a harder one (I’d struggle if I ever made it on to Desert Island Discs!), but would probably see two Bruce Springsteen tracks in the final, and I think “Land of Hope and Dreams” would just pip “Jungleland” by a short nose.

['CHARD]

 

That much is relatively easy. 

 

Favourite single:

 

 

 

Favourite song:

 

 

[The Lurker]

I think it changes fairly regularly- but if I had to nail something down now….

 

favourite album- First and Last and Always - The Sisters of Mercy 

 

favourite track - a tie between Id Islegh by Imarhan and Beginning by New Model Army

 

i had better press submit reply before I change my mind!

[zarniwhoop]

I'm another one where my favourite changes regularly.

 

At the moment, I suppose for album I'd go with Live In Europe by Rory Gallagher, and for favourite track I guess Strange Kind of Woman by Deep Purple. But maybe I'll change my mind before I go to bed.

[Darlington_Shed]

32 minutes ago, zarniwhoop said:

Live In Europe by Rory Gallagher ... Strange Kind of Woman by Deep Purple

Excellent choices, would be strong contenders here. But it's like asking to choose among your children. Favourite album? About 30 or 40 of them. Favourite track? About 1,000 of them. If you put a gun to my head, favourite album would be Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon; favourite track... umph, argh, When the Levee Breaks from Led Zeppelin IV.

 

I can clearly remember the Saturday afternoon in 1973 when I first heard Live in Europe, played in its entirety on Radio 1. It literally changed my life and I made a point of seeing Rory on every UK tour he did until he died.

[BernardTPM]

15 hours ago, Hroth said:

One of my favourite LPs

Probably heard it on Radio 3 when it first came out....

Would have been the Third service back then.

[Al51]

My favourite album at the moment is 'Chicago Transit Authority' by Chicago.

My favourite track is probably 'A Salty Dog' by Procol Harum from the 'Procol Harum, Live in Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra' album.

 

 

[The Johnster]

Favourite album; Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here.  To my mind absolutely perfection musically and lyrically throughout, with perfect production, blew me away when I first heard it and still does.  Dark Side is good, but Wish has the edge, for me anyway. 
 

Favourite song; Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, original and Jimi Hendrix versions.  But I want Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well played at my funeral…
 

Favourite lyric from a song; also Dylan ‘the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face’, from Visions of Johanna.  Raises the hairs on the back of my neck, every time!

 

Favourite classical; Gorecki’s  Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, when I can endure the savagery of the emotional ride; not an easy listen and capable of reducing me to tears. 

 

Favourite folk; Cruel Sister.  It’s got everything you’d want in a work song for cleaning ladies; lust, jealousy, murder, as is right and proper for folk, but this one goes the extra mile with a harp made from the ribcage of the victim played at the murderous sister’s wedding.  Twa Corbies is a very close second; learned in school, guaranteed success for gory-minded 9-year-olds.

 

Favourite railway song; Jean Ritchie’s The L & N Don’t Stop Here Any More. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by The Johnster

[snitchthebudgie]

Track: Blind Faith - "Can't find my way home"

Album: Caravan - "Canterbury Tales"

 

[Rugd1022]

Mine changes depending on mood, it's hard to keep to one definitive list but I keep coming back to these...

 

Favourite album(s) - 'Revolver' by The Beatles, 'Beggar's Banquet' by The Stones, 'Scott' and 'Scott 4' by Scott Walker

 

Favourite track(s) - 'Waterloo Sunset' by The Kinks, 'Angelica' by Scott Walker, 'Strawberry Fields Forever' by The Beatles, 'Sympathy For The Devil' by The Stones, 'The Persuaders' theme by John Barry and 'La Femme d'argent' by Air.

 

All of the above are deeply ingrained into my psyche somehow, but I don't need to listen to them that often as they're already in my head most of the time. I spend a lot of time listening to other stuff (particularly in the car), mostly instrumental stuff from John Barry, Ennio Morricone, Roy Budd etc, and an awful lot of time listening to late '60s and '70s 'library' soundtrack music by people like John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Keith Mansfield, Sid Dale etc. Often dismissed as cheesy lift muzak, it's usually brilliantly recorded and arranged using the latest tech at places like Abbey Road and Olympic studios, with the world's best session players sounding like they're really enjoying themselves.

 

John Cameron's 'Half Forgotten Daydream is a gem' and will sound familiar to some of a certain age...

 

 

The first half of the above album is sublime!

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Rugd1022

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, BernardTPM said:

Would have been the Third service back then.

 

If it was, it'd be the Third Programme, however the Third Programme which started in 1946 became Radio Three in 1967.

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/september/third-programme/

 

[Steamport Southport]

I'll just leave this here.....

 

 

 

Psst. Can't stand them myself!

[Downer]

Astral Weeks. Desolation Row.

[johnarcher]

Piece of music - Bach flute sonata in B minor BWV 1030

                              (Period instruments only please)

Song  - Dowland "I saw my lady weep"

              Campion  "Western Wind"

              Dylan. Desolation Row, Visions of Johanna?

              Leonard Cohen . The Traitor, Anthem??

              Kinks    Sunny Afternoon.

              Almost any aria from Bach Cantatas where voice and flute (or oboe) duet.

Album.  Haydn. String Quartets Op. 33.

 

Might pick differently tomorrow though.

Edited December 11, 2022 by johnarcher

[Gareth Collier]

Album - Toss up between Fallen by Evanescence and Appetite for Destruction by Guns n Roses.

Song - Johnny Cash's version of Hurt which is probably also my favourite video.

[daryll]

The who , Quadrophenia

[The Johnster]

On 10/12/2022 at 13:54, Hroth said:

 

If it was, it'd be the Third Programme, however the Third Programme which started in 1946 became Radio Three in 1967.

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/september/third-programme/

 

 

Pre 1967, the BBC's principal station was the Home Service, news, comment, quizzes, plays, religion, and The Cricket.  It is now Radio 4.  The Third Programme, now Radio 3, classical and, more recently, serious jazz, folk, and 'world music'.  The Light Programme, which was split in 1967 into Radio 1 and Radio 2, was for popular music (which didn't mean pop as we understand it in those days) and light entertainment/comedy/variety shows.

 

So, what was the 'second programme?  The World Service, of course, not included in the 1967 shake-up.

[Andy Kirkham]

The scherzo of Bruckner's 7th Symphony. Sehr Schnell - I love Bruckner's tempo markings.. I hesitate to says it's my very favourite but it has great personal meaning to me. At the age of about 15 I was idly tuning into Radio 3 when I encountered this piece. Maybe I neglected to hear it through to the end, but I failed to discover what the piece was called. Nevertheless it stuck in my mind, a relentless earworm, (and relentless is an apt description for that ostinato - which brings to my mind the image of a troop a cavalry (or perhaps demons) galoping through the forest and emerging to fall upon the foe.

 

It stuck in my mind unidentified for about about seven years. Then while idly tuning into Radio 3 once more I chanced upon a sound that seemed familiar "can it possibly be,", I asked myself "they're going to play that tune?" And they were!" Don't quit when it starts going slow; it soon gets fast again.

 

 

I could pick other Bruckner movement till the cows come home but for contrast here's an exquisite piece by the Venezuelan Reynaldo Hahn:

 

Now for something thoroughly haunting. Arvo Pärt's setting of the Burns song My Heart's in the Highlands.

 

Finally I can't resist a bit more Bruckner, which the YouTube poster has described as one of the best symphonic endings ever. It certainly knocked by socks off. The really good bit begins at 1:46

 

Bruckners 4th was the subject of a Radio 3 broadcast in the early 1980s. David Elliott, son of British Transport Commission chairman Sir John Elliott, presented a piece in which he asserted that Bruckner was a great railway enthusiast and friend of Karl Gölsdorf, and that the horn parts were inpired by the sound of of Gölsdorf's loco's signalling to each other as they ascended the Semmering. He was also said to be an admirer of Brunel and made a special broad gauge excursion from Paddington while in London for an Albert Hall organ recital (Bruckner's music is nothing if not Broad Gauge). It all seemed to be so right and I deperately wanted it to be true. But not a word of it was. I don't think the BBC ever officially admitted the hoax, but I happend upon a note in the SLS Journal, in which a contributor recounted how he had smelled a rat and enquired of the BBC, who then came clean (but only privately)

 

A few years later I attended a performance of Bruckner's 4th by the Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow, and the programme notes repeated the tall tale as gospel truth.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Andy Kirkham

[Martino]

Not possible to answer.

 

Too many great albums, great songs, incredible pieces of music.  Like asking what’s your favorite scotch, or wine, place to visit/holiday etc., etc.

 

I’m not willing to limit myself.

 

The world is wide, the journey is as important as the destination and the view changes all the time.

[tomparryharry]

15 hours ago, Martino said:

Not possible to answer.

 

Too many great albums, great songs, incredible pieces of music.  Like asking what’s your favorite scotch, or wine, place to visit/holiday etc., etc.

 

I’m not willing to limit myself.

 

The world is wide, the journey is as important as the destination and the view changes all the time.

 

Agree 100%.  Just been listening Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue.

 

Music can lift you up, or rip you up.

Edited December 12, 2022 by tomparryharry
A bit more clarity, perhaps.

[didcot]

Must admit Nimrod from Elgars Enigma Variarion makes the hair stand up on the back on my neck. I think it also features at the end of Dunkirk as Tom Hardy lands his Spitfire on the beach. I can't watch it without shedding a few tears.

 

Daydream Believer by The Monkees puts me in a good mood instantly. Such a lovely song. I was singing ( growling) along to it in Tesco last week much to the bemusement of the other shoppers 

[33C]

Lots of lovely stuff out there, new and old, hard and soft. But, the album i keep in the car, "The Kick Inside", Kate Bush. The track..., "L'amour looks something like you".