Presenting: the Rubber Soul Beatles Show, in honour of this post’s theme of My Favourite 20.
Yup, it’s another headscratching list, this time prompted by the ABC’s My Favourite Album which featured two Beatles albums in the Top 5.
I must admit, it doesn’t bother me that much that people are voting for Anthony Callea or Delta Goodrem. I can’t say that I understand it but I can appreciate that taste can encompass all kinds of music. Pop isn’t all bad juju. There are an equal number of el crappo indie/alternative/punk/rock bands yeah?
We have SERIOUS radio wars at work – the commercial radio kids vs the cynical community radio stalwarts. As one diplomatic colleague says – there’s no such thing as good or bad music, it’s all down to personal taste (what do you think?). Having said that, it would be interesting to see whether modern day entries can stand the test of time.
:: So to My Top20 ::
The criteria for favourites? Those albums (dare I say tapes?) that have been played ad nauseum and where songs can be named from one chord.
No surprises then that subsets of this list can be mapped to particular time periods. A good test would be to revisit and see what survives.
West Side Story = Movie Soundtrack
Blur = Blur VS Oasis = What’s the Story, Morning Glory? c.a.n.'t. p.i.c.k.
Rail = Bad Hair Life
You Am I = Dress Me Slowly (tough choice out of all their gems)
Dirty Three = Ocean Songs
Ice Cream Hands = Sweeter Than The Radio
Jason Falkner = Author Unknown
Bjork = Post
Crowded House = Together Alone
Beck = Odelay
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong = Ella & Louis
PJ Harvey = Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Beth Orton = Daybreaker
Flaming Lips = Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings = Naturally
Teenage Fanclub = Grand Prix
Jeff Buckley = Grace
Radiohead = The Bends
Blackeyed Susans = Mouth to Mouth
Pernice Brothers = The World Won’t End
So predictable yeah?
Couldn’t decide which Wilco album out of the last four and so endow them with a big honourable mention instead. Oh and Beach Boys = Pet Sounds – that is a melodically dense, wonderful album.
Better stop now.
Check out the lists of Cassiopeia Gegenbauren III, Yossarian, Serenity Later, Sartorial and Flygirl for more opinions on favourite sounds.
:: Addendum ::
In my youth (!), I used to see heaps of bands live and then tape them live from the radio.
Armed with trusty walkman on the train to uni, I listened to
* Pulp rained out at Glastonbury 1998
* Jeff Buckley on the 3RRR Rooftop
* Blur at their peak at the Astoria 1997
* an extremely charismatic Frank Sinatra at Festival Hall
* the beauty of Portishead with orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom
* The Fauves or
* Rebecca’s Empire both at the Espy.
When the walkman batteries ran low, I’d switch over to the 3RRR Breakfasters stifling guffaws of laughter between the Chris Hatsis playlist of power- , brit- and electro- pop that formed the basis of my musical taste for a long time.
So Cassiopeia, I’d like to stretch the rules to include these as a postscript to a favourites list, because for a long time I didn’t listen to anything else.
