en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal The Last.fm journal for andrewmartinuk. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vua91_10_albums_that_made_me Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:51:14 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vua91_10_albums_that_made_me Growing up in the late 1980s/early 90s, with charts flooded with pop music, there are quite a number of albums released during this time that have stuck with me as favourites. Here are ten of the albums that influenced me the most. They are in no particular order as picking ten has been hard enough as it is.


Introspective by Pet Shop Boys
I had just got my first keyboard when this was released, and my sister bought the album on cassette. We used to listen to it all the time when being driven to and from school or (more likely) to and from my grandparents' houses. I would never have understood half the lyrics at that age, but the album remains a favourite and I enjoy playing it in my car, along with its predecessor Actually and it's follow-up, Behaviour. I remember having a book of easy-keyboard pop sheet music and one of the tracks was their version of Always on My Mind - a track I learnt to play well in their style rather than that of Elvis Presley. The Pet Shop Boys were to heavily influence me then as much as they do now.



Move To This by Cathy Dennis
There was something about Cathy. Maybe it was her brightly coloured one-piece catsuited dance moves, her catchy pop songs, and the fact she was a local girl. This album, her debut, contains some great tracks like Just Another Dream, Too Many Walls and Touch Me (All Night Long), with Cathy's lyrical genius shining through. Of course, she's on to bigger things now, having written songs for practically every big name in pop over the last 12 years including Britney Spears, Groovejet, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Kylie Minogue and S Club 7. Her creations with guitarist Rob Davis from glam rock band Mud have led her to win a ton of awards and number ones.



Maxinquaye by Tricky
Curiosity got me into Tricky. I had no way of previewing his music as the commercial availability of the internet was still only just beginning, so I took a gamble and ended up buying what would be for me - a complete game-changing album. Through listening to this, I started enjoying the mixture of beats and strings that fueled downbeat trip-hop - found in tracks such as Hell Is Round the Corner and Overcome. At the time i was also listening to Portishead, so this was a perfect companion piece to their Dummy album. The album also gave me my first and by no means last dose of the brilliant Allison Goldfrapp.



Debut by Björk
I can't remember what it was like listening to Björk for the first time, but whatever it was like, I kept listening. Her intricate, delicate, bizarre and bilingual songs on this, aptly, debut album, really struck a chord with me. There's More to Life Than This has remained a favourite of mine, along with One Day.



Rhythm of Love by Kylie Minogue
Beginning to show signs of a loosened grip by Pete Waterman, Kylie's 3rd album contained some more mature pop sounds but also began to draw in dance music particularly in the leading track Better the Devil You Know which gave Minogue another number one. Shocked and One Boy Girl saw the inclusion of (some pretty mild and slow) rap in Kylie songs, and Step Back in Time gave a 70s funk flavour too. Rhythm Of Love was a turning point in her career.



New York New York by Frank Sinatra
This album, which stands out amongst the rest of this selection, is a 16 track album of Frank singing other people's songs (did he do anything original?) in the 1980s. The result is a brilliant collection of songs that I spent many hours singing along at full volume to. It gave me a means of practicing songs that I knew, with a reasonably good vocal guide. Frank's cover of The Beatles Yesterday is a completely different arrangement, whilst his version of Moon River (originally by Audrey Hepburn) is pretty much a copy of the version by Andy Williams.



Lamb by Lamb
This, their debut album was another random but extremely serendipitous purchase from Britannia Music - i'd become a member and often struggled to pick an album to purchase each month. Going by the description in their catalogue (this was before mainstream internet shopping), I decided to take a gamble on this album by a group i'd never heard of. The cover is something that wouldn't go amiss in a rock genre. The dreamy vocals by Lou Rhodes on Cotton Wool and the heartbreakingly delicate and tender vocals on Gorecki always continues to make my spine tingle with the accompanying instruments. There's no song that rivals this one in producing that feeling, and it manages it live too - i've seen them three times.



Boomania by Betty Boo
Whilst my first purchase of rap music was Push It by Salt n Pepa, this was my first rap album. What stands out about Boo is that she was a er... woman, white, and had charting power. Her kooky 50s/60s styling helped to catapult her high with Doin' The Do and the (IMO better) Where Are You Baby? kept her in the charts. Her album included instrumentals (incl. the brilliant Boo's Boogie), catchy tracks such as Boo Is Booming and several remixes. Whilst her follow-up album didn't repeat her success, like Cathy Dennis, she has gone on to write for others - scoring an Ivor Novello Award for Pure And Simple for Hear'Say.



1962-1966 by The Beatles
Originally bought by my mother on double vinyl, this collection of their earlier work has always sat amongst my favourites. Whilst the 'Blue' compilation of later work is good, this ('Red') has far better songs - lyrically and muscially. From opener Love Me Do to Yellow Submarine, the range and quality of tracks set me inspired to write, whilst also giving me something to practice singing/playing.



Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Coming to my attention via the duet with Kylie Minogue on the beautifully dark Where the Wild Roses Grow, this album was a new style for me to listen to. The album also brought me exposure to PJ Harvey, who features on Henry Lee. A whole album about death may sound quite a hard slog, and it was a hard listen at first, but it didn't take long for me to become a Nick Cave fan, seeing him perform live several times in London. I've since bought several of his later albums. This exposure inspired me to write On The Rocks with Dario Galasso and Meg Spencer-Thomas, the latter of whom I duet with.

So there we have it, 10 albums in no particular order, that have influenced me as a music consumer, and as a music maker.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vua05_10_albums_that_made_me Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:50:40 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vua05_10_albums_that_made_me Growing up in the late 1980s/early 90s, with charts flooded with pop music, there are quite a number of albums released during this time that have stuck with me as favourites. Here are ten of my all time most 'influential' albums that I own. They are in no particular order as picking ten has been hard enough as it is.



Introspective by Pet Shop Boys
I had just got my first keyboard when this was released, and my sister bought it on cassette. We used to listen to it all the time when driving to and from school or (more likely) when driving to and from my grandparents' houses. I would never have understood half the lyrics at that age, but the album remains a favourite and I enjoy playing it in my car, along with its predecessor ...Actually.


Move To This by Cathy Dennis
There was something about Cathy that really interested me. Maybe it was her brightly coloured image, her easy pop songs, and the fact she was a local girl. This album, her debut, contained some great tracks, and with Cathy's lyrical genius shining through. Of course, she's on to bigger things now, having written songs for practically every big name in pop at the moment. Her creations have led her to win a ton of awards.


Maxinquaye by Tricky
Curiosity got me into Tricky. I had no way of previewing his music on the internet, so took a gamble and ended up buying a complete game-changing album. Through listening to this, I started enjoying the mixture of beats and strings that fueled downbeat trip-hop - found in tracks such as Hell Is Round the Corner and Overcome. At the time i was also listening to Portishead, so this was a perfect companion piece to their Dummy album. The album also gave me my first and by no ways last exposure to Allison Goldfrapp.


Debut by Bjork
I can't remember what it was like listening to Björk for the first time, but whatever it was like, I kept listening. Her intricate, delicate, bizarre and bilingual songs on this, aptly, debut album, really struck a chord with me. 'There's more to life than this' has remained a favourite of mine, along with 'One Day'.


Rhythm of Love by Kylie Minogue
Beginning to show signs of a loosened grip by Pete Waterman, Kylie's 3rd album contained some more mature pop sounds but also began to draw in dance music particularly in the leading track Better the Devil You Know which gave Minogue another number one. 'Shocked' saw the inclusion of rap in a Kylie song, and 'Step Back in Time' gave a 70s funk flavour too. Rhythm Of Love was a turning point in her career.


New York New York by Frank Sinatra
This album, which stands out amongst the rest of this selection, is a 16 track album of Frank singing other people's songs (did he do anything original?) in the 1980s. The result is a brilliant collection of songs that I spent many hours singing along at full volume to. It gave me a means of practicing songs that I knew, with a reasonably good vocal guide. Frank's cover of The Beatles Yesterday is a completely different arrangement, whilst his version of Moon River (originally by Audrey Hepburn) is pretty much a copy of the version by Andy Williams.


Lamb by Lamb
This, their debut album was another random but extremely serendipitous purchase from Britannia Music - i'd become a member and often struggled to pick an album to purchase each month. Going by the description in their catalogue (this was before mainstream internet shopping), I decided to take a gamble on this album by a group i'd never heard of. The cover is something that wouldn't go amiss in a rock/metal genre. The dreamy vocals by Lou Rhodes on Cotton Wool and the heartbreakingly delicate and tender vocals on Gorecki always continues to make my spine tingle with the accompanying instruments. There's no song that rivals this one in producing that feeling.


Boomania by Betty Boo
Whilst my first purchase of rap music was Push It by Salt n Pepa, this was my first rap album. What stands out about Boo is that she was a er... woman, white, and had charting power. Her kooky 50s/60s styling helped to catapult her high with Doin' The Do and the (IMO better) Where Are You Baby? kept her in the charts. Her album included instrumentals (incl. the brilliant Boo's Boogie) and remixes. Whilst her follow-up album didn't repeat her success, like Cathy Dennis, she has gone on to write for others - scoring an Ivor Novello Award for Pure And Simple for Hear'Say.

1962-1966 by The Beatles
Originally bought by my mother on double vinyl, this collection of their earlier work has always sat amongst my favourites. Whilst the 'Blue' compilation of later work is good, this ('Red') has far better songs - lyrically and muscially. From opener Love Me Do to Yellow Submarine, the range and quality of tracks set me inspired to write, whilst also giving me something to practice singing/playing.

Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Coming to my attention via the duet with Kylie Minogue on the beautifully dark Where The Wild Roses Grow, this album was a new style for me to listen to. The album also brought me exposure to P J Harvey, who features on Henry Lee. A whole album about death may sound quite a hard slog, and it was a hard listen at first, but it didn't take long for me to become a Nick Cave fan, seeing him perform live several times in London. I've since bought several of his later albums. This exposure inspired me to write On The Rocks with Dario Galasso and Megs Thomas, the latter of whom I duet with.

So there we have it, 10 albums in no particular order, that have influenced me as a music consumer, and as a music maker.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vu9ok_10_albums_that_made_me Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:49:55 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vu9ok_10_albums_that_made_me Growing up in the late 1980s/early 90s, with charts flooded with pop music, there are quite a number of albums released during this time that have stuck with me as favourites. Here are ten of my all time most 'influential' albums that I own. They are in no particular order as picking ten has been hard enough as it is.



Introspective by Pet Shop Boys
I had just got my first keyboard when this was released, and my sister bought it on cassette. We used to listen to it all the time when driving to and from school or (more likely) when driving to and from my grandparents' houses. I would never have understood half the lyrics at that age, but the album remains a favourite and I enjoy playing it in my car, along with its predecessor ...Actually.


Move To This by Cathy Dennis
There was something about Cathy that really interested me. Maybe it was her brightly coloured image, her easy pop songs, and the fact she was a local girl. This album, her debut, contained some great tracks, and with Cathy's lyrical genius shining through. Of course, she's on to bigger things now, having written songs for practically every big name in pop at the moment. Her creations have led her to win a ton of awards.


Maxinquaye by Tricky
Curiosity got me into Tricky. I had no way of previewing his music on the internet, so took a gamble and ended up buying a complete game-changing album. Through listening to this, I started enjoying the mixture of beats and strings that fueled downbeat trip-hop - found in tracks such as Hell Is Round the Corner and Overcome. At the time i was also listening to Portishead, so this was a perfect companion piece to their Dummy album. The album also gave me my first and by no ways last exposure to Allison Goldfrapp.


Debut by Bjork
I can't remember what it was like listening to Björk for the first time, but whatever it was like, I kept listening. Her intricate, delicate, bizarre and bilingual songs on this, aptly, debut album, really struck a chord with me. 'There's more to life than this' has remained a favourite of mine, along with 'One Day'.


Rhythm of Love by Kylie Minogue
Beginning to show signs of a loosened grip by Pete Waterman, Kylie's 3rd album contained some more mature pop sounds but also began to draw in dance music particularly in the leading track Better the Devil You Know which gave Minogue another number one. 'Shocked' saw the inclusion of rap in a Kylie song, and 'Step Back in Time' gave a 70s funk flavour too. Rhythm Of Love was a turning point in her career.


New York New York by Frank Sinatra
This album, which stands out amongst the rest of this selection, is a 16 track album of Frank singing other people's songs (did he do anything original?) in the 1980s. The result is a brilliant collection of songs that I spent many hours singing along at full volume to. It gave me a means of practicing songs that I knew, with a reasonably good vocal guide. Frank's cover of The Beatles Yesterday is a completely different arrangement, whilst his version of Moon River (originally by Audrey Hepburn) is pretty much a copy of the version by Andy Williams.


Lamb by Lamb
This, their debut album was another random but extremely serendipitous purchase from Britannia Music - i'd become a member and often struggled to pick an album to purchase each month. Going by the description in their catalogue (this was before mainstream internet shopping), I decided to take a gamble on this album by a group i'd never heard of. The cover is something that wouldn't go amiss in a rock/metal genre. The dreamy vocals by Lou Rhodes on Cotton Wool and the heartbreakingly delicate and tender vocals on Gorecki always continues to make my spine tingle with the accompanying instruments. There's no song that rivals this one in producing that feeling.


Boomania by Betty Boo
Whilst my first purchase of rap music was Push It by Salt n Pepa, this was my first rap album. What stands out about Boo is that she was a er... woman, white, and had charting power. Her kooky 50s/60s styling helped to catapult her high with Doin' The Do and the (IMO better) Where Are You Baby? kept her in the charts. Her album included instrumentals (incl. the brilliant Boo's Boogie) and remixes. Whilst her follow-up album didn't repeat her success, like Cathy Dennis, she has gone on to write for others - scoring an Ivor Novello Award for Pure And Simple for Hear'Say.

1962-1966 by The Beatles
Originally bought by my mother on double vinyl, this collection of their earlier work has always sat amongst my favourites. Whilst the 'Blue' compilation of later work is good, this ('Red') has far better songs - lyrically and muscially. From opener Love Me Do to Yellow Submarine, the range and quality of tracks set me inspired to write, whilst also giving me something to practice singing/playing.

Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Coming to my attention via the duet with Kylie Minogue on the beautifully dark Where The Wild Roses Grow, this album was a new style for me to listen to. The album also brought me exposure to P J Harvey, who features on Henry Lee. A whole album about death may sound quite a hard slog, and it was a hard listen at first, but it didn't take long for me to become a Nick Cave fan, seeing him perform live several times in London. I've since bought several of his later albums. This exposure inspired me to write On The Rocks with Dario Galasso and Megs Thomas, the latter of whom I duet with.

So there we have it, 10 albums in no particular order, that have influenced me as a music consumer, and as a music maker.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vu9fm_10_albums_that_made_me Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:49:19 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/andrewmartinuk/journal/2011/10/27/4vu9fm_10_albums_that_made_me Growing up in the late 1980s/early 90s, with charts flooded with pop music, there are quite a number of albums released during this time that have stuck with me as favourites. Here are ten of my all time most 'influential' albums that I own. They are in no particular order as picking ten has been hard enough as it is.



Introspective by Pet Shop Boys
I had just got my first keyboard when this was released, and my sister bought it on cassette. We used to listen to it all the time when driving to and from school or (more likely) when driving to and from my grandparents' houses. I would never have understood half the lyrics at that age, but the album remains a favourite and I enjoy playing it in my car, along with its predecessor ...Actually.


Move To This by Cathy Dennis
There was something about Cathy that really interested me. Maybe it was her brightly coloured image, her easy pop songs, and the fact she was a local girl. This album, her debut, contained some great tracks, and with Cathy's lyrical genius shining through. Of course, she's on to bigger things now, having written songs for practically every big name in pop at the moment. Her creations have led her to win a ton of awards.


Maxinquaye by Tricky
Curiosity got me into Tricky. I had no way of previewing his music on the internet, so took a gamble and ended up buying a complete game-changing album. Through listening to this, I started enjoying the mixture of beats and strings that fueled downbeat trip-hop - found in tracks such as Hell Is Round the Corner and Overcome. At the time i was also listening to Portishead, so this was a perfect companion piece to their Dummy album. The album also gave me my first and by no ways last exposure to Allison Goldfrapp.


Debut by Bjork
I can't remember what it was like listening to Björk for the first time, but whatever it was like, I kept listening. Her intricate, delicate, bizarre and bilingual songs on this, aptly, debut album, really struck a chord with me. 'There's more to life than this' has remained a favourite of mine, along with 'One Day'.


Rhythm of Love by Kylie Minogue
Beginning to show signs of a loosened grip by Pete Waterman, Kylie's 3rd album contained some more mature pop sounds but also began to draw in dance music particularly in the leading track Better the Devil You Know which gave Minogue another number one. 'Shocked' saw the inclusion of rap in a Kylie song, and 'Step Back in Time' gave a 70s funk flavour too. Rhythm Of Love was a turning point in her career.


New York New York by Frank Sinatra
This album, which stands out amongst the rest of this selection, is a 16 track album of Frank singing other people's songs (did he do anything original?) in the 1980s. The result is a brilliant collection of songs that I spent many hours singing along at full volume to. It gave me a means of practicing songs that I knew, with a reasonably good vocal guide. Frank's cover of The Beatles Yesterday is a completely different arrangement, whilst his version of Moon River (originally by Audrey Hepburn) is pretty much a copy of the version by Andy Williams.


Lamb by Lamb
This, their debut album was another random but extremely serendipitous purchase from Britannia Music - i'd become a member and often struggled to pick an album to purchase each month. Going by the description in their catalogue (this was before mainstream internet shopping), I decided to take a gamble on this album by a group i'd never heard of. The cover is something that wouldn't go amiss in a rock/metal genre. The dreamy vocals by Lou Rhodes on Cotton Wool and the heartbreakingly delicate and tender vocals on Gorecki always continues to make my spine tingle with the accompanying instruments. There's no song that rivals this one in producing that feeling.


Boomania by Betty Boo
Whilst my first purchase of rap music was Push It by Salt n Pepa, this was my first rap album. What stands out about Boo is that she was a er... woman, white, and had charting power. Her kooky 50s/60s styling helped to catapult her high with Doin' The Do and the (IMO better) Where Are You Baby? kept her in the charts. Her album included instrumentals (incl. the brilliant Boo's Boogie) and remixes. Whilst her follow-up album didn't repeat her success, like Cathy Dennis, she has gone on to write for others - scoring an Ivor Novello Award for Pure And Simple for Hear'Say.

1962-1966 by The Beatles
Originally bought by my mother on double vinyl, this collection of their earlier work has always sat amongst my favourites. Whilst the 'Blue' compilation of later work is good, this ('Red') has far better songs - lyrically and muscially. From opener Love Me Do to Yellow Submarine, the range and quality of tracks set me inspired to write, whilst also giving me something to practice singing/playing.

Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Coming to my attention via the duet with Kylie Minogue on the beautifully dark Where The Wild Roses Grow, this album was a new style for me to listen to. The album also brought me exposure to P J Harvey, who features on Henry Lee. A whole album about death may sound quite a hard slog, and it was a hard listen at first, but it didn't take long for me to become a Nick Cave fan, seeing him perform live several times in London. I've since bought several of his later albums. This exposure inspired me to write On The Rocks with Dario Galasso and Megs Thomas, the latter of whom I duet with.

So there we have it, 10 albums in no particular order, that have influenced me as a music consumer, and as a music maker.]]>