There are a lot of songs which form the soundtrack to my life, I shall explore these in another blog entry but there have also been a few outstanding albums which fit into this category as well.
I'm not including compilations or greatest hits.
These are the albums where I listened to the whole album, many times, normally from beginning to end, without skipping any tracks.
I have to start with the greatest album ever produced The Wall by Pink Floyd. This is not just a series of individual songs, but is a total story from begging to end. The highlight has to be Comfortably Numb. I listened to this continuously when I was about 17 with my good friend Richard Espin. We knew all the words to the whole double album and sadly used to sing it as we walked around town. My biggest regret in life is that I missed an opportunity to go and see it performed live. I must also give an honourable mention to another Pink Floyd album which I listened to a lot Dark Side of the Moon.
Next up is Queen II by Queen, my favourite group (with the greatest singer of all time). OK so I listened to Queens Greatest Hits a lot as well, for all their best individual songs, but II is again a story where the album is greater than the sum of all the parts. I think the Black Side is slightly better, but it is a close run thing. It is also fantasy based which I love. My girlfriend (future wife) and I listened to this constantly whilst playing fantasy based computer games.
Hot Fuss by Killers is a brilliant album I listened too over and over. It is not a story album, but all of the songs are good and it also has some exceptional ones, particularly Mr Brightside. This is also a very significant album to me as I played it a lot when my wife and I were having problems. I will also mention the Killers Greatest Hits which I have also played a lot recently.
The next album is from my new romantic period in the early eighties and is Lexicon Of Love by ABC. Although not a concept album it does have a continuous theme throughout all its songs and they do fit together very well. This was from a time when I had started my first job. Although I liked a lot of the music, I was never an extreme new romantic i.e. I didn't dress up or wear make up.
From my earlier teens, when I was finding music for myself (rather than being influenced by my parents) comes Out Of The Blue by E.L.O. This is a big album to include (4 sides), and I have to admit that side 2 is slightly weaker than the other 3, however I did love the whole album and played it a lot. I love the epicness of the songs. I remember playing this album whilst I was developing my first computer programs as homework from school.
No Parlez by Paul Young is an album which was played a lot whilst I was dating my future wife. It does have it's ups and downs, with Common People being at the top. I remember that we used to listen to it whilst playing games on the ZX Spectrum, particularly Manic Miner.
The next album is from the early years of marriage and is an album my wife and I played a lot together, Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. OK so it is OTT and the songs are very long, but it's huge and epic, it makes you feel good and you can't not sing along to it. Also, all of the songs are good, there are no low points.
Again from my early teens comes Parallel Lines by Blondie. This album was huge with everyone at school, everybody raved about it and all the boys were in love with Debbie Harry. Again it has its highs and lows, but it has a lot of all time 70's classics on it, I particularly liked Picture This and Sunday Girl.
One of the newer albums is Escapology by Robbie Williams. This is quite a surprising choice as it does not feature his big hits (with the possible exception of Feel). But my wife and I played this a lot, we liked all of the songs, particularly Me and My Monkey. We played this album over and over in the car on some long journeys.
There is one compilation album which deserves a mention, the Shrek II Soundtrack. This is a great collection of songs and we listened to it a lot after watching the film whilst on holiday in Great Yarmouth.
I will also give a mention to a few greatest hits albums which were played a lot: Sweet, Elvis, Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Queen, 10cc and Neil Diamond.
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