and the story continues...

A-ha! another Bowie fan--that's all the prompting I need to jump in and clutter things up with some more lists...

Top 5 songs

Bowie--just about anything but perhaps my favorite isn't even an actual Bowie composition but a Jacques Brel one he does in concert My Death (the best version of which is on the Santa Monica live in '72 disc).
Heroin ~ Velvet Underground
One of the most gorgeous and despairing songs I've ever heard.
Bad ~ U2
(whoa, better not mention Marianne Faithfull's version of Sister Morphine or people'll start wondering....)
Trashcan Sinatras once again, just about anything (maybe Orange Fell or Earlies in a pinch)--an amazingly underrated band that deserves so much more recognition....
Grace ~ JB
(and a close 2nd is Lover....)

***And as for concerts...my top 5 would fall into the most memorable ones (not necessarily the best) I've been to....

Bowie '87 Sullivan Stadium Glass Spider Tour.
My second ever concert, perfect summer day, open admission seating (we were about 20 ft away from the stage), he was in top form--what more could you ask for?
Gavin Friday the Middle East July '93.
He is an absolutely one of a kind performer. Best club show I've been to so far...
U2 Boston Garden St. Patrick's Day '92.
Don't remember much of the concert itself, but it was Boston/U2/and St. Patty's Day and it was a complete "Zoo"....
Michael Jackson--Moscow Sept. '93
--don't laugh!!! I had the flu, it was raining buckets, there was an armed militia guy for every 3 concert-goers, and Michael spent the whole time just trying not to fall flat on his face b/c the stage was so slippery from the water...A truly unforgettable concert...
JB Avalon May '95
front row center can't be beat. Even though he was only opening for Juliana Hatfield and I later got bruises that didn't go away for two weeks from being squashed like a bug against the barrier during her set. The pain was worth it to see JB take a header into Juliana's drummer's kit at the end and then hurl himself off the stage (whereby someone picked his pocket and made off with his wallet)...

-Suzanne

On another topic, my five seminal songs:

Stagnation ~ Peter Gabriel's Genesis
The Ninth Wave ~ Kate Bush
A Dream In The Wrong Chamber ~ King Felix
Awaken ~ Yes
San Jacinto ~ Peter Gabriel
The Great Curve ~ Talking Heads
Nine Fingers on You ~ Shudder to Think
She will destroy you ~ Harold Budd and Cocteau Twins
Happy Time ~ Tim Buckley
The Belldog ~ Eno, Moebius, and Roedelius

I left out Jeffsongs, because his music is a given. Grace is the second best recording of the decade, after Hats ~ The Blue Nile

Felix

OK, I'm not even seventeen yet so obviously this is sort of a limited viewpoint : But here you have it, the five songs/albums/artists. that I consider to have most influenced the way I've changed over the last several years.

Juliana Hatfield was one of the first real "rock" groups I ever listened to... Three of her songs I think had a big influence on me.
First, My Sister This song just expressed the way I felt about a lot of things, I guess.
Second, The Lights This song was practically my personal anthem throughout ninth grade, it was probably the most depressed song I owned, next only to...
(Third) Ugly This song is just full of naked self-hate, as you might gather from the title. I don't know, it just sort of changed my perspective.
The Indigo Girls' album Rites of Passage. I'm not a huge Indigo Girls' fan but I think this album is wonderful, especially the songs Ghost and Love Will Come to You.
The Cure's album Disintegration. This album was, I think, musically different from anything else I had when I discovered it. It's just so beautiful...
Dead Can Dance's album A Passage in Time Previous to discovering paganism, this album was one of the few things I could find that exemplified what I wanted to find in whatever I considered my spirituality to be. (Now there's a sentence... let's see you diagram that one...) Maybe a better way of saying it is that this album was basically a soundtrack for all the spirituality that i was discovering in ninth grade. Two Nine Inch Nails songs, which came at different times.
First Something I Can Never Have. This was a new kind of depression. This song just sank into me the first time I heard it. It was Christmas Day and I was really sad.
The other one is Closer, it really changed the way I looked at sexuality...

It's funny because I don't really listen to a lot of these things anymore, some of these are blasts from the past (so to speak), but they all changed the way I looked at music - not to mention life - mostly when I was fourteen, which is when everything changed for me.
There you have it, folks...

Meg

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 12:00:23 +1000 (EST)
From: Luke McMahon
Subject: 5 songs, concerts, albums...

Okay, I'll keep it brief...

5 Favourite Songs:
Since I've been Loving You ~ Led Zeppelin
I shall be released ~ The Band
Just Like a Woman / If you see her say hello ~ Bob Dylan
Psalm 69 ~ Ministry
Grace/So Real/Lover... ~ Jeff Buckley

Honourable Mentions:
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence ~ Ryuichi Sakamoto
Samba Pa Ti ~ Santana
I've Been Loving You Too Long ~ Otis Redding
The Way Young Lovers Do ~ Van Morrison
and probably heaps of others that I can't think of...

Favourite 5 Concerts...

Jeff Buckley at The Palais Feb 27
Ben Harper March 13 Corner Hotel
Page & Plant Flinders Park Feb 29
Santana Flinders Park May 5
Ryuichi Sakamoto Melbourne Concert Hall August 5
Honourable Mention: Jean Paul Wabotai Universal Theatre

Favourite 5 Albums:
Abraxas ~ Santana
1/2/3 ~ Led Zeppelin
Grace ~ Jeff Buckley
(either album) ~ Ben Harper
Astral Weeks ~ Van Morrison
A kind of Blue ~ Miles Davis

These lists would probably change every day...but thats it for today anyways...

Later all...
Luke...

O.K. I've had some time to think about this now. It's harder than I thought. But, I'm going to do bands and concerts cause there are way too many songs that have influenced my life. Just assume that every song by the bands I list has influenced me and you'll at least be getting close. In no particular order...

Bands
jeff buckley
concrete blonde
soundgarden
primus
metallica

All these bands in some way have changed the way I perceived music at a certain time. Metallica introduced me to heavy metal. Primus to the lighter and weirder side of (Harold's) rock. Soundgarden showed me that songs can be heavy and slow and still rock. Concrete Blonde made me realize tha women can rock (Lita Ford or Janet Jackson just didn't cut it, and Janice was too long ago). And finally, but probably the most influential is the master himself. Mister Jeff Buckley. What can I say? His music is moving beyond words...

Concerts
Jeff Buckley
Lollapalooza 92?? The one with soundgarden & pearl jam
metallica
the exotics a local band in the style of Dick Dale
citizen king another local band. tough to describe their music so i won't

This just supports my age old belief that the best live bands are in your home town. You just have to find them. And if your excuse is "But I live in a small city/town and there aren't any good bands." then your not looking hard enough. You can always find a good band. You just have to know where to look. Once you find that place(s) the problem becomes a matter of getting to all the acts you want to see. But enough preaching, Jeff was and can only remain THE BEST LIVE ACT i have seen EVER...and then some.

"...well it goes like this the fourth the fifth..."

Scratch

hi all

concerts?

well i haven't been to many, but my fave are:
Jeff Buckley at the Palais, feb. melbourne, 1996.
this is where i finally was drawn into the spirit of Jeff's music. nothing beats a live performance. and what a building!
Pearl Jam at the Tennis Centre, april (?) melbourne, 1995
this was the first concert i went too. i'm not a big fan but my brother is. similar to Jeff in the fact that they don't need anything else , just the music to stir the crowd.
Bjork at the Entertainment Centre, march melbourne, 1996
this was just great, the atmosphere of the crowd, it was just energetic. she's a wonderful performer.
Nick Cave at the Big Day Out, jan. 1996 (i had a busy jan/feb/march!)
he is just brilliant. never liked him at first, but after listening to him constantly (my friend's a fan) i just love his stuff now. and i also saw Kylie (wow). *special mention, Billy Bragg. he was great, not much of a crowd unfortunately, but that didn't matter. ( if anyone wants photos (b&w), just call me!)

special mention- The Sharp. don't laugh! for those who don't know, they were a three piece aussie band who released 2 albums and where together from '92-95 (maybe?). they had a drummer, guitar and double bass. i saw them live at a local night club and they were great, lots of energy. sad to see them split.

that's it for now, as i said i haven't been to many (being a youngster) but Jeff and Pearl Jam have been the best so far.

finally
bye
chris

i can't think of 5 songs that changed my life. shall i try?

Gloria ~ U2
Rock and Roll Suicide. by Bowie
Know Me ~ (don't laugh) Toad the Wet Sprocket
Sanctified. ~ NIN
Bastards of Young ~ Replacements
and just lately i might have to add Nina Simone's Wild Is the Wind...

kerry.

This is such a fun thread that I just had to jump in. I can't really list 5 particular songs, but I will list my 5 favorite bands:
Bash&Pop (or basically anything having to do with The Replacements)
Volcano Suns
Shudder To Think
Buffalo Tom
Giant Sand
Billie Holiday (couldn't resist)

Of course, Jeff Buckley too, but you already knew that. :)

Actually, this is just a small sampling of what I like. It would take me days to list everybody that has had any influence on me.

'Don't wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.' -Albert Camus

Off the top of my head:
All by Myself ~ Eric Carmen
I was a mere child and this was the 1st record I ever bought and played continuously on a funky old record player. There are probably some curled vinyl shavings of it still lying next to the baseboard. I remember a cover he did of On Broadway. He had a sweet voice and I know nothing at all about him. My brother told me he sounded like "high drama". Probably a label creation?
Alice's Restaurant ~ Arlo Guthrie
It was the first time I realized that it wasn't just kooky childrens songs that had a sense of humor. I adore songs that can make me laugh. This one is packed in a box in the attic, probably melting.
Heroin ~ VU
This has been mentioned before but has there ever been a song that shows more clearly the misery of allowing something outside to be controlling? (Heroin or whatever your demon happens to be)
Alex Chilton ~ The Replacements
....for it led me to Alex Chilton
Any song ~ Talking Heads in 1980 or so - ....for it led me to Television
Careful ~ Television
This one is packed with zingers! My two favorite Tom Verlaine lines are contained in this song. Your wine is just sour grapes, pour me a glass anytime I'm not there and I used to have such sweet dreams, now it's more like an air-raid. This song didn't really change my life, but it makes me really happy about once a week.

One song that had life altering potential was another Television song Mars off their 1992 cd. This song was playing, very loud, in the house when a woman called to offer me my moonlighting job. The phone is set down just as Verlaine starts howling like a wolf and before I can get to it. The woman actually said "What the hell was that?" when I got on the phone.

Not currently revolving,
Kathleen

In a message, it was thusly spoken through digital manipulation (2x)

Mine all Mine ( * means '95 release but I don't care )
(** means my favorite Jethro Tull album ever {1973})
(%^& means I can't believe this was mentioned in a Yes free zone)

Copperopolis ~ Grant Lee Buffalo
Subliminal Plastic Motive ~ Self *
Three Snakes and One Charm ~ The Black Crowes
Black Love ~ The Afghan Whigs
Thrak ~ King Crimson *
A Passion Play ~ Jethro Tull ** %^& !

ps Rubberneck ~ the Toadies was released in '94 but I just got it and love it, therefore it gets mentioned. I just love being inclusive.
I come from the water,
John Golsby
please dont unsubscribe me yet
;-) <<<<<<<<<<

Hi All, Below are some list thingies of my top CD's/artists etc. if anyone's still interested. Ummm...this is my top uhhh 5 + a few extra :)

Grace ~ Jeff Buckley as if I needed to tell you ;)

Touch ~ Noiseworks my pre Buckley favourites...I was so sad when they split. Ok so Love Versus Money had it's problems and Jon turned into Judas and hung out with Farnsey... but hey... I love them :)

Turf ~ Luka Bloom This is a beautiful CD. BTW has anyone been lucky enough to see him live? I'd love to know what he is like in concert.

Modern Life is Rubbish ~ Blur This is a masterpiece. Every track is a gem. It is the 2nd of their 4 CD's and in my mind the best.

Copperopolis ~ Grant Lee Buffalo I finally bought it a few weeks ago because everyone in here kept talking about it with such passion. Thank you Thank You Thank You for that I will be eternally grateful!

EXTRA'S - Barker Happy Man, Ben Harper Fight For Your Mind, The Lemonheads Come on Feel(and the rest too ;), Paul Weller Stanley Road (I'm so glad you mentioned this Olympia!), Neneh Cherry Homebrew, Depeche Mode, Lenny Kravitz (Primarily the first two efforts!), The Badloves, Hunters and Collectors, Sting, Things of Stone and Wood....the list goes on and on....

This was a really interesting exercise. I thought it was going to be easy...silly me! It was hard because many of my faves are special to me for different reasons...not always purely the quality of the music itself... OK that said there are a few other bands I have failed to mention that have been a constant love hehehe I support the Wham peoples whole heartedly ;) also I may be making a huge mistake here but I HAVE to admit to liking Culture Club & (shock horror) Duran Duran...they bring back many a fond memory. If anyone actually gave Boy George any credit he really does have a gift....Some of the tracks on his latest CD Cheapness and Beauty are truly splendid! (esp 'Il Adore' and 'If I could Fly') I'll stop now...before I dig myself into an even deeper hole...

Byee!! Susannah

O.K. well here it is, sort of - just for you Michael (thanks for the tab, by the way). I really can't think of 5 songs I enjoy above all else, but these albums/bands were pretty important in my musical development...

The Beatles. O.K. so nothing new here but they were a big wake up call after Wham! and Madonna (Urgh). I think that I was about 11 or 12, or maybe 13. Anyway I got hold of a compilation and listened to it nonstop, and fell in love with them then and there. It was an important moment because my parents don't listen to music AT ALL in the house, nor do they have ANY good records (unless you consider Demis Roussos or the Latin disco show to be a good choice). Little did I know that 7 years later, I would teach myself to play Blackbird on the guitar....Anyway, I like their 'middle' period (e.g. the white album), esp. Blackbird and Helter Skelter. And many others.

The Doors. Now before you roll your eyes-they were important! I was 15, and listened to them after a friend recommended them to me. Well, from then on I wore nothing but black, listened to them 24 hours a day etc. etc. My father thought that I had been brainwashed by satanic influences or something. Who knows. Anyhow, my favourites...Yes, the river knows, The End...

Led Zeppelin. Like most of the un-initiated, I had only really heard Stairway to Heaven, Whole lotta love etc. So my boyfriend at the time played their songs every time I was there, until I bought LZ-3, and the rest is history. Now that I have an active interest in guitar playing, their music has become far more important and relevant than before. I still plan to buy one of their tablature books and learn every single damn song (the ones I can't play yet) until either I keel over from exhaustion and die, or my guitar playing improves 100%. One of those dreams, you know. Except as Michael so cleverly suggested, I'd better buy another guitar first, rather than playing this nylon string one which has had its neck broken several times, and I've glued back together. Not good!

Bob Dylan. Similar circumstances as above. I've talked about this before-he's just brilliant. I particularly like the earlier stuff, as well as Blood on the Tracks. I've run out of big influences, sorry. I'd list some classical music like Beethoven, Grainger and Debussy, but I don't know if it fits in here.

I might also mention JB, Tim Buckley, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, The Smiths (I only have one album though), Ella Fitzgerald... And my taste for world music is only just awakening, so stay tuned. Gloria

back to jeff