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Speaker 2So we're going to move on now to the quintessential album years albums. Now, actually, this top ten is a little bit arbitrary. I just think I've put them in the order I think that says the most about the podcast, what we do, what we like, what we don't like, and also in terms of how, relatively speaking, how underrated these records are. Now, bubbling under. We've got a few bubbling under. We've got a few bubbling under here. Albums that we've evangelized about on the show that generally get overlooked. New Order's Movement. Yeah. Debut record.
Speaker 3Arguably my favorite New Order album. My favorite New Order record.
Speaker 2But it's amazing how New Order fans don't even like that record.
Speaker 3I hate it, yeah. I mean, well, that's the album that is the logical follow-up to Joy Division's Closer, which I adore. Completely. Amazing record.
Speaker 2Anyway, Marvin Gaye's Hear My Dear, the divorce album.
Speaker 3Well, the story about that one is that he was getting divorced. It was a very costly divorce. And he just gave her the album. So the album was called Hear My Dear. It's like giving them, because all the royalties were going on this.
Speaker 2A certain ratios to each.
Speaker 3That is quite mad. I love the trumpet playing on that. I love the record. Punk, funk, punk. Partly we laugh at this, because the trumpet playing isn't exactly in tune. Neither is the singing.
Speaker 2Prince Parade. What an album, yeah. Beautiful. What an album. We've evangelized about that. Associate Sulk. You mentioned Associate Sulk.
Speaker 3I'm surprised that's not in the top ten, actually.
Speaker 2It's not in the top ten. Well, it could have been. It's a very arbitrary list here. I've gone for a little bit, you know, in terms of, I've gone for eclecticism in the top ten as well. So things that felt a little bit similar. That one was fantastic.
Speaker 3Associate Sulk. This is when they signed to a major label at this age. And they had the money to real, what, you think they know? They know the story. They've listened to the podcast. They all know it. They listen to it every day, don't they? Yeah, exactly. Stevie Wonder, Secret Life of Plants.
Speaker 2You like to evangelize about that one, don't you?
Speaker 3I do like to evangelize about that. That one I got in, I think, again, something that I do mention a lot is in Manchester, there was a store called Yanks. And this was a kind of record store that was underground. And you'd go in.
Speaker 2The record was that high.
Speaker 3It was that high. And you had to actually sneak under. And it sold things for different prices, like 5p to 50p. And it was eclectic. It was all over the show, from funk to classical to progressive. And it was so cheap that we used to go there in our sort of mid-teens and come back with about 20, 30 albums each. And we'd never had the same albums because we would want to sort of play them as friends and see what we liked. And it was a fantastic way of kind of defining what you like, what you disliked. And Secret Life of Plants was one of those albums that came out, was seen as a bit of a disaster. So it was really cheap for this double album with fantastic triple gatefold, which had me sold already, you know. And it's one of his most unusual records. And interestingly, it was brought up this week where Questlove, the drummer, was saying that sometimes perhaps you just get out of music. Sometimes you feel it's beyond you. And he adores Secret Life of Plants. His dad heard Stevie Wonder's Secret Life of Plants and adored Stevie Wonder. And apparently that was it. It was the last new album his dad ever released. And he thought, right, this isn't for me anymore.
Speaker 2I don't think he was alone. It's quite a difficult, in his case.
Speaker 3Almost his relationship with contemporary music died with that album.
Speaker 2You know, but there's. There's certain albums in the catalogue of an artist, and maybe Common One is another good example of this. There's certain albums in a catalogue of an artist, almost like a test of the true fan. Yeah. That it's brilliant, but it's not for the casual listener. And if you can go with it and you're a fan, very often those are the albums that become your favourites. And let's talk now about. So you mentioned Tales from Topographic Oceans. I think that's a good example. Yeah. So the Yes Connoisseur, that's very often one of their favourite albums, us included. But actually for most. For most people, it's the moment that they jump the shark, to coin a phrase. Yeah. And there are albums like that that we've talked about on the podcast, Common One being another example. And because we're fans, we love them all the more for that. You feel like you've become part of an exclusive club. Let's go through the top ten. I've got number ten. I've got. Well, actually, there's about six or seven albums here, and they all share one thing in common. They're all double albums with one track aside.
Speaker 3See, this completely contradicts my idea that the album is perfect between 35 and 45 minutes.
Speaker 2Well, but I don't think you describe any of these albums as perfect, but we love them. Yeah. Mike Oldfield's Incantations. What a great album, isn't it? And what's beautiful about that record is it's all derived from the same chord sequence. And he extrapolates this chord sequence and explores this theme almost like in a fugue-like way through all these different moods, different sort of, you know, musical combinations. And it's kind of like minimalist prog, isn't it? It's got that kind of Philip Glass.
Speaker 3Yeah, well, it's very influenced by Philip Glass, Steve Wright, and even Terry Riley, possibly, as well. And I think he was very aware of those artists.
Speaker 2Probably covered North Star Philip Glass.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, what a beautiful album. And very complete. I think, you know, that's an example of a double album that mostly really works as a suite as well, doesn't it? That's something that would have been perfect for the CD age, in a way.
Speaker 2So some other. Just while we're on the subject, and maybe the audience have some other suggestions, thinking about double albums with only four tracks on, I've got Tangerine Dream's Zite, which is my favourite album of all time, famously. Miles Davis, Big Fun. Sonic Seasonings by Walter Carlos. What a great album that is. Cyborg by Klaus Schulz. And probably the most early example of an album, at least I can think of, that is a double album with four tracks. Soft Machines' Third, 1970. I think that might be the first time there was a double album with only four tracks on. Number nine, there's a few double albums. on this list. There's a triple album coming up later.
Speaker 3Steady on. Welcome Back, My Friends.
Speaker 2Nine, no. Nine, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden by The Don. Donovan. Oh my God, that's beautiful. How many guys here familiar with that record? Gift From A Flower To A Garden by Donovan. No one. There we go.
Speaker 3Because that would have been one of the first artists we bonded about, wasn't it?
Speaker 2Yeah, I thought we talked about it on the podcast. We did. No one listens to our podcast, do they? So that. That's an early example of a career-threatening folly, isn't it? This is an artist that had massive, successful pop singles, suddenly made a double album that came in a box, very expensive to produce, very expensive to buy, and one album of cutesy, psychedelic pop, and another record which in some ways is like the precedent for Nick Drake and beautiful acoustic music. Gorgeous song, gorgeous voice. Well, this is it.
Speaker 3The first. This, in effect, continued the work you've been doing with Mickey Most. It was a great kind of psychedelic pop album. But the second album, which I think was. Was it subtitled For Children? Yeah. For Little Ones or whatever. For Little Ones. And this was just utterly timeless material influenced by kind of Scottish folk melodies and so on. But it's the sort of music you can hear later on in John Martin, in Nick Drake, and arguably at this stage, you know, this is, what was it, 67? 68. Or 68.
Speaker 2See, it might even be 67. I might be right. But, you know, he's.
Speaker 3Doing this at such a level of grace and spirituality.
Speaker 2But he's doing it in the context of being a massive pop star. Yeah. Mainstream pop star. It's a very brave thing.
Speaker 3And I think with him that in some ways one of the reasons why it's not seen in the same way as Martin or Drake is partly because of the image. In some ways he became absolutely entangled with the 60s and almost like a kind of a joke pop figure.
Speaker 2People never forget that scene in the. Dylan movie, do they? Where he's written Donovan to shreds anyway. Number eight, Ben Watt's North Marine Drive. Talking again about beautiful singer-songwriter, essentially acoustic bass, but with a kind of jazz tinge to it. But what's interesting about this album, Ben Watt famously became a member of Everything But The Girl. This was an album he made before that, before he even met Tracy Thorne and formed the band. And he's about 18 on this record, isn't he? He's very, very young.
Speaker 3But he did an EP before this called Summer Into Winter. Well, and a single.
Speaker 2A single too, but yeah.
Speaker 3Robert Wyatt. Yeah, it's somewhere between, if you had to describe it, unfortunately it's just kind of this Hollywood thing of, you know, combining the films. But his was almost like the music of early John Martin or at least peak period John Martin in some ways, the early 70s. It's got boss and over. Combined with Geordie Collum. Yeah, yes, yeah. And then I think when it comes to North Marine Drive, you've got those kind of Stan Getz, boss and over influences as well.
Speaker 2It's a very bedsitter sound though, isn't it?
Speaker 3Very bedsitter, yeah.
Speaker 2Teenager, you know, love-lorn teenager in his bedroom. Yeah. Seven, we have the extraordinary Lewis with his album L'Amour. Now, this was a relatively recent discovery for me, but it shot straight into the album year's top pop charts, didn't it? It's basically what they call outsider music these days, which is music made by people who don't seem to understand the concept of music, which can be fascinating, can't it? Be fascinating. I mean, how could you? - How do you describe Lewis, Tim? -
Speaker 3Well, I think the story is as fascinating as the music. as this canadian he used to dress in expensive all-white suits have an expensive all-white sports car was it his we don't know and used to actually picture himself alongside kind of all-white private jets and i think he managed to persuade a studio in la and a photographer to actually take him in and he made this album which is like if brian ferry had been given two bottles of vodka before a recording session this is what he'd come up with so it's almost like roxy music's avalon but the avant-garde version it's like you can barely make out a word is it completely incoherent isn't it yeah but it's there's something very sensual it's very sincere it seems very sincere
Speaker 2anyway we need to move on because we're running out of time oh
Speaker 3right sorry but he he pressed this himself and then it was discovered i think in a record shop by a label owner years later in the
Speaker 2attic discovered yeah 500 copies of it in a warehouse and yeah number six talk about you know being off with the fairies and we love albums that are off with the fairies don't we let's face it john anderson's elias of sun hilo is there anything more off with the fairies than that record it's
Speaker 3difficult to say isn't it it's a beautiful record though isn't it it always used to be referred to i remember in q as elias of akrington i think
Speaker 2wasn't it it's mad it's pretentious it's pompous it's completely off with the fairies it has no sense of its own absurdity that makes it a winner for me love that record right nico's the marble index from a recent episode there's something about that record that doesn't obey any rules it doesn't and i think albums that don't obey rules sometimes exist outside of time they exist outside of genre they exist outside of the zeitgeist and it was made in 1968 number four um this was a very obscure one that i think i brought to the table i remember bringing you to your attention it was made by the bass player from caravan oh yeah in 1976 a love letter to the lake district in the uk an incredibly bucolic beautifully bucolic record that again seems to i mean this is when punk was about to start raging this album was released on a major label i found it in the hamel hampstead library when i was about 13 years old and for some reason they had a copy of this record and i never i don't even remember ever seeing in a record shop but they had a copy of this record john g perry was the name of the artist he was briefly the bass player in caravan and somehow he got a record deal with deca which is a big major label to make this love letters to the lake district and it's such again an album that exists outside of time isn't it such a beautifully innocent naive sounding record um some big guests on it you know this it's produced by rupert hein michael jiles is on it michael jiles the drummer roger glover's on it yeah deep purple
Speaker 3well i think you know it comes from i think if you're a member in the late 70s john g perry and michael jiles were rupert hein's chosen rhythm section for sessions and of course john g perry was also in quantum jump i think yes he was yeah but that that record
Speaker 2just kind of the only record he ever made see they got dropped by the record label it's very hard to find even now i'm fine i mean if
Speaker 3the sort of sound of it is somewhere between canterbury music and penguin cafe orchestra yeah yeah that's a good description number
Speaker 2three number three in fact number two and three are kind of i was pondering which order i would put these around because they're both a little bit two sides of the same coin return of the jurys column the first jurys column album and virginia rassley's from gardens where we feel secure now interesting we talked about the bucolic sort of aspect of the john g perry album the virginia rassley album has it completely too it's the sound of summer's long since passed in fact there's a track on the album called summer long since well it's almost like
Speaker 3jerry's landscape paintings it's almost it's an english summer day describing musical form yeah i mean delius i suppose did similar things
Speaker 2and the jurys column album
Speaker 3again there's something very similar but what's nice about that is i love some of the martin hannock production techniques on this where it's almost like birds but they're mechanical birds it's got that kind of david lynch blue velvet you know the beginning of the film where there's the mechanical birds or well it's interesting
Speaker 2because obviously vinnie riley has this very warm beautiful sort of lyrical guitar style but it's produced through the filter of joy division's producer yeah so it's this kind of cold almost industrial cold sort of you know a film over the front of it but it just works it's a combination that really works number one in our list could it be anything else godly and cream's triple album the ultimate triple album folly the failure of its generation the last hurrah of the conceptual art rock progressive rock scene consequences now we've we this is another this was another album that sort of myself and tim thought we have to do this podcast just so we can talk about common one by van morrison but also consequences by god agree now it's interesting because we've had some very i've introduced a lot of people to this album over the years i know you have two tim they tend to go in one of either two two ways don't they yeah they either completely get it or they just think you're insane when they've heard it now interesting i wonder how many people here have listened to the record as a result of hearing us talk about it okay two how many of you loved it oh good how many of you hated it beyond belief there's a few at the back there now see that's interesting what what is there to hate about it i don't i don't understand i think this is the point isn't it when we when we feel passionate about something we all must feel affronted by the fact that everyone doesn't agree with it i don't i don't agree with this can't understand i can't understand what anyone would not like common one by van morrison i can't understand would you fight someone i can't i wouldn't fight no but i would just i would be very you'd throw some milkshake over them i'd be disappointed i'd be bereft i'd be bereft you'd
Speaker 3be bereft as if there'd been a death in the family i feel the same way
Speaker 2about concert and i know we're not alone there's actually a podcast that's dedicated just to discussing this one album you've been on it i've not been on it but i know them you've been on i thought you'd been on it no i've worked with them okay they they have a podcast dedicated just to discussions about this album because it's an album that you can analyze endlessly isn't it there's so much in it there's like a comedy comedy skit that peter cook voices all sorry sir i
Speaker 3said mr blint mr blint yes there's a
Speaker 2comedy sequence where peter cook basically plays all the characters it's conceptual it's also you know there's obviously a big connection with with technology in the sense that first record is an exploration of the gizmo this gadget that they invented and the first record is like a way for them to show the capabilities of this of this music well it was
Speaker 3originally intended as a gizmo demonstration
Speaker 2now the first album is a gizmo demonstration but the sound design the production on this record it's and and the funny thing is i've met i know you've talked to kevin about it as well they don't like it either and and i i remember i was in a studio this is a showbiz anecdote coming up guys showbiz anecdote i was in the studio the one of the only times i ever got hired as a session guitar player why anyone would hire me i don't know anyway i got hired and trevor horn was the producer and trevor and lol cream are really good friends and trevor said to me about halfway through the session he said i hope you don't mind my friend's coming in do you mind if he just sits at the back he's very quiet he doesn't get out much he just wants to sit at the back and listen if you like uh you know if that's okay and i said sure and he said yeah it's it's lol cream by the way so the that blew my mind so oh my god lol cream consequences is one of my favorite albums of all time and trevor looked at me said i wish you'd tell him that because he's been hearing for 40 years what a pile of shit that record is and he's and he he's come to believe it himself so i actually made a point of going up to him and saying oh lord i just want to tell you how much i i think he thought i was being sarcastic and i tell you how much i love that record and i hope he's had other people tell him that since this is about yeah i thought you know now there's a you know podcast there's a little yeah there's a podcast there's a little swell
Speaker 3swell of enthusiasm for the road and there was a website fairly early on yeah mr blintz attic yeah mr blintz attic yeah mr monopoly here miss me monopoly is
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