Lifetime Albums

tut

Miles Davis’ Tutu is one of those. Sometimes makes me cry. Sometimes gets me a smile. Sometimes the roof goes off.

I’ll be back as things develop…

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This was one of the first albums that I really got in to having borrowed it from a friend at school and was quickly followed by buying my own copy, which I still have and then several other albums of his from this era.
The album was framed on the wall in Mork and Mindy, which I thought was a good idea, all those years ago.
It contains great tracks on their own and together tell a story of life on the road.
Never tire of listening to it to this day, with Stay being our wedding song.

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Great read, thanks for your memories. Never got to see the man himself live, but have most of his albums

Thank you Martin, I continue to buy his albums and artwork, and go to selected gigs I always find it fascinating that so many young people are there he seems to bridge the generations and confound and confuse as he always has done!
Chris

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OK Here is another: Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden, 1988

I first heard this record last year! I tried it based on discussion on this forum. I had Its My Life on CD that I bought in the 80s - that was OK but nothing special - but Spirit of Eden was completely different and on the first listen I thought that it was something special. From the start it caught my attention with its hooks as well as it being very atmospheric - it feels like the musicians are in a giant room and far away. It is spare and stripped back but has great effect. I don’t play it frequently but when I do the effect is strong.

The version I have is flac 24/96 from Highresaudio, which i bought in Feb 2019. It has an extra song at the end called John Cope that was not on the original record. I didn’t know this when I got the record, so I assumed that it was all as originally intended. Since finding out about the last song, the effect is completely different if I stop playing after the end of the original final song (Wealth) - here, the record simply fades out. Now the John Cope song feels tacked on, and even though I like it, it doesn’t feel appropriate - I much prefer the record sinking into a black hole.

Overall I think this record is a huge achievement - it is very obviously the work of a signature artist in total control of all aspects of its conception and execution. I can’t remember an LP ever sounding like that, before or since. I think this record is a true original work, which is very rare indeed, and this is probably the reason I think it will last with me.

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If you like Spirit of Eden, check out the follow-up (Laughing Stock) and Mark Hollis’s eponymous solo album. Both these albums build on and extend the musical ideas in Spirit of Eden. You might also like The Colour of Spring, which marks the transition away from the (albeit very good) pop tunes of the first two Talk Talk albums to the more atmospheric feel of Spirit of Eden.

As an aside: Spirit of Eden is one of the albums in had in mind in my appreciation of Malcolm Steward for introducing me to some of my favourite music.

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Thanks for the suggestion on The Sessions. I am now exploring my way through these and enjoying them. Last night watched the Oya Festival one and the light show was great as well, must have been great to see live.

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I’d agree that Colour Of Spring is the transitional album but I think the signs were there on It’s My Life (Tomorrow Started, Renee) that something a bit more impressionistic was waiting to emerge from the synth pop.

Very pleased you like the sessions. My faves are 1, 3 and 4. I have seen a couple of recent concerts on youtube and I agree - I think the new TD is worth going to see. New record out next week - their versions of old TD songs.

Interesting thread. So let me also contribute. This album is an album from when I was young and started to get interested by easy jazz…, it started with thinks like John’s “My favorite things” which was easy to appreciated, and which I still like…, however then I got into this album and it took me multiple times of deep listening into as it was more hardcore then this easy jazz. Later on I even pushed myself in hardcore free jazz from Han Bennink and others which I saw at a local jazz festival and who impressed me. While it’s never on the shortlist of key jazz albums, for me it is. Every now and then I again put it in, but I am not so in love anymore with it than in my young years…, while I only had a couple of albums…

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So a second one for today… while now I would more listen to Made in Japan, this album was the one I had available on cassette tape. And I really run it so often that it finally broke. Lying on the bed and having it on while swinging my head from left to right. Still as off today I find songs like Child in Time and Soace Trucking heavingly…, the long songs, the excellent playing… at the same time I have never been a huge fan of Smoke in the Water like others. And as I played the drums the mule was for me also one of these songs which I played over and over again in awe of the skill of Ian Paice …

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image I never tire of this album, excitement, fantastic songs and Michael Schenker’s guitar playing is on fire. I played the vinyl to death when I was 14. I have the remastered cd but prefer and older cd version with the same running order as the original vinyl double album.

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The first LP that I owned, bought for me as a birthday present by my brother… Little Richard was my first “hero” …unless I include a short lived obsession with Tommy Steele! I’d never heard anything like this before, still have it, plays really well…takes me right back to our mono auto change record player days, lifetime indeed.

Chris

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The first album I owned. Perfect in so many ways and my copy has been very well looked after and so still surprises me each time I put it on.

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Here are a few of my favourites that I’ve played regularly since buying them, although it is hard to keep the list short as I have many others too.


I bought this around 1980 so a few years after it was released. I was still living at my parents in Lincolnshire, and a friends older brother played it incessantly! Still sounds brilliant today.

Brilliant band! Tried to see them a couple of times, but weather and illness meant that I had to cancel concerts a couple of times. Finally managed to see them on ‘The End’ tour in Leeds. Whilst Ozzy wasn’t quite as ‘dynamic’ on stage, his voice was really good, and this was definitely a ‘grail’ concert for me!

Bought this in 1984. Had just started work, and was living in a bit of a dingy basement flat in Newcastle. Spent many a pleasant evening listening to this with my girlfriend of the time (wish I’d kept in touch with her, but alas she moved to France I think). Awesome album and brings back great memories every time I listen to it.

Not sure where I heard Incubus first, but bought this around 2002. ‘Are You In?’ is a track I use to ‘test’ new hi-fi. I just love the drums on the intro. Listen to this LP a lot and can’t imagine that’ll change.

I have loads more that I could mention (Janis Joplin - Pearl; BB King - Midnight Believer; Paul Weller - Wild Wood; Pixies - Doolittle; Prefab Sprout - Swoon; Sia - Some People Have Real Problems), but these are 4 of my all time favourites.

Nigel

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My favorite prog metal band is of course also in this post. The Metropolis PT2 is one of the most brilliant concept albums in the scene. It completely blew me away from the first time I heard it. I have the pleasure to hear it live again this week Thursday, I can’t wait.
The other album also has one crazy 25 minutes saga on it and some really splendid covers of famous rock songs. Their Perfect Strangers of Deep Purple sounds to me better than the original - perhaps with exception of the vocal.

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PJ Harvey. Dry. 1992.

The magnificent Polly Jean Harvey’s best album in my opinion. For me, the symbiotic relationship between interesting/unique poems/lyrics, raw emotion, raw voice and simple bare chested instruments all coming together in a collection of songs that seem to bring a strange musical clarity to me.

There was nothing like this album at the time. I saw them twice that year, the first time was one of the best gigs I ever had the pleasure of seeing.

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Sinead O’Connor. The Lion and The Cobra. 1987.

Although very different…weirdly I could repeat the words mentioned above for this album, but Sinead’s voice at this time was untouchable.

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I really love that “Change of Seasons’ album. I really need to try Metropolis again.

I’ve only seen them once, when I lived in England, so before 1998 - seems a lifetime ago now.

Some items but not exhaustive

Van Morrison Astral Weeks
Any of the Bach Violin Concertos especially the Double
Beethoven Violin Concert
Graceland
Ravi Shankar at Monterey
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails
Linda Ronstadt Heart Like A Wheel
Frank Zappa Hot Rats
Mahler 8th Symphony
Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man
Traffic John Barleycorn Must Die
Fairport Convention Leigh and Leaf
St. Matthew Passion
The Band - The Band
Peter Gabriel Passion
Ry Cooder M. Byatt A Meeting By the River

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