15 albums that greatly affected me…

Instructions: Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wasu, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you’re finished, you are supposed to tag 15 others, including moi. As far as I’m concered, if you’re reading this… you’re tagged, ok?

Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good, now read my answers and enjoy!

Peter

1. Bat Out Of Hell (Meat Loaf)

When I first heard this album, it was on an eight-track cartridge. When visiting a friend of mine, his father had that and many other albums in that format and that was the first time I ever heard any song off that album and I was a very impressionable 9 years old at the time. Funny story, one of my gym teachers had to sub for the sex ed teacher one day cause she was home with a severe flu. This gym teacher didn’t what to say nor know how to teach the class, so his idea of teaching us about sex was to play ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’. I had already heard the song before, but this time out many of us were made aware of the sexual intent of the song as it was spelled out for us in detail. I’m not sure mom & dad would have liked that class very much, especially for grade 10 sex ed class. Getting away from that, chances are if you asked me what the best album of all time was… odds are this is the one I’ll bring up everytime. I got to see Meat Loaf last year during what he later announced was his final tour. To hear most of the songs from this album performed live was amazing, and something I’m glad I got to check out before it was too late.

2. 1984 (Van Halen)

This was one of the first albums I ever got. A bud of mine gave me a cassette of this album for my birthday, and I did my best to hide it from my parents cause I was afraid they would take it away. I played until the tape broke, but the songs are still unforgettable. Jump, Panama, I’ll wait and Hot for Teacher were classics that made this one very influencial album.

3. Alive II (Kiss)

I saw this album at a garage sale when I was walking home from the store. After reading the list of songs on the back cover, I purchased the album with what was left of my allowance for a bargin price of $1. I took the double LP home and hid it from my parents. Whenever Mom and Dad were out, I would bring the album out and play it on my parent’s record player and sometimes crank it up if my brothers were out and playing with their friends. This two record album was mostly killer with songs like Love Gun, Shout it out loud, Beth and Detroit Rock City. I’ve been a huge fan of Kiss ever since and it led to my eventual sneaking out to see them live during their Hot In The Shade tour at the Ex a few years later.

4. The Lonesome Jubliee (John Mellencamp)

In 1987, this album was a real eye opener for me. Most of the time the only thing I cared about was the beat, the music and how things sounded. I didn’t care what the song was about as long as it sounded good. This was the first album where I actually stopped to listen to what it had to say as each song was a story, a tale that wanted to be told. The lyrics on this album were a mix of social commentary and reflection. They contained a detailed telling of younger life and what some must go through to mature and prosper. Jubilee’s songs also touched on the struggles of the common man, people working to through economic and social hardships. It also tackled many other valuable issues such as the struggle against unemployment, homelessness and pain before presenting a simple message everyone could understand: my thoughts are with you during these difficult times. It was this album that also turned my musical influence towards more country and folk music influences as well as actually reading the song as opposed to just listening to it.

5. Phamton Of The Opera (Original Broadway Cast)

This was the first Broadway musical that attracted me to theatre. I loved this the moment I heard it one summer, and spent the rest of that year listening to it over and over and over again. The next year I was at Pantages Theatre, watching this amazing musical ten rows behind the orchestra. I’ve been hooked on many musicals since but this was the one that got things started for me…

6. The Joshua Tree (U2)

Another huge album when I was growing up. It seemed like everyone I knew had a copy of this in some medium. This was U2 when they were their biggest and most influencial and the songs on the album are just killer. I enjoyed ‘The Joshua Tree’ when I was young just cause it was a rocking album, but later when back years later to realize what it was all about only to realize it’s message which was not just a depiction of the band’s fascination with America, but also its discontent with the foreign policy of the United States. Facintating stuff…

7. Reckless (Bryan Adams)

This album was huge when I was growing up and for good reason. With amazing songs like Somebody, Heaven, It’s Only Love, Run to You and especially Summer of 69 made this one of the best albums of the 80’s. This was a great album and had a lot of rocking tunes, and since I’m from Canada this was that much bigger back then. I honest didn’t think that Bryan would ever top this album but as we all know he did much better int he years to come, especially in the 90’s.

8. Appetite for Destruction (Guns N’ Roses)

This was the record that my parents referred to as ‘that album’. When I was in grade eight, everyone was rocking to this album to tunes like Sweet Child Of Mine, Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City. I was very rebelious with everything I did and this was just another way to flip of my parents playing something loud, that swore a lot and just really upset them everytime they heard it. Appetite was by far GNR’s best album, their peak came right out at the gate with their first album and the rest just didn’t live up to the high standard this one set. It was angry, had passion and a lot of four letter words. Spiteful music I like to call it… and everyone had that one band they listened to cause they knew it pissed off people (like your parents) and for me this was one of those albums during that rock/metal phase I had during the mid-late eighties…

9. Eagles Live! (The Eagles)

This double LP was another live album that got to me. This was the album that introduced me to the Eagles, and their amazing array of hit songs. This live album had amazing performances of Hotel California, The Long Run, Life’s Been Good, Life In the Fast Lane, Take It To The Limit, and Desperado. I was a late comer when it came to the jumping on the Eagles bandwagon, but once I got on… I never jumped off. I’ve been a huge fan of the Eagles every since, and my wifen h6and I got to see a once in a lifetime show last year when we saw the Eagles at ACC last year in July. On what might be their last tour (to promote Long Road Out Of Eden), it was a once in a lifetime concert that lived up to all our expectations and beyond. It’s one thing to listen to Hotel California on in your home and rock away, but it’s another to be there and hear The Eagles perform it. A musical moment that I will never forget…

10. Five Days In July (Blue Rodeo)

Like a few other bands that I love today, I was again a late bandwagon jumper with this bad as well. There’s a funny story to how I became a fan of this band. When I was attending Univeristy, I packed very light when I first flew over. So one thing on my hit list of must get things was a CD-player so I could listen to music when I was studying, doing assignments and reading for classes and what not. One student was graduating that semester and he offered to let me have his and the end of that semester when he was finished. He was offering a great price and it was a good stereo so I took it. I bought it from this bud the day he left, and when I opened it to put a CD in, there was already one in there: Five Days in July by Blue Rodeo. I had heard of the band but never really sat down to listen to much of their stuff. I couldn’t give it back cause he was already gone so I kept the album and listened to it later and was amazed by the band’s great sound. I became a huge Blue Rodeo fan and went on to buy many more albums and attend three concerts.

11. Such Sweet Sorrow (Michael Feinstein)

When my parents first ordered a satelite dish, we had to pay for many channels on the dial but on channel that was free was this one station that played a lot of music and offered albums for sale all the time. Whenever I got bored or was cleaning around the house, I would turn on this channel and listen to the music when I was doing my thing. While listening to this channel is when I first heard this magnificent song from this album, Feinstein singing ‘For Love Alone’ and I was amazed by how great this song was and wanted to get this album. A year later when I was attending University for my first year I was browsing through a music store looking for some new CD’s to listen to on my recently obtained used player and saw this and instantly snached it up. This amazing album had an array of classic songs (Let’s Face the Music And Dance, Love Is Just Around The Corner) but some new songs from other mediums. It was a great album, and one that I still enjoy listening to today whenever I have something to do and want to listen to something easy going on the radio.

12. En Tiempo Di Amor (Raul Di Blasio)

This album was responsible for anexpansion of my musical tastes into more instrumental areas… especially the new wave variety. I heard a few selections of this artists work and I had to get this album. After listening to it a few zillion times, I started to get works by more instrumental artists such as Yanni, John Tesh, Jim Brickman. I find this music very relaxing, and easy to work with if I was ever doing homework or working on a writing project. I still listen to these a lot, especially when I do dishes and other stuff that requires a little music to accompany it.

13. Vertigo (Jesse Cook)

When I was working for my univeristy’s paper, I volunteered to write articles for the entertainment on albums that were submitted by studios for review. The way it worked for our campus paper was a list of albums was placed on the wall, and you signed up for what interested ya. Whenever something by a popular artist came out, twelve to as many as twenty people signed up and the editor had to so a random draw to see who got to review that album. You were allowed to apply for five a week so you could get as many as 70 albums to review a semester if you got everything you signed up for. I didn’t want to fight people for albums so I took chances and signed up for artists and albums I had never heard off just because no one else wanted them. Many times I listened to some awful stuff, but some albums were amazing and remain a jewel in my CD collection. One such album I reviewed was ‘Vertigo’ by Canadian jazz guitarist Jesse Cook. I was already into the instrumental stuff already and this album was just all that and then some. I gave the album a rave review and kept it rather than sold it like many reviewers did with unwanted albums at the end of the year.

14. Baja Sessions (Chris Issak)

Each roomate I had in college had one album/artist that I picked up from them to make a part of my permanent music collection. My second year in college that roomie who helped tinker my musical tastes was Brad. A nice kid from Saskatchewan, was a bit of a loner but overall a great guy. He had a lot of weird musical tastes but one artist that he really turned me to that semester was Chris Issak. That year was when Issak realeased this album, titled Baja Sessions which was a mix of new and remade tunes from previous albums. It had a very acoustic feel to it and combined with Issak’s amazing voice, it was one amazing album. I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Issak ever since and he’s on my hit list of artists to see in concert… thanks brad!

15. Thirteen Songs (David Wilcox)

David Wilcox was a Canadian artist I vaguely knew based on two of his older hits (Bad Apple, Do The Bearcat) and I picked up this album from my campus paper to review and was simply blown away by these amazing song. Released in 1996, Thirteen Songs had mostly acoustic-based melodies that were performed with a small band in what seemed like a very intimate setting. In this album Wilcox embraced everything from sax-and-organ jazz to country storytelling and deep blues… it was just all over the place! Wilcox also made a freaky song titled “God Is On A Bender” which some believe is one of the best songs Wilcox has composed, ever. I loved this album so much, when Wilcox came to the island a few years later I was there to take in the whole show and enjoy the new and classic tunes. Was a fantastic show, and I still have this album even after I sold most of my CD collection for other reasons.