15 plater

There's a thing going around Facebook where you're supposed to list 15 albums that had a profound impact on you. I couldn't resist explaining why I chose the ones I did. Here's the post:

I'm a little embarrassed about my list, so I feel the need to contextualize. I don't have very sophisticated or challenging taste in music. I like anything I can dance to and I don't like it too noisy. I grew up with a father who had a fantastic record collection. He had all the major bands of the late 60s and early 70s, plus a great selection of classical music. I was thoroughly versed in the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Santana, Steely Dan, the Band, Bob Dylan, etc., etc., etc. from before I was able to make any individual choices about music.

Of that extensive collection, the two that stood out the most as albums for me as a kid (beyond the obvious single cuts like "She Caught the Katy," "Yellow Submarine," or "Rocky Racoon") are:

1. The Band – Cahoots (1971). The emotions stirred by the song "The Moon Struck One" were almost unbearable. I would just lie there on the red (!) wall-to-wall carpet in our living room and freak out whenever my father played this album. And when I die you can play "When I Paint My Masterpiece" at the memorial.

2. The Beach Boys – Sunflower (1970). An incredibly rich, incredibly evocative album. Don't get me wrong, I love teeny-bopper Beach Boys too, but this one was just so big and full and lovely.

The first three albums I remember borrowing from my Dad's collection (and making my own as it were) are:

3. Dire Straits – Dire Straits (1978). I would have been 11 or 12. When I put this record on in my room I felt like I was entering an entirely new – adult and slightly sexy and dangerous – world. It was a very intense experience to listen to this alone.

4. W.A.Mozart – Divertimenti. Music I would listen to after dark alone in my room during the summer, probably as a high school freshman. Pavilions and formal gardens would open up in my mind. This is still the music that speaks most directly to me.

5. The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society (1968). My favorite concept album, which I probably discovered while a freshman or sophomore in high school. I loved the meta aspect of people taking pictures of each other (and thought it was brilliantly used in a HP commercial a couple of years back). I was a complete anglophile, and really got into the heavily ironic attempt to capture a dying culture.

Then we get to the music that I discovered on my own, beyond my father's record collection.

6. The Police – Outlandos d'Amour (1978). I distinctly remember taking the bus downtown to buy this record. I had seen the Police on HBO's Video Jukebox and they appealed to me instantly. Obviously I developed a huge crush on Sting, but way beyond that I really got into the watered down punk and reggae mixture. I am NOT a fan of Sting's solo career, but I bought every Police album while in high school.

7. Talking Heads – More Songs about Buildings and Food (1978). The moment that I heard "Take Me to the River" while listening to trashy pop music on KISM radio in Bellingham, I had an overwhelming feeling of discovering something entirely different. As with Dire Straits, a whole new world opened up for me. I don't think I actually ever owned this album, but Talking Heads were a huge part of how I tried to identify myself as a teenager and young adult.

8. Blondie – Parallel Lines (1978). "Heart of Glass" was another song that took me right out of Bellingham and Silver Beach Elementary School and into another, far more adult and complex world. And then the whole album was filled with unfamiliar emotions and problems. Fascinating and edgy for a fifth grader!

9. XTC – English Settlement (1982). My friend Golden turned me on to XTC. The connection was immediate. I had already heard "Senses Working Overtime" on KISM in the car with my mother. Everything from the amazing cover art (an image of the bronze age horse at Uffington) to all the songs just hit right home. I played the cassette every single morning while getting ready for school my sophomore year of high school.

10. REM – Murmur (1983). I was late in discovering this band. It wasn't until I was already in my second year of college that I found them, and I don't really remember how it happened. Probably Golden again! This one is really connected to establishing a life of my own, and I played it constantly in my very first apartment. I moved into it right around when I turned 19 and was working as a barista at Tony's Coffee in Fairhaven in Bellingham.

11. They Might Be Giants – Flood (1990). Kaja and Brian Potter introduced me to this, and the silliness of TMBG became my salvation through my disastrous and very short first marriage. "Particle Man" still makes me very happy every time I hear it. I was in graduate school and spent endless hours trying to figure out if the music was brilliant or just inane.

12. Dwight Yokam – If there Was a Way (1990). I grew up on the west coast but have strong family ties to the midwest. Most of my relatives watched NASCAR racing before it was cool, and country music was a huge part of my upbringing. My love for Dwight Yokam's music is a kind of back-to-the-roots and anti-cool thing for me. He is, in my opinion, the most intellectually challenging country artist out there, and his take on the Bakersfield style is just freakin' brilliant. "The Distance Between You and Me" is the best song about a dying relationship ever.

13. Björk – Debut (1993). Divorced and on a Fulbright to Norway. "Big Time Sensuality" and just the sheer hugeness of this music was totally refreshing and inspiring.

14. Various Artists – Afro-Latino (Putumayo World Music, 1998). When I moved to Phoenix I started dancing salsa, and this album opened up a whole new world for me. I like Latin American salsa music well enough (especially Carlos Vives), but the African side of things is just so much more exciting. It's less over-produced and less cliché.

15. Eels – Souljacker (2001). Knut Einar introduced me to Eels right when we got together in 2004, and it's sort of the soundtrack of our life together. A little depressing, very smart, a little bitter, very melodious.