May 06, 2004

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Music

Jim wants to know about the first and last album you have purchased. It ties in with something I was going to write about anyway, and it's always important to kick a meme along. I've even added another twist.

My first album that I purchased was Crowded House's eponymous first release. I clearly recall returning to my uncle and aunt's house, where we were staying at the time, and delicately placing the LP on the turntable. Yes, LP on turntable. That's how we did things back then kids. It started my life-long love affair with Neil Finn, the only man I'd question my sexuality over.

My last purchase was actually made by Mrs M, and it's Norah Jones's latest effort. Nice mesh of her jazzy roots and her selling out for commercial gain.

Now I'm going to add to Jim's meme. What is the best album in your possession? For mine it is Jeff Buckley's Grace, the very best album of the 1990s. His untimely death meant this was and remains his only true studio album, before the desperate rush to cash in saw the release of anything he'd ever done. His album contains the all-time definitive version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, both lyrically and musically a superb song risen to the sublime (including the lyrics that inspired The Minor Fall, The Major Lift). It combines a collection of solid rock and roll songs with an operatic voice, at times quiet and peaceful, at others unleashed rage and fury. It raised the bar in modern music by proving that rock can be art.

To this day I have not found an album that beats it.

posted by Simon on 05.06.04 at 01:06 PM in the




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Comments:

But all Jeff Buckley seems to do these days is put out greatest hits and live shows. When he puts out some new material, I'll consider becoming a fan.

And the Rufus Wainright(?) version of Hallelujah on the Shrek soundtrack was far better.

If you disagree, feel free to go get drunk and go for a late night swim.

posted by: paul on 05.06.04 at 02:30 PM [permalink]

Yet again your insensitivity to the death of a genius only belittles yourself.

posted by: Simon on 05.06.04 at 03:23 PM [permalink]

He isn't dead. They never found the body.

We all know the truth is that he realised he could make more money writing pop songs and now writes for Britney Spears under a psuedonym.

Just admit you find her latest song 'Toxic' surprisingly catchy and move on from that dark, bleak place you have been living in.

posted by: paul on 05.06.04 at 05:24 PM [permalink]

Your first/last were way cooler than mine.

Seriously.

The best album? Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. Not only does the title stand head and shoulders about the rest, but I just never get sick of it.

posted by: Helen on 05.06.04 at 08:03 PM [permalink]

Norah Jones is the closest I've come in years to purchasing a new CD. Beautiful voice and extraordinary skill using it.

posted by: Jim on 05.06.04 at 08:04 PM [permalink]




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