[NicBDA]

I agree diademgrove, a great single, lyric was fun and cryptic but was mainly about his entourage and himself, Telegram Sam being his manager at the time if I remember correctly, Bobby was Dylan, Jake his personal assistant and being a Howlin Wolf was a reference to the Jeepster riff (another classic single) being based on a Howlin' Wolf song.

Enjoyed watching the clip.

Another song with a story that is one of my favs is Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water.

[montydog]

If I had to take eight original studio albums (no live or compilations) to a desert island they would be:

Elvis Presley - From Elvis In Memphis.(1969) The finest album he made and a showcase of his genius as an interpretive singer.

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.(1975) I could take all her albums but this was the summit of her creativity.

The Doors - L.A. Woman (1971) - Their last and best LP and a demonstration of why they are the best band to  come out of America.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008) - The best album this century so far. Incredible songwriting, harmonies and arrangements.

Neil Young - On The Beach (1974) - Dark, brooding, crazy and brilliant all at the same time and some beautiful melodies.

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) - Towering ambition backed up with beautiful songwriting, innovative playing, arrangements and use of soundscapes. If you want to understand the real meaning of life, listen to this.

Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks(1975) - His best album and that is truly saying something! Incredibly complex and mature expression of emotional turmoil wrapped up in beauty, anger and bitterness. Not for the faint hearted.

This Mortal Coil - Blood (1991) - Indie music at it's best. An aural feast for the soul. Play this album to all your friends and ditch the ones who don't like it.

Enjoy.....

[TheButcher]

1. Radiohead - in rainbows

2. Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

3. Sigur Ros - ( )

4. Tim Hecker - Virgins

5. Bon Iver - For Emma

6. Dust Brothers - Fight Club OST

7. Radiohead - O K Computer

8. The XX - XX

[Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra]

Mostly I go for songs not whole albums...but some of my faves, some already mentioned...

Naturally - JJ Cale

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac - Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac

Doors - Doors

After The Goldrush and Harvest - Neil Young

The Band - The Band (I think it's this one, anyway the one with 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down')

Fela Kuti - Original Sufferhead

Bowie - all the early ones ( giving away my age here. Ziggy was the first album I bought.)

Mikey Dread - Beyond World War III



and nobody's mentioned the Stones. Late 60s to early 70s. My fave is Beggar's Banquet. Got a soft spot for their 1st album too!

[TheButcher]

@cramer

'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

i love that song.

and that album:

After The Goldrush and Harvest - Neil Young

if it were about "songs" i d add this song by the mamas and the papas....stars shining bright above you....the cutest song ever...to me

[diademgrove]

Two more singles as I'm away for an important date on Saturday.

Lulu I'm a Tiger, one my first singles bought for me by my mother who took me to watch Hull City but will be with me only in spirit on Saturday. Still a great pop song.

The Kinks; Waterloo Sunset. The greatest English songwriter of his generation in my opinion. Better than Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards. The singles he wrote in the 60s and early 70s are unsurpassed in my view. There is a lot to be learned from a Kinks greatest hits compliation.

With a lot of luck I'll be in paradise on Saturday night looking at Waterloo Sunset.

diadem

[montydog]

The greatest English songwriter of his generation in my opinion. Better than Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards. The singles he wrote in the 60s and early 70s are unsurpassed in my view. There is a lot to be learned from a Kinks greatest hits compliation.

diadem

Totally agree. Genius.

[Jamie]

Hi all, I agree that Ray Davies has written some truly great songs, and some might be better than some Lennon and McCartney, some jagger and Richards, some Page and Plant, but I don't think you can compare his canon of work with theirs!
Light touch paper and stand back
Cheers
Jamie

[diademgrove]

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Southern Accents has been played a lot lately. Less than 40 minutes of class and it starts with the amazing Rebels. Not sure if you're still collecting albums Jess, if you want me to stop just say so.

This version of Rebels is from Live Aid.

[Sing4me88]

I'm gonna throw ya a curve ball Jess and say check out Boney M. Their stuff is so catchy and feel good that it isn't even funny. Sure the lyrics make little to no sense but they are repetitive and catchy and they use melody, hook and harmonies superbly. I'm thinking stuff like Brown Girl in the ring, Daddy Cool, Rivers of Babylon (which they lifted verbatim from scripture but man did they nail it with the melody), Marys Boy child and Holiday. I defy anyone not to get their head nodding and a smile on their face listening to this kinda music. I think in terms of trying to write simple commercial Pop for todays market a lot can be gleaned from Boney M.

[Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra]

I know it's picky but since we are all songwriters it ought to be said that Boney M didn't write the melody of 'Rivers of Babylon'. It was written by two blokes from The Melodians. Here's the link 'cos this is just a better version, for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-5E6_qtXAw&feature=kp

And.. the Ray Davis thing. I have to agree that he is a great songwriter and that 'Waterloo Sunset' is one of the best,er...maybe ...ten songs of the 60s.
But I also agree with Jamie that The Stones and Beatles had a greater number of great songs than he did.
Let's just say that they were all writers of really good songs.
Unfortunately I have to disagree with something Jamie suggests. Page and Plant don't belong in the same room.

[Jamie]

Hi Cramer, now I thought you were a sensible guy . Led Zep created the template for modern rock guitar music, albeit their early stuff was a lot of recycled Mississippi blues, but everyone has their influences. They've written some great rock songs and have blues (since I've been loving you), rock (rock and roll, black dog), folk (various Zep III songs) and world (Kashmir) for example. Great band, but I think this is a question of musical taste and degree? Many rock stars have referenced Zep.
So you're not wrong, it's just a question of definition .
Cheers 
Jamie

[Sing4me88]

JESS - Since you tend to write commercially and the aim of this thread is to widen your influences I'm gonna throw Bob Marley into the mix. An amazing artist that has truly left his stamp on music.Paradoxically while Marley wrote awesome tracks like Redemption Song and NO woman No cry with inspiring and thought provoking lyrics with a natural stripped back feel he also wrote tracks like Three little birds, Buffalo Soldier, I shot the sheriff etc with less heavy lyrics but bouncing melodies. This is love is a master piece as is 'Could you beloved' - in the latter the hook line is perfect in terms of simplicity for the lyrics and flow and memorability for the melody. Too numerous to mention all his classics but Jammin and Exodus are up there too. Follow his style and you can't really go too far wrong at all!

[GTB]

"JESS - Since you tend to write commercially and the aim of this thread is to widen your influences "

Here's another curved ball - anything by Spike Jones and the City Slickers - enjoy
GTB

[diademgrove]

Another great single, Video Games