Fifteen albums in fifteen minutes

There’s a challenge going round at the moment, inviting you to name your top fifteen albums in no more than fifteen minutes’ worth of contemplation.

Intrigued, I undertook the test, and present here the result: my only rule was that they had to be listed in the order in which they occurred to me, and I had to stop at fifteen. (What the list says about their impact or my tastes in music is another matter!) They should be albums that have stayed with you, or made the greatest impact.

  1. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis Album cover
  2. Bitches Brew – Miles Davis
  3. Music for 18 Musicians – Steve Reich
  4. Hejira – Joni Mitchell
  5. Heavy Weather – Weather Report
  6. Préludes – Debussy – performed by Dino Ciani
  7. Mélodies – Debussy –– Barbara Hendrix / Michel Beroff
  8. Violin Concerti – Bach – Anne-Sophie Mutter / Salvatore Accardo / English Chamber Orchestra
  9. Passio, Arvo Pärt – Hilliard Ensemble
  10. The Köln Concert – Keith Jarrett
  11. String Quartets, Debussy / Ravel – the Kodaly Quartet Album cover
  12. Étoile Polaire (North Star) – Philip Glass
  13. Histoires naturelles, Ravel – Gerard Souzay / Dalton Baldwin
  14. Manhattan – Art Farmer
  15. Vermont Counterpoint, Steve Reich – Ransom Wilson (flute)

I have to admit, I was surprised that Music for 18 Musicians came third! I can still recall exactly where I was the first time I heard Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint, which opened the door in the low wall to Reich and to Minimalism for me. The Bach concerti used to be played repeatedly in the car on the school run when I was going to school. The Debussy / Ravel quartet disc was the first CD I ever purchased, and was a revelation: the colour, the language, the nuance of French Impressionism.

Album coverI’ve never heard as charismatic a performance of Ravel’s Histoire naturelles as that given by Souzay / Baldwin, and although my tastes have changed since, I still have a soft spot for the Barbara Hendrix recording of the Debussy songs.

And for solid swing, the flugelhorn of Art Famer on Manhattan is unforgettable.

Nearly all of these were influential in defining my musical interests which still hold sway, and none of them, interestingly, came from my music studies for GCSE / A-level: they were the result of listening outside the curriculum-imposed works from the Classical tradition. Apart from the Pärt, these had all wormed their ways into my life by the time I left school. There have been fantastic albums since then – the Tallis Scholars singing Tallis’ Lamentations of Jeremiah, Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle¸KidA by Radiohead – but these occurred later, both in life and in the order of recall when writing the list, so they didn’t make it.

Your turn….

2 thoughts on “Fifteen albums in fifteen minutes”

  1. 1. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison
    2. Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter – Incredible String Band
    3. Penguin Eggs – Nic Jones
    4. London Calling – Clash
    5. Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan
    6. Catch a Fire – Bob Marley and the Wailers
    7. My Life in the Bush with Ghosts – Brian Eno & David Byrne
    8. I, Jonathan – Jonathan Richman
    9. Liege & Lief – Fairport Convention
    10. Last waltz – the Band
    11. Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake
    12. Leftism – Leftfield
    13. Volume 1 – Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares
    14. Music of My Mind – Stevie Wonder
    15. Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello

    I shall now spend three days cursing myself for having missed out some of my favourite albums. Damned hard thing to do.

  2. I know what you mean: there’s lots of own-shin-kicking that ensues immediately afterwards, with a great deal of ‘How could I forget THAT ?’ or ‘Why didn’t I include THIS ?’ The Eno/Byrne album is enthralling: ‘Jezebel Spirit’ is particularly alarming! I have the 1981 LP with ‘Qu’ran’ on it: fantastic.

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