Katie Melua – Call Off The Search (2003)

Katie was born in Georgia (the country) but at nine she was raised in Belfast and England.  Her father was a heart surgeon and the family were lucky enough to be immediately successful.  Katie turned her Maida Vale bedroom into a recording studio.  A natural talent she attended the Brits school and was mentored by Mike Batt who produced her first three albums.  This one is my favourite though; Katie has a lovely warm and clear and expressive voice and made excellent song choices choosing two of her own songs and one by Randy Newman and Eva Cassidy and half a dozen by Batt himself.  Lead single ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’ struggled until picked up by Wogan, going on to a top ten hit. The album just seems to roll along, Katie’s voice mellow and soft, just lilting above the music.

McGuiness Flint – McGuiness Flint (1970)

Before Gallagher and Lyle were a duo they were part of a band called McGuiness Flint; they left after the first two albums but wrote many of the songs on this debut.  And, as usual, it is the quality of the songs which made this debut a success; the number two single ‘When I’m Dead and Gone’, ‘Heritage’ and ‘Dream Baby Dream’ among a host of others.  Gallagher and Lyle were the main songwriters and were keen to spend more time writing and perfecting the songs, where the other three – McGuiness, Flint and Coulson were happier touring and playing live.  Then their first UK tour was a failure due to illness and a poorly arranged schedule, so the original band broke up but did manage one more album together.  The band reformed without the duo later in the Seventies but I didn’t buy them.

Don McLean – Tapestry (1970)    

Like nearly everyone I fell in love with his second album ‘American Pie’ – but his debut released the year before is also a gem of an album.  McLean is a rather unusual character – he has none of the looks or attitude of a rock star, let alone a singer-songwriter.  There is a gentleness and a sense of understanding in his voice, and a remarkable empathy and understanding of the human condition.  He has always ploughed his own furrow; an album of old banjo favourites, a few albums in the Eighties where he would rather sing old country ballads than his own compositions.  For me his reputation lies with his first half-dozen or so albums, where his brilliant songwriting, careful guitar and wonderful evocative voice took centre stage.  Best on this remarkable debut are ‘And I Love You So’ (0ne of the most recorded songs by other artists of all time), ‘Castles In The Air’, ‘Magdalena Lane’ and ‘Three Flights Up’.  The album was largely ignored on release but sold well when it was re-released after the success of American Pie a year later.

Malcolm McClaren – Duck Rock (1983)

One time manager of the outrageous Sex Pistols Malcolm was also an innovator and a creator of new music – even though he couldn’t play or sing and relied on other musicians to fulfil his ideas.  This record is almost ‘field music’, where he collected music from South Africa, South and North America and the Caribbean and fused it all as a ‘hip-hop’ radio show featuring The World’s Famous Supreme Team.  Confusing but brilliant, it is anarchistic and years ahead of it’s time and helped bring street music to the fore, especially in the UK.  Several famous musicians worked in the background enhancing the raw material including Trevor Horn, Ann Dudley and Thomas Dolby.  The resulting album was a triumph.  Best tracks – the two singles ‘Buffalo Gals’ and ‘Double Dutch’ but also ‘Jive My Baby’ and ‘Soweto’.  Little did we know that this was just the beginnings of a whole new genre which would eventually become ‘Dance Music’.  McClaren also successfully fused Opera with Jive and for me his greatest record was ‘Paris’ a jazzy yet melodic tribute to his adopted city.  He died of a rare cancer in 2010. 

Paul McCartney – McCartney (1970)

It was 1970, The Beatles were in free-fall, despite the success of ‘Abbey Road’ John had already secretly declared he was leaving, George was in America jamming with Delaney and Bonnie and Dylan, Ringo was making a new film – and Paul was depressed.  He was scared of the future, his future without the band he loved.  Recently engaged to Linda he decamped to Scotland to a remote farm his accountants had advised him to buy.  Here with just a small tape recorder he struggled with a few tunes, not much more than doodles and created this Masterpiece.  The whole feel is so different from anything the Beatles had achieved.  Mostly just guitar or piano-led the songs  are barely more than demos and yet there is a beauty in such simplicity.  Slammed by the critics who were already blaming Paul for the demise of The Beatles it sold relatively poorly – but has long been a favourite of mine.  Rescued by the majestic ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ it also contains a few gems; ‘The Lovely Linda’, ‘Every Night’ and ‘Man We Was Lonely’ – but it really is of a whole cloth, every song stitched into the pattern.  I loved it and still do.  Paul would go on to far bigger successes and is now the sole remaining creative Beatle and a National Treasure, but back in 1970 this was a brave attempt to rescue both his career and his sense of self-worth.  A Masterpiece indeed. 

Massive Attack – Blue Lines (1991)

I don’t know much about this group, or loose collective as it seems to be.  They were part of the early Bristol ‘Dance Music Scene’ and attracted a huge following for their trip-hop style, along with Groove Armada and Portishead.  Given their second album ‘Protection’, which I fell in love with I backtracked to this release.  And pretty good it is too.  Very base heavy and laden with multiple layers of hard to distinguish instrumentation and guest singers along with some half spoken, half rapped and a few instrumentals too.  Hard to define quite why all of this works so well but their three main albums have been very hypnotic though it appears they are almost in retirement now.  Still – best on this are ‘Safe From Harm’, ‘One Love’ and ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.

John Martyn – London Conversation (1967)

John, real name Iain McGeachy, was a Scottish folksinger but also an innovative guitarist, sublime songwriter, heavy drinker and though relatively unknown to the general public has influenced many artists over the years; his album ‘Solid Air’ even became a cult favourite on the trip-hop electronica scene of the early 90s.  I first heard of him in the early Seventies with his brilliant ‘Bless The Weather’ album – and worked back to this one.  London Conversation is pure folk but even here his sublime guitar carries the songs to another place; his voice can be quite hypnotic too and the words seem to disappear and all you hear is a voice and guitar – each song drifting into the next.  Best on this mostly self-penned album, which apparently cost just £158 to record, are ‘Fairy Tale Lullaby’, ‘Golden Girls’ and ‘She Moved Through The Fair’.  He later managed to effortlessly fuse blues and jazz and even rock to his folk sound.  A true innovator who sadly fell on hard times with drink and drugs and even lost a leg but carried on making music until his early death in 2009. 

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Angel Station (1979)

Manfred was the keyboard player in the 60’s band named after him, apparently as it sounded so different.  He was a South African who survived the demise of the original band and as he already had name recognition even though he was not the lead singer, he used the name again.  The personnel in the band were quite fluid except of course for Manfred who wrote most of the material for the group.  This was actually the band’s ninth record, though this one was far more popular than most of the earlier ones, maybe because of the hit single ‘You Angel You’, a brilliant Dylan cover.  They really hit their stride with this record, a mix of Art rock and classic driving rock but with gentler moments too, and all driven by Manfred’s immaculate keyboards.  It has remained a real favourite of mine over the years along with the darker ‘Somewhere in Africa’.  Best songs on this – opener ‘Don’t Kill It Carol’, ‘Belle Of The Earth’ and ‘You Are – I Am’. 

Aimee Mann – I’m With Stupid (1995)

Born in 1960, Aimee was a late starter.  This (actually her second album – but who’s counting) she released when she was 35.  She was in a new-wave American band ‘Till Tuesday’ but they were not very successful.  I have, as you must know a sweet spot for girl singer-songwriters – and Aimee caught my attention with this one – her real breakthrough record.  It got excellent reviews but sold poorly; not sure why – the songs are quirky but melodic, the singing is great and the production tight – but the public are fickle, especially as she really arrived twenty years too late.  She is what is called a musician’s musician.  Still – I like her, which is all that matters. My favourite songs are ‘Sugarcoated’, ‘All Over Now’ and ‘It’s Not Safe’. 

Loggins and Messina – Sittin’ In (1971)

Jim Messina had been in Buffalo Springfield and worked on several CSNY albums as a session player.   He was working as a record producer when he was introduced to an unrecorded singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins.  Forming an instant friendship Messina agreed to produce his first album, but was so involved in playing and writing much of the album that they created a duo (the title referred to Messina ‘sitting in on Kenny’s sessions).  An instant success with a couple of hit singles they continued for five more albums before splitting in ’76.  This was the best though; it has a charm and gentle mood which they tended to lose later.   Best on this are ‘House At Pooh Corner’, ‘Vahevalla’, ‘Danny’s Song’ and ‘Same Old Wine’.   Kenny went on to a successful middle of the road solo career and Jim carried on a s a session player and producer.