1. Johnny Cash | Ring Of Fire (Anita Carter Cover)
I was 9 years old in 1975 when my dad took me to see the great man play live in Belfast at The Grand Opera House. He had his whole band with him, including brass section. June Carter Cash joined him onstage singing Jackson. When he came on stage the whole place stood up, clappin' and hollerin’... It was the first time I had a spiritual experience. Just priceless.
2. Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody
I spent every weekend with my head pressed up-against my dad's gramophone speaker on the chart rundown at a time before tape recorders and before I could even conceive of asking dad to buy me that record. I'd never heard Opera before - never knew what Rock Opera was.
3. The Police | Walking On The Moon
The first band that was mine, not my dad's or friends' taste. Just loved The Police, their sound, the songs, their energy and musicianship. It was the first time I taught myself (Pre-Internet and Mentor) to play a complicated riff (Message In A Bottle) on my battered old Framus Acoustic. The thing I heard about The Police was that they were so good at their instruments that they tried to beat each other by playing as little as possible to achieve maximum impact. Evidence - Bring On The Night! There’s a single note lead break from Andy Summers that is SOOOOO GOOOD!
4. The Blue Nile | A Walk Across The Rooftops
Their debut album. One of the most criminal moments in Common Musical History is that this band weren’t massive. Buchanan's vocals soar above Electronic instruments and the divine live guitars supply a mix that is to my ears unsurpassed.
5. Simple Minds | Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
Fell in Love to it, danced to it, still play it today. Every delicious riff and groove. Sublime. Jim Kerr’s brooding vocals, Charlie Burchill's soaring guitar licks that are humanly impossible and Mel Gaynor's crisp groove... Ah, man!
6. The Smiths | What Difference Does It Make?
Slap you in the face with the guitar riff from Heaven. Combination of Morrissey's Wildean flamboyant style and Johnny Marr‘s Baroque detailed guitar picking a la Chet Atkins/Gibson is, to this date, IMHO, unsurpassed. Later while digging into the backline sound, found out their producers were using samplers for the kick and snare on the Akai S950, not to take anything from Joyce. He was still written and played the hell out of these drums, they just replaced the kick/snare with the big trendy sound of the time. They were all at it, from Duran Duran to ABC and Echo & The Bunnymen.
7. Ellis Begs & Howard | Big Bubbles, No Troubles
Again, as above, a seminal record for me and strangely with a twist in its tail. Later on, when I formed D:Ream, Simon Ellis, one third of the trio, turned up on my doorstep to audition. I didn’t even need to hear him play. I told him instantly he’d got the job, we then proceeded to my favourite bar. Simon has since gone on to do great things and some not so great things.
8. Zoë | Sunshine On A Rainy Day
I was bartending in Woody's night club (an old S7M joint, Portobello, London) when Charlie Hall (he of Shoom fame) finished the evening for every nite for for 4 weekends running. I'd never taken an E by this stage, but even as a sober 20-year-old it made the hairs stand on the back of my neck.
9. The Grid | Floatation (Subsonic Grid Mix)
Once I got House Music, this was one of those tracks played out in the summer of 1990. It's more the chilled out side of things - but I wore out my vinyl copy of the Andy Weatherall remix. The vibe was at that time... New Man, flotation tanks, guarana, bottled water, etc....
10. Leftfield | Not Forgotten
I couldn’t get my head 'round what these boys had done. D:Ream never used samples this way. We were never that clever.
+11. Gat Decor | Passion (Naked Mix)
This set the bar for our remix style which influenced us when we remixed EMF's They're Here and Duran Duran’s Drowning Man.
+12. Massive Attack | Unfinished Sympathy
Listen to the strings opening on U R The Best Thing and you’ll know how much I loved this record. It's a shame, 'cause having bought this on 12”... I was bitterly disappointed to find when I bought the album that this was the only Up-Tempo song on there... But loved it nonetheless.
+13. Rozalla | Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) (Original Mix)
We were at the back of the bus from a rave in Brighton, singing this the whole way home. Later I wondered where to have a line in U R The Best Thing that soared above the beat. “Love could be so true"...
+14. Doves | The Fear
When I heard this band at first they absolutely beguiled me. Later I found out they had previous as Sub Sub. The combination of House Music sensibility and guitars is to my mind and to this day unsurpassed. I absolutely love this band.
