Even at the tender age of 18, Lauren Hill has oodles of
records, which she can’t help but talk about. I mean who wouldn’t if you have a
collection of 638, all from Foals to The Stooges, Kanye West to the Strokes.
Being avid music fans, I bet we are all eager to know which ones, of the 638,
are Nicole’s favourite. So here is Nicole’s Top Five Greatest Albums of All
Time.
5. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I am
That’s What I’m Not
Absolutely genius. The amount of personality put into this
album is unbelievable. The album starts with ‘Anticipation has a habit to set
you up, For disappointment’, boy was this album incredibly anticipated for, but
I am definitely not disappointed. I think everyone heard snippets of the songs
on Myspace (oh, the good old Myspace days), where evidently Arctic Monkeys
gained national fame, even before the release of this debut album. Beginning
the album ‘The View from the Afternoon’ has one of the best drum solos I have
ever heard, Matt Helders definitely knocked it out the bag with that one. My
song ‘Slip Up’ is based around the heavy drum solo which was influenced by Matt’s
performance in ‘The View from the Afternoon’. Next was the oh so famous ‘I Bet
You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ which brings the whole nation together, I mean
I have never heard anyone not sing along to this cracking tune, undeniably one
for the dancefloor. I have always wanted one of my songs to be like this, one
that makes everyone get up and move, so I tried to create this with my song ‘Hipster
Glasses’. But the stand out of this
album in definitely ‘When The Sun Goes Down’, track number 11. Wow. This song
is catchier than the flu. It starts with the beautiful Alex Turner singing
along to some clean chords, then it changes as the most pleasing riff is played
on a bass guitar. I am proud to say that this album is one of the best of my
generation and I am honoured that this masterpiece happened during my lifetime.
One for the grandkids I think.
So imagine this, it’s 1976 and one of the greatest albums of
all time is released, so what do you do? Do you go out and buy it or do you
stay at home and do nothing? Well if you didn’t buy it you’re a bit stupid and
you missed out, because this, my friend, is treasure. In my opinion Bob Dylan’s
best album. I mean everyone probably already knew that Bob was a pretty awesome
guy, but this just reinforced it. The album opens with ‘Hurricane’ which is
about the Rubin Carter case. This is a great protest song, even the best song
on the record. You can definitely feel the passion in the music (I means it’s
more than 8 minutes long!). The song is basically a story, quite controversial
but from the quality of the song, I can tell that a lot of effort was put into
it, I think anger even raged Bob to write this song, but it is surely
marvellous. My song ‘Free Forever’ was a protest song to free the band Pussy
Riot, and I was definitely influenced by Dylan’s enthusiasm and passion. ‘Isis’
is the second track on the album with a beautiful country ring. Bob’s vocals
are out of this world in this song and there is just something about it that
makes it so wonderful. This folk rock song has no chorus, so it’s constantly
changing and I kind of feel it gets better and better every time I listen to
it. ‘Light in a Dark Valley’, the forth track on my album ‘Long Walk’ has no
chorus as I wanted it to be like ‘Isis’, always changing. Track 4 is ‘One More
Cup of Coffee’ it is a duet between Dylan and Emmylou Harris and it is
perfectly executed. The song has an almost Arab, Middle Eastern vibe to it,
which is what makes it so unique. Desire closes with ‘Sara’, a love song from
Dylan to his wife Sara. This song is very personal and the emotion is felt
quite deeply, with violins playing (conventional love song). I don’t know how
he did it, I mean I usually hate love songs because they are cheesy as hell,
but I think because of how powerful the song is, it doesn’t sound cheesy at all.
So like I said if you don’t have this, go out and get it because there is some powerful
stuff on here which will blow your mind.
3. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
I love Definitely Maybe. It’s such an optimistic album,
being a debut album I don’t think anyone thought it was going to be as good as
it actually was. I mean it was extremely good. If you were young in the 90s and
you didn’t listen to oasis, you’re not cool, sorry. So the album starts with
‘Rock ‘n Roll Star’ which sets off the mood for the whole album. It’s just what
a rock song should be like, just ten times better. There’s a reason why Oasis
were so big, and it was for songs like this. Awesome lyrics and they just play
really well. At the time this type of music was quite unique and gives a little
twist to just rock music. ‘Live Forever’ is the 3rd track and it’s
just a happy song. There’s a pretty decent guitar solo in there and it’s just
about being happy, yet it’s still got that edginess to it, at the same time
it’s soft and tender. At the time grunge music was in, and Oasis was like a ray
of sunshine compared to it. I think Oasis and especially this song ‘Live
Forever’ is what inspired me to make my album as positive as possible. I just
want people to listen to my music and be happy, just like people did with
Oasis. Track number 6 is ‘Supersonic’. Again the content of this song is top
quality and pretty exclusive. It sort of reminds me of The Doors psychedelic
rock. Pretty much all the songs on this album have their own identities. 8th
track is ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ which is pretty different to all the other
songs as it shows Oasis’ wilder side. It talks about having fun but at the same
time being happy, which is the aim of the album I guess. This album definitely
picks you up from a downer because of the lyrics, they’re very uplifting. Oasis
was the centre of the Britpop craze, and they should be for good reason. This
album deserves to be known by everyone because it’s pure genius.
2. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
1973 saw the birth of this baby. My beloved ‘The Dark Side
of the Moon’. There is a reason why it spent more than 11 years in the UK album
chart, because it’s absolutely FAB! It starts off with ‘Speak To Me’, the
overture of the album. It’s basically just an instrumental and then it goes
straight onto ‘Breathe’, which is smooth and tranquil. I think this could even
calm down a little toddler throwing a tantrum. The introduction has somewhat a
blues based vibe to it, which ultimately gives Pink Floyd their own signature. In
my song ‘Fan of the Century’, I used the same 12 bar blues as ‘Breathe’, again
to give it that bluesy feel. Track 4 is ‘Time’ which starts off with clocks
chiming, funnily enough, and then it’s followed by a two minute drum solo, done
on rototoms. After the little introduction, starts an amazing rock song. Lyrics
are good, David Gilmour and Richard Wright sings perfectly and the electric
guitar solo is magnificent. The guitar solo in my song, ‘Stare At Me’, the
second track on my album, ‘Long Walk’ was very much influenced by ‘Time’. ‘Money’
just makes me want to move my body in all crazy ways, again with that amazing
bluesy feel, this song is ‘eargasm’ material. I definitely feel like this
inspired many Black Keys songs. ‘Money it’s a hit’, yes, yes it is. This is
definitely my favourite song on the album, it just makes me feel so powerful,
probably because they’re singing about money. The Dark Side of the Moon
honestly takes my breath away, it puts butterflies in my stomach. It is a jewel
among many stones.
So here it is, the crème de la crème of all of my favourite albums, it is
the glorious ‘The Queen is Dead’ by The Smiths. You’re probably wondering why I
love (an understatement) this album so much, well apart from irresistible
lyrics, filled with daring puns, and the exciting texture of the music, this,
to me, was one of the most fulfilling things I have ever heard. I honestly don’t
know how I lived before hearing this record, because this changed my life. It
was after detecting these beautiful sounds, did I push myself to want to write
something just as endearing. The opening track ‘The Queen is Dead’ has a short
tom-tom loop which is repeated over and over again through the whole song. This
is what inspired the tom-tom loop in my song ‘Over the Hill’. It is a pretty
authentic sound and as the beat is not changing, the lyrics just flow and it
doesn’t just sound like a few guys playing in a room together. ‘Bigmouth
Strikes Again’ has the acoustic guitar playing through the whole song, while
still having edge and not detracting from the content. I wanted my songs to
have this kind of edgy feel, while still having my signature acoustic guitar. I
tried to recreate something like this in my song ‘Take it or Leave it’. ‘There
is a Light That Never Goes Out’ was my first Smiths’ song and it was what made
me begin my musical journey. At the time, to me this was one of the most exquisite
sounds, that is why I decided to do my own cover of it, which is on my debut
album, ‘Long Walk’. I will just lose myself listening to this album and it feels
like I’m in a different world (and I’m not even high!). If you haven’t listened
to this album before, you are missing out on the finest experience of your
life. The Queen is Dead is the best musical accomplishment of all time.
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