20 tracks that changed my life (part 1)

Its really difficult to write a list of favourites. What is your favourite house track? What is your favourite film? They change all the time for me. Some days I might say Donnie Brasco is my favourite film, other days it might be The Panic in Needle Park. Some days it could be Voodoo Ray, another day it might be Strings of Life. I guess it depends what kind of mood I am in. Today, for example, its The Panic in Needle Park. Until I get home, then its more than likely Blazing Saddles. You see my point.

One thing I can list though are tracks that have changed my life, for better or worse. That wont ever change unless I happen to bump into the Doc and borrow his time machine. This list (in no particular order) is not exactly representative of the style of music I like now, or the style(s) of music I always liked in the past…but it does have 20 tracks that left a lasting impression. It’s not the most original maybe, but I can’t go throwing obscure cosmic classics in just to make myself look cool.

Here are the first ten, the second part will be posted next week…

And She Was (Talking Heads)

Talking Heads were a big part of what I listened to growing up. My father is a great lover of this band, and although I could have named any Talking Heads track here I guess, I am going for And She Was. I remember I used to sit next to the hi-fi at home and write the words down, wondering what it actually meant. I was only eight or nine, so I didn’t understand it was about taking drugs. It’s a fantastic story - musical poetry, with a kind of folk/pop backing that only Talking Heads could successfully pull off. This will always be one of my favourite songs because of the profound effect it had on me as a kid - maybe that’s because its written like a children’s story, or maybe its just because it was a brilliant song no matter how old you are. The fact that I picked it up on vinyl for £1 in a second hand shop is the icing on the cake.

In The Ghetto (Elvis Presley)

I always liked Elvis when I was younger thanks to a friends influence, it was probably the start of my passion for record collecting. The later stuff he did rather than the earlier rock and roll - after the 68 Comeback Special - appealed to me most. In The Ghetto is a brilliant song about a boy growing up in poor surroundings, unable to break free he turns to crime which leads to an early death, and the circle continues. Indeed, the song was originally called “In The Ghetto (The Vicious Circle)”, but it was shortened before it was taken to Elvis. Its my favorite Elvis song, and one of my all time favourites because of the wonderful (yet very sad) story it tells.

Papa Was a Rolling Stone (The Temptations)

Another great song in a lyrical sense, as well as a musical sense. This builds up and up and up and…with so many layers intertwining to make a track that can work almost anywhere, in any context. It was played a lot around my childhood as The Temptations were prevalent in our house, and it surely must have had influence on my taste in predominantly black music. A mixture of soul, funk, with maybe even a small amount of disco, and a searing vocal that has been sampled to death. Genius.

Brown Paper Bag (Roni Size)

Roni Size had been producing drum and bass before the Reprazent album dropped onto the world in 1997 and won the Mercury music prize, but this for me has to be his outstanding track probably of all time. Brown Paper Bag was not only a great track on the album (an album which I still adore), dropping it on the dance floor also caused maximum damage (and still does today). A long, jazzy intro was synonymous with Roni at the time, but the live instruments used to full effect mean the energy was infectious, and this appealed to both hardcore and non drum and bass audiences. It helped me to fall in love with drum and bass for the next 10 years.

I Know You Got Soul (Erik B & Rakim)

As a young raver, I frequented a club called Maximes that played “old skool” house music, usually stuff from about 1988 - 1992. I started going around 1994, and as I was usually one of the first people on the dance floor I was always dancing to the earlier, slower stuff (before all the obvious cheese got banged out). One track I always loved, but didn’t know the name of till much later, was “the ABC track”. This is all we knew it as for years as it sampled The Jackson’s ABC (Motown having again been played a lot through my growing years), added a fatter break and hip hop attittude. Finding the name of the track out, I should really have just paid more attention to the lyrics in the chorus. The start of my love of hip-house, and later a fascination with certain aspects of hip hop, this track lead me onto paid in full, The Jungle Brothers, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (Frank Wilson)

The most popular Northern Soul track of all time? It is said so. Not for me, I doubt, but still a track that has left a huge mark on my life. Its not for what it does for me, but who it reminds me of. My girlfriend, soon to be wife, played this a lot when we met as she loves Northern Soul and it always reminds me of her. With the arrival of our little girl she has had more of an impact than all of these tunes put together, and if that’s not enough, then as an introduction to Northern Soul its not a bad one…

You Dropped a Bomb On Me (The Gap Band)

A good friend gave me a copy of this as an MP3 when I was at the height of my Drum and Bass collecting. I loved it. It was definitely one of the tracks that started me collecting boogie/disco music, and one of the first 7″ tracks I bought by accident from ebay mistakenly thinking it was the 12″ (which has now happened at least 10 times). A fantastic track with an absolute killer bassline, great vocals, and a wonderful hook in the chorus. I’m not so sure about the dancing in the video though…

Al Naayfish (The Soul) (Hashim)

Another track that I didn’t know the name of for many years even though I loved it from the moment I heard it. Mixed in with all the old house sounds I used to listen to, this stood out because it simply wasn’t like anything else. I didn’t realise that was because it was made in 1983, and had preceded so many things that didn’t sound as good by 10 years. Incredible really. Id argue that this was, maybe is, my favourite dance track of all time. Although as I said before, that changes with the days. It certainly helped craft a love of break-beat that still burns strongly - even though the track is pure 80’s electro. A genre defining moment. Id have said this must be the only piece of early electro that had Egyptian influences, but I have since learned otherwise.

Is It All Over My Face (Loose Joints)

A great moment, when I found this track shortly after reading Love Saves the Day, I realised that disco was so much more than “Chic - Good Times” (an admittedly great record), and it could be driving, minimal, raw yet still really funky, without the need to have a thousand violins going off, and no John Travolta in sight. Whilst this isn’t by any means my favourite disco track, its certainly the track that made me understand the most about disco. I don’t know as much as I would like to know about Arthur Russel, but masterpieces like this drive my need to find out more about music and the people who made it.

Miles From Home (Peshay)

Another great drum and bass track, brilliant for the fact that it was played to death by many of the DJ’s who only played the darker, techier styles of drum and bass at the time. Peshay was, and is, an innovator - with countless brilliant pieces of music to his name (with another one I really should include with the next part of this article). Not quite as soft and dreamy as Bukem, but certainly as jazzy as anything produced by the Reprezent crew, miles from home has a step beat, jazzy piano, strings and bass, and a brilliant build up to the break release. I played this tune almost every time I played out (the original not the later equally as good remix), and always got a fantastic reaction. I don’t think it ever got the recognition it deserved, but maybe it did and I just didn’t ask the right people.

Update: 20 Tracks that changed my life (Part 2), is now online.