Tracks Of My Years // Guest Post by the Festival Fairy

A bit like the section on Ken Bruce’s show on Radio 2 except I couldn’t just choose singular tracks and I’m not a musical type, I am just someone who loves music, and couldn’t live without it. That said I don’t have a squillion CDs I never listen to, I have about 100 I have listened to at least five times and I have many that I listen to regularly.

Those that appear in my list have special meaning to me, either from childhood or a certain time in my life, some may be seen as “iconic” albums, some may not, these are my personal favourites and are in no particular order.

I’m not claiming to be one of these music fanatics who is going to make stupid statements about albums. This is the music that I like, that has influenced me, that has made me the way I am. These are the albums that are part of my life so far and still are very much so.

Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms
As children, my brother and I used to play air drums and guitar to Money for Nothing. When I hear this song I still have to air guitar to it! This album though does bring back many happy memories of my childhood in New Zealand. I remember the day my dad found a cassette tape of the album at the bottom of our road in mint condition, this tape in the depths of my cassette tape collection in the garage which I cannot bear to part with.

Fleetwood Mac- Rumours
This was one of my dad’s records and we always used to laugh at the man with the ponytail on the front cover! I recently rediscovered Fleetwood Mac and now realise as an adult how fantastic they really were. I recently played my brother The Chain while we were waiting in the car for the rain to pass before an Erasure concert. Until then he hadn’t realised it was them he just thought it was the F1 theme! Bless him!

Funnily enough a few days after writing this I found that this album is one of two of my list that will be played in it’s entirety at Camp Bestival this year.

Pet Shop Boys- Behaviour
This album came out when I was starting high school, my brother recorded his copy onto tape for me and when he got the CD I got the original tape. I listened to this album hundreds of times over my high school career and listened to it in the car the other day. The Pets are one of my favourite groups and people used to take the mickey out of me for liking them (people used to take the mickey out of me a lot anyway for being “different” which obviously isn’t allowed when you are in high school) I still love them now and am so pleased I got the opportunity to see them at High Lodge in 2006 and hope I can see them again in the future. This may not be every PSB fans favourite album or even their best one but I still love it.

Massive Attack- Blue Lines
I was leant the tape of this album by a friend when I went on my London residential for college in 1998. I spent a lot of time listening to this album while gazing out the window at Canary Wharf and the building of its mates. It goes without saying that Unfinished Sympathy is one of my favourite tracks on there, as well as Safe from Harm and Karma Coma. Like many of the albums on my list this brings back many memories of a simpler time in my life.

Saint Etienne- Sound of Water
I have loved Saint Etienne for years, My love affair with them started when I found their Too Young To Die album in the bargain basket at Woolworths and after that I was hooked. I love how their music is almost a soundtrack to life. How We used to Live is an uplifting track that encompasses the fluffy pop they are well known for as well as a bit of a ravey bit (see if I was a proper music type I would be using much cleverer and more complex words to describe) and a lounge bar, jazzy bit at the end. I drove to France with this album in the CD player most of the way and it reminds me of how I used to live and I haven’t thrown away all of my records (or cds) My love for Saint Etienne appeals to my very deeply hidden, fluffy, girly pop side which I keep hidden most of the time.


Erasure - Chorus
My brother bought this album when it first came out and it came in a weird box with photo postcards of people riding bikes, having very smiley business meetings oh and pictures of brain scans.
But there are some absolute gems on here such as the album title track Chorus, Siren Song, Breath of Life and my favourite Perfect Stranger. I love how Erasures songs are playfully argumentative about love and relationships esp Perfect Stranger “No place I’d rather be than in the ring with you” almost has a double meaning, punching someones lights out or having a “moment” with them… I guess it means what you want it to mean… there is no getting away from the fact this is filled with lots of lovely pop songs which Erasure are so well known for.


Skunk Anansie- Stoosh

Another one from my teenage years. This was introduced to me by a friend who had attended the Phoenix Festival in 1997 and had seen them live and bought the album off the back of that. The opening track being one of my favourites in fact I think the only track I don’t like is Milk is My Sugar. Every thing else is proper, angry rock and one band I would gladly mosh to. Skin is one of those unique women who is stunningly gorgeous and really scary all at once and the owner of a fabulous voice. It’s a great, angry day, hormonal rant album. Love it.


Lamb- Lamb
Same person introduced me to Lamb. This album contains some of the most beautifully written and stunning music I have ever heard and sounds as fresh as it did in 1996. Probably the most well known track is Gorecki which Nicole Kidman sung in Moulin Rouge. The most wonderfully haunting track on here is Zero, I can’t listen to it all the way through now without bursting into tears, it did help me deal with a very difficult time in my life and I believe it has probably helped others.


Portishead-Dummy

Another album that made me school mates think I was even more of a freak as I played them a few of my favourite tracks from it in a music lesson and was met with wide mouthed stares. At the time, their style of trip hop was just a bit too scary for many people to take in, especially 14 year olds who were into Blur and Oasis and other 90s pop. I just could never see the point of liking one type of music like many of my friends and liked to open my mind to all the other tunes out there.

Again, like Stoosh, not many tracks I can say I don’t like. Some people will find this album weird or a bit scary but to me no scarier than Slipknot. In fact Stoosh, Lamb and Dummy are very much in tune with my slightly dark side whereas Chorus and Sound Of Water are my poppy fun side.


ColdCut- 70 minutes of musical madness (Journeys by DJs)
First heard this on a recorded off a mate mix tape and none of us had a clue where it came from. Found it years later in HMV and thought it “looked cool” but didn’t know it was the same album! This came out sometime in the 90s and contains a fantastic mix of around 35 different tracks. I love the hard drum n bass that kicks it off and anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for a bit of DnB.

So that’s it and why oh why have you not included any of your beloved Fat Boy Slim or Moby I hear you cry? Well there wasn’t room on this list… and creating this list has made me discover more albums I NEED to own, even though I will only be listening to them on my own on the ipod cos they aren’t to everyone’s taste. It’s made me understand that music builds memories and reminds me of different times in my life and that as I said before is a part of me and who I am.

You can find the Festival Fairy's wonderful blog here