Black Box's "Ride on Time" came on the radio today and it got me thinking. There's not many songs in my life that have had an immediate, "wow' impact on me (plenty of songs get there, but not usually on first listen).

Ride on Time is one of them. Despite being 23 years ago (wow is it really that long!), I can remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard it, where I was (a Taxi as it happens), which part of which road we were driving along, what kind of a day it was and even how the air smelt. It really did blow my mind.

Amazing what an effect a piece of music can have on you innit?

Any more?

A very gentle, pensive song by the Applejacks in the middle 1960s. Not only was it a Wow on first hearing, but I've never heard it since. The first part (I guess about half) of it was used as a filler on the radio before the news, and I never found out what the title was.

The introduction was:
"And now the Applejacks leave us in a pensive mood"
I remember that very clearly!

The only snatches of the song I can remember are:

I wonder who she's kissing .......
.......
.......
.......
I guess that's what she's doing
'cos that's the way she is.

--------------------
It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

So So many..from my child hood....Puff the magic dragon...Michelle....Mouldy old dough.....Bicycle Race...Bohemian Rhapsody...Mr. Blue Sky......Oliver's army...Roxanne.......Mean streets (van Halen)......Its a long way to the Top (if you wanna rock n roll).....Highway Star......Spirit of radio...blah blah....and from adulthood....Solvegs song....Midnight special (leadbelly)........I can tell (bo diddley).......supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (Parliament).....yekatit (mulatu astatke)......may you never (John Martyn)...my god this could go on forever!! Dave

--------------------
My head hurts!

The first tune on the latest Bon Iver record was an instant favourite. I love everything about that record from start to end. (dont care that Mike Senior didn't like the production, I dont like most of the 'perfect' pop production he seems to favour).

Donna Summer's 'I feel love'. I was on a school trip to the fairground & every ride was playing it constantly. Every time it's on the radio I'm transported back there, picking fights, pulling girls, full of spunk & hope. I don't particularly like it, but it's impact is undeniable.

About 10 years ago I picked up Rain Dogs as a filler in a bargain bucket 5 CD's for £12 deal. When I eventually listened to it I sat up all night playing the whole CD over & over, something I hadn't done since I was a teenager.

--------------------
Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Loads of songs...

But ones that leap straight to mind are...

+1 to I Feel Love by Donna Summer.

1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson.

Meet on the Ledge by Fairport Convention.

Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix.

Jesamine by The Casuals.

Outside In by John Martyn.

Dick Gaughan's version of World Turned Upside Down.

and The Stranglers' cover of Walk On By.

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Yes +1 to Castles made of Sand and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.

Some others for me were:

Can't Buy Me Love on dad's car radio. I could hardly hear it through the static but I was riveted.

Layla. I was about 14, up a ladder painting a window when this came on my tranny, I nearly fell off.

Solid Air. Laying on my back on the floor at a friends place, watching sunlight filter through the dust in the air. Anything off that album in fact.

Loads more but no time now!

--------------------
getting better all the time..

Faze O - Riding High
Sylvia Striplin - Can't turn me away
Kool and the Gang - Summer Madness
St Etienne - Only love can break your heart (Masters at Work dub)
Kerri Chandler - Inspiration
Masters at Work - Butterfly
Ghostface Killer - Daytona 500
Biz Markie - Nobody beats the Biz
Salsoul Orchestra - Salsoul Rainbow
Salsoul Orchestra - Just the right size

I could go on, but I have work to do!

--------------------
http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

This is why I love music more than anything, it is it's ability to change everything in the blink of an eye (or should that be ear)…I am not saying these are the best pieces of music in the world, just ones that affected me

There are so many songs, but I think in particular after hearing the following, I knew my life would never be the same again. And whilst it becomes rarer to hear something, I had a moment this weekend hearing these guys by accident at Womad and was totally blown away by the power of music and soul. http://vimeo.com/5023760

Other tunes in the order they come into my head

Surfing with the Alien - Joe Satriani
Prowler - Iron Maiden
Howard Jones - Like to get you know you well
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Thriller - Michael Jackson
So lonely - The Police
Hans Zimmer's score to Crimson tide
No Good - the Prodigy
Master of Puppets - Metallica
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns and Roses
Never make your move to soon - BB King
Eruption - Van Halen
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
In your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Miracle Man - Ozzy (leading to discovering Randy Rhodes!)

and so many more!!

--------------------
Neil S. Bruce - www.spencerbruce.com


Edited by brucie (02/08/12 08:50 AM)

The guitar-synth intro to "Moonchild", kicking off "Seventh son of a seventh son" in style. Still one of the greatest albums of all time IMO.

Mika - Grace Kelly. I didn't think anyone could do that kind of thing after Freddie Mercury died.

Gotye - Somebody that I used to know. Just perfect on every level.

Rodrigo and Gabriela. Probably first heard "Tamancun" online, but seeing them live was jawdropping.

Nikita Koshkin - Usher Waltz. Can't remember who played it now (back in about 98 I was living in Stafford, and the Stafford Classical Guitar school were putting on concerts) but that rocked me for what you could make a classical guitar do.

Debussy - Syrinx. Only got into Debussy fairly recently, but he's like the perfect centre between romantic and modern periods for me. It's mentally hard to follow, but it's still tuneful.

Quote brucie:

---

No Good - the Prodigy

---

I love this track and CJ Bolland's Museum Mix more so!

--------------------
http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Purple Haze.

Quote grab:

---

Debussy - Syrinx. Only got into Debussy fairly recently

---

Good move. Stunningly beautiful music. Do investigate more and try Ravel as well!. Lots of great stuff from that period. try the English composers too...

Vaughan Williams. 'Variations on a theme by Thomas Tallis' and his oboe concerto are good places to introduce yourself...

Oboe concerto

Also Delius, Holst ... so much stuff!

--------------------
Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Genesis 'Watcher Of The Skies'...

I quite liked Lindisfarne's 'Meet Me On The Corner' (great bass line) and they were appearing in my home town. A friend bought me a ticket as a birthday present. Didn't particularly want to go but what could I do?

Two support acts - Paul White lookalike Ralph McTell and some band I'd never heard of. I assumed they'd be folkies for some reason but when they came on stage and I heard the gothic opening chords of 'Watcher...', I nearly soiled myself!!! And that was that - at the tender age of 14, I decided then and there that that was I wanted to do. An epiphanic moment.

Hearing Walter Carlos' 'Switched On Bach', Tomita's 'Snowflakes Are Dancing' and Tangerine Dream's 'Phaedra' for the first time didn't help matters either.

But when I really think about it, it was probably the very original Dr Who theme and the damned Radiophonic that sowed the seeds and led me into a life of overdrafts and debt, funny looks and embarrassed silences at parties when people ask me "So what do you do for a living?"!

--------------------
Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Quote hollowsun:

---

.......and led me into a life of overdrafts and debt, funny looks and embarrassed silences at parties when people ask me "So what do you do for a living?"!

---

Glad I am not alone

Sometime I think saying something like stripper or male porn star would be more acceptable than trying to explain that you work in sound or music!!

--------------------
Neil S. Bruce - www.spencerbruce.com

Quote hollowsun:

---

Genesis 'Watcher Of The Skies'...

---

I recall having my jaw in my lap when I first heard Genesis' 'Fountain of Salmacis' and an incredible bootleg live version of 'White Mountain' featuring the Mellotron choir.

...and then, of course, there are the album intros of 'Trick of the Tail' and 'Wind and Wuthering'. Those are moments that still make me shiver!

Other than these there are way too many to mention. Happily my tastes are as broad as the music I am asked to work on.

I feel priviledged to have lived through all of this amazing music at a time when it meant something.

--------------------
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Those 70's Genesis records were definately some other world - a secret garden, especially since I liked classical music as well.

Number 1 for me though was Tangerine Dream - Rubycon. What it is about those moog sequences I dont know but I just felt transported into outer space - completely clean. Many more of course, but an early one.

+1 to everyone who has mentioned how hard the life can be trying to follow up on these insprirations. And - yeah - I never say I do anything with music, 'work in computers mate' usually does.

--------------------

Quote brucie:

---

Sometime I think saying something like stripper or male porn star would be more acceptable than trying to explain that you work in sound or music!!

---

We're in good company.

I believe Eno says he's an accountant in such situations. That usually kills the conversation dead.

I imagine claiming to be an estate agent would do much the same! Some years ago, saying you're a banker at some nice party would have probably elicited a similar response but now you're likely to be pummelled with vol-au-vents!

I'm often tempted to say I am an astronaut but I bottle out.

--------------------
Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Three Fingers of Love. The piano bits by Anne still make me moist even today.

Joe Tex 'I gotcha', simply amazing.

Europa by Santana

Two Tribes by FGTH

Oops Upside your Head by the Gap Band

Everything by Floyd

Second that Emotion by Japan. Their version sent shivers down my spine.

Back to Life by S2S, that beat huh...

But the best of all for me: I'm Not in Love by 10cc. The production left me in awe.

--------------------
Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Quote Zukan:

---

Back to Life by S2S, that beat huh...

---

Fairplay is the one for me from them; a real club classic.

--------------------
http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Really?

The best, honest, open your mind moment I can do is "Drowning in Berlin" by the Mobiles. but rejecting the obvious chique..

My musical awakening was the Wombles, I am after all that old.

Mike Batt, a fabulous musician and songwriter.

Reg

--------------------
Google less; read more!

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Genesis' Invisible Touch (whole album) and Home by the Sea, and Pet Shop Boys' 12" mixes (particularly It's a Sin and the stuff on Disco) were really the first things that got me going - I grew up listening to a taped copy of my dad's vinyl, as I wasn't allowed near the actual records. PSB came a little later, probably around '87, when a mate at school played me some 12" stuff and despite never really liking what I'd heard on the telly, those longer mixes blew me away. Then I started to listen to New Order, Kraftwerk, etc.

I think I spent far too long wondering why I couldn't get my Yamaha Portasound to replicate those samples (not that I really knew what a sample was, back then).

Just remembered another one, the title theme to Bilitis. Achingly beautiful melody - rubbish film

P.S.
There are a few copies of it on youtube, if you're not familiar with it.

--------------------
It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Edited by Folderol (08/08/12 01:49 PM)

(A quick Wiki click shows that the same composer wrote Love Story, and the theme to Panorama.
Oh - and er - Emmanuellle 2.
Rubbish film.)

--------------------

"Something in the Air" - Thunderclap Newman.

That is all. Goodnight.

'For what it's worth' - Buffalo Springfield.

--------------------
I've never liked a solo violin, you need at least five for a proper fire.

Disposable Heroes by Metallica. I remember standing at the listening post in a Virgin Megastore grinning like a madman. I'd heard barely any metal up to that point, and from then I was hooked.

--------------------
hourglass | random thoughts | doubledotdash!? collective

Quote grab:

---

Debussy - Syrinx. Only got into Debussy fairly recently, but he's like the perfect centre between romantic and modern periods for me. It's mentally hard to follow, but it's still tuneful.

---

Interesting. My earliest musical memory was listening to the genius Tomita's "Snowflakes are Dancing" which I have to say had an amazing effect on me at such a young age. I was obsessed with the album but I didn't actually know what it was called (it was a really poor cassette copy), who created it or what music it was based on! I'd never heard this strange synthesiser music before and I can honestly say that it was that one album that got me hooked on music and music technology. Without it I might have never ventured!

The tape eventually got chewed/binned and I was devastated. It must have been about 15 years later that I heard (completely by chance) a bit of it again, but I still had no idea what it was called. Determined to find out, I went into Windows in Newcastle and hummed a bit of it. The salesmen didn't have a clue what I was on about but completely by chance, a guy browsing for classical music popped his head up and said "oh, that's Debussy".

Some things in life you never forget :-)

If you haven't heard it, get it, even today it's magnificent. I still bung it on from time to time, still makes me smile.

Chris

Shocking Blue - Venus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhkyyCvUHk&playnext=1&list=PLE9223ECE656D5 291&feature=results_main

That rhythm EP! That VOICE! THAT CHORD!!

Such a sparse arrangement ... but so perfect.

OK, now that I've exposed my musical shallowness ...

--------------------
Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

Quote Dishpan:

---

If you haven't heard it, get it, even today it's magnificent. I still bung it on from time to time, still makes me smile.

---

It was years ahead of its time and he was doing stuff on those old Moogs, making sounds that had literally never been heard before and I still can't figure out how he made some of them. He was using lush, massive reverb ambiences fifteen years before digital reverbs (he always said he wanted his soundscapes to exist in a large, extra terrestrial cathedral - just floating in space). He was putting Mellotrons, Rhodes, etc., through fixed filter banks and filters years before anyone else to create sounds that wouldn't enter the sonic vocabulary for 15 or 20 years.

His recording methods were very arcane too - he'd record each part (sometimes just a few notes, a phrase) onto a 4-track, submix that across to another 4-track and build more up and so on ... a truly painstaking process. No sequencing, no automation, no presets, unstable synthesiser - his albums are a truly remarkable achievement if only on the technical side. He also pioneered 'surround' with his 'pyramid of sound' mixes.

Much of what he did has influenced the development of synthesisers and sounds.

His first few albums ('Snowflakes...', 'Pictures at an exhibition', 'The Planets' and 'Daphnis and Chloe') are masterpieces and still influence me today. Oddly enough (well... not THAT odd really), his later albums suffered the more gear he got and for me, his last great one was 'Bermuda Triangle' but suffered (IMO) by his obsession with his new toy, the Roland MC8 MicroComposer where everything was programmed rather than played and built up by hand as he used to.

My own very slight complaint with him is that he can sometimes veer into the tacky and corny with cheesy sounds at inappropriate moments but that's not to criticise or deny the man's genius - and he's one of only a few I'd attribute that title.

--------------------
Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

The great thing about music, is that there's so much to choose from, but the following all had that tingly-neck-hair thing to a greater or lesser extent effect for me...

Waiting For The Night - Depeche Mode
Ribcage - Elbow
GimmeShelter - Rolling Stones
Mayonaise - Smashing Pumpkins
No Distance Left To Run - Blur
Lithium - Nirvana
Comptine d'un Autre Été - Yann Tiersen
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
Exodus, & No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
Castles Made Of Sand, & Little Wing (and a whole lot more!) - Jimi Hendrix
Paris Texas - Ry Cooder
Things Behind The Sun - Nick Drake
After The Goldrush - Neil Young
Lovesong, & A Forest - The Cure
What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
I'm Not In Love - 10CC
Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
Slide Away - Verve
Theme From Harry's Game - Clannad
Res/Cowgirl - Underworld
Crash - The Primitives

...etc etc etc

Quote Mixedup:

---

Crash - The Primitives

---

Now there's a band that should have gone a lot further. Along with Echobelly and Perfume.

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Catfood - King Crimson . Taught me that playing piano by rolling an orange along the keyboard is perfectly acceptable.

--------------------
Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

... and another

I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner

Just listened again - seems to have brought on a bout of hayfever

--------------------
It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Edited by Folderol (09/08/12 06:03 PM)

Quote zenguitar:

---

Along with Echobelly...

---

Hmmm... Well, they *wanted* to do great things.

Quote Folderol:

---

Just listened again - seems to have brought on a bout of hayfever

---

Probably dandruff from the 80s poodle perms!

I'll add a few more now I think about it ...

- "I'm not in love" - 10cc. With The Zuke (above) on that - epic and original studio production ... and a shameless plug for my chums at Sampletekk. I did the GUI but don't get a penny from sales so within forum rules.

- "Baker Street" - (the late, great) Gerry Rafferty. Belting song, production, playing and performance. Comes on the wireless sometimes (Radio 2 typically) and sounds betterer than most modern records

- "We close our eyes" - Go West. Big sound, exciting, driving, great production and playing (and done on an 8-track!)

- "Slave to the rhythm" - Grace Jones. Groove personified, immaculate playing and production (and she's delightfully bonkers)

- "Relax" - Frankie. My old chum Holly and the lads in fine form with the exquisite assistance of His Trevorness

--------------------
Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Sorry Mixedup... Not picking on you (having been very snippy about this thread earlier), just my thoughts...

You said:
Waiting For The Night - Depeche Mode
Ribcage - Elbow
GimmeShelter - Rolling Stones
Mayonaise - Smashing Pumpkins
No Distance Left To Run - Blur
Lithium - Nirvana
Comptine d'un Autre Été - Yann Tiersen
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
Exodus, & No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
Castles Made Of Sand, & Little Wing (and a whole lot more!) - Jimi Hendrix
Paris Texas - Ry Cooder
Things Behind The Sun - Nick Drake
After The Goldrush - Neil Young
Lovesong, & A Forest - The Cure
What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
I'm Not In Love - 10CC
Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
Slide Away - Verve
Theme From Harry's Game - Clannad
Res/Cowgirl - Underworld
Crash - The Primitives

I prefer (without pretending to have knowledge or opinion where I do not):
People are People Depeche Mode
Powder Blue Elbow
Paint it Black Rolling Stones
Rhinoceros Smashing Pumpkins, but frankly anything from Gish makes me wet
All along the watchtower Jimi
Under your thumb / Dreadlock Holiday 10CC
Sonnet Verve

I agree with:
Lithium Nirvana
Sweet Dreams Eurythmics

Anyway... I know nothing.

Reg

--------------------
Google less; read more!

"How deep is your love", Bee Gees, honestly, I was about 12 and the chords and key changes surprised me and brought me to tears. After that, all the music I listened to, and like, HAD to have an element of beauty, surprise, and inventiveness to 'turn me on'.

That's why genres like blues bore me to tears.

My opinion, as always.

--------------------
www.bugiolacchi.com
Songwriter/guitarist

Looking far back enough, I suppose... 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'Voodoo Chile' (it seems to transmit from space), 'All Along the Watchtower' (which has a sort of 3D sound), Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks', James Brown's 'Get Up Offa That Thing' (really funky keyboards), Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 'Zig Zag Wanderer'.

Classical stuff always depends massively on preformance. The kyrie eleison fugue from Mozart's Requiem, the Credo (a mixolydian fugue) of Bach's Mass In B minor, Allegri's Miserere...

I don't know. Loads of stuff. Some of my records did "wow" because my first record player was a bit warped.

Quote RegressiveRock:

---

I prefer (without pretending to have knowledge or opinion where I do not):
People are People Depeche Mode
Powder Blue Elbow
Paint it Black Rolling Stones
Rhinoceros Smashing Pumpkins, but frankly anything from Gish makes me wet
All along the watchtower Jimi
Under your thumb / Dreadlock Holiday 10CC
Sonnet Verve

---

Aw, Reg... 'People Are People' isn't even the best track on Some Great Reward Good album though. Loved the intro to 'Blashpemous Rumours', even if half the song is cheesy as you like. 'Paint It Black' is definitely another favourite... but how many Stones tracks can I list in a post like this? Ditto 'All Along The Watchtower'. Superb track. Never got Gish quite the way I did Siamese Dream. Just loved the guitar intro on 'Mayonaise'. That's the thing about songs. Half the time it's just eight bars or so that give me a shiver. The rest of the song could be sh1t but it still qualifies


... and on Mozart's Requiem, good thinking... though it was the Lacrimosa that always did it for me.