This is part 38 of an ongoing series where the kind folk of the music business reveal their favourite album of all time.
Ask people in the music industry the seemingly simple and straightforward question, “What is your favourite album of all time?” and you’ll find that it’s not always easy. After all, my industry peers listen to hundreds of albums a month – thousands of songs during that time. Because the question isn’t the best album of all time or the one that’s made them the most money in sales, or the most clicked-on review, but the one release they personally can’t live without, that one title they have two copies of in several formats, in case one breaks. It’s also about that album that for them has the best back stories and the one that has the most meaning in their lives.
Brian West, Afternoon Drive, Y108, Hamilton, ON
Black Sabbath, Paranoid
My Dad used to play the song Iron Man all the time, and as a kid I loved the beginning with the vocal effect on Ozzy’s voice saying, ‘I Am Iron Man’. I’m sure I wore out that record asking him to play it over and over again. I eventually got my own copy of the CD and would play it front to back. One thing I loved about that album, is if you panned the audio to (I think the right channel), you would hear Geezer Butler’s bass lines perfectly, as Tony Iommi’s guitars were on the left side. After I found out you could listen to those different instruments on their own, I would constantly listen to each song over and over again once on the left side, then on the right. This introduced me to the bass guitar, which I ended up learning how to play and later joined a band. It’s all thanks to Geezer! My daughter dressed up as Iron Man for Halloween this year… she’s 3 and it was the perfect opportunity for me to introduce her to Sabbath! She loved that same line at the beginning…It’s come full circle.
Buzz Bishop, Middays on XL103, Calgary, AB
Sinead O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got
Sure, everyone looks at the tabloid headlines, thinks of ‘that one song,’ Nothing Compares To You, but if you listened to the whole thing, front to back again, you’d remember it for the masterpiece it was. Sinead’s voice soars and whispers with emotion. Three Babies, Black Boys on Mopeds, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, each track is raw genius. And then there’s that hit that is still perfect 25 years later.
Bub McCullough, WMCI/WCBH/WWGO, Mattoon, IL
Waylon Jennings, Honky Tonk Heroes
He set the tone for the man who become the epitome of “outlaw.” The one who did it his own way, and better than anyone ever.
Bruce Kenyon, Newstalk CHQR, Calgary, AB
The Who, Who’s Next
I can remember listening to it the first time when it came out and I remember my friends and I thinking it wasn’t as ballsy as Live At Leeds,our favorite at the time. But, obviously it grew on me. I read where Glyn Johns had said that because the band had already toured and played the songs live before coming into the studio, they were already more than familiar with the material and I think that they’re familiarity with the material shows. Keith Moon is at his peak at the time and the album defines “having legs”. It stands up to any record ever made.
Adam Bernard, Adam’s World blog
The Cardigans, Gran Turismo
There is so much to love about this album. It’s pop-rock, but it’s also completely outside the box. It’s moody, but gorgeous. There’s live instrumentation, and electronic elements. Throughout it all, Nina Persson’s incredibly emotive voice is seemingly singing directly to you, and to hear someone whose vocals can be so sweet take such a dark turn on an anti-love song like “Do You Believe” is truly an amazing thing.
