Eclectic Tastes

I've had one line of a song going round in my head for weeks, although I had no idea what the song or the singer was.  The line was 'I can be brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky'.  I'm sure everyone but me knew that the song was Grace Kelly by Mika.  A quick google search soon told me what the name of the song that had been bugging me for so long was, and an even quicker ebay search revealed a new copy for sale at 99p.

It arrived this lunchtime, and I can foresee me playing this time and time again (and singing along loudly but somewhat squeakily - how can a man reach such amazingly high notes!)  As I added it to the pile of CDs which sit beside my rather ancient CD player I was struck by what an odd combination of music is amongst the CDs I play frequently (as opposed to the shelf-full in the living room which hardly ever get played.)

There's the fabulous Amy Winehouse CD Back to Black - she has such an amazing talent and thoroughly deserves every award she wins.  I do hope she can sort herself out for good, it would be tragic if she let the drink and drugs kill her.

A three-CD box set of the Best of Ska.  I just love Ska music, it has such a fantastic feel-good, summery sound, and there are some real classic tunes on this set.

Gloddiggas, Headbangers and Pholk Songs by The Beautiful South.  I adore pretty much anything The Beautiful South do, although this CD is a bit different from their normal fare as they do cover versions of classic songs in their own inimitable way.

Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor.  Love, love, love this CD, especially the single Hung Up, and track 10 - Isaac.  Madonna's two years older than me but my goodness she wears well - if only I could look half as good as she does.

Shania Twain - Up.  Another great female singer / songwriter, and another fantastic feel-good CD.  My favourite track here is Kerching - says it all about the spend, spend, spend culture with a great tune too.

For just a smidgeon of 'Kulture' there is The Best of Carl Orff.  This includes highlights from Carmina Burana (better known these days as the music to the Old Spice advert) which is a truly wonderful opera.  Dad really loved this opera too and we played part of it at his funeral - I wouldn't mind it played at mine either.

Fat Boy Slim - The Greatest Hits.  Fabulous make-you-want-to-dance tracks.  Fatboy Slim used to be in The Housemartins, which eventually morphed into The Beautiful South - so a bit of a theme going here.

The CD single Crystal Frontier by Calexico.  I happened to come across this once on TOTP 2 and thought it was fabulous, at that point never having heard of Calexico, and just had to go out and buy it immediately (not like me at all.)

Finally, The Very Best of Steeleye Span.  I just loooove Steeleye Span, and have done since the days of Gaudette being a top ten hit (I think I was 13.)  Does anyone else still enjoy their music?  I've got loads of their albums on tapes but they're boxed away in the loft for the time being.  I can never get enough of Maddy Prior's wonderful vocals and the  English folk music meets electric guitar sound of this group.  There's the oddest thing on this CD though - a hidden track.  I discovered it by accident when I left the second CD playing after it had finished, after about 15 minutes of silence there is suddenly another track.  It's not listed on the cover and you can't jump tracks to get to it - you just have to be patient and all of a sudden you're rewarded with this bonus song.  Very odd, I've never come across this on any other CD.

What CDs do you listen to time and time again?

Comments

[French Knots]

I have a pile of cds in the kitchen which get played a lot and the ones in the car hardly ever get changed - Joe Jackson, Corinne Bailey Ray, Elvis,Carole King.

[Heather]

Wow! Steeleye Span that takes me back! wonderful! I also love anything by Enya.

[Gill]

You certainly do have very eclectic tastes in music Elizabeth! I don't quite "get" Mika I have to say, but Amy, now I love her music. She's so talented. I wish she'd get her life in order, she wasn't great at the Brit awards and we've not seen her at her best for a long time now. I haven't bought many CDs recently, I tend to listen to music on my MP3 player while I'm doing the housework, but I usually have a CD in the car (currently Mutya Beuna which is better than expected). I worked as a record department manager for 10 years back in the 70s/80s,so kept up with current music, but these days I'm sounding like my Mum, I've never heard of half of the artists in the charts! (Must be my age)

[Jen]

Oh yes, the bonus track! Sometimes called "hidden" track. Lots of CDs have them, but they are never listed. Funny, eh? Just makes you jump if you've left the CD playing and weren't expecting it. Some of the best songs are hidden tracks I think. Love your eclectic tastes.