Lasting Impressions

So I got tagged in one of those viral Facebook posts. This one asked me to list 12 (why not 10?)albums from different artists that made a lasting impression on me. An odd request, not 'best albums' but ones that have stayed with me. As a result, more recent albums I've bought don't really count, so this is gonna be hard.
Anyway, I thought that this would actually be too difficult for a throwaway Facebook status, so here's a blog post instead.
I won't be tagging anyone else to do it, but Ed, Chris & Jedd can if they want to.
So, in alphabetical order (because that's how I'm looking through things on iTunes)...

#1

Rocks - Aerosmith

This was the first Aerosmith album I ever bought, and every time I listen to it takes me back to when I first got it. It introduced me to 70s rock for the first time, so this album can probably be blamed for my entire style.

It's also just a really good album. I bought it initially because it had Rats in the Cellar on it (my favourite, then, song to play on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith), and because it's usually considered to be their best. This is Aerosmith at the height of their drug powers, before those powers started to take over. Nobody's Fault is probably the highlight.

#2

Welcome 2 My Nightmare - Alice Cooper

There may well be a lot of 'firsts' on this list. This was the first Alice Cooper Album I bought. Not sure why, it was his then (and still is) latest album, but it was a sequel to a previous album which I didn't own.

Either way, this was my first real introduction in to a concept album which I actually 'got'. I'd listened to Thick as a Brick and Sgt Pepper's before, but this was the first album where I felt the concept was so clever and well worked in to the music.

If only every Alice Cooper album was as good as this one...

#3

Rubber Soul - The Beatles

I could have picked almost any Beatles album really. But this is probably the one I return to most. Something about them being on the very cusp of going psychedelic makes this such an interesting album.

Songs like Drive My Car and Nowhere Man may well be novelty songs, but that doesn't matter. It's a funny, dark and weird album in places, and that's what makes it great.

#4

Blue Öyster Cult - Blue Öyster Cult

BÖC's first album opens with what is probably still my favourite song of theirs (tied with Career of Evil); Transmaniacon MC.

Why did this album leave such an impression? Well mostly because the names of the songs are so strange; I'm On The Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep, Before The Kiss A Redcap, She's As Beautiful As A Foot. It goes on.

But also because most of the album is brilliant. Unfortunately it's mired by a few duff songs (The Foot song being one), but it's still the most memorable BÖC album to me.

#5

Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords

Yep, definitely not a list of 'best' albums. I mean, I skipped over Bob Dylan and The Doobie Brothers to get here.

This album was my favourite album for a very long time, when I was like 15. For that, it's got to be here.

But it is also very good, FotC are probably one of the best guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duos of all time, after all.

#6

Brainwashed - George Harrison

This album was released posthumously, with George passing away in the middle of recording it. For that, this album can't help but stick with you. Thinking about how one person brought so much joy though their music makes the songs on this album particularly moving.

It's also, in my opinion, George's best solo effort after All Things Must Pass.

'If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there' is a phrase I still say, being stoln from the chorus of the first track

#7

A Passion Play - Jethro Tull

Picking a Tull album was very difficult. Not least because I only decided in the last two years to collect all of their albums.

I borrowed this album about 6 years ago from Tom (cheers, again), and it was the first time I've ever had to actually try to like an album. This is as inaccessible as Tull get, but seeing as the first ever Tull I listened to was Thick As A Brick, I thought I'd probably like their other 44 minute song.

It definitely took a while, but this album really is brilliant. And for making me think about it for so long, probably deserves to be on this list more than any other Tull album.

#8

Joe Perry - Joe Perry

Joe Perry, lead guitarist for Aerosmith, has 5 solo albums. But, let's be honest, this is the only one that's consistently good.

So why did this leave an impression? Well mainly because, other than the drums, Joe plays every single instrument on the record, which was very impressive to me at the time.

Shakin' My Cage is still one my favourite hard-rocking songs ever.

#9

The Best of Motörhead - Motörhead

A 'Greatest Hits' had to sneak in somewhere. This was probably the first album I ever bought that I still listen to today. I think I was 13 at the time, and when I picked it up in HMV I remember some old guy next to me saying 'that's a bit heavy for someone your age isn't it?'.

Honestly, Motörhead aren't really that heavy of a band. But back then, this was my first introduction in to hard rock 'n' roll. And clearly, it made an impression.

#10

Come Away With Me - Norah Jones

An easy pick, this one. After going on a bit of a rock 'n' roll binge in my early teens, this album taught me that I was allowed to like things that weren't hard rocking.

For me, this is the best that easy-listening gets.

#11

Toast - Raise Your Glass To A Burning Bridge

Well this is cheating if ever I saw it.

So this is an album from my old band, but it probably made a bigger impression on me than any other album on this list.

Writing the songs, spending a full week 9-5 recording in a stuffy bedroom, mixing it over the course of an entire year. This album is the product of 2 years hard work. It doesn't matter if some of it isn't very good, I'll be coming back to this album to relive the memories in decades to come.

#12

Will Smith's Greatest Hits - Will Smith

Here's another relative wild card. No ZZ Top, no Steeleye Span. Nope, it's Will Smith.

I'm pretty sure I only bought this so I could listen to the Fresh Prince theme song, but it turns out I actually really the rest of his songs too.

Like Norah Jones, this was another wake-up to the fact that I could like things that aren't rock. Is Will Smith actually good rap music? It doesn't matter, I like it.