It’s no secret that music played a major part of my teenage years and into my early twenties. It still has a big influence (I present a Saturday morning music based radio show) but it has faltered over the years. I’ve discussed before about the way my music tastes have appeared to change over time and the reasons I think why, so I won’t repeat them (look them up if you want to know or have forgotten). So tonight I’m instead revisiting three LPs that meant a lot to me in the past. I wanted some “bangin’ choons, man” so I thought I’d “hang wi’ the kids” and “spin some hip plastic” (and date myself by my out-of-date fogey trying to be funky and failing lingo).

I chose Queen live Killers for the first to hit the platter. This album shows how much Queen were the masters of live performance, just as much as they were masters of the studio. It is an amazing album, and they know how to perform. How I wish I could have seen the original Queen perform on stage live just once. Sadly that can never be. I heartily recomend the version of “Now I’m here” – absolutely outstanding with the way Freddie brings the audiance into the song, playing musical games with the crowd.

Number two is Rhythm and Stealth by Leftfield. Proper dance and chillout music with a hard and earnest edge. I don’t know why I like Leftfield, but I do. It is intricate and has a massive energy. “Phat planet” deserves a mention for the award winning epic Guiness adverts that it was the soundtrack to. Also “Afrika shox”. Actually, it’s all good.

Last up is Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Mansun. This is such a totally accessible album, and came as quite a change from an artist who until this point had been more miss than hit. For this album, every track just worked There is not a filler track on this album. Sadly Marilyn Mansun never really returned to this form. An unusual one on LP, I have the SVLP double version on heavy virgin vinyl pressing and the sound quality makes CDs sound like the cheap shit that they are. Remember kids – a cheap and an expensive CD player sound much the same. A cheap and expensive turntable are miles apart. You may eroneously think that vinyl sounds crackly and tinny, and you would be way off the mark. On an Ortofon Nightclub-E diamond tipped needle/cartridge coupled to an S-shaped tone arm with cushioned anti-skate and free floating bearings and a magnetic drive heavy cast platter turntable, coupled to a seriously audiophile preamp, you would instantly ditch your CDs and start buying vinyl. Even for albums you already own. I know people who did. I also know people who made an exception to their classical music album collection to include Mechanical Animals. It just is that accessible.