I thought I'd kick off this blog with something simple, and something that everyone loves: music. I think music is the best thing since sliced bread, and believe me when I tell you, I'm pretty big into sliced bread. So without any further ado, I present my top 10 albums.
10. Wanted on Voyage (2014) - George Ezra
Even five years on I can still remember the first time I listened to Wanted on Voyage, I was just getting into singer-songwriters and indie music, and this was the most brilliant introduction. Wanted on Voyage has such great vibes, witty lyrics and an overall great feel to it.
9. What Do You Think About the Car? (2017) - Declan McKenna
This album was definitely the soundtrack to my 2017. After a series of singles and EPs, What Do You Think About the Car was the perfect next step. Every song is refreshing, no matter how many times you listen or when you listen. There's not a single track that doesn't have the potential to be a single.
8. Back to Black (2006) - Amy Winehouse
I don't think there will ever be enough words to express how much I adore this album. Every track from beginning to end is stunning. You often find with a lot of records there are 'skippable' tracks, but not with Back to Black. The songwriting, the production, the vocals, all of it: breathtaking.
7. Magical Mystery Tour (1967) - The Beatles
I'm not entirely sure how controversial it is to declare Magical Mystery Tour as your favourite Beatles album, but I'm going to say it. I think it's mostly for the nostalgia factor if I'm being honest, because albums like Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road are objectively superior, but there's just something about Magical Mystery Tour that makes me love it so much. The psychedelia, the sometimes odd but always entertaining lyrics, and the fact that it has I Am the Walrus, seem like good enough reasons to me.
6. Lemon Boy (2018) - Cavetown
I remember this album being released and just being blown away. Lemon Boy is one of the single most polished, well put together albums by a then-independent artist, ever, in my opinion anyway. The lyrics to every single song are just unrivalled by any bedroom-artist, the production is faultless. All around, Lemon Boy is simply proof of what Cavetown can do as an artist and he's more than proved himself since.
5. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) - Arctic Monkeys
Absolute class. From start to finish this album more than proves why the Arctic Monkeys were the band of the noughties, and set them up to be the band of the tens too. From the first track to the last, there is not a single song that justifies skipping. My favourite song from the album would have to be A Certain Romance, which might just be my favourite song from the band full stop. Simply an incredible record.
4. (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) - Oasis
An absolute triumph of an album. What else can be said about the album home to songs like Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger, Cast No Shadow and Morning Glory. And carrying on with the theme of the last song being the best, Champagne Supernova; a 7-minute epic which would be offensive to condense for radio. It's rare to find an album that gets it so right, but Morning Glory does just that.
3. Submarine (2011) - Alex Turner
I'm not particularly sure if this counts since it comes under EP, technically. But that doesn't matter, not when you have a collection of six songs that can only really be described as divine, acting as the soundtrack to an equally incredible film. The lyrics tell of a particular type of teen angst that feels niche, but is felt, probably, by anyone that's ever liked someone. Just perfect.
2. I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful, yet so unaware of it (2016) - The 1975
This, for me, is the defining album of my teenage years. Released when I was 14, ILIWYS was just as impactful the first time as it was the tenth, and the twentieth, and still is now. There's a reason I always go back to this album; it's such a journey, each and every track giving something different. No two songs sound the same, which is what makes ILIWYS the album it is. It may not send the messages that ABIIOR or NOACF do, or plan to do, but it makes up for that in lyrics, melodies, and that stunning segue between 'The 1975' and 'Love Me'.
1. Definitely Maybe (1994) - Oasis
Do I even need to explain why this is my favourite album of all time? If you've ever listened to this album then you'll know what I mean when I say that Definitely Maybe is incomparable. There is simply nothing else quite like Definitely Maybe. I get goosebumps listening to it, even years on after countless times of listening. There's no other album, for me, that is as exciting, as electrifying, as life-changing, as Definitely Maybe.