Music Recommendations
Check out some of my album choices and find something new!
DJ Chris Elwood Music Recommendations
Here are a few albums I think are well worth checking out. Many you will be familiar with and some you will not. Let me know what you think!
London Grammar - If You Wait
London Grammar's first album If You Wait. This is an absolute masterpiece and beautifully produced. The 45RPM vinyl is genuinely spectacular and well worth the money. The haunting vocals and deep bass make it an absolute must own record.
Malia - Convergance
The introduction track on this LP is a must for any audiophile. That initial sound is a real hifi test and opens into a wonderful album. Well worth checking out.
Sasha - Airdrawndagger
One of the best examples of Sasha's work. A real musical journey and not too heavy for regular play.
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
The best album you have never heard. Initially a very difficult listen but once you sit through it a few times it really grows. Almost like a classical piece that references earlier tracks as the album plays out. Available on 180gram vinyl as a re-issue and well worth picking up.
Orbital Work 1989 – 2002
One of the best “Greatest Hits” albums available. VERY expensive now on vinyl but will only go up in value if you take the plunge. Chime, Halcyon & Belfast all feature on this album and will bring a smile to your face as you remember your youth!
Paul Simon – Graceland
A copy of this album is probably in almost every house in the country already! Very much a feature of my childhood. The brilliant introduction of Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world on Homeless & Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes. I have also included the remixes version of this album for the purists.
The Remix Version is available here.
Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
This was my first Non-Greatest Hits introduction to Dylan. Classics like All Along The Watchtower made famous by Hendrix & I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight both feature. Great early Dylan and a couple of classics to keep you engaged.
The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation
Seminal classic album and for many the introduction to dance music as a genre. Very much an album of it’s time bridging the gap between the hardcore & mainstream. It was a step away from the rave culture of Experience but a brilliant evolution and for me the peak of their career. Original versions of Poison, Their Law & Voodoo People all feature on this classic.
Portishead – Dummy
For many Glory Box is the standout track on this album and the one most would be familiar with. It is however one of the most remixed albums of all time. Roads & Numb will both be familiar to many and is a real journey. One for a Sunday morning!
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
A wonderful album start to finish. This would very much be a part of my Late-Night Tales story. Fast Car is magnificent as is the often covered Baby Can I Hold You. Vocally & Lyrically brilliant from start to finish this is a brilliant album to play end to end. Soulful & romantic but delivered in such an emotional way. Class.
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Another lazy Sunday afternoon track. Or the sound track of every 90’s dinner party. Classy and musical, a group of musicians having a great time creating the sounds of Cuba. It’s an excellent double LP and really lends itself to vinyl format. A 1998 Grammy winner makes you feel like you are sitting a bar in Havana. Mojitos not included.
Air – Moon Safari
Not unlike Moby’s – Play almost every track from this album will be recognisable from it’s use on TV idents or adverts. Sexy Boy, Kelly Watch The Stars, All I Need all feature on this masterpiece. It’s a journey on electronica chillout and musicality. Produced in the late 1990’s it sounds as fresh today as it did then. Lovely artwork as well!
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
This was one of the last Iron Maiden albums I bought and probably my favourite. It’s almost an experimental album which tells a story of a young prophet. Very rarely does a concept album work for any band let alone in the Metal genre! If you already think you know what Iron Maiden are all about then think again!
Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space
Another unusual choice and an album that will take a bit of getting used to. A blend of NASA Control vocals & News Items of the era set to music. It sounds as mad as it is but stick with it! The almost euphoria of the spaceship returning from the Dark Side of The Moon on “The Other Side” is worth the album purchase alone!
Morcheeba – Big Calm
The last of the 90’s electronica & chill-out style. This would have been the album of choice for the calm down after-party. Very much a 4am Sunday morning vibe to this album. Enough bass to keep you going along but not enough to get you out your seat. Dreamy vocals and synth make this a stonewall classic!
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
I don’t think I am going to be able to say anything about this album that has not already been said. The fact that this 50+ year old classic was conceived by a 22 year old genuinely beggars belief. Cypress Avenue and Madame George are the stand out tracks for me but this is another album that HAS to be listened to end to end. Most will hate it.
Pulp – Different Class
The soundtrack to my A Levels but so much more than that. An album with two or three of the most iconic tracks of the 90’s. It’s the rest of the album that needs your attention as an adult. At the time of Oasis vs Blur Pulp went under the radar a little for me. This is an album arguably as good as any of the output from the other big guns of this period. Every track from this album could have been a single in it’s own right.
Radiohead – OK Computer
Love or hate their melancholic tones this is an album for a generation. Very much an album I would use to test a hifi setup as there is so much going on and it is so well engineered. The initial bass line of “Lucky” or the rise and fall of “Let Down” makes this one of my all time favourites. Full of hit singles and plenty to remember!
Leftfield – Leftism
Jonny Rotten sings the vocal on the track “Open Up” which is absolutely iconic before you find that out. Initially played to me by a colleague in a retail store I didn’t like it till much later (Sorry Eve…). This is another album which has been used on many different adverts and TV shows. You’ll know plenty of tracks intimately. I saw them live celebrating the 22nd anniversary of this album where they played it in full. Wonderful.
The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
Difficult to explain the genre here. It could be Folk/Rock/Country but it has it all! It could be Springsteen, The Verve, Bob Dylan & More. Not a band to get you out your chair and dancing but beautifully produced and not afraid of a 7-minute track! Very mellow to listen to but there is honestly not a bad track on any of their output. Start here and see what you think!
Sasha – Refracted Live
Having attended the next show at The Roundhouse the following year this was a must-have album for me. Very kindly bought for me on Clear Vinyl. It is brilliant and really demonstrates the make-up of a dance music track from an orchestral level. Nothing like Pete Tong & The London Philharmonic recreating dance classics. This is so much more. Celestial – Battleships – Belfunk is the stand-out track at a full 16.55 long. Wonderful.
First Aid Kit – Ruins
The second album from Swedish sister duo was my first introduction to them. Vocally magnificent and a great variation on track make this a brilliant album to introduce you to the pair. Some will be familiar with their previous hit “The Lions Roar” but this is a more mature performance and a stunning album for any time of day or night.
The Eagles – Hell Freezes Over
One of the most iconic live albums of all time. If you attend a Hi-Fi show you will probably hear Hotel California’s kick drum 800 times over the course of the day. This remastered re-issue means you can own your very own copy (Original can be £1000!). It’s brilliantly remastered and produced. A real sense of occasion for a live album – better than almost all others!
Weezer – Teal Album
A Record Store Day exclusive but amazingly still available. A superb album of cover versions by Weezer. Toto’s Africa has taken on a whole new spin and you will probably have heard it as a single on the radio. Well worth checking out as the whole album is brilliant fun.
Lana Del Rey – Norman Fu**ing Rockwell
This was my album of 2020 by 100 miles. Recommended by one of the members of our Lockdown Album Club I played it relentlessly. It’s a fantastic album with some brilliant story telling and vocals. Lana’s voice is a thing of beauty and the big sounding “California” is truly something to behold. Mad expensive on vinyl now so please come to mine and hear it!
Ocean Colour Scene – Moseley Shoals
Potentially the piece of media I have spent most money on in my life. I think I have bought 10 copies of this album for one reason or another. It’s one of my very favourites and instantly puts me back inside my 16-year-old self. Recently re-released on vinyl with 4 top 10 singles and the magnificent “It’s My Shadow” worth every penny on any format.