Author: mystro2b

The Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby from the album The Flat Earth.

I’m a huge fan of Dolby’s electronic soundscapes and jazz inspired grooves. Way ahead of it’s time in 1984.

The Earle of Oxford’s Marche from Suite William Byrd by Gordon Jacob, performed by Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble from the album British and American Band Classics.

This is my first band nerd selection. Rediscovered by me and my college music major band mates, Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble set the early standard for recorded band literature. Recorded in the late 50’s, these albums have amazing fidelity and the MLP label was famous for it’s “natural sound” achieved with bands and orchestras. Many hours were spent listening and conducting to this piece in front of a mirror in preparation for my student conducting debut in college. Some insight about the piece from Andy Pease below:

The William Byrd Suite is remarkable for showcasing the talents of 2 composers: the titular William Byrd (1540-1623), an English Renaissance composer and a founder of the English Madrigal School; and Gordon Jacob (1895-1984), a 20th century British composer who, along with Holst and Vaughan Williams, is known as an early champion of the wind band and a skilled composer in the medium.  Jacob assembled the suite in 1923, most likely as part of the festivities for the tercentenary of Byrd’s death.  He “freely transcribed” it from six pieces of Byrd’s keyboard work that appeared in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a contemporary collection of almost 300 pieces written between about 1562 and 1612.  This collection contained keyboard works of more than a dozen composers.  While the collection had the virginal – a keyboard instrument that is essentially a portable harpsichord – in mind as its medium, the compositions inside could have been played on any contemporary keyboard instrument.

Paper Tiger by Beck from the album Sea Change.

The hypnotic atmosphere of strings, keyboards and Beck’s plaintive voice make my “chill” playlist every time.

New Frontier by Donald Fagen from the album The Nightfly.

This album came out when I graduated from high school. I knew nothing about Fagen’s debut record or even Steely Dan at the time, but the music video with it’s mix of animation and live-action footage are what I saw and heard first. This video was on a regular rotation in the early days of MTV and remains a classic:

6060-842 by The B-52s from their debut album.

PLAY LOUD- is printed on the center of the bright yellow label on this album. I thought this was hilarious every time I would place it on the turntable spindle (apparently the album was released as Play Loud in Germany). Before I had an inkling of The B-52’s, most of the albums I listened to with friends were classic rock albums. When I got a taste of Fred’s sardonic monotone singing contrasted against Cindy and Kate’s incredible vocal range, I was hooked. This was my introduction to New Wave, Punk inspired music, the first from Athens GA that literally blew my high school mind.

Message in a bottle by The Police from the album Regatta de Blanc.

This record was one of the first albums I remember playing in my bedroom as a teenager in 1980 something. Andy’s unforgettable guitar riff winding in and out of Stewart’s driving off beat snare is the perfect 7 second intro for Sting’s fretless bass and tasty glissando into the opening lyrics. Thanks to Rex for the loan of your stereo and this album. I shared a bedroom with my younger brother and had to make room for the turntable on top of our childhood dresser. We cleared away our bookshelves of dusty Reader’s digest books, (a yearly subscription from my grandparents) to make room for the speakers and basked in the independence of closing the door and playing our music loud.