The Who Sell Out by The Who 1967

With it's fake and real radio ads this concept album (pirate radio) was a mainstay on my turntable during the late seventies when I was busy being a mod about town. Just listening to this album drops me into an era I was really too young to be involved in. The swinging sixties. And the best albums take you places you've never been to.
But it also gave me a lifestyle template. It's all about pop art, guitars and technicolour happenings. Some of the songs are slight and off the cuff. Some are jokey and poke fun at advertising. And then there is the brilliance of "Our Love Was" (with its Christian intro) and "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand". Not forgetting the power of "I Can See For Miles".
I guess it was from albums like these that I started to rebuild the sixties around myself. My flat was as close to the sixties as I could get at the time. In the end, it probably looked more like a Sixties teenagers bedroom. Every wall was a postered up with The Stones and The Beatles & The Jam etc.
In the background, the Who Sell Out.
A fantastic album!

This Years Model by Elvis Costello 1978

I suppose in some way this was the start of New Wave music. A huge step away from punk music but still containing all the anger and bile but with a glossy coating. This as been a cornerstone of my record collection since it's release. Straight in, it pounds into No Action, short sharp and to the point. And then it's just great song after great song. And of course many Elvis fans ended up with the US version too which was a different tracklisting. As was the Australian version. And this came out six months after the first album. The NME had a full page review of the album with the famous picture of Elvis with a machine gun in his mouth.
I went and saw him play at the Palais in St. Kilda. The concert was short fast and ferocious. He blasted through this album. He was angry. He even made Alison a song of hate.
Famously he didn't allow anyone with a beard backstage. So Gudinski couldn't get in! That's what I heard.

Hunky Dory by David Bowie 1971

After buying Ziggy Stardust I found out Bowie had a few previous albums. The first one I picked up was Hunky Dory. I couldn't believe how good it was. The public soon caught up with it too. Bowie was the king. All the tough lads and sharpies had Bowie cuts. Spiky red hair. Unfortunately, my hair tended to fall into the Marc Bolan camp and I was reluctant to go over to Bowie's style. Especially after a disastrous Dave Hill (Slade) fringe cut.
It was another thin record. There was a vinyl shortage in the early seventies. My copy also was a bit crackly. I should have taken it back but I couldn't stop playing it. In the front room. With this album, I had also moved on to lighting incense to create an atmosphere. Mood lighting. And there was only me and the record player. I invented my own headphones. I put the 2 speakers on either side of my head while lying on a pillow. Mum thought I was nuts. Especially when she had to bang on the door to get my attention.
What songs...Life on Mars, Changes, Oh You Pretty things. Andy Warhol...after consuming Ziggy it was like a feast. Bowie just blew everyone else away.

Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks 1968

The Kinks are my favourite band of all time. I've listened to their music for decades and never got sick of them. It all started with a cheap Kinks compilation I picked up in K-Mart in the early seventies probably around 1970. It had the song Waterloo Sunset on it and I was sold. Then I found a copy of Golden Hour of the Kinks.

Gradually I began buying as many Kinks albums as I could lay my hands on but the more I read about them the more Village green became my holy grail. I couldn't find it anywhere. I had the singles Picture Book and Starstruck.

Then one day I was going through the records at Monash Uni and found it. The American version with thick cardboard and fold out cover. Got it home . Magical. Listened to it for days. months, years. A truly brilliant album.

It begins with Village Green Preservation Society (the song) and suddenly we are now in Ray Davies world. And it's a place I always come back to.

The Clash by The Clash 1977

This album came out in 1977 and seeing it at a record store in Box Hill was unbelievable. I'd read about it in NME but I was used to searching for records I wanted. This time it was just there! The vinyl was incredibly thin. but so many records were like that then.
When I got the album and put the needle on the first track "Janie Jones" all the promises of the overseas music papers came true. This was the best album since Ziggy Stardust. Every track is fantastic. Yes, it's punk-pop. They wrote anthems. But what anthems. Garageland & Career Opportunities and more!. Then there's the reggae Police and Thieves which almost steals the whole show until you go back and listen to the rest of the album again.
This became my template for writing songs. This is what I thought a band should be like. And still do. Though I accept that there will only be a few that reach these heights.
My album did suffer a sad ending, however. Moving from Elwood it got caught up in a stumble and broke in half. I was devastated. I kept the cover but I miss that record.

The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie 1972

My favourite album of all time. I bought this record with the money I saved up from my Chemist Round. I bought it in  Blackburn Newsagency which was close to Blackburn Train Station. It cost $6.50. 

After I heard Starman on the radio everything changed for me. Before this album, music entertained me. This album made me want to make music myself. I couldn't play an instrument so I started writing lyrics.
I was living with my Mum and sister Hazel in Blackburn South. They shared a big room so we turned the spare bedroom into a music lounge. I'd sit in there for hours, listening to this album and then Hunky Dory. I studied the cover deeply for clues.

Every song was a killer except for the one cover, "It Ain't Easy" which probably could have been left off. In my opinion of course. I played the album like I was listening to a pop opera. From 5 Years to Rock n Roll Suicide.
I took it to parties and tried to convince friends that this was the future of rock.
In England, in 1975 I took a two-bus journey that took me from one end of Blackpool to the other to see a girl I liked from the Ice Skating Rink. I sat with her Mum having a cup of tea and chatting about Australia for an hour and then the girl and I were left alone to sit in front of the gas fire and listen to the whole of Ziggy Stardust because I hadn't heard it for 6 weeks.
A few years later a fellow student at Teacher's College Kerry, one of my fellow students, recognised my infatuation with the record and gave me the UK editions inner sleeve which contained photos and lyrics.
And a few years back the band Even played the whole album live at the Cherry Bar and it was just brilliant from start to finish. Standing amongst a packed crowd singing along to the album that soundtracked my life was certainly a moment I'll never forget.
I love this album!