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Yes, and I think it’s the Muppet’s Christmas Carol Soundtrack – I will not take questions on this. Every song on this album is fantastic; the lyrics are meaningful, and it brings everyone together for Christmas to the tune of Kermit the Frog and Michael Caine.
In all seriousness, I think a perfect album is made when you can binge listen to it repeatedly, including every song, and each one makes sense as to why it’s there. Soundtracks make this easy because they are usually pushing a plot forward in a movie or musical, but to make a truly perfect album as a musician is hard.
My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is top for me from a band. They are masterful in weaving stories into their albums, and each one of these songs takes you through a harrowing Romeo and Juliet story, so every song plays a part, and each one is completely unskippable and a great addition to the alternative/emo genre.
Both of my parents have fantastic taste and have certainly shaped what I like to listen to. I grew up listening to such a huge variety of music, from the Kinks and Tom Jones to Kate Bush and Blondie, to U2 and Depeche Mode – I listen to these now and wonder how I still remember all the lyrics all these years later.
My mum introduced me to Keane at 11 and took me to Bournemouth to see them as my first proper gig, and their Under The Iron Sea album has always been a solid favourite for nostalgia and the pure piano-rock joy that they pump into every record of theirs.
My dad’s favourite song of all time is The Tunnel of Love by Fun Boy Three, which I truly think is one of the best songs ever written about the plights of young love and is lyrically phenomenal whilst capturing super early Brit-pop of the early 80s.
It’s usually a feeling for me; I want that emotional, visceral reaction to something. On vinyl, I typically lean towards soundtracks, as I feel more immersed in the theatre of it all!
I’ve always been drawn more to feeling music than anything else, from being a frankly angry teenager to embracing pop as a young adult because I was over being too cool for it and then hunting nostalgia as an adult with musicals and soundtracks that remind me of people I love and my personal theatre background.
Music that stirs me has always been my go-to, but the genre of that is ever-changing, as I am ever-changing too.
1. Hadestown is my favourite musical of all time, with a beautiful New Orleans jazz vibe mixed with the harrowing sadness of the lyrics, highlighting the tragedy of the myth itself. A brilliant mix of incredible percussion and strings with some fantastic Broadway talent.
2. Maybe the best comedy album of all time, INSIDE, shaped my COVID years and truly reflected how I felt and how I felt the world was during such a horrible time for everyone with a little bit of clever silliness but also a great commentary on the state of everything.
3. The Used have a special place in my heart, and this is the first album of theirs I heard. A great mix of metal, punk, screamo, Bert McCracken’s piercing vocals and Jepha Howard’s phenomenal bass work.
4. Slør is one of my favourite albums of all time, completely in Faroese; Eivør’s vocals are just hauntingly brilliant, and the gorgeous instrumentation is a joy to listen to. It makes me feel like I’m in a druidic ritual that takes you back to your roots as humans.
5. Whilst you may think this is an odd choice as it’s from a video game, the Baldur’s Gate soundtrack has won multiple awards for how phenomenal it is. I listen to this whole album at least once a week to focus whilst I’m working on my podcast scripts. Bard Dance and Twisted Force are such incredible pieces of orchestral music; you can groove AND focus when transported to mediaeval bard fantasy.
6. Footloose is my favourite movie of all time, and this soundtrack is one of the reasons why. Never is the epitome of an 80s angry movie dance track, and the thought of Kevin Bacon dancing through that warehouse is vivid in my head whenever I listen to that track. It’s got a great mix of fantastic 80s musicians and songs; it’s everything you could want to drive or work out to as well as listen to on a rainy afternoon.
My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade is what I would consider a perfect example of this. The track listing takes you through a journey from sickness, reflecting on life and the events that lead you to where we all end up – death.
It’s a masterful theatre piece where you can almost follow characters within the music or reflect on a part of your own life, immersing yourself in the story. Alongside this, each track is the absolute pinnacle of alternative rock, with great lyrics and a hardcore emo sound. Sleep and Famous Last Words are my two highlights on this album; both make you feel like you could march with them yourself in that same parade.
I know it sounds morbid, but this album genuinely changed my life as a teenager back in the late noughties and is true theatre. It also has a Liza Minnelli cameo, so it’s just perfection.