  Well, the final instalment of my most influential CDs is in. You may recall at an earlier post, I alluded to the fact that I couldn't restrict this to a top 5, which it initially was supposed to be. From 5 to 2, here are the previous 4 influential CDs in my lifetime: 5. urlLink Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen 4. urlLink Apocalypse 91 - Public Enemy 3. urlLink Blood Sugar Sex Majik - Red Hot Chili Peppers 2. urlLink OK Computer - Radiohead So, time for Number 1.
Or Number 1's as the case will be. Let's call them 1a and 1b. 1a. Batman Soundtrack - Prince I was inclined to put one of Prince's other albums here, but in the end, I had to go with Batman, even though like Springteen at No 5, it doesn't get a listen anymore. So why at No 1 then? I loved the Batman movies, the first 2 (directed by Tim Burton) at least. Having enjoyed the first movie so much, I decided to check out the soundtrack. The song that converted me to Princedom was Batdance, the 'overture' for the movie. I grew up knowing this guy Damien, who was a huge Prince fan right through the 80s. Playing guitar myself, I was big fan of Van Halen and all the guitar-hero type bands and I used to stir Damien about how poofy Prince was etc etc. All the usual sort of garb spouted by a teenager that didn't bother to actually check the guy out, just went on the image (which was, and continues to be, shall we say, arty). All that changed when I heard 'Batdance' and the rest of the album. I was starting to gain an appreciation for musical forms other than heavy stuff at the time, and I think this album came to me just at the right time. When I got hold of this album, Batdance gave me the guitar chops I needed to hear, and the rest of the album opened my ears to the R&B/funk sound that I hadn't experienced before.
As usual, enjoying this first-time experience led me to snap up all I could from the Artist, and I was rarely disappointed. Prince can play. He is a guitarist amongst the best I've ever heard. Not just speedy licks and tricks like on Batdance, but tasty melody-stye stuff as well. Yeah, he is wierd, but Prince is a musician's musician. He's written more hit songs than I can list here, plays incredible bass, keys and percussion, and if you're into vocals, his falsetto and harmonies are just unbelievable.
My affinity for Prince's music continues - I bought his latest, Musicology, last weekend. I've purchased some of his wierder stuff as well, like Exodus, which wasn't officially a Prince release due to his contractual situation with Sony at the time.
Instead it was released as an album by Prince's band - the NPG. I also have his Rave Unto the Year 2000 Concert video, which is whole lot better than I thought it might be, and features guest spots from Lenny Kravitz and others. Prince allowed me to explore music in a new way; to challenge my own perceptions of what songwriting and music are. His work confronted my identity as an Australian male and allowed ideas into my thought processes that wouldn't have become so prevalent except for that exposure. The concept of intamacy expressed in music, for example. Maybe for you, that's old news, but for me at the time, it was pretty revolutionary. And as I write this I'm thinking maybe that's why his first band was called The Revolution.
1b.
Couldn't Stand the Weather - Stevie Ray Vaughan I first heard Scuttlebuttin on Channel Nine's Wide World Of Sports program back in the 80's. I just thought WOW!, who is that playing? Never really had the resources to check it out back then (were talking seriously pre-internet here). A mate at school, David Watson, allowed me to borrow a few of his tapes. There was a tape amongst them called 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' and you could imagine my delight as I slotted it into the tape deck to find the same tune I'd heard on Nine a few years before.
As if that wasn't enough, the rest of the album just blew my mind. Stevie Ray Vaughan was a musician, who like very few at any given time, can both define and redefine a genre of music within his tragically short career. Stevie was a blues guitarist like very few others past or present. Powerful driving blues music, or incredibly sensitive ballads. Grooves. Riffs. Howling vocals. Stunning solos. Stevie could do it all, and after he was done he'd wink, tip his hat, and just wait for the next cat to come in and play.
If you've never heard him, check out his rendition of Little Wing, or Riviera Paradise. Look up Stang's Swang, Voodoo Chile and his signature classic - Lenny. What you'll hear are the most incredible set of fingers playing the world's best electric guitar at the highest level ever achieved. My tip: turn off the lights, lay down and play Riviera Paradise. The song will blow you away.
Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash after a gig in Colorado. I remember the morning, waking up to the news on JJJ. I nearly didn't go to work that day. I did in the end, but I took all my SRV tapes and hooked them into the phone system, so that everyone that called Telecom's Coburg office that day got SRV whilst they were waiting on hold. Thanks for lending me that tape, Dave. My 16 year old stepson now has a huge poster of Stevie in his bedroom. I think we were around 16 at the time you lent me the tape all those years ago.... 
