This Record Changed My Life V

Mark Holden | Songwriter
Blue – Joni Mitchell

Songs are like tattoos. These songs are etched into my soul. I stumbled on the blue cover art in a Canberra record store in 1970 on a house-swap vacation with a bureaucrat that my parents organised. After the Australian War Museum there was nothing else to do. I was 16. Before that I had bought every single and then the album Magic Box by The Loved Ones. I dived into the Beatles late with Abbey Road. Neil Young stole my loyalty with Cowgirl in the Sand – I could play those chords and harmonise with my brother. But the album that I have bought over and over again through the years as vinyl and then CDs is Blue. That voice. Those lyrics. The piano. The guitar. The melodies. Sublime. Timeless. I’ve bought every Joni album includingHejira, Mingus and the recent work that I cant recall. There have been so many female artists inspired by Joni but none come close. I can drink a case of you darling and still I would be on my feet. Years later I went to the Roxy in LA to see Hall and Oates and found myself sitting next to Joni. I couldn’t utter a word for fear of revealing my callow self. Better to say nothing. Not long after I co-produced an album with Milla Jovovich and worked with Joni’s husband Larry Klein. He played bass on the sessions. Nowadays  I’ve heard Joni is a spruiker for the positive effects of cigarettes. Despite thin lips and tar-soaked lungs nothing can dim my view of this extraordinary woman. You’re in my blood like holy wine.

Timomatic | Aritst

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall

Don’t get me wrong Thriller was the bomb, but Off The Wall was the first solo album that Michael did [as an adult] and there was a rawness and a groove and a passion, and a potential to it. When you hear it you’re like, ‘This guy is going to do something, he’s meant to do something big.’ It was just raw, it was super upbeat but it had some really cool slow-jams as well; it just had an energy to it that connects with me more now that I am making my first album. It was just me and the record [when I first heard it], I remember because I was listening toDangerous and Bad when I was thirteen, so it was after I listened to those albums that I got to Off The Wall album; I was like ‘wow’, the innocence of it! It’s funny that as I grew older that it resonated more, that it was the album that really spoke to me. It’s about what it meant to him – the joy and the life of it.

Toni Pipicelli | Group Music Director, Nova Network
Madonna – Like A Virgin 

She was my idol. I loved her look and her music, I knew all the dance moves – I wanted to be her. The album had so many hits on it. I got the repackaged version that had Into The Groove on it. I loved that song so much that, I am very proud to say, I own Desperately Seeking Susan on video and DVD! Every song had a story for me. Like A Virginwas the song the cool kids in primary school would make you sing before you could enter their cubby house. We had no idea what the lyrics actually meant! Material Girl is my favourite karaoke song… I could go on. She is the reason why I love my pop music. An album that will always stand the test of time.

Katie Noonan | Artist
Crowded House – Crowded House 

I remember saving my pocket money up and going halves with my brother Tyrone in this album. We caught the bus into town, went into Rockinghorse Records on Edward St. (Brisbane) and we lovingly carried it home and listened to it on the turntable in the rumpus room downstairs. This was the very first album I bought – what a way to start! This album seriously changed my life. From the opening lines: “She came all the way from America, she had a blind date with destiny”, I was instantly transported into the genius songwriting of Neil Finn and the unique sounds of Paul Hester and Nick Seymour. I think that’s when my fascination with the dream world of album-making started, and the love affair is as strong as ever!

Luciana | Artist
Annie Lennox – Diva

I remember being in the studio aged 15, with my crimped hair and cocky attitude, thinking I knew about music and what’s hot and what’s not. When the producer played me Cold by Annie Lennox, I froze. This was a moment in time where it amazed me how someone could create something so beautiful and broken; so fragile, yet powerful. The triplet tempo swayed me into a trance and her lyrics and delivery shook me to the core. “Do you know how I feel…I don’t think you know how I feel.” I felt connected like never before. I wanted to create music that was beautiful and raw and real and just downright magical. This album was produced so beautifully, layer upon layer of sheer luxury. The whole Diva album is still my best musical orgasm and always will be the music and production that changed my perception of sound. For good.