Happy Rocking New Year to you all and what a way to start it with our first album of the month post of 2022. Some of our team members reveal their albums of the month, see below to see what they have picked.
Lotty: Queen – A Night At The Opera
I am going with a real classic for my first album of the month of 2022. I have said before I get my taste for the heavier side of the music spectrum from my Dad and this is one of his favourite albums. The more I listened to this, the more I grew to love it. This album alone shows you can’t pigeonhole QUEEN into one genre box, they have their own thing going on and that is demonstrated through a great variety of tracks. Whether it’s the old time sounds from tracks Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon and Seaside Rendezvous or the epic sounds in The Prophet’s Song, I’m In Love With My Car and of course Bohemian Rhapsody, this album covers it all. I would also like to give a shout out to the song ’39, it’s a straight to the point song that allows you to reflect on things that have gone on. You know those records you listen to and you suddenly remember how many great songs there are? A Night Of The Opera is that album for me.
Find QUEEN on Facebook.
Steph: Leonard Cohen – Greatest Hits
In discussion with my family, mentioned that I like quite melancholy music. One of my favourite songs is Halleluiah. A few days later this album popped through my down, with the note, ‘as you like depressing music, you will like this…’
And I do. Its not depressing but can be classed as melancholy. The soothing voice strokes my mind and brings down my bata waves. The gentle vocals are highlighted by the acoustic guitar and simple melodies. Even the lyrics help to seep the stress from my mind and leech the tension from my body, it is even better in a hot shower (bath would be better but don’t have one currently) with the sound waves being complemented by the physical sensations.
The music washes over me and I pick up certain phrases. Lady Midnight calls up images of comfort and inevitably. In my head it spells that death is not terrible, she is sitting and waiting for us in love and acceptance. Whereas So Long Marianne is about love, being in love, the losing of love and the cost of both parts. I feel so moved and so cradled in a heart of this man; it makes me know those who love me are supporting me as they can. Even if it means sending random music through the mail.
Find Leonard Cohen on Facebook.
Jacob: Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
I was going to choose something different for my album of the month right up until the moment of writing and then as so frequently happens my mood changed on a dime and I’ve decided that a better album for this month is RADIOHEAD’s A Moon Shaped Pool.
Widely regarded as one of the most depressing mainstream albums ever released I feel it fits this bleak and dreary month, and offers the warm embrace of melancholy until times are better, until there is warmth again in the world.
Thom Yorke’s vocals perfectly encapsulate the feeling of local and global politics, personal emotion and existential anguish. Daydreaming is less like a picture of beauty and more like a dull world that’s seeping into darkness. Repeated melodies to pass the time like the tick of a clock just spiralling ever downwards, just pulling, just taking the listener with them.
Find RADIOHEAD on Facebook.
What would you have picked for your album of the month? Let us know and we will see you next month.
