Pat

My cousin Pat is a bit of a Renaissance Man: not only does he hold down a full-time job, he also writes a movie column for his local newspaper, he is a prolific photographer and he is a scriptwriter for a new children's TV show called Dinotopia. He also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of music, outstripping even my own brother's wide musical taste (here he is on the left with Bernard and his own brother Dermot).


Hi, Mairead - though it's already November where you are, I think I've managed to meet your October 31 deadline for my top ten desert island discs. Here they are, in no particular order.

1.
Passionfruit - Michael Franks (1983)
Michael Franks is the original Mr Smooth. His music is jazzy, sensual, melodic, rhythmic - his lyrics witty, smart, evocative and atmospheric. His major in University was songwriting, and his study of the Great American Songbook and how it was written is evident in every track on this album, while the production is state-of-the-art (for 1983) with a spotless sheen on every song, all performed by the top session players of the day. His voice, I admit, is an acquired taste - but so is a mojito.
Favourite Track: "Rainy Night In Tokyo" - twenty years before Lost In Translation, this is a magical evocation of an affair in the east.

2.
The Angel In The House - The Story (1993)
Who would buy an album by an unknown artist because they've vaguely heard of the guy who played drums on the last track on side one? That would be me, officer - and yes, I DO have a roomful of albums that I've only ever played once. But sometimes it works out. The Story's first album was "Grace In Gravity" in about 1991 and was well worth a risk for IR£2.99 in a 1992.
The Story were Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball, two women with remarkably similar voices that blended to spine-tingling effect, over stripped down accompaniment. Their second album, "The Angel In The House" is flawless and evocative and very, very tasteful. How tasteful? Wel, I once heard it playing in Habitat and the title is taken from Virginia Woolf. Nuff said.
Favourite Track: "Amelia" - not easy to pick just one, but this song especially showcases their remarkable harmonies, their melodic invention and the sheer exquisite good taste.

3.
If That's What It Takes - Michael McDonald (1982)
The Greatest Voice Of His Generation (Considering He's A White Dude With A Beard) - best known for singing back-up with Steely Dan and fronting The Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald has one of the great soul voices. This was his first solo album, and never left my Walkman for weeks - back when people were getting mugged for their Walkmans.
Favourite Track: I Gotta Try - written with the vastly underestimated Kenny Loggins, this sums up the album's impassioned tone and laid back urgency.

4.
Sings Rodgers & Hart - Dawn Upshaw (1996)
Dawn Upshaw is a soprano, notably featured on the best-selling 1992 recording of Henryk Gorecki's Symphony 3 "Sorrowful Songs". Classically trained singers take on popular songs all the time, usually managing to simulate chalk marks on a blackboard in 3/4 time. Dawn Upshaw, though, has a warmth of spirit and flexibility of tone that makes her renditions of these great songs not just bearable, but 'swonderful. Some find the purity of her voice takes away from the passion of these songs, but I disagree - every word of Lorenz Hart's fantastic lyrics is perfectly performed.
Favourite Track: I Didn't Know What Time It Was - a Rodgers & Hart song that I never knew before I heard this version. I'd give my left arm to be able to play these songs on the piano.

5.
Come On, Come On - Mary Chapin Carpenter (1992)
There's something you don't see every day: a blue-stater with a stetson. Not that MCC wears cowboy hats - she's from DC, not the deep south. This was her breakthrough album - ironically the best known track, Passionate Kisses, is a cover, but her own songs are vivid snapshots from her life, written with a plainspoken eloquence that is nonetheless poetic. Great guitar playing, too.
Favourite Track: The Hard Way - this is the song I heard playing in HMV one lunchtime and prompted me to buy the album on the spot.

6.
Welcome To The Cruise - Judie Tzuke (1979)
The summer of '79...I remember it well. This album came out the same day as Rickie Lee Jones's first album (another favourite) but it was this LP, by a toothsome singer of Czech origin, that really hit me. The single was "Stay With Me 'Til Dawn" but was not typical of the album, which at that age I found exotic and entrancing. It was on Elton John's Rocket Records label - but it was the orchestral arrangements by Elton's arranger Paul Buckmaster that made this album so striking.
Favourite Track: Sukarita - track 2, side 1 - just a perfect pop song.

7.
Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind - Linda Ronstadt (with Aaron Neville) (1989)
As the title suggests, this album isn't exactly a bundle of laughs. Though there are some great upbeat songs, the overall tone is reflective. I quite liked the album when it came out, but it was two years ago that I finally came to understand what it's really about - grief. Practically every song has something to say about loss and love and the need to carry on, no matter what.
Favourite Track: Adios - written by the legendary Jimmy Webb, this really sums up the album perfectly.
8.
James Taylor (Live) - James Taylor (1993)
This is a cheat, I know - this live album by JT was recorded in his back yard (not literally) and features songs from his whole career to that point. He is such a charismatic live performer - with a dry wit and perfect comic timing that would shame most comedians - and these arrangements really show his great songs off at their best.
Favourite Track: Shower The People - this version of STP features a spine-tingling coda which features backing singer Arnold McCuller going all gospel. Awesome.

9.
Seconds Out - Genesis (1977)
I got into prog rock just before punk happened - so found myself on the side of the dinosaurs while the iconoclasts were hard at work. I really only liked Yes and Genesis, to be honest - and this Genesis album represents the pinnacle of the whole progressive rock movement, to my mind. It's a live album recorded just after Peter Gabriel left the band and Phil Collins took over the lead vocals - and it's a perfect representation of what they were like. Not too much pomposity, I'll have you know - just enough to make it worthwhile.
Favourite Track: The Cinema Show - epic and overblown, with an instrumental coda that's twice as long as the actual song, but phenomenal, especially as it's driven by the twin drum attack of Phil Collins and Bill Bruford.

10.
Songs For Swingin' Lovers - Frank Sinatra (1955)
Is it really through that Sinatra was washed up in the mid-fifties, reeling from the success of rock'n'roll and pleading with movie studios to cast him in something - anything? So he accepts a bit part in From Here To Eternity - and wins a best supporting actor Oscar. And he signs a contract with Capitol Records that leads to classic album after classic album, the best of them being this one, a jazz classic that is full of life, fleet of foot and wondrously upbeat.
Favourite Track: You Make Me Feel So Young - Frank says that age gaps in relationships aren't a problem, and then goes and marries Mia Farrow. If it's OK with Sinatra...

I hope that does the trick, Mairead - I could go on and on...and I never included anything by Steely Dan! But it's too late now...