Albums That Changed My Life: Frank Turner
This week's slice of "Albums That Changed My Life" goodness comes from Frank Turner!Turner will be heading back to the US in September for a month long headline tour. All dates and ticket information can be found here.
Counting Crows - August & Everything AfterMy older sister got into this record when it came out. I was just listening to metal and punk at the time and was kind of dismissive of it, but she pushed me into learning how to play the songs on guitar. They're all really simple, basic chords. Looking back now I think this album kind of became the bedrock of my conception of songwriting. I still think it's a stone cold masterpiece.
Black Flag - The First Four YearsI was getting into punk rock, in love with NOFX, Descendents, The Clash, Rancid, that kind of thing. But it wasn't until I heard this album that I really had the skin ripped off me. There's an intensity and sense of purpose to the rage on this record that is hard to beat.
Bruce Springsteen - NebraskaAfter a long time being immersed in heavy music like Converge, Refused, Jesus Lizard and that kind of thing, I came across this album. Before this I had Springsteen penned as a cheesy stadium rock guy with a headband and blue jeans and so on. This album is intense, sad, threatening, bleak, personal - many of the things I'd been looking for in heavy music, but using only vocals and an acoustic guitar. It opened my eyes to new ways of expressing yourself.
mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright!I only heard this album a couple of years ago but I'm still kind of reeling from it. The inventiveness both within the music and the lyrics within the standard idiom of folk rock is staggering. And yeah, the lyrics are just something else, there's a depth to the language and the imagery here that supersedes pretty much any other album I've ever heard.
