Sentiment and sound: a journey through my favourite albums
Sometimes, I want nothing more in the world than to sit down with one of my nearest and dearest and say, “Play me something that speaks to your soul.” For me, music isn’t just something I listen to in order to pass the time: it’s a linchpin of my very existence, something that makes the world more bearable and my inner life infinitely richer. The albums I love most are not just collections of songs: they are milestones by which I can map the trajectory of my life. Each one comes with its own set of memories and associations, unbreakable connections to people and places and times that render them an integral part of my identity. With that in mind, I decided to collate a list of my favourite albums in order to examine what makes them my favourites. It was an enlightening exercise in that it revealed hitherto unrealised truths about myself. I am not concerned with sales or critical reviews or even general popularity. The only yardstick I am using is what these albums mean to me. And so, without further ado, let’s embark on a musical odyssey through the albums that have impacted me the most.
Come On Over, Shania Twain
This was the first album I ever owned, and subsequently the first one I learned the words to off by heart. It strikes me now as an unusually sophisticated first album for an eight-year-old girl. While I would…
