ASHES dIVIDE Online » Blog Archive » Billy’s Top 5 Records

April 30th, 2008

Billy updated his myspace blog tonight with his top 5 records of all time…

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey called West Milford. Although we were 45 minutes from NYC, we lacked the entertainment infrastructure that gives awareness of music outside the typical FM rock radio of the day. When I was in high school, in the pre-internet age, it was a special moment to find interesting music and like minded fans of similar music. When I was really young, a guy named Tommy Rogers turned me on to many of the bands on this list. He had great taste and indirectly taught me not to be afraid to break the mold. These records became a world of their own inside my head and they’re still alive for me even today. When I began to write music, one of my goals was to touch people the way these records reached me. They became the sound track to my life.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox

-Beautiful and scary….what a great Dark Wave record should be. There are parts of this record that I have gone to time and again as a well of inspiration. They weren’t afraid to break the production mold without going too far and ruining the overall vibe just to be arty. This record sounds like a sharp, shiny shard of steel to me.

Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

-Takes me back to being a child. In my opinion, this record was cutting edge in the 80’s, 90’s and the 00’s. I can’t think of another record like that. The sounds and the balls it took to make this record when nothing else sounded like it, marks it’s place on my top 5 favorite records.

Elvis Costello - My Aim is True

-Elvis Costello is one of my all time favorite artists. It was very difficult to pick one record of his but this one, his first record, was a fixture of my musical upbringing. For some, his voice is a dagger through the head. For me, it is gritty and powerful without being pretentious. As for song writing, he has given the courage to, when in a rut, “write songs on a left handed fretless bass upside down, in the dark.” I have used that ideal many times.

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

There are four Cure records that are very important to me as a musician including Japanese Whispers, Pornography, Head on the Door and this one. This was a tough band to just pick one record from. At Seventeen Seconds (and Faith), The Cure grew into a band that made me look at the world differently. It was an undercurrent of mood that seamed ancient, like it was always there but I just stumbled upon it. I had no access to the scene that surrounded this band, only the personal effect it had on me. A record to listen to by yourself and TAKE IN.

Side note: In high school, I was asked to take a class survey and find the student body’s top ten favorite records. I inserted this record as 10 which was preposterous as the other records of the day were Bryan Adams, Def Leppard and such. I was obviously discovered. Sorry about that.

Cat Power - You Are Free

-Such a hauntingly beautiful record. Honest and rough in the most delicate way. I find myself singing these songs and believing the words to stories that are so personal and relevant only to Chan. This record has driven me musically for 5 years now.

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