Today I’m sharing a top10 of albums in my collection that I have played the most. I am cheating a little bit since I do not actually own all these albums. Since these are in my toplist, I might add them to the collection at some point. But since I have some albums in this list on various formats I do have some sort of compensation.
Number one in this list formed the basis for some other choices in the list, therefore today I’m starting with that one.
1. KLF: Chill Out (1990)
The first time I heard this record was in the summer of 1992. Until then I knew The KLF only from their singles 3 AM Eternal and Last Train to Trancentral. This was completely new to me. 45 minutes of strange noises, samples, some melodies, Elvis Presley, and so on. This had nothing to do with the stuff I heard before. I got a copy of the CD for my birthday, and for some years I played this album when I went to sleep. Pure ambient bliss!
2. The Orb: Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (1991)
After that summer 1992 I did read in an article that The Orb was also involved in the creation of Chill Out. This got me curious and therefore I bought their debut album Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. That did not disappoint. Some ambient tracks, some reggae and dub influences. Another musical addiction was born. Meanwhile 30 years went by and I still like and collect The Orb’s music.
3. The Orb: U.F. Orb (1992)
The Orb’s second album. Bought this shortly after Adventures. This album actually made it to a number one position in the UK Albums chart. This must also be one of the albums I have the most different versions from. According to Discogs I have 7 different versions.
4. Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988)
Yep, there it is again. I mentioned this album before in my favorite live albums list. A bit of a shame I never got myself a decent copy. Fun fact: years later in 2010 Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour made the Metallic Spheres album with The Orb.
5. Dire Straits: Alchemy (1984)
Yep, I discussed this one before as well. Still gets a regular play every now and then. Timeless music!
6. Kruder & Dorfmeister: The K&D Sessions™ (1998)
Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister are two Austrian DJ’s, is an Austrian duo, known for their trip hop/downtempo remixes of pop, hip hop and drum and bass songs. Not sure when I heard this the first time, but this album is still mindblowing. Another one I still need to get on vinyl, just of the purpose of having it. Favorite track is Bomb da Bass’ Bug Powder Dust which appears on both mixes.
7. Air: Moon Safari (1998)
If I’m correct I mentioned this album before as well. Poppy, groovy, catchy, whatever. The two albums after this debut were great as well. After that these guys went a bit out of my sight. I just noticed they made a few more albums, so I have some catching up to do.
8. Leftfield: Leftism (1995)
Another groundbreaking album in this list. What kind of music is it? At that point it was hard to describe. It had house music, pop influences, dub, reggae, and because of the vocals from Sex Pistols’ Johnny Lydon a bit of punk as well.
9. Madonna: Ray of Light (1998)
For her seventh studio album Madonna seeked help from english producer William Orbit. This resulted in a great album with lots of influences from different styles. I remember when this came out it was on steady repeat.
10. Sasha: Global Underground 013: Ibiza (1999)
The Orb’s music turned up in a few DJ mixes by legendary DJ Duo Sasha & Digweed. This got me pointed in the Global Underground mix series. Great mixes, but also great artwork and cd book inlays. Sasha’s Ibiza mix is by far my favorite. There are some really great tracks on this album like Sasha’s Xpander and BT’s Mercury & Solace.
