Musicians, dancers and aficionados share their greatest albums of all time. The rain will add back-up acoustics. Hit play!
Nikhil D’Souza, Performer, Bollywood Singer
Grace by Jeff Buckley: To describe this album in one word: sublime. For me this album represents the best of melodic songwriting, vocal intensity, and even re-interpreting classic songs to make them your own (Hallelujah, Lilac Wine).
Soul Cages by Sting: Bit of a departure from the usual Sting sound, this album was his attempt at dealing with his father's death. Haunting.
The Bends by Radiohead: This one started it all for the band (my favourite band, by the way). They've gone on to become an ever evolving music monster.
O by Damien Rice: His best songs, his first album. I can't remember how many times I've heard it.
Achtung Baby by U2: U2 is the band that has influenced a lot of modern sound and contemporary bands. This is probably their best work.
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Mukul Deora, Musician, DJ, Bollywood Producer
Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan: This is the album in which His Bobness shrugged off the folk god mantle, went electric, and wrote two of his finest songs.
Protection by Massive Attack: The perfect soundtrack for a dark monsoon. Dub, funk, and soul expertly blended in a cauldron of pre-millennial tension.
Orbital 2 (the brown album) by Orbital: The album that proved that two men with machines can be as warm and emotive as anything else. Still rocking dance floors everywhere.
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by The Aphex Twin: Lush textures and finely tooled beats from one of the greatest modern composers.
Second Toughest In The Infants by Underworld: Brilliantly fuses deep dance grooves with top-notch songwriting and production.
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Anushka Manchanda, Bollywood Singer
Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy: Dirty, rough sounds and big, bad beats… This album is a shot of adrenaline for the alternative- electro- break beat junkie. Track after track of head banging material, Invaders Must Dies punches you right in the gut… and it feels damn good!
Pocket Symphony by Air: Airy voices that float over pretty arrangements, beautiful harmonies and perfectly produced tracks. This is my go-to album when I want to wind down, relax, recover from a crazy party night or be lulled to sleep. It reminds me of pink and purple sunsets on the beach.
Free Cloud by Perfect Stranger: With yummy baselines that make you wanna dance, dance, dance. Every track has the ability to draw you in. is it techno? Is it electro? Is it trance? When the music is so groovy, who cares?
One by Ocelot: This is what killer production sounds like. A down tempo psychedelic album, One is a journey and as you weave in and out of track after perfectly placed track, you feel like you’re in a dream… with enough surprises to make you smile , and slip back into the trance.
Tashan by Vishal Shekhar: Fun! This soundtrack has everything I like… a guitar heavy song I can rock out to, a ‘paatiya’ song that let’s my inner cheapo come out and play, a pretty ballad that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, and a vocally dominated track that I can only listen to with wonder.
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Juhi Pande, Video Jockey for Channel V, Blogger
August and Everything After by The Counting crows: I usually ignore the Crows for a while... a few months. Maybe even a year... And then I just binge on them. It's been like that for a while now. Plus Adam Duritz' voice is just beautiful. And it's that
time of the year again for me.
Vespertine by Bjork: I love everything about Bjorks music and I listen to her on a loop for days at a time. And it's usually Vespertine that I'm looping.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West: K.West is a great picker-upper. When I'm getting ready, when I'm bummed out, when I'm just out of it, or when I just want to dance. I got Kanye West come rescue me. Plus this album is pretty fantastic – super collaborations. The song with Bon Iver, Lost in the World, is my favourite.
Plastic Beach by Gorillaz: This is just stellar stuff. I'm mostly listening to Empire Ants from this Album or Superfast Jellyfish.
Baduizm by Erykah Badu: She is timeless. Love this album and especially her molten voice.
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Ankur Tewari, Screenwriter, Bollywood Singer, Vocalist for Ankur and the Ghalat Family
Achtung Baby by U2: I had just bought myself a Walkman and the first cassette on it was this album. Achtung baby + A Reynolds pen (to rewind the Tape) and I - we have spent many days together exploring Bono's sublime words and voice.
The White Album by The Beatles: This is a sure shot cure for writer's block - at least in my case. For me it's the most progressive form of musical expression ever. Beatles rule.
Sunoh by Lucky Ali: Lucky Ali and his album Sunoh have got a lot to do why I'm writing songs and making music today.
Night Song by Michael Brooke and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Michael Brooke and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - what more can one say. Pure genius.
Buena Vista Social Club by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez and Ry Cooder: You haven't really fallen in love if you haven't heard this piece of magic. The words, the voices, the music - they can stretch a moment better than Einstein could in his theory of relativity.
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Uday Benegal, Lead Vocalist for Indus Creed, Bollywood Singer
Quadrophenia by The Who: Though Who’s Next is a more complete collection of singular gems, Quadrophenia holds a special place in my heart—it’s the very first time I heard The Who. It turned that school kid into a Pete Townshend devotee right away. And then made him want to join a rock band.
Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree: I discovered the music of PT only recently but they’ve been around a really long time. Frontman/songwriter/guitar player/producer Steven Wilson is a master rock architect and riff god. “Adrenalize” is case in point. Every stage of the 18-minute song will transport you to a new high you didn’t know you could hit.
Debut by Björk: From the moment I heard Björk sing I was hooked. Debut was probably the freshest sound to hit the planet at the time. The Icelandic chanteuse’s genius lies additionally in the people she works with. This album is the perfect primer to some of the most interesting music you could hear.
Abbey Road by The Beatles: No other album by the Beatles does it for me like Abbey Road. From “Here Comes the Sun” till the very last note of the record, I get lost every time, unfailingly. It’s the ultimate trip…no acid required.
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King by Dave Matthews Band: I’d never been able to get into DMB’s music—until I heard this one. A fantastic collection of songs. Political ideologies, eco-consciousness and good ole-fashioned love are woven in thematic perfection via some of the funkiest, most slamming grooves and riffs you’ll hear in a long time.
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Pritam, Bollywood Music Director
Night at the Opera by Queen: Vocals and Fred-y mercury – bohemian rhapsody. Every track is amazing.
Thriller by Michael Jackson: school rage. The video was path breaking.
Taal by AR Rahman
Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd: I am amazed at how sophisticated the technique is! How could they achive this in 1973, when it is difficult even now.
Tum Mile by Pritam: Fun album to work on. There is something about it that I’m attached to. It was complete as an album.
A Bollywood Legend: Best of the Emi Years by Rahul Dev Burman: Best of RD Burman. I constantly hear Aanewala kal, and chingari – the 70s classics.
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Bobin James, Executive Editor for Rolling Stone
Meddle by Pink Floyd: A rather underrated album, Meddle is a very clear roadmap of where Pink Floyd were headed. It is in more ways than one, the precursor to their 1973 classic, The Dark Side of the Moon. I will forever remember lying on my bed, all lights switched off and listening to the 23 minute long “Echoes” on loop. Who needs drugs with songs like that?
Thriller by Michael Jackson: When I first heard Thriller, it was just part of my stash of pop music - which also included some albums by Wham! and Madonna – no more, no less. (It became a phenomenon and a landmark album much later.) But even at that time I remember being fascinated by this music, unlike anything that I was used to hearing. The groove, the voice, the “aaooo-s”, all made sure you weren’t sitting down.
Ride the Lightning by Metallica: This was one of the very first metal albums I heard and I must admit that it wasn’t love at first listen. I went, “What’s this noise?” But that was until I came to song number three, “For Whom the Bell Toll”. Boom, I was hooked, and became a metal- and Metallica fan for life. This remains one of my all-time favourite metal albums.
Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin: No, this isn’t the more popular Led Zeppelin IV with “Stairway to Heaven” and “Black Dog”. But III has some equally brilliant songs in “Immigrant Song” (soon to be heard reworked by Trent Reznor in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” (I dare you to keep your feet still while listening to it) and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” (a contender for Song with Greatest Ever Guitar Solo).
Moving Pictures by Rush: Rush is the reason I listen to a major chunk of the music I listen to today. If I hadn’t stumbled upon Rush, I would perhaps never have discovered the other giants of the prog rock/metal scene. And it all started with one song, “Red Barchetta”, on Moving Pictures.
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Bosco Martis, Bollywood Choreographer
Thriller by Michael Jackson: MJ has been an inspiration to any and every one. His music is as fresh as dew forever!
Dangerous by Michael Jackson
Dirty Dancing by Various Artists
Rang de Basanti by AR Rahman: Songs I can listen to any time and I enjoy them even more every time
Dil Chahta hai by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy: Feels like déjà vu!
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Pankhil Shah, Partner at Woodside Inn
The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield by Curtis Mayfield: I love old school funk and soul and I think Curtis Mayfield best symbolizes this era.
The Joshua Tree by U2: Three of my all-time favourite songs in one album; Joshua Tree took my love for U2 to the next level.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay: Probably one of the more eclectic sounds to come out of a more mainstream band, I think the appeal of this album is very global.
BBC Sessions by Led Zeppelin: One of the first cassettes I've ever owned, Led Zeppelin's BBC Sessions introduced me to the amazing world of classic rock!
Wish you Were Here by Pink Floyd: I don't think there needs much to be said about this album. A must have for all class rock aficionados.
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