![]() “It seems we all have the one album that comes along and changes everything at the start of our teens, but there’s also a second formative blow that resonates a little later on and scores our coming-of-age years. I think I came upon Grotesque because I loved the artwork, ‘The NWRA’ came on and from that moment that record was all I listened to for the next two months.” I’d listen through songs but their discography was so large, like with other artists, it can be difficult to know where exactly to start. “I was 17, we’d just started Shame and all the clientele and staff of the Queen’s Head in Brixton,” where, he explains, how the band was formed, “Constantly drilling into me and the band the importance of The Fall and their impact on music as we know it.”Ĭharlie continued to regale, “Similar to most people’s love affair with the band, mine began with discomfort and uncertainty. Whilst in terms of production, this may seem disparately contrasting to The Asylum Years, there is no denying that there is some implacable kinship between Mark E Smith and Tom Waits as songwriters, which clearly resonated on some level with Charlie. The next record is The Fall’s 1980 post-punk classic Grotesque. As Charlie explained, “I was ten years old when I bought my first record on vinyl from my primary school summer fête for 20p, it just so happened to be a masterpiece.” This Tom Waits compilation record, which features some of his very finest tracks form ‘Martha’ to ‘Grapefruit Moon’, fell into Charlie’s possession in a way that would suggest the LP had been woven into position by some mythological music figures of fate. Charlie Steen’s 9 favourite records: The Asylum Years – Tom Waits His record choices offer an eclectic mix all sharing a DNA of brilliance, propagated poetical lyricism, and a profusely profound creative soul.Įxpect to see a run of tracks from folk, soul and everything in between in a swathe of music’s finest gilded gems that have all clearly been an influence on Charlie and Shame. £8 can answer one potentially life-saving call.Ĭharlie Steen takes on the challenge of prescribing nine albums for living well and his stellar selections offer not only a perfect playlist but a distilled snapshot of his life so far, illuminating the ever-present boon and shaping influence that music has been in it. If you’re able, and if you can afford to, please consider a small donation to help the CALM cause. Doctor’s Orders will be an ongoing feature that will see some of our favourite musicians, actors, authors comedians and more, offer up the most important records, which they deem essential for living well. ![]() In support of CALM, we’re asking a selection of our favourite people to share nine records that they would prescribe for anyone they met and the stories behind their importance. Now, the band’s new concert film ‘Live in The Flesh’ has become the talk of the livestream circuit, the group have added another string to their bow- movie stars. Their sophomore follow-up, Drunk Tank Pink, was a record that gorgeously elucidated the need for both reflection and deliverance in music moving forward. Their debut album, Songs of Praise, grabbed the sleepy UK music industry by the scruff of the neck and shook it about like a flat pack wardrobe on a fault line. ![]() With everything Shame have released so far, there has been a sense of immediacy and a caustic cognizance of the current state of things. This is just one of the reasons why we are humbled to be joined by the band’s frontman, Charlie Steen, for the latest instalment of Doctor’s Orders for a chat about the albums that provide that much-needed exultation for him personally, not just in lockdown but over the course of his life. Shame’s release of Drunk Tank Pink punctuated the lockdown malaise with some much-needed exultation.
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