So these are my tracks of my years all in one post, and a short description as to why they are in here! There are so many more I could include but these are the first ten that came into my head, so we will go with these…

Luther Vandross – So Amazing

The first time I heard this song was when Lemar did a cover of this when I saw him live at the Jazz Cafe in London in 2006. Lemar has a great voice, but it made me think how amazing it would of been to see Luther live! Interestingly The Truth About Love was Lemar’s soul influenced album and it did make me go out and buy best ofs, of Sam Cooke, Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye so I guess this contemporary effort opened my eyes to the quality of real soul music. I mean it was always around me when I was little as my dad was a big Motown/Northern Soul fan, but this ignited my flame for soul!

Marvin Gaye – What’s going on

This song has always stood out for me, I think the first time I was aware of this track was 2001 when a bunch of US artists came to go to do a cover version I think it was a charity single in aid of 9/11? It is such an amazing song lyrically even today. This song must of been so powerful at its time of release, something that just doesn’t happen today. Song writing today is so disposable people don’t seem to write about personal/political issues at least when it comes to Soul and RnB.

Production on this isn’t so bad either, and his voice…well just watch this!

Craig David – Fill Me In

I know this guy is hated by many I really think Avid Merrion was the downfall of his career. Anyway I think I was about 15/16 when this came out. I guess this song reminds me of my first love/crush (no names being mentioned), this song just reminds me being young free and single I could listen to it for days, it is just one of those songs with great memories, 98-2000 were some of my happiest years in life thus far! In other news Craig David’s first album, Born to do it is a UK classic in my opinion easily his best work (mainly down to the Mark Hill production)!

Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard

This is the first Hip Hop track I can remember being introduced to at high school around the age of 14/15. A guy who was into skating at the time would rap along to this track at every opportunity. It wasn’t till a few years later that I started getting deep into Hip Hop but I really think this planted a seed so to speak! Jurassic 5 are what everything real Hip Hop should be…a beat and lyrics no gimmicks! (Not sure Ken would allow this to go out on Radio 2 at 11.30 on a weekday)

Kanye West – Through the Wire

I remember seeing this video for the first time on MTV Base way before Kanye even dropped College Dropout so it was probably 2002/2003. The sped up sample to me at the time sounded a little strange I’d never really heard anything like this before, but there was something about this guy that made me take notice. I seriously loved this track! I’d never really been a massive fan of Hip Hop but I was getting older at the time so it was probably a move to make my music taste more credible. This is the track for me that ignited my intrest in Hip Hop helped by Talib Kweli supporting him on his first headline tours of the UK (which for me is a highlight of my history as a music fan).

Michael Jackson – Another Part of Me

Bad is the first album I remember as a 4/5 year old jumping around my bed and room to a cassette tape of Bad, I played it over and over again. I could of picked any track off this album but just went for this one. For me Bad is MJ’s best album if not this then Off The Wall. I picked this purely because of the early memories of music. I remember getting Bad on CD in 2008 and listening to it solidly for about a month, it seriously took me back in time!

Robin S – Show Me Love

I remember my first experiences as a “clubber” probably around 2003/2004, just turned 18. I didn’t really know much about 90’s dance apart from the obvious tracks. I remember hearing this for the first time on a club system and was instantly in love. The bass line just rumbles along a serious floorfiller. This track obviously gets rinsed at every club up and down the country and I’m usually the one going nuts on the Dancefloor to this! Also this track features heavily on any Garage CD circa 2000 and UKG was a massive part of my musical upbringing!

Bone Thugs N Harmony – Crossroads

This is in here based on the fact that believe it or the first group to really ignite my passion for an artist were no other than Blazin’ Squad remember their cover of this? I can’t lie I was a massive fan of them as a group, granted I was still discovering who I was as a person and still had a lot to learn about music (young and naive do they call it?). Their was serious amounts of hate for them as a group, which isn’t surprising looking back but at the time I would argue their corner. Anyway we can’t put their version in here the original is so much better….without this song I may never of had my passion for music…my taste has hopefully improved since 2003?

Minnie Riperton – Loving you

Alot of my music from age 4-14 was drip feed to me via my dad (see this post here). This song stands out from all the others that he would play (Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Jimmi Hendrix, Hot Chocolate, BB King, Bee-Gees etc). Not sure if he this on an album or a compilation all I can remember is attempting the stupidly high notes I didn’t know at the age of 9/10 that singing like a women was bad..to be fair I got nowhere near sounding like her even when my voice was yet to break. Revisiting her albums today really makes me appreciate her vocal ability and I still love this song to this day…

Shouts to the Parrot and Guitar playing in the video…

Carpenters – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

Similar to the above really, the Carpenters were always playing in my Dad’s car. This song used to stand out to me, pretty sure it’s to do with the aliens talking at the beginning pretty sure this fascinated me as a youngster. I could of picked anything from their Gold album to go in this slot. Karen Carpenter’s voice is just amazing its so smooth, she could sing you the Telephone book and still sound amazing. Who’d of thought in 2011 we’d still be listening to music from the 70’s, again showing the power of good music!

To listen again or to find out more information about Trevor Nelson’s Radio show.

Check the feature Album of the Week some classics in this list…