Please help me find some music I like!

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

I want to ask for some new music to listen to, as I have a birthday coming up as well as Christmas.

I am quite fussy, but don't know enough about the terminology of music to be able to describe what I like in terms of genre.

I like listening to songs which have at least one good melody in the song, and pleasing harmonies. A piano or acoustic guitar is fine to accompany the voice. On the albums I have, I tend to like the quiet, thoughtful songs.

Here are examples of some songs I like:
"Why worry" by Dire Straits
"Sorry" by Tracy Chapman
"Halleluiah" by Leonard Cohen
"Fields of Gold" by Sting
"A Whiter Shade of Pale"

I grew up listening to Peter, Paul & Mary.

I like some songs by these people:
Simon & Garfunkel
Kirsty MacColl

I was listening to Dubstar & Sarah McLachlan but have kind of gone off both.

Queen and Abba are both a bit frenetic for me.

Alanis Morisette is too angry for me.

I feel sure that there's loads of stuff I might like out there (possibly folk? If so, what sort or which artists?) but I don't know where to start.

I have never posted in here before but have been a regular on the main boards, Education & Special Needs for over a year.

Here's some ideas for you:
Son Volt
Bon Iver
Tim Barry
Chuck Ragan
Iron & Wine
Bright Eyes
Stornaway

Al Stewart
Roxy Music

Alison Krauss?:

The Felice Brothers?

Indigo Girls?

Nick Drake:

Dory Previn:

Thank you all, I have added some of these to my wishlist, and also come across Joni Mitchell & Bob Dylan in the process.

defo try Del Amitri. Check out 'Here and Now' on youtube or 'Mother Natures Writing'- they are so beautiful they make me weep.

Aoife O'Donovan, Fossils

Roddy Woomble, My Secret Is My Silence

Worth a listen.

I take it you've heard John Martyn? Solid Air. Old but amazing. Reminds me of my youth (though it was quite old then!)

Oh, I love Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell - sorry, I never thought to suggest them. Joni Mitchell's Blue album is just wonderful, especially the song 'Little Green' which she wrote about the daughter she gave up for adoption (she only said that that was what the song was about decades later). Makes me blub like a schoolgirl.

I've also come across the Fleet Foxes, which I think I might like.

I've recently discovered Emma Stevens, they play her a bit on r2.
Her voice is just gorgeous, and all her songs make me happy :)

Hi -

For REAL songs about REAL life, there is only one person - the late Dory Previn (one-time wife and musical collaborator of Andre Previn.)

I think all her original LPs are available on CD, often 2 LPs on one CD so good value. Probably the best introduction to her though, is her Live in Carnegie Hall concert, as it has songs from many albums.

She is too 'real' for some people, dealing with emotions, minorities, incest, religion, war, and show business.

Someone else from the '70s era, still performing and writing today is Pete Atkin: he writes the music, to lyrics by Clive James (yes, THE Clive James). He is also a BBC radio Producer. A good introduction to them is their Live in Australia double CD, with songs, anecdotes, Clive's poems etc. The stocks of their CDs were destroyed in the London riots, a few years ago (in the Sony warehouse I think).

Their current material is available ONLY from:

www.peteatkin.com/hillshop.htm

Amazingly, it looks like CDs, including double, are only £5, with £2 postage for the first, +50p for each subsequent one.

"Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" is on YouTube, one of their 'classics'.

Hi Ferguson, I also recommended Dory Previn upthread; I agree with you and think she's amazing. I would say she's cut from the same kind of mould as Dylan - ie a poet and an honest one at that. Will check out Pete Atkin, cheers - if he's even half as good as her it will be worth it. That song of hers that I linked to (the twenty mile zone one) has been a constant source of comfort to me for a long time.