Palanca's top albums, Part I

I generally don't trust anyone who says they "don't care for music much". It's like openly admitting that they have no soul - or at least no interest in discovering whether or not they have one.

Music is as powerful as sensory perception, able to make long-ago memories fresh within a few bars. Music can stir up flavours I have tasted, places I have seen, sensations felt, skin I have touched, and aromas I have inhaled. Music is one of few forces able to leave me speechless - even render me immobile, enthralled by the sounds in my ears. Know my music, know Adriana.

I've been thinking about the albums that have most marked my life path. Naturally, this list evolves as I do, so take the following as a snapshot of Adriana, thus far. If there are any that I've forgotten, my apologies to the artists.

There will be ten, but here are the first three with notes. Oh, and they're in order of when they entered my life, so don't get all "Where's Michael Jackson?" on me.

1) Cyndi Lauper, She's so unusual (1983)

This album taught me to dance. I was 10 and my elementary school had organized a jazz ballet group. I was very excited about this group. My mother bought me a leotard, we had a choreographer and there was going to be a performance. We were dancing to "She Bop" (if anyone knew what the song was really about, they weren't letting on).

Everything was going swimmingly until I forgot about the last rehearsal one lunchtime and my punishment was not being allowed to perform. So St. Ignatius Elementary was responsible for quashing my dance career even before it started, but it's okay, I'm not bitter. And I certainly never held it against Cyndi.

2) Crowded House, Crowded House (1986)

First cassette I ever bought and I actually did listen to it until the thread broke. I had listened to music since I was a kid in corduroy overalls, but this was the first time that I chose what I wanted to listen to. The lyrics used the same style and metaphors that I was starting to discover in the adult novels I was reading. I felt like a "big girl" now.

As the hormones were starting to kick in, this was also the first time that music seemed to be speaking directly to me. About feelings. And boys. I dreamed of Australia. Of Neil Finn writing a song about me.

3) a-ha, Hunting High and Low (1985)

This was almost solely hormonally driven. Morten Harket was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I would have watched him sing his way through the alphabet in English, Norwegian or even Japanese. I wasn't quite sure of what I would do with him if ever he wandered into my room, but I knew that it would be something really fun. Like really fun.

a-ha was also my gateway drug into fluffy pop music (I blame Morten et al. for my current weakness for Justin Timberlake). Although I listen to very little of it today, I am not completely insensitive to a happy pop beat now and again. Good news is - if Powell keeps it up with her boy bands, I may soon be cured of this malady.

Numbers 4-10 to follow.