Sing Out Sister
Annie Lennox singing about sweet dreams, Aretha Franklin demanding respect, Bjork alternately crooning and cawing on one of her inimitable aural and visual adventures. The soundtracks of our lives are so rich with women’s voices, we decided it was time to pay tribute to some of our favourite albums by female performers.
Lemonade | Beyoncé
Powerful and strong, the album is an anthem for women whose partners have done them wrong. It is so personal and, at times, painful to listen to, because there was a running commentary in the media alongside the release of the album about how the album’s messages related directly to situations and people in her life. There is a theory that none of it may be true and that it’s all clever marketing. And I would probably love that even more, because if Beyoncé has understood the power of authenticity, and crafted a narrative so perfectly to fit, then she is a genius. Marina
The Hounds of Love | Kate Bush
My mother used to play this on repeat, and to me it is a hauntingly beautiful earworm. The first side of this LP has all the crackers; the flip side was a “conceptual suite” called The Ninth Wave, about a person drifting out to sea. Oh, how I loved the contrasting spirits of side one and two. Around that time, I read that Oscar Wilde wore two identical scarab rings on his little fingers, one on each hand, to remind him of life’s duplicity: the good and the bad. Side one and side two. I play this album for both the melancholy and the hits. Megan
Horses | Patti Smith
Summer. 1976. A darkened bedroom in suburban Sydney where four teenage girls who hate the beach huddle around a record player listening to Patti Smith’s amazing Horses. It’s funny that one of the tracks on that record is called Redondo Beach, a not-too-cheery lyric set to a jaunty reggae tune. But we would never have believed that Patti was really into beaches. Instead, with her musical poems about lost kids and the purity of expression, she was describing for us what was to come: a big bad world where sensitive souls suffered for their art, where life was a mix of pleasure and pain. The raw simplicity of her band’s guitar-bass-drum sound found a permanent place in my musical memory, so it’s not surprising that more than 40 years later Horses, a suite of songs from a young woman who celebrated difference, still sounds fresh and vital. And that cover by Robert Mapplethorpe … perfection. Patricia
Nightclubbing | Grace Jones
I still remember my first glimpse of Grace Jones, performing Walking in the Rain on Countdown. I’d never seen anything like her before: statuesque, androgynous, imperturbable – cool incarnate. That track was arresting; the 1981 album from which it was drawn turned out to be a masterpiece. Many of the songs are cover versions although you’d never guess, so seamlessly does Jones interpret them in her distinctive style. Dancefloor favourite Pull Up To The Bumper and the haunting I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) remain the highlights, and the cover image would still make the list of most arresting covers of all time. Ute
Tapestry | Carole King
I was only five when Carole King’s Tapestry was released, and it probably took me another decade to discover the album. By the time I was in my teens, hanging out with older boys, I knew and related to her songs as if I’d had some secret part in their creation. When you’re facing heartbreak for the first time, there’s nothing better than listening to It’s Too Late and Will You Love Me Tomorrow. As a university student, this was the soundtrack for my boho-top-wearing, coffee-swigging, poetry-quoting self. Over the years, Tapestry has been the perfect album for new romance, bad break-ups, lost friendships, long friendships. Even the saddest songs can lift you up; think the stanza in It’s Too Late that goes, “There’ll be good times again for me and you/ But we just can’t stay together, don’t you feel it too/ Still I’m glad for what we had, and how I once loved you.” And You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman? That’s a feel-good song for any generation. Rachelle
On A Clear Night | Missy Higgins
Missy’s debut album, The Sound of White, had spent two years in the top 40 but it was this second album, which debuted at the top of the charts, that made me a fan. Missy wrote the album in Broome and the songs capture the power of space and clarity. Missy’s voice envelopes you with her haunting tones. Where I Stood, which became a No. 1 hit, is one of my all-time favourite songs. Marina
Words_ Tonic team
Images_ Supplied