Top Five: Joshua Batten

singer-songwriter Joshua Batten

Bluesman Joshua Batten has been receiving acclaim for his debut EP One Night Under the Chandelier. The release finds the Aussie releasing a bunch of songs steeped in the blues tradition and delivered with through a powerful set of vocals. He tells us the five albums that influenced him.

Pink Floyd — The Wall (1979)

In 2009, after a period of retirement where I barely played or listened to music for most of middle school, I discovered the music of Pink Floyd and quickly became enamoured with it. It was unlike anything I had ever heard — they didn’t write conventional pop songs like the ones on the radio, they didn’t care about image, and some of their songs seemed to go on forever. The Wall is not only considered their finest work, but many prog rock fans believe it to be, after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, the greatest album of all time. Personally, I think it kick’s Sgt Pepper’s rear any day. This album showed me not only how to tell a story using music, but also that music on an album didn’t have to always fall under one category. This is why I’ve always tried to write in different styles to appeal to a wider community.

Rush — 2112 (1976)

I first discovered Rush in early 2010 and I was immediately hooked. These guys built on what I had learnt about through Pink Floyd, but they were much heavier and the music was much more complex. When I heard 2112, I knew they were the perfect rock band. The first side of the album is the crown jewel for Rush fans — a 20-minute concept piece about a dystopian future where original music is banned, and one man finds an old guitar only to be oppressed by the high court. Man against oppression was something everybody felt in the 70s, and I think it’s a topic that still rings true today.

Queen — Live At Wembley Stadium (1992)

I started my rock and roll path at age seven with ELO and Fleetwood Mac. But then I got a DVD of Queen playing at Wembley Stadium in 1986, and for the next few years no other band mattered. Queen hardly needs an introduction, but I would like to point out that they are probably the single biggest influence on my music career. The DVD featured the band playing on a massive stage in front of 80,000 people, cramming 28 songs into 2 hours (several songs were edited down to just over a minute). Indeed, I was amazed by Freddie Mercury’s voice and stage antics, Roger Taylor’s facial expressions and John Deacon’s shorts, but ultimately, there is only one Brian May. His multiple layers of guitar goodness in his 8-minute solo spot as well as his bluesy licks on A Kind Of Magic, One Vision, and, of course, Bohemian Rhapsody gave me the knowledge that I now have to fall back on whenever I play in a full band.

Black Country Communion — Live Over Europe (2012)

Black Country Communion were only around for a short period of time, but their one and only live album left a major effect on me as a guitar player. The band was a supergroup consisting of lead singer/bass player Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple/solo Artist), keyboard player Derek Sherinian (Alice Cooper/Dream Theater/Planet X), drummer Jason Bonham (son of Led Zeppelin’s late drummer John Bonham), and lead guitarist Joe Bonamassa — probably rock and Roll’s best-kept secret. Since releasing his debut album in 2000, Bonamassa has constantly toured and recorded, topping the Billboard Blues Charts more times than anyone else and working with some pretty big names along the way (BB King, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Barnes to name a few). I think BCC’s Live Over Europe is his best moment, because every track is a killer and the chemistry between him and Glenn Hughes was something truly majestic. It’s a dreadful shame that the band only made one more album after this before breaking up, but Joe has remained active and busier than ever.

Rory Gallagher — Live in Europe (1972)

This is a fairly recent addition for me, but I was just as blown away when I first heard it. Before his death in 1995, he influenced tons of guitarists from Slash to Joe Bonamassa and he remains a criminally underrated guitarist. Rory always preferred playing live to playing in the studio, as the spontaneous vibe gave him the freedom to connect with the audience on a level many punters take for granted. He jumped at the chance to record this, his first of many live albums.

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