MY SIX BEST ALBUMS
MERRILL OSMOND
MERRILL OSMOND, 65, is lead singer and bass guitarist with The Osmonds, whose hits include Crazy Horses, Love Me For A Reason and Let Me In. His album with brother Jay, A Very Merry Rockin’ Good Christmas, is out now and they are currently touring the UK. merrillosmond.com/ osmondtourdates/ THE BEATLES: The White Album (EMI) My upbringing in the music industry was about variety. So when I heard the variety on this, I became the fan of all fans. Being a bass player and lead vocalist, Paul McCartney gave me a lot to try to parallel and he became a mentor later on. THE OSMONDS: The Plan (Curb) We modelled this on The White Album in terms of the mixture of sounds. Before recording it, we had it written in a big book but it went up in smoke when our hotel room burnt down.
I’m glad we revisited it, because the songs were better than before. PINK FLOYD: The Wall (EMI) When I go to a concert or listen to an album, I’ve got to have a beginning, a middle and a close. This album had that. It talked about different things. LED ZEPPELIN: IV (Atlantic) I’ve always been the rocker of the bunch. This album, particularly Stairway To Heaven, made me happy – for Robert Plant’s singing and the way the guitars fly. I remember them asking us to their show and they said we could use their sound system for our concert the following night. Our decibel level, with all the screaming fans, peaked even beyond theirs. Awesome. WHITNEY HOUSTON: I Will Always Love You (RCA) Her voice was perfection. I used to take the car up to a piece of land that overlooked the city of Provo where we all built houses eventually. I’d wind the windows down, turn on the stereo and try to gather inspiration for my own writing. MICHAEL JACKSON: Thriller (Sony) I’ll never forget the day I was walking through a casino and heard this whisper. It was Michael who said he was hiding from the police. Michael was a little boy in a big body but he got the best engineers to get the right sounds.
On this, that drumbeat smacks you right in the chest.