For me music is the soundtrack to my life, I can listen to a song and it can instantly take me back to a time, a place and people.  I love that I have so many memories and feelings from music and thought I would introduce a few albums which have shaped periods in my life.  These are not necessarily my favourite albums but those which have a special place in my life.

I was inspired to do this series after listening to a radio interview with Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet.  To introduce the section, they played a montage of the group’s hits and suddenly I was back in 1987.  I played Popped In Souled Out on repeat in 1987 as I tried to settle into a new life in a new town, desperately missing my old friends and home as well as experiencing the teenage angst of being 14, it was a tough time.  Even hearing just the snippets of the songs, the feelings of the period overwhelmed me again.

My parents did something in this time to help me appreciate our new home of Bristol by buying two tickets for the Wet Wet Wet tour at the Colston Hall.   My old town never had pop concerts and now in Bristol, I was not only going to get to see my favourite band  but I was allowed to take a friend and not my parents who were simply on taxi duties. It was my first concert on my own ( I had seen Aha in 1986 but my mum came too) and helped me see the joy, fun  and potential of being a teenager in Bristol.  Wet Wet Wet on that night were amazing, so young and innocent, full of energy and absolutely loving what they were doing so much that we loved them even more for it.  Popped In Souled Out remains my favourite Wet Wet Wet album and whilst I loved the hits Wishing I was Lucky and Sweet Little Mystery, Angel Eyes and Temptation (with a swear word) mean so much to the lost and lonely 14 year old I was.