Beth Orton
Musician

Beth Orton's 10 favorite albums

Beth Orton is a British singer-songwriter who first gained fame in the mid-1990s with her blend of folk, electronic, and trip-hop music. Born in Norfolk, England, Beth Orton began her music career as a member of the electronic group Spill in the late 1980s. After the group disbanded, she began working as a solo artist, releasing her debut EP, "Superpinkymandy" in 1993. Her first full-length album, "Trailer Park", was released in 1996 and was well received by critics for its unique blend of folk and electronic music.

Orton's breakthrough came with the release of her second album, "Central Reservation", in 1999, which spawned the hit single "Stolen Car". The album was certified gold in the UK and earned Beth Orton a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then, she has released several more albums, including "Daybreaker" (2002), "Comfort of Strangers" (2006), and "Kidsticks" (2016), and has toured extensively throughout the world.

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Beth Orton's favorite albums

  • Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark
    Cleo SolRose in the Dark

    When you go into the songs, she’s speaking quite simple truths, with such beautiful melodies. So classic.

  • Alice Coltrane - Ptah, the El Daoud
    Alice ColtranePtah, the El Daoud

    When I hear Alice Coltrane, there’s space in her music. It’s a meditation to listen to her. I’ve found that this way of sitting within music is to sit with a certain dignity.

  • Sam Amidon - All Is Well
    Sam AmidonAll Is Well

    This last 10 years has been a profound education, and Sam has been part of that—the music that he has played me and introduced me to, the space that he’s given me, the self respect that he’s shown me I can afford myself. I just would’ve not made music if it hadn’t been for him.

  • Tom Waits - The Early Years Vol. 2
    Tom WaitsThe Early Years Vol. 2

    There’s a knowingness to Tom Waits, but he always chooses sweetness, and it’s just heartbreaking. Every single song is just perfection: lyrically, melodically.

  • Karen Dalton - In My Own Time
    Karen DaltonIn My Own Time

    How fucked up her voice was, how beautiful her songs were, how it felt when I heard them—Karen Dalton’s music just hit me in a certain spot in my body.

  • Terry Callier - What Color Is Love
    Terry CallierWhat Color Is Love

    "You Goin’ Miss Your Candy Man" and "Dancing Girl" [...] We worked together and knew each other until he died in 2012.

  • Primal Scream - Screamadelica
    Primal ScreamScreamadelica

    I was just about to cross over into another sort of hedonism myself, but I heard their hedonism as a kind of spiritual language. It blew my mind. I thought there was a whole subtext to it. I probably completely overread it, but it was a really pivotal moment in my life.

  • Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
    Kate BushHounds of Love

    I liked Kate Bush from the moment she charted in 1978, when I was 8. But at home I was never allowed to listen to her [...] When I was 15, it was the first time I could actually just sit with my Kate Bush record and enjoy it. There was no one there to make comments about her being rubbish, or reducing her to this cliché of a woman because she talked about how she felt.

  • The Slits - Bootleg Retrospective
    The SlitsBootleg Retrospective

    Antonia played me the Slits, and it was an awakening, a beautiful sort of rebellion.

  • Brian Eno - Discreet Music
    Brian EnoDiscreet Music

    My mom was listening to this on full blast on her own in the dark, without my dad in the house [...] You don’t feel you can enter other people’s emotional worlds as a kid, but in that moment, I was in her world.

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