A few days ago I polled Mostly Autumn fans asking for songs to recommend for new listeners. I’ve collated responses from here, Facebook and the Unofficial MA forum (Nobody responded on Google+) to give this list of songs.

It’s significant that your responses span the band’s entire career, with songs from eight out the band’s ten studio albums represented, including several songs from the two most recent albums. So here are thirteen selected songs, along with some of your reasons for choosing them.

Unquiet Tears

“Showcases the amazing voice of Olivia and pulls of the trick of sounding modern and contemporary but instantly Mostly Autumn”
- Ian Almond, blog comment

Storms Over Still Waters

“One of the few to include lead vocals from both Bryan and Heather as well as typically powerful guitar solo. A long track, but any new fan would need to get over that”
- Paul E, blog comment

“I think you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved at all by it”
- HippyDave, blog comment

Shrinking Violet

“The live version from the Leamington CD is absolutely spellbinding and contains everything that makes Mostly Autumn special”
- Paul Gunhill, blog comment

The Gap is Too Wide

“Honestly, this works. I’ve shown this song to a few people and they have really got into it immediately. Of course providing they are the kind of people who have patience to start with a 10+ minute track. It has the emotion of the best of Mostly Autumn’s material, it has that build-up and a great climax”
- Wander, blog comment

“blew me away first time I heard it (and has reduced me to tears since)”
- Ian Massey, Facebook

Fading Colours

“Has a bit of everything without being too overwhelming for a newbie”
- Sam Lewis, blog comment

Passengers

“Not too long, not too short, an older track but not too far removed from their current sound”
- David Meadows, unofficial MA forum

The Last Climb

“Shows the epic nature of the music & the inspirational emotive lyrics”
- Ian Foster, Facebook

“Always been my favourite. I’m a sucker for a slow burner! There’s something very pure about that song which for me sums up the MA sound.
- Adam Dawson, Facebook

Evergreen

“The structure and style of it just seem to sum up the band for me. Also, I have never heard them perform a bad rendition of it live. It always hits the spot. Not my personal favourite, but the most iconic I guess?”
- Ian Hodgetts, Facebook

And When the War is Over

“Powerful lyrics, amazing power in the vocals (both Livvy and Bryan) . Raw emotion and wonderful melody. Guitar just rips through the track and just builds this up into a brilliant piece of music”
- Ian Redfearn, Facebook

The Night Sky

“It’s the first song I ever heard from the band. Still outstanding”
- Rob Jarvis, Facebook

Wild Eyed Skies

“The pick of the new material – great guitar and vocals and Anne-Marie’s wonderful harmonisation which is the making of the track”
- Tom B, blog comment

For All We Shared

“There’s not one particular aspect I like as such, just the overall feel and sound of the song. I find it uplifting”
- Mike Foley, blog comment

Mother Nature

“A good one for the prog crowd, I think. It’s got a bit of everything the band do best.
- HippyDave, blog comment

Over the past few months, The Guardian have been running “Beginners Guides” on their music blog. For each one, they select an iconic artist with a substantial body of work, and ask readers to recommend one song with a few words to justify the choice. Then they collate the ten best responses and publish them on the music blog.

They’ve covered artists such as Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Black Sabbath and Bob Dylan to far; they have yet to include any major prog artists, thought I’d suggest King Crimson, Rush, Van der Graaf Generator or Marillion as excellent choices for the future.

But what about the smaller bands that feature heavily on this blog? Let’s try our own version of the same thing.

We’ll start with the band I’ve written far more about than anyone else, Mostly Autumn. With ten studio albums over a decade-and-half they I think they meet the “substantial body of work” criteria.

So. Which Mostly Autumn song would you recommend to a listener unfamiliar with their work, as a good and accessible introduction to what you love about the band? Leave your response in the comments.

Assuming I do get sufficient responses, I will collate the responses here and on various social media sites, and post them, with your reasons as a blog post.