Previously known to me and a great snapshot of a major artist in their pomp. Not my go-to James Brown, but a great party record and one that I’ll return to infrequently; when the mood is right.

Thought this would be interesting… I like a lot of music that is unmistakeably either influenced by, or an influence on, Eagles. Who are a band I instinctively dislike. But I thought I should give the album a go, as I’ve not heard it before. It turns out… I like them even less than I thought. Horrible lyrics, ponderous tunes. I maintain that it is American road music that sounds better on a European road trip than an American one. If you don’t have any better albums…

Great band but an album that I wasn’t especially aware of, previously. Predictably brilliant, funky stuff. Love it.

Look, I tried… alright? My heart sank when this popped up, but in the spirit of things I thought I ought to give it a go. I don’t like any of the Supertramp that I’ve heard over the years, but I hadn’t heard this album. So… who knows? I knew. This is bloody awful. So polite and smug and dull and plodding and… polite. Ugh. I even hate the cover. Some poor sods were 14 when this came out and so were at the age where this became ‘their music’ and they can’t separate it from that nostalgic wash of primary cultural value. I pity them. Alan Partridge never mentions liking Supertramp, by my recollection. But you can bet he does. Just not enough to even mention it. The sound of washing the car on a bank holiday Monday. In tiny shorts and a shirt you wear for work. Horrible.

A stone cold classic and contains, in Saturday Sun, a regular Desert Island Disc contender. Comes close even to being saved from the waves. Love it.

It’s a stone cold classic. Although strictly speaking I’m more of a Parliament man

I need to be in a certain mood for this record, which I know well. On it’s day, it really hits the spot. Today maybe not that day, which is perhaps a general reflection of how I feel about it.

A well loved album. Really, a singles collection is what feels right for Buzzcocks. Happily, all of their albums sound like they are made up of 100% singles. Probably my favourite punk band and pretty much the beginning and the end of pop punk.

Fuck off, Coldplay.

I tried, as I often do, to get on with this album. The hit is a classic, but is really all I can take of this album. As he moves away from prog and into something a bit more post punk on the later records, I start to come a bit more on board. But I don’t like his voice and this is just too reminiscent of a silly man walking about dressed like a flower. Which irritates me. That’s the problem with this album, for me; I can’t get to judge the quality of the music because listening to it annoys me too much.

I tried, as I often do, to get on with this album. The hit is a classic, but is really all I can take of this album. As he moves away from prog and into something a bit more post punk on the later records, I start to come a bit more on board. But I don’t like his voice and this is just too reminiscent of a silly man walking about dressed like a flower. Which irritates me. That’s the problem with this album, for me; I can’t get to judge the quality of the music because listening to it annoys me too much.

Cornerstone album for me. Right time, right place. The start of an incredible run which defined a generation of alternative music.

Highs and lows here. Well known to me, and the peak (Jump Into The Fire) is almost Desert Island Disc. In its time and place I love it dearly, although like Harry himself it lets itself down just as it scrapes at the eternal.

Previously unknown to me and will be getting a few more listens. I’ve never quite connected with Youssou in the some way as I have with other seminal African artists of his era (Toumani etc), but this has set me on a path of discovery and made me keen to dig deeper. Brought some welcome warmth on a cold and wintry morning

An album I rarely turn to, but perhaps should do more often. Distills a lot of what I like about The Doors, whilst leaving out a lot of what I don’t.

Stone cold classic. Not necessarily always my favourite Bob, but almost always the one I think is his peak

I just can’t take much Springsteen. And this is not the one for me. I respect him, rather than enjoy him.

I was only really aware of Show Me The Way, and have never really bothered with the album as the cover is horrible and the whole thing was just a punchline in the post grunge/indie milieu of the 90s which I grew up in (ironic, since it was a Dinosaur Jr cover of SMTW that first alerted me to the album). So I gave it a go… turns out I also know Baby I Love Your Way and had assumed that the cover I knew (Big Mountain?) was of a reggae classic. Turns out it was Frampton, and his version is turgid. Like the rest of this album. If you like any punk or post punk music then this is just anathema. Pitiful to think that anyone was loving this in ‘76, although evidently millions were. Strikes me as the sound of young Trump voters chugging shit beer, eating burgers and wooping. So they can all go fuck themselves. Cannot imagine ever listening to this again. Still maintain a grudging fondness for PF though… mates with Bowie, after all.

Far from an expert on this particular type of jazz but it’s beautifully played, arranged and produced. Much of it known to me via ‘ambient’ sources. Pleasant, but sounds dated. I’d imagine it’s close to the high water mark of its genre and presumably what I would seek out if I actively wanted to listen to this kind of music. It’s just I’m not sure that I ever will. Still, nice way to pass the time.

A cornerstone band in my early 20s, but in my memory Soft Bulletin was more preeminent than Yoshimi. I’d had it down as a bit of a disappointment. Odd what memory does, because it’s a great album and one that I know almost every note of. Great band; this may have been a creative, as well as commercial, peak. Perhaps familiarity blunted its impact at the time, as it was ubiquitous. A lengthy pause has reminded me of its majesty.

I’ll have to own up to not really getting along very well with this one. Took my time and tried a few times over a couple of days but it didn’t gel. I like plenty of Kate Bush and I’m fairly certain that, one day, the penny might drop with this record. But not yet. It felt like the constituent parts of an artist gaining full creative control and travelling from prog to post punk sensibilities. Which is all good, but the flowering of that shift is yet to come on later records that are more melodically rewarding and, perhaps, burnished by an extra pair of ears via a producer. Funny; I thought that a Kate Bush album with her full creative control would perfect her art, but I think actually she thrives with that 3rd party input and creative sparring.

Surfer Rosa and Doolittle are the essence of Pixies, as any fule no. I was familiar with Trompe La Monde, though not this. It’s fine. But did nothing to change my mind

Undisputed classic. Not a regular listen for me, Bowiewise, as I tend to reach for the later 70s records or even later era records that lack the overfamiliarity that the canon records suffer from. But this is such a solid collection. It shimmers with the promise and realisation of an imperial phase commencing. Happy to revisit and I will again, many times.

Everything I like about Queen is on The Works. Everything that annoys me about Queen is on Queen II. I was born in 1979. Go figure. Unlistenable.

Very hard to believe that this would be a top 1000 album. I can think of at least 4/5 better Beck albums, and I don’t consider him to be someone who delivers especially consistent albums. I prefer Beck in folky mode, so this isn’t my favourite version of him. Great lead single and lots of interesting stuff but it’s overlong and my attention wandered. Always worth listening to him, but this is far from his best, in my view.

My favourite 60s band, who always seem to represent a more realistic, somewhat prosaic, version of the era which seems more and more authentic as it fades into the further past. In truth, this finds them a little earlier than their ascent into a truly great albums band. Yet there is plenty to enjoy and, in Sunny Afternoon, one of my very favourite songs. Attention wanders from time to time and it does always seem quite long for an album of this time period. That’s probably a reflection of some of the filler tracks in the mid period of the record. But the highs are of the very highest and the cover is a pure period delight. Can’t rate it as highly as what was to come from them, and the contemporary scene was pumping out some incredibly strong competition so it’s probably suffered by comparison to those albums. But it’s a hidden gem; a rough diamond perhaps, but a gem nonetheless. I love The Kinks.