May 09 2025
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Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2
May 12 2025
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Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
A justifiable classic, Dylan at his best. Tangled up in Blue never gets old but I also love the bluesy Meet me in the Morning and the wonderfully bitter Idiot Wind - “As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped, What's good is bad, what's bad is good, You'll find out when you reach the top, You're on the bottom”
Peak Dylan, but I’ve knocked one star off because off because of the wretched Christmas song he wrote decades later.
4
May 13 2025
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Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
I don’t think this one’s aged well, it’s pretty stodgy rock music - more proggy in places than I remembered, especially tracks like Strange World. But it paved the way for what was to come - it’s a paving slab of a record. Phantom the Opera is the obvious standout for me.
2
May 14 2025
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The Köln Concert
Keith Jarrett
Just… not for me.
1
May 15 2025
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Harvest
Neil Young
It’s always a pleasure to spend time in the company of this one. For this listen, I dug out the posh headphones, gave it the Dolby Atmos treatment and soaked up every second. It’s the same age as me but has worn considerably better. Timeless really. A wonderful record.
5
May 16 2025
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All Hail the Queen
Queen Latifah
This record sounds very dated to me. De La Soul inject their own magic into the proceedings but it’s just not a genre I’ve ever managed to really connect with - I can hear the record’s influence though.
2
May 19 2025
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Tapestry
Carole King
I love this record - highly deserving of its classic status. As moving and catchy as the day it was released. I could listen to it every single day. In fact, I think I will.
5
May 20 2025
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The Genius Of Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Because of the radio my mum listened to when I was growing up, this kind of thing will always be ‘Sunday Roast Music’ to me. This is no bad thing. I really enjoyed the big band sound - I’d never knowingly heard the album before but it was all cosily familiar. I’ll definitely listen again. Probably on Sunday.
4
May 21 2025
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Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
I’d never listened to this album before - it sounds like a parody. I can see why Layla is the famous one - the first half of the song bursts out of the album as if it’s trying to escape, only then to be dragged back in by the second half, an interminable lump of nothing nailed on seemingly to remind the listener just how excruciating the album actually is..
1
May 22 2025
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Whatever
Aimee Mann
Fairly bland, 90s singer-songwriter fare - pretty forgettable. I’m not sure what qualifies this album for the list given how many almost identical records there are out there. I kept expecting to hear one I recognised that would whisk me back to some memorable time and place but it didn’t happen. It was perfectly nice to listen to but it probably won’t occur to me to listen again.
2
May 27 2025
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This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
I know he’s one of the Godfathers of Rock n Roll, but I only really know Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino. It’s a great song and I can see why it endures but listening to this, I wonder why I’m not more familiar with the rest of his work. I know plenty of his songs but mainly as covered by others. I liked this. It felt good. I’ll dig deeper.
4
May 28 2025
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Low-Life
New Order
I’ve always found New Order albums confusing affairs - is it an album? Is it a compilation? I always thought of them as a singles band, then they released that God-awful football song and I took to disliking them, in spite of everything. I like this though and it surprises me that I’ve never listened to it properly before now.
4