By the mid 1980s, I'd rediscovered Robert Wyatt, through his beautiful Shipbuilding single, his song Born Again Cretin on NME's C81...

We're at the 100th album already, and Hawkwind's live epic takes this proud slot. I first heard Hawkwind when Silver Machine hit the...

Another musician that I've respected and admired over the years, rather than loved, has been David Bowie. I've spoken before of how the...

If I have a musical favourite genre, it's the so-called "Canterbury Sound", and Gong, Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt have already...

The Who have always been there. I've always respected them, without loving them. I've probably preferred Pete Townshend's solo work to...

1969 was a busy year for Fairport. They released three albums, arguably their finest three, all excellent, in 1969, this being the first...

I grew up blissfully unaware of the Doors. Vague references to Jim’s mysterious death in the music press, and they seemed to be more of a thing by the late 1970s, as bands started to cite them as influences. And what I’d heard (the hits) I generally liked, which explains why I’ve got a few CDs. The art of randomness throws this one up, but I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to it. And, of course, this is part of the exercise - to make sure that they all get a listen. We start wi

So, by 1967, we’ve got some pop music to listen to. The album that ‘only sold 500 copies but everyone who bought it formed a band’....

I first heard of Wayne Shorter as sax player in Weather Report, when a schoolfriend lent me Heavy Weather. It was only much later that I...

Time for a bona fide jazz classic, an album aficionados always mention alongside Kind Of Blue and Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert. I've had...

All I knew of Mingus was that he seemed to be revered by a 'Bohemian' crowd. In the famous Penguin Modern Poets - The Mersey Sound...

I don't remember the first time I heard Sun Ra, but something kept me coming back for more. Some of it I find completely unlistenable,...

What becomes quickly obvious as I trek through the early 1960s is that it's all jazz. The 'golden age of rock'n'roll' never grabbed me,...

One of the issues with embarking on a project like this is how to choose what CD comes next. For the next batch (well over 60) I’m going...

A Swiss industrial rock band, The Young Gods and their bleak uncompromising noise were introduced to me by a friend about 25 years ago....

I first became aware of Neil Young when Heart Of Gold was a hit in 1972, then forgot about him until an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance...

Robert Wyatt is an artist who, I feel, I liked before I actually heard much by him. In the 1970s I knew very early stuff like Memories...

I had wondered why Glastonbury 1994 made such an impression on me, and on looking it up, it was the first one which was extensively...

Some days Wire are my favourite band ever. First heard at the height of punk, this album has been with me ever since. The simple...

For many people, Scott Walker's appearance on Later with Jools Holland, singing Rosary, was a wow! moment, and I'm no exception. I knew...