10 of my favourite albums in no order

"I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust"

No other album conjures up a mood of restlessness and discontent like this, with its vista of open roads, aimless wandering and the consolations of travel.

The melodies are strange stillborn fragments, that circle around Joni's scratchy dissonant chording, while Jaco Pastorius' peerlless fretless bass gives form to the tunes. Occasional electric guitar and percussion relieve the monochrome aural landscape.

This collection of songs seem linked to each other like the different stages of a journey. The record evokes powerful cinematic imagery in the mind of the listener. It is a thing of rare crystalline purity, bleak and beautiful, like an icy lake glimpsed on a frosty winter's evening.

"I'll learn to work the saxophone
And I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel"

Beneath Steely Dan's cool and cynical exterior there beats a romantic heart. Aja represents their finest foray into the rhythms and harmonies of jazz and beyond, with a suite of songs which often defy conventional song structure.

The playing, always exemplary on Dan records, is here inspired; check out Steve Gadd's incendiary drumming on the title track. And the recording quality really let's your hi-fi shine.

Faultless, timeless, peerless.

" I scare myself, just thinking about you"

This came out oin 1972 when everyone else was widdling guitars and plonking on moog synthesisers. These guys played acoustic guitars, violins and double bass, didn't have a drummer and made music that was a cross between the Hot Club de France, Texas Swing and Broadway.

Dan's intelligent, funny and poignant songs, the accompanying call and response harmonies of the Lickettes and the musical bravado of Symphony Sid Page and James Girton on violin and guitar respectively make for an outstanding album full of great songs and superb swinging arrangements.

I still have my original vinyl copy in the 'matchbook' sleeve.

"at that Tower of Babel they knew what they were after"

The first time I heard this record I immediately played it again, And again. And again. In the slightly pre-punk summer of '76 this was the most extraordinary album I had heard for years. Smith's stream of conscience poetry stylings against a rock band ( but with a gifted piano player! hardly punk ), the cross-referencing to other poets/musicians/artists and that now iconic cover were a potent brew.

I must have heard this hundreds of times. It is still amazing ( as are many of her other albums, but you can't repeat the shock of the first one).

Magnificent.

" And a window that look out on Corcovado, oh how lovely"

If you have only ever heard 'The Girl from Ipanema' in its' innumberable ghastly cover versions, or murdered by a hotel lobby pianist, take a listen to the original. Joao picks out subtle jazz chords on his nylon-strung guitar and softly sings the first verse until his wife Astrud Gilberto picks it up, in her hesitant and infinitely charming not-really-a-singer voice. Getz takes a solo in his unique breathy style - so close to the microphone you can hear his spit bubbling in the reed. Antonio Jobim follows with a typically minimalist piano solo, a masterpiece of structure, understatement and inspired discipline.

Every track on this ground-breaking Jazz / Bossa nova is equally enjoyable; great songs alloyed with fine musicianship and a pristine recording. Mix yourself a Capirinha and relax.

" Oh, the snot has caked against my pants
It has turned into crystal
There's a bluebird sitting on a branch
I guess I'll take my pistol"

What??? Of course now Forever Changes is an established 'cult' album, given away free with The Times newspaper. It certainly wasn't that when I got my first copy ( swapped with a friend for a Them album who thought it was rubbish). I remember the first time I played I certainly agreed with him. In fact I thought it was laughably bad, with weird lyrics, wimpy acoustic guitars and strings, and track titles that bore no relation to the songs seemingly spliced together from leftovers.

It was only the vaguely familiar 'Alone again Or' that made me play the record again. then slowly the other tracks seemed to worm into my brain; first the beautiful string and brass arrangements, then once my mind had adjusted to the unusual structures the brilliant songs revealed themselves.

Over the years I played it to friends, some of who 'got it' and others who passed. Those that loved it passed it on. Hundreds then thousands of others did the same, and thus are legends made many years after their original conception.

"Here we are again
at the start of the end
but there's more..."

And more again . When this originally came out as a single vinyl album it was so long that the sound was compressed and the sleeve bore the inscription "Play Loud".
In reality this album defies my heading 'albums that have stood the test of time' as the crap sound due to Mr. Rundgren's multiple overdubs way beyond the capabilities of the equipment lend the album a dated feel, which when combined with the Psychedelic leitmotif place it firmly in the chemically enhanced past.
But what a great place to be. Through a seamless selection of cover songs, soulful pop tunes and bizarre synthy instrumentals Todd takes us on a 50 minute journey that plumbs the depths of despair and the heights of synthetic euphoria. Probably the greatest blue-eyed soulsinger ever, Side 2's cover of 'I'm so proud of you/ Ooh Baby Baby / La la la means I love you' must rank amongst the greatest tryptych of songs ever recorded. Who needs drugs when you can listen to this?