#918 Kenny Graham and His Satellites – Moondog and Suncat Suites

I’ve been a big fan of Moondog ever since I heard his Stamping Ground on The Big Lebowski soundtrack, which was first released on the Columbia compilation Fill Your Head With Rock. I love his quirky brand of one-man band street corner jazz. Although the myths and magic of the man have become just as …

#925 Morrissey – Suedehead: The Best of Morrissey

Having fallen out of favour in recent years, due to being a bit of an arsewipe as an actual human, it may be easy to forget just what an excellent songsmith and lyricist Morrissey was in his heyday. The heyday undoubtedly being his time in The Smiths, but his earlier solo fare is pretty damn …

#976 Nirvana – Nevermind

I’ve been rocking out to this so much over the last few days that I forgot to actually write something. Like many records over the years that have so perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the time, this album for me is the early Nineties personified. Whilst continuing with the grunge-punk aesthetic of their debut, it …

#1332 The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses

This is the sound of my A levels. Or more specifically, this is the sound of me travelling 20 miles by train every day to the nearest FE College, so I could avoid having to go to the same Sixth Form Centre that my father taught at. I actually wrote about this when reviewing The …

#630 Gomez – Liquid Skin

Gomez’s second album, which builds on the foundation of their first by being almost exactly the same. It’s another strong album of indie-blues, appropriated from the American South, with a modern (more commercially-friendly) take on the juju grunge of Dr John or Captain Beefheart. White Men Sing The Blues essentially. But the fact that they …

#1347 Suede – Coming Up

This album swaggers and struts, even more so than their debut. They’ve replaced grit with glamour, dirt with sheer decadence, and are absolutely loving it. This is Suede’s third album (and my third favourite in the same order) and ramps up the glam. Where their debut was full of seedy bedsit sex and pills, this …

#143 Philippe Besombes – Libra, Un Film Du Groupe Pattern

Philippe Besombes is little known outside of his native France, but should be far more widely celebrated as an experimental music pioneer. This is his first solo album, a soundtrack for a dialogue-free film made by the Pattern Group of French underground film directors. It ranges from pysch-rock to experimental shrieks and feedback, free jazz …

#413 Alela Diane – The Pirate’s Gospel

This is the official 2006 release of Alela Diane’s debut, after its word of mouth demo version slowly but surely drew the rest of the world's attention. It’s raw yet smart alt-folk. Diane has a distinctive yearning voice, a knack of finding a fine yet unusual melody and deceptively simple yet highly effective guitar playing. …

#1570 The Velvet Underground – Loaded

This is a schizophrenic album, but without any of the raw edginess that this word might suggest. Songs written solely by Lou Reed, but half of them sung by bassist Doug Yule, it’s the band’s last release, coming out three months after Reed’s departure in 1970 and their effective collective demise. Written to suit commercial …

#706 The Human League – Dare

As Pulp were the sound of Sheffield in the 90s, The Human League (I always forget there’s a ‘the’) were the sound of Sheffield in the 80s. Dare was their third album, the one where singer Phil Oakey took over the reins as main songwriter and turned this slightly experimental electronic outfit into a commercial …