#12

#50 Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain

Their debut album, it feels like a collection of 60s TV theme tunes at times, which Wikipedia suggests isn't entirely accidental.

#51 Bob Marley and The Wailers - Exodus

Recorded in London after a shooting in Jamaica, it's also a move away from some the work that came before with elements of blues and soul added to the mix.

#52 Sam Phillips - Hypnotists In Paris

The first 5 track EP from her Long-Play subscription. 

#53 The Black Keys - Thickfreakness

Drums and guitar playing blues rock while at the same time not being The White Stripes. Lots of fun though inevitably it gets a bit samey by the end.

#11

#46 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black.

Backed by The Dap Kings, her second and last studio album is a fine memorial to a remarkable, if flawed talent.

#47 Bob Marley and The Wailers - Catch A Fire

Their first for Island Records, considered by some as the best reggae album ever made.

#48 Graham Parker and The Rumour - Stick To Me

Their third studio album, hurriedly re-recorded due to problems with the master tape which led it to be less regarded than the previous two, it still sounds good to me.

#49 Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts

Their second studio album, and for now, probably their peak. There are some really good songs on here but for me it's a bit hit and miss.

#10

#42 Laura Marling - Once I was An Eagle

Not bad, but very much like everything that had gone before, and why I haven't bought her latest album.

#43 Radiohead - In Rainbows

IIRC I paid £5 for this under Radiohead's pay what you like offer. I liked it a lot on first listen as it felt like "more my kind of thing" after Kid A, Amnesiac etc. but the others have grown on me over the years. Alternating tracks with Ok Computer adds to the fun.

#44 Sam Phillips - Magic For Everybody

This is my favourite of 5 EPs which make up a collection that were released on subscription between 2009 and 2010. I love her choices of instrument to back the songs along with her guitar. If I had the talent and drive to produce music of my own it would most likely sound a little like this.

#45 Richard Thompson - Rumor and Sigh

1952 Vincent Black Lightning is most people's favourite RT song but there's a lot more on this album that I really like too.

#9

#38 The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

Their debut album, full of tales of woe and lament, beautifully done.

#39 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

2008 Mercury prize winner and their fourth studio album. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, it doesn't really do much for me. I don't dislike what I'm hearing, it just doesn't make me sit up and listen.

#40 Fiona Apple - Tidal

Her debut album from 1996, I only heard it for the first time a couple of years ago.

#41 Donald Fagen - Morph The Cat

My favourite of his solo albums, though I haven't heard the most recent one. 

#8

#34 Lee "Scratch" Perry - Time Boom X De Devil Dead

Released in 1987, it's as mad as the title suggests - he's recorded almost 40 albums since then, which puts The La's one in perspective. 

#35 John Martyn - Solid Air

I've got a couple more of his somewhere, I'm sure, but a recent trawl has only thrown up this one, a fairly recent remastered version of a classic album.

#36 Robert Plant - Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar

 My favourite of his solo albums, and far more interesting than dragging Led Zeppelin out for a money-spinning tour.

#37 Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything

The first time I heard Sam was an NPR performance of some of the songs on this album, including Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us (which also appeared on Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss) and Little Plastic Life, which I've sung a few times at acoustic open mic nights.

#7

#30 Jethro Tull - Stormwatch

12th studio album, as with a number of my download albums I don't recall exactly why I have this one in particular when there are possibly "better" JT albums out there that I don't have, but it's a good listen nevertheless.

#31 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Naturally

Their second studio album, great stuff. Whilst this the only album I have with Sharon Jones' lovely voice, The Dap Kings will return later. 

#32 Jellyfish - Spilt Milk

Their second and final studio album, another (the first) to add to my "I really ought to buy" list. 

#33 Incognito - 100º And Rising

I'm not a big "acid jazz" fan, so I'm not sure how I come to possess three Incognito albums. It's nice enough though, with some great playing.

#6

#26 Fotheringay - Fotheringay

I didn't buy this from Exmouth Indoor Market, but I did hear it playing there and bought it when I got home.

#27 Imogen Heap - iMegaphone

Her first solo album. She's done loads of stuff since this and I've not heard any of it - I should rectify that.

#28 Sigur Ros - Takk

Post-rock, apparently. Whatever post-rock is, this is their fourth album of it, and very nice for a Sunday morning too. 

#29 Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2 or, the last remains of the Dodo

Not sure how I came by this album in particular over anything else she's done, but nevertheless I like it and really should get some more.

#5

#22 Jenny & Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now

I really like all of the Jenny Lewis stuff in Rilo Kiley, and the first two solo albums (I haven't heard the third yet), but compared to all of that this album, written and recorded with her then partner Johnathan Rice, is rubbish.

#23 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Contains my favourite of their songs, one of my all-time favourites, American Girl.

#24 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Damn The Torpedoes

Nothing to match American Girl, but there's still some good stuff on here.

#25 Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know

I reckon this is peak Laura Marling, certainly my favourite of the three albums I own.

#4

#15 Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman

His second solo album and one of his best. I particularly like Late, written in memory of Elliot Smith.

#16 Peter Tosh - Bush Doctor

His third studio album, released in 1978 - it includes a couple of tracks with Keith Richards on guitar and one with vocals shared with Mick Jagger.

#17 Portishead - Third

You may not be surprised to discover that this is their third studio album. Curiously, I'm not sure how I came to own it. I liked the first album (which I have on cassette) apart from some of the wicky-wicky bits, which this doesn't have.

#18 Phronesis - Alive

Another third album, released in 2010. Jazzwise and MOJO's jazz album of the year.

#19 Kate Rusby - Make The Light

Nice songs, beautifully sung. Just like the albums before it.

#20 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

I wasn't particularly aware of Joy Division for a long time. At the time of this release I was listening to Blondie, The Specials, P.I.L., The Police, The Clash, Tubeway Army, The Jam etc. which wasn't a million miles away, but for some reason Joy Division never crossed my path. Even though I owned and wore a t-shirt bought from the local punk clothing emporium (ACME) which had the image from the cover of this album on it, I didn't know this until a number of years later.

#21 Big Star - In Space

31 years between Big Star's "last" album 3rd/Sister Lovers and this one, released in 2005.

#3

#11 Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Her second solo album and probably my favourite, it features a wide variety of musicians across its 12 tracks, including Elvis Costello and Zooey Deschanel on backing vocals.

#12 Newton Faulkner - Hand Built By Robots

I had a very footsore visit to Glastonbury in 2011 and just as we were heading out (gig the next day) past the Avalon stage Newton Faulkner reached the part of his set where he played my favourite song from this album, which was nice.

#13 Graham Parker and The Rumour - Heat Treatment

Not GP's favourite it seems, but there are one or two of his best songs on here, including Fool's Gold.

#14 Lisa Knapp - Wild And Undaunted

MOJO's folk album of the year 2007, it's a mixture of traditional and original songs. I first heard Lisa on a BBC Christmas special featuring a number of young folk acts, including The Unthanks and Thea Gilmore.

#2

#07 Amy Winehouse - Frank

A fine debut, so sad that it had to end so soon.

#08 Atoms For Peace - Amok

Put together to play Thom Yorke's solo album Eraser live, this came out of a post-tour jam, though despite the talent on board (RHCP / R.E.M.) it still sounds more like Yorke/Radiohead than something new.

#09 Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain

Not well received by purists on both sides, but I like it and it's now considered by some at least to be a masterpiece.

#10 tUnE-yArDs - whokill

Wonderfully mad, looped, shouty songs reflecting "power struggles that arise from inequity and lead to further cruelty and injustice". This her first studio album, I really must get round to buying the second.

#1

#01 Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

I listened to this as a download before the CD I'd bought arrived and was very taken with it, so it was the first thing I listened to after completing my CD listening. It's not the most cheerful of albums but very enjoyable nevertheless.

#02 Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

I've listened to this a number of times since its release and while its an interesting and rewarding listen if you concentrate, it's quite throwaway if you try to do other things while it's on. Not bad, but quite a way from my favourite, having listened to the two of them back to back I even like King Of Limbs more.

#03 Nerina Pallot - Fires

Like a lot of artists around the time of its purchase I found Nerina Pallot through friends of friends of people I liked on Myspace.

#04 Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp were definitely in a box marked "I doubt they're my kind of thing" until this album, and I've bought the albums that came before it too.

#05 Karine Polwart - This Earthly Spell

*see Nerina Pallot above - acoustic singer/songwriter stuff - released in 2008, it's her fourth album. I've also got the album before, Fairest Floo'er.

#06 The Undertones - Positive Touch

One thing I've discovered that I never knew is that It's Going To Happen! is one of very few Undertones songs about The Troubles, specifically about the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners.

I'd forgotten how interesting they'd become by this album, it feels very "now what are we going to do? . . . whatever we like!" to me.