Rod Stewart ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down’ - forget what he became: his debut is a solid gold ‘69 classic, right up there with Zep 1 to my jaded lugs;
Kevin Ayers ‘Joy of a Toy’ - another great debut from ‘69, never bettered by its creator;
Julian Cope ‘Autogeddon’ - as fresh as the day it was released;
Thin Lizzy ‘Nightlife’ - my fave Lizzy LP, soulful and rocking in equal measure);
Peter Hammill ‘Fool’s Mate’ - yet another fine debut, this time from 1971: the nearest Hammill’s ever come to a “regular” singer-songwriter record. Dated, but charming;
Magazine ‘Real Life’ - incredibly assured debut with max John Barry factor. Love this as much as I did in ‘78;
Gillan ‘Mr Universe’ - Ian’s best non-Purps album to my ears;
Clearlight ‘Forever Blowing Bubbles’ - forgotten French prog with a Gong-like vibe, hampered only by a hopelessly out of tune piano;
Tommy Bolin ‘The Ultimate Tommy Bolin’ - terrific late 80s comp exemplifying Bolin’s virtuosity across jazz, blues and rock genres
Jim Capaldi ‘Whale Meat Again’
Jim Capaldi ‘Oh How We Danced’ - two thoroughly enjoyable albums from the early 70s, sounding suitably Traffic-like;
Gentle Giant ‘Civilian’ - radio friendly final outing, some way from their proggy origins but so much better than kack like ‘Duke’ or ‘Drama’ that bigger selling contemporaries were dumping on the 1980 populace.
Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (Hough/Finnish RSO/Lintu)
Beethoven: Symphony no.2 (Stuttgart RSO/Munchinger)
Beethoven: Symphony no.6 (Philharmonia/Ashkenazy)
Beethoven: Symphony no.8 (Concertgebouw/Haitink)
Beethoven: Piano Sonata Op.7 (Stephen Kovacevich)
Mozart: Symphonies 20, 40 & “47” (ASMF/Marriner)
Dvorak: Symphony no.7 (Czech PO/Neumann)
Brahms: Symphony no.1 (LSO/Dorati)
Brahms: Symphony no.2 (Berlin RSO/Klemperer)
Brahms: Symphony no.3 (Berlin SO/Kurt Sanderling)
Brahms: Symphony no.4 (Saarbrucken RSO/Skrowaczewski)
George Lloyd: Symphony no.4 (Philharmonia/Downes)
Thea Musgrave: Concerto for Orchestra (SNO/Gibson)
Mendelssohn: Adspice domine/Schaue herab, Op.121 (Chamber Choir of Europe/Matt)
Bach: Cantata BWV 87 ‘Hitherto Have Ye Asked’ (Munich Bach Choir/K Richter)
Bach: Cantata BWV 86 ‘Truly Truly I Say To You’ (Bach-Collegium Stuttgart/Rilling)
Haydn: The Creation (VPO/Karajan)
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