Audioxide

The raspy sax, dramatic vocals, and ostentatious instrumentation could just as easily have a place in a gaudy musical as they do on this album.

Romping rock and roll sounded like a breeze for Marc Bolan, and when you add some vintage Visconti wizardry into the mix, you can’t really go wrong.

The early 1970s was a golden era for singer-songwriters, but this stands alongside the best. The beauty of Mitchell’s songwriting lies in its simplicity.

From brotherly estrangement to Fabergéal financial ruin to dental calamity, Bleeding Gums’ soulful howling and gravelly tone is magnificient.

An epic poem in LP form, throughout Cohen embraces a brutal honesty that, although daunting on the surface, reminds you that bleakness can be beautiful.

The record listens like an all-night jam at an impossibly cool bohemian gettogether. It’s funky, relaxed, audacious, exhausting... but above all, it’s brilliant.

Along with a supremely confident and symbiotic backing band, Neil Young imbues each track with this and easygoing courageousness. A true classic.

The album makes for hypnotic listening, bobbling along like a well-mannered German robot. All these years later it still sounds like the future.

Pretty much everything about Unknown Pleasures was, and continues to be, a total triumph in cathartic misery. It’s a true classic.

As far as straight up heavy metal goes, Black Sabbath's Paranoid is one of the very best. It's very sincere and reliably silly.

There is plenty of anger in the album, but it is used constructively. At a time when much music was obsessed with rejection, The Specials gave affirmation.

The songwriting is unbelievably good, to the point where it sounds effortless. Bowie shows sensitivity, humour, and even a little arrogance.

There’s no pretence. Here stands an honest-to-god ‘Murican wailing about everything from young love to the plight of the working classes; take it or leave it.

There’s a mindlessness to the instrumentation, lyricism, and vocals that is devoid of surprises. The 32-minute runtime blasts by as a blur of repetitive noise.

You’d expect huge, theatrical arrangements topped with sizzling guitar solos, but this wasn’t to be. Most of the songs on News of the World are weirdly tame.

There is a remarkable confidence to the record that you wouldn’t usually expect from a debut, which is a testament to Costello’s immense musical capabilities.

Music for Airports comprises of calming tones that induce sedation and tranquillity. Listeners are invited to float among soft, fluffy ambient clouds.

The jams are drawn out in a ceremonious manner, with hooks piled on top of other hooks; each chorus repeated enough for it to become a sing-along.

Raw, deeply personal, and tremendously honest, this was rock & roll as Lennon had envisaged it. Sometimes it's gorgeous, others twitchy and uncomfortable.

Bite-sized servings of vintage Bowie glam-rock combine with brooding instrumental soundscapes to make Low a truly special album.

Peaks are matched by (very pleasant) plateaus. Exodus isn't so much a great album as it is a good album with a handful of iconic songs.

On The Beach is perfect for those late nights alone. Both mellow and despondent, the record features the purest of songwriting from a genuine artist.

The Dark Side of the Moon is one of those high-water marks of artistic expression. It’s just sublime. I don’t have a bad thing to say about it.