it's been pretty difficult to avoid for the 10 years since it came out, but I've always expressed utter indifference to Radiohead. I dismissed them as an iffy indie band when Creep came out (mainly because of really awful press shots in the NME - that one with Thom Yorke giving the camera the finger springs to mind). I understood why people liked them - that headlining appearance at Glastonbury was obviously quite a good gig.

Then, last year, I actually listened to OK Computer and understood that it's actually one heck of an album. It was like being a teenager again and getting completely wrapped up in something completely new.

I'm looking forward to getting properly stuck into country music, an area i've never really explored much and that I'm pretty sure I'm going to love. There's plenty of time. I hope.

Robert Wyatt - 'Rock Bottom'

Finally bought it four years ago and played it solidly for a month.

Iggy and the Stooges - ' 'Funhouse'

2 years ago, what a glorious din.

Can - 'Ege Bamyasi'

Bought it ten years ago after hearing people waffle on about it for a similar length of time. Worth the wait.

The Congos - 'Heart Of The Congos'

Had attained mythical status in my mind before I finally bought the Blood and Fire reissue. Mythic status deserved.

I feel kinda sad I got to Fela so late, mainly because I'd love to have seen him play live. There's a *brilliant* French documentary (also called 'Music Is the Weapon') from 1982, filmed when I imagine he was at the peak of his powers. It flicks between live footage shot at his club in Lagos, The Shrine, and life at his compound, where he holds court surrounded by numerous wives, heroically stoned, clad only in a slight pair of pastel blue y-fronts.

Sorry, didn't answer the question.

Yes it's true, I have never really been interested in The Beatles - they were a pop group from my childhood so wasn't really interested other than vaguely knowing most of the singles. So recently I have acquired the albums - just wading through them. Initial impressions are
- I know why the ones I know I already know - they are the real gems
- there are some other gems in there
- there is also some real dross
- they weren't good on lyrics, were they!
- as a 70s boy I rather wish George let fly a bit more. All the guitar parts are exquisite but sort of up tight sounding...
- Lennon better singer than I credited him for - mind you I loath "Imagine" more than almost any other song

overall enjoying the trip immensely - I doubt they will ever be my favourite band though.

Never warmed to Anthony and but I heard this recently, from the Leonard Cohen documentary and I may have to re-evaluate. Its quite beautiful. (At least to hear).

And in my teens and early twenties Soul Music was never even considered and I dismissed anyone who might mention Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" with derision. The shame.

It was 9 years after its release (1998) that I heard Holland 1945 on the radio and bought 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea'. It is certainly a desert island album for me, and the recently re-released 'On Avery Island' (just 12 years old) is also a belter.

I always thought Fairport Convention were a bit naff really until a year or so ago when I actually sat down and listened to Leige and Lief and became slightly obsessed with them. A couple of weeks spent listening to Unhalfbricking almost every day confirmed the nagging feeling that in ignoring them for so long I have wasted my precious years on this planet.

Growing up, I was very dependent on my parents' records - honestly - and so, broadly speaking, I spent the 70s listening to the 50s, the 80s listening to the 60s and the 90s listening to the 70s. Then I skipped the 80s and 90s because I didn't need to live through them again and now I'm bang up to date.

Obviously, my life hasn't been quite that anal or ordered. But as a generalisation it just about works. I find that I enjoy music much more when everyone else isn't going on about it. It's often good to get some distance.

...although I owned, and liked, 'Astral Weeks', 'Moondance' and a best-of, it wasn't until last year I really went beyond that. I found 'Common One' in a charity shop for £1.25 and it completely blew me away. I had similar revelations with many of his other albums like 'Veedon Fleece', 'St Dominic's Preview', 'Into The Music' and 'Beautiful Vision'.

Gene Clark's 'No Other' I was indifferent to when I first heard it, not playing it again until a few months ago. I thought it was staggering that time around, especially the title track.

Some post-punk I've encountered lately is really great; those early Simple Minds albums (from 'Empires And Dance' through 'New Gold Dream'), a Magazine best-of, Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' and various XTC albums have gotten many an airing from me lately.

Really like Elbow, who (again!) didn't really do much for me when I heard them a few years ago but inspired by Stuart Maconie's fab piece on them in Word recently and a few mentions on another forum, I decided to give them another listen. Was well worth it- looking forward to the new one on Monday.

Seemed to by-pass them in my youth.
I knew my fiance was a big fan so got us some tickets to see Morrissey last year...it was fantastic.

Really like his music now, his Smiths stuff and his solo material. He can be a awkward bugger and an old curmudgeon but there is no denying he is talented.

I appreciate that this may get me barred from this site and my subscription cancelled, but I just never got 'The Boss'. Of course like everyone else I enjoyed that clip of 'Rosalita' from OGWT the first five or six times it aired but otherwise it seemed no more the future of rock'n'roll than did Alvin Stardust. "I got this guitar and I learned how to make it sing (plink!)". Dylan x Chuck Berry = Poor Man's Van Morrison was my assessment, and I stuck with it.

I was dragged along by a mate (an obsessive) to see him at Slane in 1985, and bought 'Born In The USA' to do some homework. Dreadful production and tinny sound underpinned by booming drums whose only merit was in distracting attention from the cars/girls/Vietnam vet lyrics. Nice day out though - it was very sunny.

In December last year I was given a ticket by someone who thought they were doing me a favour - the show had sold out in minutes. I couldn't not go.

Kicked off with 'Radio Nowhere' and never let up all the way through to 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town'. Instantly converted and a lot of back catalogue to explore.

...talk".
That's what he sings on my version anyway.

Im not sure that this counts actually but I have got back into Marillion in a BIG way. Just ask my wife. After an adolescence where they played a seminal part (I once won a short story competition based on Clutching at Straws- its forgivable- I was 15 at the time), the latter teenage and early years of adulthood saw them banished to the wastelands of the back of the record boxes. Thanks to the efforts of three very good friends- hello Tim, Richard, Gareth- I have rediscovered the joys of both the early days and the more recent stuff. And I am loving it- so much so that I have signed up for the Deluxe-box-set-thank-you-credit-on-the-sleeve version of their new album- not out for months. yes- that sad.

I have been listening to a fair bit of Flack lately. There is life beyong Killing Me Softly and Chapter Two is a great record.

Have also "discovered" Lighnin' Hopkins who seemed to make a lot of very raw recordings that feel as though you are in the same room as him and stand out when they come on the ipod.

Took a Mash-up album "Me and This Army" for me to go back and listen. Now I'm Hooked.
Was Late To BLUES too
On The Country debate. Why not go back to see what influenced The likes of Gram and the New Alt Country Bands.
Hank Williams is a must,then Lefty Frizzel, Webb Pierce,Wynn Stewart,Buck Owens.
Patsy Cline,Jean Shepard.Wanda Jackson(The Female Elvis),Kitty Wells.Anita Carter .Enjoy

Never "got" The Fall, then saw them live last year and suddenly it all made sense. Seeing them again on Monday. Can't wait.

I heard "The Model" and liked it a lot.
I brought their best of and and it remained unplayed for ten years or so. About six months ago I got around to playing the CD and found I absolutely loved it. I now have all their records and have started searching for the German versions.

In my time I have read a lot of articles on her and thought "mmm that sounds like someone I would like." But somehow, until about 18 months ago, I always found something that I thought would be more interesting in Record Collector. Then I bought Eli And The Thirteenth Confession. HOW DID I MISS HER?

Also thanks to Word, and DH in particular, I actually got round to ignoring (what I saw as) the off-putting hype around M.I.A. I am grateful I did. For the same reason, I haven't been able to listen to La Wino yet...

As to Fela: My nomination as the best political statement in any piece of popular music would be Coffin for the Head of State/Unknown Soldier. It can be picked up as a double CD for bar-snacks. The ferocity of both tracks as they build up to very scary climaxes give me goosebumps every time.

When people mention Fela they always refer to James Brown, I reckon an angrier Miles Davies (could that be possible?) is closer to the mark.

The snippets I listened to, as in the 27 seconds from i-tunes of her "best known" songs, as guided by, probably All Music Guide, made me smile. Dusty I can respect, but she is a bit, well, dusty. That is why the Shelby Lynne versions work so well for me, having had the answer to my earlier post well and truly answered by the promo only copy sent as thanks for subscribing to (the) Word.

I'm veering slightly off tangent here, but bear with me.

I bought Astral Weeks when I was 19 and was completely baffled by it. Up until then my experience of Van Morrison was limited to The Angry Young Them album - his former group's 1965 long player which contained their early top ten hit Gloria, the fervent R&B of Mystic Eyes and I'm Gonna Dress in Black - a cousin several times removed of The Animals - House of The Rising Sun - a song that spoke to my Goth leanings and whose fashion edict I took very much to heart.

I had heard people talk about Astral Weeks as a revolutionary record, which in my narrow understanding of 1960s music, equated with wild, libertine acid-rock. Having been confronted by the album's sedate, pastoralism, that barely seemed to belong in the 20th century, I was flummoxed. I couldn't wrap my understanding around the music - these songs that seemed to drift past you. Nor could I comprehend where Morrison was coming from lyrically. At the time I had no broader frame of reference or developed aesthetic sense to help me. The stately harpsichord of Cypress Avenue showed no imminent signs of freaking out. What was superficially the most accessible/conventional track on the album The Way Young Lovers Do struck me as wilfully old fashioned. The most far-out it got was on the convulsing saxophone that plays out the final track Slim Slow Slider - something that I later realised was meant to resemble the fitful DTs of the character in the song.

To my great shame I remember boorishly describing the album to a friend as: "A load of songs about roads and Ireland."

For almost a decade Astral Weeks remained un-played, sinking into lower sediment layer of my CD collection. One day something (probably an article in the press) provoked me into putting it on again. This time around it was different. I found myself listening to an album that was experimental but disciplined, passionate but restrained and like nothing else I had heard. At the heart of it, there seemed to be a deep need by Morrison to lay himself bare and communicate an experience that couldn't be articulated by words alone.

I played Astral Weeks a lot after that - to the extent that it defines a time in my late 20s and early 30s. It's such a beautiful, life-affirming record, but I approached it too early in life. I wasn't ready for an album like that in my late teens. To fully appreciate it I needed to hear a lot of other music first and put a few more years behind me.

...when I first heard it I was probably about 14/15- didn't fully click. Some five years on most everything Van did in the 60s, 70s and 80s really appeals to me.

Forgot about Scott Walker, those Walker Brothers singles, the first four albums and 'Climate Of Hunter' really hit the spot for me these days. Need to get hold of that 'If You Could Hear Me Now' compilation that features 'The Electrician' on it; that song is thematically quite disturbing yet at the same time the string/acoustic guitar arrangements are absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure I am ready to brave 'Tilt' or 'The Drift', mind...

Sorry to be contrary but....when I discovered Van beyond "The Best of ..", I absolutely loved Astral Weeks and almost inevitably Moondance . However, I now very rarely listen to either and find Veedon Fleece and St Dominics Preview to be infinitely superior albums. Is there something wrong with me? I am wondering whether I will I rediscover the earlier ones?

Totally agree on the later albums...did something happen to Van's voice between 1975 and mid 1980s to make it the growl it is today? Or did he just get old.

It is a crime that this mans music has only really been properly appraised in the last 5 to 10 years. I doubt there were many people who enthused about his music when it was first released as much as there are now. I`m one of the latecomers, but at least I got there. A wonderful artist. Five Leaves Left is a masterpiece.

Look at it this way. Somebody paid for Nick Drake to make three albums, all of which got good reviews. But nobody bought them. Drake didn't really attempt to promote them. He wasn't built that way. Despite this, these records stayed in the catalogue for thirty years until they were picked up by the producers of a TV ad and a few soundtracks and ended up being bought by a few more people. The fact that he died is a tragedy for his family. The fact that you can go out and buy his music tomorrow is surely a good thing.

my cousin telling me about 20 years ago that it was Chris Blackwell that insisted that Nick Drake and I think Sandy Denny's catalogue would never be deleated even if they sold zilch.

Just as the Country thread had folk looking for a good starting point, I'd always figured that one of these days I'd get around to chucking myself in to reggae. I worship at the altar of '60s R&B and Northern Soul so I've always figured it wouldn't be much of a leap. There's so much out there, so can any of you kind souls point me in the right direction?