The Yes Album and Close To The Edge should be in every collection.

ZZ Top deserve a place, especially the first four albums.

are good. And Yes.

Well, some Yes anyway. ( Everything up to and including 'Close to the Edge' ).

Germ-Free Adolescence is my most played song on my ipod.

And what about Zager & Evans with their one hit wonder In The Year 2525. Or the pipes of Georges Zamphir? Or the Youngbloods?

Terrifically sparse post-punk fronted by the deadpan vocals of Alison Statton (also at the back-end of the record collection as vocalist with the jazzier and equally brilliant Weekend) YMG's entire output is worth a tenner of anybody's money on 'Colossal Youth And Collected Works'.

hasn't really made a bad record

A must have. Lots of albums, almost all are wonderful.

before they became Clan of Xymox. Depends if you're of a gothy vintage - they turn up at Whitby Goth Weekend from time to time

Swiss / French industrialists who make an absolutely great racket

an influence on Robert Plant,and for Z, try The Zephyrs 'When the Sky Comes Down It Comes Down on Your Head'.

Just for this track - Tubular X by Mike Oldfield

...but it does contain this great cover of Crystal Ship by the band X

Neil Young as well. And The Zutons.

I have the Yachts under Y - cracking stuff, sadly mostly forgotten.

Also Youngblood Brass Band - a bit like Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, but the latter don't quite do it for me.

Of course!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeasayer

well I like them

Great 60s garage band from Texas - they were all about 15, I think. Dig the clips with the 'crowd' of youngsters later on in this clip.

But also Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation, and the Yayhoos (one of the greatest bar bands ever)

Zorn

Zaremba

Yayhoos

(and Warren Zevon, mentioned above)

A bit patchy, but generally super: That whole One Second LP, or The Eye, is great stuff. But if you can get their 15 minute Metropolitan Mixdowns from 1989, it showcases just how many great tunes they came up with.

And he plays golf for the Swiss national team.

'X ' the band, were mentioned above for their Doors cover, but are generally worth investigation. 'Under the big black sun' in particular is a fine, fine album. They've been described as 'The American Clash', which sort of makes sense - they started out punk but grew more...ambitious (and incorporated lots of rootsy music) - but they were always quite unique-sounding. Terrific band.

Sorry, but I'm going to admit that Zodiac Mindwarp still gets used to blow the occasional blues away at my house. Just turn it up and enjoy the mindless riffage...

Equally, ZZ Top still gets spun...

Thirdly, via a god awful video: Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes is still solid..

...ZZ Top.

Deguello is a great album.

Pete Zorn, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. Not sure if he ever put anything out under his own name but it gives me an excuse for an RT moment from 1999 - a blistering version featuring Mr Z on sax and various Thompsons. Pete also has a musical brother Bill.

is generally filed under B so I don't think there's any argument about filing Townes van Zandt under Z.
Pick pretty much any album, you can't go wrong but the double CD The Very Best of Townes van Zandt, The Texan Troubador is as good a place to start as any.

Yearwood. Not a regular feature here but she could sing the phone book and it would be beautiful. Happily here she's actually singing a Gretchen Peters song, one of Mrs.T's favourites.

But as an Essex Boy I am contractually obliged to also big up Yazoo's couple of albums.

You could also pad out the shelves with Xentrix, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Joe Zawinul/Zawinul Syndicate (Far better than resorting to Will Young)

French singer Zazie is worth a listen. Her biggest/best/most available album is La Zizanie

Top stuff

Graet track from their greatest album Black Sea

X-Press 2 (did "Lazy" with David Byrne a few years ago. Top pop tune, that).

I also have in my library "Come With Me" by Zeep, from Now Hear This issue 55.

And of course, every* home should have some Yngwie Malmsteen.

*not every home.

I'd support the shouts for Young Marble Giants, The XX and Yo La Tengo made above.

Others to think about: Yazoo; Yeah Yeah Yeahs; the new Yeasayer album is very good (not so keen on All Hour Cymbals). I've also got a soft spot for a couple of tracks by Xmal Deutschland (Qual & Incubus Succubus), but I'm sure they won't be to everyone's taste.

I do have this on my iPod. Worth a listen for some very slinky musicianship.. they were a bunch of NY session players apparently. It sounds like it. A fine tune you've probably forgotten.

are ok.

Avant-garde Greek composer.

His life story was far more complex than anyone in rock n roll. Born in 1922, he became part of the Greek resistance during World War two. He was wounded in the face by a shell, losing an eye. Then after the war he was sentenced to death in his absence by the right-wing Greek government, with the sentence finally being lifted when the government fell in 1974.

He escaped Greece to France and managed to get work in Le Corbusier's studio as an architect, whilst studying composition. His most famous work as an architect was the Philips Pavillion for Expo '58. He then quit architecture to go into music full time.

The XX
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Zutons

..all deserve a spot in peoples' record collections.

Other than Queen and Queens Of The Stone Age, what have people got in Q?

You mean you don't have any Axel Zwingenberger - one of the finest boogie woogie pianist's out there......

Here he is with Big Joe Turner...

Billy sunshine's offshoot of Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan.

Unless I decide to get rid of it as even for someone with a lot of love for the Pumpkins it's not that great.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for X-Mal Deutschland in general, and this in particular

Nothing at all whatsoever to do with the cute Goth girl who I had a huge crush on in my first year at Uni and who loved this song...

I like a bit of jazz piano, me.

And towards the end of the alphabet we find a couple of my absolute favourites:

Eri Yamamoto...

... and Denny Zeitlin

should be compulsory listening for anyone who enjoys electric guitars:

Still in a very sparse Y section.
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