Music has always been an important part of my life. Its a source of entertainment but also emotional support, distraction, inspiration and excitement. I had wondered whether, when I turned 40 towards the end of 2002, I would continue to get enthused about new music or just retreat into the old favourites and leave modern […]

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I think that 2002 was a good year for music. Looking at the albums I bought I can see they are split between ones I got from the market stall in Lower Marsh and ones I would have had to go up to Tower Records for. Or possibly I was getting some from the Internet […]

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I really liked listening to Santana when I was at school. I only had the Caravanserai album myself, but other people there had other albums and it was all good stuff. I really lost touch with his music after Moonflower. Nothing seemed to get any publicity and so I never noticed it. I was happy […]

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This was the year I really clicked with Busta Rhymes. I got the Turn It Up remix single and was totally smitten by the Knight Rider bassline in it. On the back of that I bought his Extinction Level Event album and although it was a bit frustrating with so many short tracks I found […]

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There were quite a few good songs in 1997, and a few that bring back specific memories. Brimful of Asha by Cornershop  falls into both camps. At this time I was going to a few clubs with my wife and her sisters. We all lived and/or worked in London so had plenty of choice. Sometimes […]

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For somebody who had a serious music-buying habit until fairly recently, I don’t have a lot of stuff from 1996. Maybe I was snapping up bargains in back catalogue, maybe it was a weak year for music.

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There were four big things going on for me musically in 1995: British dance music So-called Britpop African music Blasts from the past Otherwise it was all Macarena and Take That. The lasting legacy of the year, for British holidaymakers anyway, was that this was the year somebody decided to take the song Living Next […]

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1994 was when ‘britpop’ really started kicking off. Blur released the Parklife album and a few singles from it, Oasis released their debut album, Definitely Maybe, along with a few singles from that, Suede released Dog Man Star and Pulp started getting some attention with His n Hers. Echobelly had their debut album, while other […]

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I can’t say that 1993 can compete with 1991 and 1992 when it comes to music as a whole, but it does stand out for me as a vintage year for reggae, specifically Jamaican dancehall. One of the best CDs I bought in that year was called Reggae 93 and it is right up there […]

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