Thanks to Gavin and Chris over on mastodon and their recent blog posts about owning your music, and owning it for life, I have decided to have a go myself. Which albums would you choose to accompany you to the grave, albums you just can’t be without and more importantly need to own and touch and feel?

My physical media of choice happens to be vinyl LPs. I have waxed lyrical (no pun intended) on why this is before, here and on mastodon, so I won’t go into the reasons for choosing this format. Suffice to say vinyl is very important to me for many reasons.

So here are my ten albums.

The Who – Quadrophenia

This is the album I have had and held the longest. My brother took me into Our Price records in Croydon for my birthday (I was 14) and told me to choose a record. I went straight to this, and I still have that copy on my shelves. I have had it for 40 years and have never, ever grown bored of it. You’ll have to prise this album from my cold dead hands when I’m gone.

The Who – Tommy

I flip flop between Quadrophenia and Tommy when asked what the best album of all time is. It all depends on when I listened to each one last, or how I’m feeling, or the weather or something. I don’t know, but they are both truly excellent and groundbreaking in their own ways. Tommy is a masterclass of telling a story through music, an art form that few have ever matched.

The Jam – All Mod Cons

For me this is the moment The Jam came of age. The first two albums are excellent and an undeniable tour de force from a band and songwriter so young, but All Mod Cons remains my favourite. Weller’s genius at song crafting is obvious throughout. The iconic imagery on the cover and inserts shaped how me and my mates dressed for quite some time!

Billy Bragg – Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

I think I have seen Billy Bragg live the most of any artist. From his early days carrying around his amp and speakers in his rucksack, I followed him on Red Wedge tours with The Style Council, The Communards etc. and, latterly, on solo gigs. His music was an absolute eye opener and a breath of fresh air. It’s not an exaggeration to say Billy shaped my political views, as well as sang the most perfect and painful love songs. He understood a generation perfectly.

Secret Affair – Business As Usual

I realise as I type this that this list is fuelled by nostalgia. Secret Affair were part of my youth in a big way. I was quite young when the whole mod revival thing kicked off, but just old enough to be enthralled by it all. I went all in. There are many, many exceptional albums from that era and that movement, but this is the one that means the most to me.

Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick

I came to Tull relatively late. I had heard them before but for some reason had always dismissed them as slightly odd or a bit stuffy. I was SO wrong. When I got them, I really got them, and I became obsessed for a while. Thick As A Brick (another concept album – a definite theme developing) is by some way my favourite of theirs.

The Smiths – The Queen is Dead

A remarkable album from a seminal band. Yes, Morrissey is a shitty person now. I don’t know how or why that happened but I still believe he wasn’t a shitty person back then. Either way, I choose to ignore that and continue to love this album, and I make no apologies for that decision.

XTC – Skylarking

I could have chosen any XTC album, especially English Settlement, but Skylarking is the one I have the most nostalgia for and memories of. I have mentioned a few times that one of my best friends’ dad managed XTC so I had early access to this album, and others – we absolutely played it to death all summer. A great, great album.

Green Day – Dookie

This album coincided with me falling in love. My now wife and I would listen to it back to back in the car and it holds a special place in my heart because of this. It’s a great album, but it wouldn’t be on this list without those memories. As it is, I couldn’t be without it. I didn’t get this on vinyl until relatively recently.

The Beatles – Abbey Road

Over time, Abbey Road has become my favourite Beatles album. It’s a masterpiece. The medley on side 2 is some of the best music I have heard. In any case, I couldn’t in all consciousness leave The Beatles out and this album pips the other ones to the post, which is no mean feat.

So that’s it. An exercise in futility, maybe, these lists always are, but those are the ten albums I’d currently save from a burning house. They have been with me through thick and thin, are old friends, and I hope remain friends for many years to come!