One Brown Mouse/Jethro Tull

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMnNAGLAc_w

Glorious vocal harmonies characterise this song off Jethro Tull's exquisitely produced album Heavy Horses (1978). Barlow's drumming is the icing on the cake.

Great Albums (Thinking In Textures/Chet Faker)

Year: 2012

The debut EP by Australian electronica artist Chet Faker, Thinking In Textures combines R&B inspired vocals with downtempo backing tracks to deliver thirty minutes of sheer groove-laden bliss. The melodies are catchy but not intrusive, and you can probably play the album on loop while going about your work.

Personal Picks: "No Diggity (cover)" and "Cigarettes And Chocolate"

Slow Blues/Thin Lizzy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1NLVVKU5Vk

Blues and funk make for a mean combo.

No Prayer For The Dying/Iron Maiden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns7tbK544Cw

Althought the album received a lukewarm reception, this song stands out (for me at least) thanks to Dickinson's particularly soulful vocals.

Great Albums (Illinois/Sufjan Stevens)

Year: 2005

Delightfully quirky and sombre at the same time, Illinois typifies what I have come to love about Stevens' songwriting. Many of the songs on the album have been given the (almost trademark) "baroque" treatment, with lush musical arrangements reminiscent of the '70s Canterbury scene, albeit with simpler melodic and lyrical structures. However, venture beyond this grandiose landscape, and you can't help being disarmed by the melancholic undertones prevalent throughout the album. It is this subtlety that makes Illinois stand apart in the ocean of contemporary indie pop music.

Personal Picks: "Chicago", "The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" and "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders"