A few years ago some mates of mine decided that if their girlfriends / wives were going to form a book club as a regular feature of their social calendar, the guys should do something similar.

The blokey equivalent was obvious, particularly as several of us are music anoraks: a Record club; a long-running membership (give or take a few chaps who've retired due to lack of time or conversely been co-opted in to swell the ranks), who take it in turns to pick 2 or 3 albums a month.

Prior listening is highly desirable, the albums are played in full at the meet-up and opinions are voiced and scores out of 5 awarded (then tactfully forgotten).

So, here's the history of the good, the bad and the baffling, described meeting by meeting.


1 Kraftwerk: "Trans-Europe Express"
2 X-Ray Spex: "Germfree Adolescents"

3 Matt Berry: "Television Themes"
4 Wolf Alice: "Visions Of A Life"

5 Billy Bragg and Wilco: "Mermaid Avenue"
6 The Pretty Things: "SF Sorrow"

7 Gentle Giant: "The Power and the Glory"
8 World Party: "Bang!"

9 Warpaint: "Heads Up"
10 Camaron De La Isla: "Al Verte Las Flores Lloran"

11 Loyle Carner: "Yesterday's Gone"
12 Bennett Wilson Poole: "Bennett Wilson Poole"

13 Janet Jackson: "Control"
14 Kitchens Of Distinction: "Strange Free World"

15 Kate Tempest: "Let Them Eat Chaos"
16 Nick Cave: "The Skeleton Tree"

17 Half Man Half Biscuit: "Trouble Over Bridgwater"
18 The Moulettes: "Preternatural"

19 First Aid Kit: "Ruins"
20 PJ Harvey: "To Bring You My Love"

21 Queens Of The Stone Age: "Villans"
22 The KLF: "Chill Out"

23 Spiritualized: "Lazer Guided Melodies"
24 Rat Boy: "SCUM"

25 Lou Reed: "New York"
26 Misfits: "American Psycho"

27 Knifeworld: "Buried Alone - Tales of Crushing Defeat"
28 Tame Impala: "Currents"

29 Van der Graaf Generator: "Godbluff"
30 The Beatles: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 50th Anniversary Edition"

31 Mark Mulcahy: "The Possum In The Driveway"
32 Free: "Fire and Water"

33 Elbow: "Little Fictions"
34 Jim Bob: "School"

35 Twenty One Pilots: "Blurryface"
36 Fat White Family: "Songs for Our Mothers"

37 Mark and the Clouds: "Blue Skies Opening"
38 The Sea Nymphs: "On Dry Land"

39 Radiohead: "A Moon Shaped Pool"
40 Calexico: "Edge Of The Sun"

41 Jim Johnston: "After All Wishing"
42 Shopping: "Consumer Complaints"

43 Manic Street Preachers: "Everything Must Go"
44 Sam Smith: "In The Lonely Hour"

45 The Ramones: "The Ramones"
46 Terry Riley: "A Rainbow In Curved Air / Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band"

47 Vivian Stanshall: "Sir Henry At Rawlinson End"
48 John Mayall With Eric Clapton: "Bluesbreakers"

49 Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation: "Horse Dance"
50 Frank Sinatra: "Songs For Swinging Lovers"

51 Ryan Adams: "1989"
52 The Vapors: "New Clear Days"

53 Marilyn Manson: "Holy Wood"
54 Lisa Ronson: "Emperors Of Medieval Japan"

55 Steven Wilson: "Hand. Cannot. Erase."
56 Talking Heads: "Remain In Light"

57 Zun Zun Egui: "Shackles Gift"
58 Nick Mulvey: "First Mind"

59 Ian Dury: "New Boots and Panties"
60 The Sleaford Mods: "Key Markets"

61 Taylor Swift: "1989"
62 Slaves: "Are You Satisfied?"

63 Benny Goodman: "Live At Carnegie Hall 1938"
64 The Residents: "The Third Reich 'n Roll"

65 Jack Bruce: "Songs For A Tailor"
66 Dusty Springfield: "Dusty In Memphis"

67 Haight-Ashbury: "Perhaps"
68 Bo Ningen: "Bo Ningen"

69 Elephants & Castles: "Collected works 2013 - 2015"
70 Bob Marley & the Wailers: "Exodus"

71 Bring Me The Horizon: "Sempiternal"
72 Skrillex: "Bangarang"

73 Art Bears: "Hopes And Fears"
74 Crazy World Of Arthur Brown: "Zim Zam Zim"

75 Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL: "Plectrumelectrum"
76 Kitten Pyramid: "Uh-Oh!"

77 Flying Lotus: "Cosmogramma"
78 The Wedding Present: "Bizarro"

79 alt-J: "This Is All Yours"
80 Johnny Marr: "Playland"

81 The Fugs: "It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest"
82 Suicide: "Suicide"

83 Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: "Barafundle"
84 The Bears: "Eureka!"

85 Nick Drake: "Bryter Layter"
86 Blue Öyster Cult: "Agents of Fortune"

87 Beach Boys, The: "Pet Sounds"
88 Haircut 100: "Pelican West"

89 Abney Park: "Ancient World"
90 Eddie Vedder: "Into The Wild"

91 The Buggles: "The Age Of Plastic"
92 The Crimson Jazz Trio: "King Crimson Songbook Vol 1"

93 Sister Sledge: "We Are Family"
94 Public Service Broadcasting: "Inform, Educate, Entertain"

95 Komeda: "What Makes It Go?"
96 Chameleon Circuit: "Still Got Legs"

97 Placebo: "Without You I'm Nothing"
98 Kings Of Leon: "Mechanical Bull"

99 The Velvet Underground: "The Velvet Underground & Nico"
100 Random Jon Poole: "Random Jon Poole"

101 Black Sabbath: "13"
102 King Krule: "6 Feet Beneath The Moon"

103 Scott Walker: "Scott 2"
104 New Model Army: "No Rest For The Wicked"

105 Alabama Shakes: "Boys and Girls"
106 Calvin Harris: "18 Months"

107 Thea Gilmore and Sandy Denny: "Don't Stop Singing"
108 Imagine Dragons: "Night Visions"

109 Shuggy Otis: "Inspiration Information"
110 Three Trapped Tigers: "Route One Or Die"

111 Grizzly Bear: "Shields"
112 The United States Of America: "The United States Of America"

113 David Bowie: "The Next Day"
114 Blondie: "Parallel Lines"

115 JD McPherson: "Signs and Signifiers"
116 Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros: "Rock Art and the X-ray Style"

117 The Dave Brubeck Quartet: "Time Out"
118 Thumpermonkey: "Sleep Furiously"

119 The B52s: "The B52s"
120 The Rolling Stones: "Out Of Our Heads"

121 La Düsseldorf: "La Düsseldorf"
122 The Tubes: "The Tubes"

123 The Jim Jones Revue: "The Savage Heart"
124 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: "The Message"

125 The Dresden Dolls: "The Dresden Dolls"
126 Gary Numan: "Dead Son Rising"

127 Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer: "The Tweed Album"
128 Led Zeppelin: "Led Zeppelin 1"

129 Raphael Saadiq: "Stone Rollin'"
130 Tinariwen: "Aman Iman"

131 Diesel Park West: "Shakespeare Alabama"
132 Curve: "Dopplegänger"

133 Steel Pulse: "Handsworth Revolution"
134 740 Millionow Oddechow: "Porachunki"

135 ZZ Top: "Tres Hombres"
136 The Doors: "The Doors"

137 Bob Dylan: "Highway 61 Revisited"
138 Melody Garbot: "My One and Only Thrill"

139 Field Music: "Plumb"
140 Max Richter: "The Blue Notebooks"

141 Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: "30 Something"
142 The Black Keys: "El Camino"

143 Anna Calvi: "Anna Calvi"
144 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds"

145 Alabama 3: "Exile On Coldharbour Lane"
146 Fairport Convention: "Liege And Lief"

147 God Speed! You Black Emperor: "Yanqui U.X.O."
148 Ennio Morricone: "Navaho Joe Original Soundtrack"

149 Janelle Monáe: "The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)"
150 AC/DC: "Highway To Hell"

151 Radiohead: "OK Computer"
152 Echo And The Bunnymen: "Crocodiles"

153 Quicksilver Messenger Service: "Quicksilver Messenger Service"
154 King Crimson: "Red"

155 The Small Faces: "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake"
156 The Smoke Fairies: "Through Low Lights And Trees"

157 John Grant: "Queen Of Denmark"
158 John Lennon: "Plastic Ono Band"

159 Fleet Foxes: "Fleet Foxes"
160 Adam And The Ants: "Kings Of The Wild Frontier"

161 These New Puritans: "Hidden"
162 Kasabian: "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum"

163 Buckethead: "Giant Robot"
164 Black Sabbath: "Paranoid"

165 MGMT: "Congratulations"
166 Soname: "Plateau"

167 The xx: "xx"
168 Joanna Newsom: "Ys"

169 Natalie Merchant: "San Andreas Fault"
170 Bat For Lashes: "Fur And Gold"

171 Mr Bungle: "Disco Volante"
172 Marina And The Diamonds: "Family Jewels, The"

173 Hatfield And The North: "Rotters Club, The"
174 William D Drake: "Briny Hooves"

175 Roni Size / Reprazent: "New Forms"
176 Julian Cope: "World Shut Your Mouth"

177 Paloma Faith: "Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful?"
178 Girls Aloud: "Out Of Control"

179 John Adams: "Harmonium"
180 The View: "Hats Off To The Buskers"

181 Senser: "How To To Battle"
182 Rodrigo y Gabriella: "11:11"

183 The Unthanks: "Here's The Tender Coming"
184 The Mediaeval Baebes: "Illumination"

185 Crystal Castles: "Crystal Castles"
186 Broken Records: "Until The Earth Begins To Part"

187 De La Soul: "Three Feet High And Rising"
188 Nick Cave: "Let Love In"

189 Death Cab For Cutie: "Narrow Stairs"
190 Philip Glass: "Koyaanisqatsi"

191 Miles Davis: "Kind Of Blue"
192 Japan: "Japan"

193 Queen: "Night At The Opera"
194 Porcupine Tree: "Fear Of A Blank Planet"

195 Suede: "Suede"
196 Prince: "Purple Rain"

197 Diamanda Galas: "The Singer"
198 The White Lies: "To Lose My Life"

199 Jethro Tull: "Aqualung"
200 Chemical Brothers: "Surrender"

201 TV On The Radio: "Dear Science"
202 Neil Young: "Living With War"

203 Madness: "One Step Beyond"
204 Guns'n'Roses: "Appetite For Destruction"

205 The Ting Tings: "We Started Nothing"
206 Screaming Blue Messiahs: "Gun Shy"

207 Johnny Cash: "American Recordings IV: When The Man Comes Around"
208 Burial: "Untrue"

209 Vampire Weekend: "Vampire Weekend"
210 The Merry-Go-Round: "The Merry-Go-Round"

211 Joni Michell: "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns"
212 Mahmoud Ahmed: "Erè Mèla Mèla"

213 Television: "Marquee Moon"
214 OMD: "Architecture And Morality"

215 CSS: "Cansei De Ser Sexy"
216 The Last Shadow Puppets: "The Age Of The Understatement"

217 Tom McRae: "Tom McRae"
218 Captain Beefheart: "Safe As Milk"
219 Bunty Chunks: "Bunty Chunks"

220 The Young Knives: "Voices Of Animals And Men"
221 Deep Purple: "Machine Head"

222 The Carpenters: "A Song For You"
223 Archie Bronson Outfit: "Derdang Derdang"

224 The Housemartins: "London - 0, Hull - 4"
225 Leonard Cohen: "I'm Your Man"

226 Elvis Costello: "Punch The Clock"
227 Kate Nash: "Made Of Bricks"

228 Scott Matthews: "Passing Stranger"
229 Gong: "You"

230 Sufjan Stevens: "(C'mon Feel The) Illinois"
231 Hawkwind: "Quark, Strangeness And Charm"

232 Siouxsie And The Banshees: "Juju"
233 Tears For Fears: "The Hurting"

234 Nirvana: "Nevermind"
235 Lily Allen: "Alright, Still"

236 Nine Inch Nails: "Pretty Hate Machine"
237 Luke Haines: "Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop"
238 Faith No More: "Angel Dust"

239 Hair: "Original London Cast Recording"
240 The Kooks: "Inside In / Inside Out"

241 David Bowie: "Station To Station"
242 Steely Dan: "Aja"

243 Muse: "Black Holes and Revelations"
244 Wham: "Fantastic"

245 Marvin Gaye: "What's Going On"
246 Wire: "154"

247 The Stranglers: "Rattus Norvegicus"
248 Chumbawamba: "WYSIWYG"

249 Natacha Atlas: "Mishmaoul"
250 The Delays: "You See Colours"

251 The Divine Comedy: "A Victory For The Common Muse"
252 Billy Bragg: "Talking To The Taxman About Poetry"

253 Gorillaz: "Demon Days"
254 The Jam: "Sound Effects"

255 Arctic Monkeys: "Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not"
256 Roy Harper: "Bullinamingvase"

257 Antony and the Johnsons: "I Am A Bird Now"
258 Curved Air: "Air Conditioning"

259 Brakes: "Give Blood"
260 Family: "Music In A Doll's House"
261 Devendra Barnhart: "Cripple Crow"

262 Pulp: "Different Class"
263 The Editors: "The Back Room"

264 Husker Du: "Candy Apple Grey"
265 Art Brut: "Bang Bang Rock & Roll"

266 Pendulum: "Hold Your Colour"
267 The Cure: "Pornography"

268 British Sea Power: "Open Season"
269 Arcade Fire: "Funeral"

270 Hard Fi: "Stars Of CCTV"
271 The Magic Numbers: "The Magic Numbers"

272 Graham Coxon: "Happiness In Magazines"
273 Kaiser Chiefs: "Employment"

274 Marianne Faithfull: "Before The Poison"
275 Cardiacs: "A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window"

276 The Sound: "From The Lion's Mouth"
277 The Gang Of Four: "Entertainment"

278 Rammstein: "Mutter"
279 Bruce Springsteen: "Nebraska"

280 Magazine: "Real Life"
281 Scissor Sisters: "Scissor Sisters"

282 ABC: "Lexicon Of Love, The"
283 Peter Hammill: "Nadir's Big Chance"

284 XTC: "Drums And Wires"
285 Secret Machines: "Now Here Is Nowhere"

286 Jeff Buckley: "Grace"
287 Caravan: "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It Over You"

288 The Stone Roses: "The Stone Roses"
289 Morrissey: "Vauxhall And I"

290 Elvis Costello: "Armed Forces"
291 Ordinary Boys: "Over The Counter Culture"

292 Celtic Frost: "To Mega Therion"
293 Nico: "The Marble Index"

294 Roxy Music: "Roxy Music"
295 Dangermouse: "Grey Album"

296 The Streets: "A Grand Don't Come For Free"
297 Curtis Mayfield: "Superfly"

298 Pixies: "Bossanova"
299 Libertines: "Up The Bracket"

300 The Tansads: "Up The Shirkers"
301 Franz Ferdinand: "Franz Ferdinand"

302 The Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Axis, Bold As Love"
303 Lucinda Williams: "Essence"

304 The Smiths: "Strangeways Here We Come"
305 Spirit: "The Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus"

306 Joy Division: "Unknown Pleasures"
307 Dexy's Midnight Runners: "Searching For The Young Soul Rebels"

308 Stars In Battledress: "Secrets And Signals"
309 MC5: "Back In The USA"

310 Sneaker Pimps: "Becoming X"
311 The Beatles: "Let It Be - Naked"

312 Breathless: "Behind The Light"
313 Frank Zappa: "Overnite Sensation"

314 The Coral: "The Coral"
315 Electric Six: "Fire"

316 Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs: "Fever To Tell"