Recorded in the UK when Paul Simon was in Europe doing folk gigs in small clubs. OK, so Art Garfunkel has a great voice, but I like this minimalist solo stuff. Very different from his later World Music work, but still interesting. How can you not appreciate the man that married Princess Leia?

This was one of the dozen or so albums I brought over when I emigrated in ’67, one of the few that I subsequently lost. I bought a replacement copy off eBay a couple of years ago, because I wanted the vinyl sound.

Selected tracks:

PG moves his ambient style to a more pop style with the aid of (Canadian) producer Daniel Lanois. The music videos linked feature stop motion animation courtesy of Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations.

My favourite tracks:

Sledgehammer Big Time

And so, in early 1969, the first album of “the heaviest band of all time” (per Rolling Stone magazine) was released and the band started a run of success that only ended in December 1980, when the Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones elected to disband following the sudden death of drummer John Bonham. Raw power.

My favourite tracks:

Good Times, Bad Times Dazed and Confused

• Communication Breakdown
• Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
• How Many More Times

This is the 1968 first album of Fleetwood Mac, formed in 1967 by Peter Green together with co-former Bluesbreakers Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Green left the band in 1970, to spend much of the next decade being treated for schizophrenia. In 1975, after many more personnel changes, the band took a totally new direction with the addition of Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Musical dinosaur that I am, I prefer the pukka Fleetwood Mac of Peter Green’s days.

My favourite tracks:

Shake Your Moneymaker Merry Go Round