Mother's Milk - Red Hot Chili Peppers (1989)

Maybe not their most original effort, but if you don't find yourself tapping your foot at this (at least!) then perhaps you have no pulse.  8/10.

Reckoning - R.E.M. (1984)

Charming period of REM, captured before fame but just as they hit their purple patch.  9/10.

Souljacker - Eels (2001)

Mr E. briefly finds world outside of himself and shines because of it.  8/10.

Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet (1991)

The album that should have made Sweet an international mega-star, but somehow didn't.  10/10.

Space Oddity - David Bowie (1969)

A man simultaneously at the top of his game and plumbing the depths of mediocrity.  7/10.

Rain Dogs - Tom Waits (1985)

Like spending an hour down the pub with your quasi-alcoholic favourite uncle.  9/10.

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan (1975)

Nobody else could say "Fuck You" with such idiosyncratic style.  10/10.

Bitches Brew - Miles Davis (1970)

A great personal achievement true, and it's okay as jazz goes, but no great musical achievement.  7/10.

Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk (1977)

Country finds itself without credible music of its own, so invents a new genre, and this is the pinnacle of that.  10/10.