1) The Beatles: 1+. This is the ultimate dream box, you may see it from the point of view of pure nostalgia, but, more sincere, you might see death at work and this thing called life passing by all too quickly – the therapy: rewind, rewind!
2) King Crimson: Thrak Box. Not for the faint of heart. That it will all end up in tears, is not the gist for the living organism called King Crimson in the 90’s. These Thrak attacks are even harsher than their noir opus magnum „Red“. And the surround mix will turn you upside down, like being hit with a stick by the zen-master of your trust. But this stick belings to Mr. Tony Levin.
3) Harmonia: Vinyl Box Set – now one most interesting bands of those German underground years is glooming again in wonderful vinyl. The best from Niedersachsen’s rolling days. And Eno got lost in Luenburg Heath.
4) Pere Ubu: Elitism For The People 1975-78 (Vinyl) – No instruction manuals for the black heart of Ohio, Cleveland. This is the stuff of nightmares, and why do we (some) love it? Well, it’s a breathing thing. Once surrendered, one might ask interesting questions about the nature of „ego“.
5) Underworld: Second Toughest of the Infance – another great work from Underworld that strolls through dark cityscapes with a beat, a soul and fragmented poetry. Addictive in its own peculiar way.
6) Arvo Pärt: Musica Selecta – Manfred Eicher’s careful sequencing of Arvo Pärt’s journeys
7) Van Morrison: Astral Weeks – remastering can be a virtue, so open your ears again for the best album of this man who did it a minimum of dialogue with the other folks in the studio.
8) Neil Young: Blue Note Cafe (with big brass, Neil delivers top-notch performances, including a 20-Minute version of Tonight’s The Night)
9) Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight – one of the first great hours of „Afro Beat“, Fela, the lucky fucker, the brave fighter, learned his lesson from James Brown and transported it all to his homeland with a unique vibe, the master drummimg of Tony Allen and a brass band that can come close to a stampede.
10) Peter Gabriel: 3 & 4 (the brilliant vinyl remasters reveal the man’s by far best solo albums)
11) Tariverdiev: Film Music (old-fashioned, sentimental, a broad orchestral palette, a Russian relative of Signore Paolo Conte – what a company for endless stories of love, loss, betrayal)
12) Gentle Giant: Octopus. The best song here is „Knots“, a wonderful hommage to the studies of psychologist Ronald Laing. This band from Portsmouth has been looking for the outer limits of British music, and they were too smart to find the formula. With Steven Wilson’s 5:1-mix the whole album appears like a „Merry-Go-Round“, „Kirmesmusik für Erwachsene“.