Five Centres

Enya aside, I'm a huge music fan. I've spent the past few months downloading all my millions of CDs onto iTunes, and then converting my 2000+ singles collection into MP3 files. So now my creaky ipod has over 8000 songs in it. It's ludicrous really, as half the time it has to be on shuffle or I'd never get to hear the stuff. But it's funny what comes up. Every day is different. Let's do a test. I'll go through the first five that come up (with no lying):

Lucky Number/Lene Lovich
King/UB40
Blokes on 45/Orange Juice
Boston/Piney Gir
Sunflower/Glen Campbell

A mixed bag that's for sure. But I like a bit of everything. And I don't believe there's such a thing as guilty pleasures. If you like something, then so be it. No need to be ashamed of it. Those Guilty Pleasures albums that came out last year or the year before - sorry, I'm way ahead of you, but I don't feel the guilt.

ELO are top, as is Elkie Brooks, Jigsaw, New Musik, the Captain and Tenille, The Settlers, Wizzard, Spandau Ballet, Visage, Blancmange, Betty Boo, Rainbow, blah, blah, blah. Just about anyone you care to mention. Though I won't stand for the Phil Collins/Philip Bailey 1985 No. 1 Easy Lover. Probably my least favourite song of all time, swiftly followed by Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson. Grrrr.

Funny that no folk rock came up in that random test. It must be the singular most prevalent genre in my music collection. I wouldn't have given it the time of day 10 years ago, but in 1997 on a whim and because I liked the cover, I bought Richard and Linda Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. You could say it changed my life, but more importantly it opened up a whole wide world of new music. It's like you've entered a building with loads of rooms that interlink. Behind each door is a different yet related artist.

So you go R&L Thompson, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, The Bunch, The Albion Band, Shirley Collins, Davy Graham, the Incredible String Band, Dransfield, Donovan (who I always just thought was great pop, but there's more to him than that), The Watersons, Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy, John Martyn, Beverley Martyn, June Tabor, the entire Steeleye Span family (Maddy Prior, Tim Hart, The Woods Band)and probably my favourites as we speak, Pentangle, which itself throws up Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and others. It's a never-ending maze of delights.

If you've never been into folk or folk rock but would like to give it a go but have no idea where to begin, then start with the excellent compilation Gather In The Mushrooms. Most of the above are on there, along with greats like Trader Horne, Andy Roberts, The Sallyangie, Magnet and Forest.

It's music for all the year round. Check it out. And coming soon, Early Morning Hush, from the Gather In The Mushrooms people. Can't wait for that one.