So while flicking through my collection and musing over the surfeit of aural possibilities, I thought that making a list of the music I like listening to at the moment, would not only help me decide what CDs to leave behind, but would also be interesting for those of you who would like to widen your record collections, but just don’t really know where to start. This list is not supposed to be exhaustive. A list containing only 40 albums (or roughly 10% of my CD collection) could never be exhaustive in any case. It’s not a catalogue of my all time favourite music. Nor is it in any particular order of preference, merely in an alphabetical one. Furthermore, I have tried to limit myself to records that have been released since 1997. Therefore, you won’t find here the likes of Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix or Prince, great artists though they all were in their day. I did this principally for two reasons…

Just my luck to have to start with "Moon Safari", as attempting to faithfully describe the music on this album is no mean feat. This French group are nothing if not aptly named, as listening to the tracks, you feel like you are literally floating on air. These Parisian Vivaldis have made an album for all seasons. "Moon Safari" can be equally enjoyed whether you’re chilling in a dimly-lit underground club in the depths of winter or whether you’re basking in the blazing sunshine of an Alpine summer. My particular favourite tracks are "Ce Matin Là" and "All I Need", though they’re probably best know for their single, "Sexy Boy". By juxtaposing ‘70s synthesisers and adopting elements of ‘90s lounge music, Messieurs Dunckel and Godin have created a record which remarkably manages to sound both refreshingly new and comfortingly old. Little surprise then that these boys were at the head of the recent renaissance in Gallic music and with the help of Daft Punk, Starsound, Cassius and Mr. Oizo, they’ve made it hip to be French again.

The first time I heard of David Arnold was in 1996 when he teamed up with the loveable, if slightly off the wall Icelander, Björk, on the song "Play Dead" from the soundtrack to the film "Young Americans". But it was the release of the amazing reworking of "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service" with the Propellerheads, which features on this album, when I, and half of the world it seemed, stood up and took notice. "Shaken and Stirred – The James Bond Project" sees Monsieur Arnold working with a host of famous performers from Leftfield to Pulp, and from Chrissie Hynde to Iggy Pop. In all, 11 classic songs from the world’s most famous secret agent are dusted down and touched up. Fortunately, a lot of care was taken in the choice of soundtracks and no lightweight Bond songs from the ‘80s or ‘90s make an appearance. So its Connery and Moore all the way.

My favourites are "Diamonds Are Forever" featuring David McAlmont, "Moonraker" with Shara Nelson, and the Propellerheads track (which is even better than their other big hit, "History Repeating", which ironically featured Shirley Bassy, who recorded the original version of Diamonds Are Forever). Nobody, not even Moby who remixed the Bond theme tune to coincide with the release of "Tomorrow Never Dies", seems able to update the music of 007 like David Arnold can. When it comes to reworking Bond, he certainly seems to have a Goldfinger.

"Because you can’t, you’ won’t and you don’t, stop!" And a good decade and a half since these three lads from Brooklyn, NY, started rapping, they show no signs of bringing a close to their rhyming shenanigans. Until the very recent emergence of respected acts like the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Eminem and Kid Rock, the ghosts of Vanilla Ice and the pseudo-Irish House of Pain had haunted the white hip-hop scene. Compton they weren’t. The Beasties were the exception to the rule however. Outlasting ‘80s icons such as Prince and Michael Jackson, these boys have shown longevity of Madonna-esque proportions. And man, have they come a long way since "Fight for your Right to Party". So it seems only right that they finally have released a greatest hits album...of sorts.

For the "Sounds of Science" is more than a "Best of the Beastie Boys". True, all the classics are there: "Sure Shot", "Body Movin’", "Pass the Mic", "Get it Together" and "Sabotage" (the video for which was probably the best clip of the ‘90s and helped to make the ‘70s fashionable again). But this double CD Anthology isn’t just a collection of singles. It contains early releases, b-sides and rarities that help to fill in the gaps about the band’s story, where they came from and provides clues about where Messrs. Diamond, Horovitz and Yauch might be going. My particular favourite is "Bodhisattva Vow", which, given the whole travel theme of these pages, is quite apt. It was written after a moving encounter with the Dalai Lama and incorporates Buddhist music and chanting. It is apparently an attempt to convey the message of a holy text written by Shantideva, an Indian Buddhist scholar who lived in the 8^th century ad. Now, who can deny the fact that travel broadens the mind! Next century the Beasties will be going even further. Perhaps even "Intergalactic".

The Ben Folds Five are in fact a trio. And "Whatever and Ever, Amen" is aural proof that even the numerically challenged can be musically gifted. What’s more, anyone who starts their album with the words "September ’75 I was 47 inches high" has got balls as far as I’m concerned. As we enter the high-tech 21^st century (gasp), this trio from Charlotte, North Carolina, are a throwback to earlier times, when all you needed to make great music was a set of drums, a bass guitar and...ahem...a piano! No special sound effects required. The Ben Folds Five are musicians, not a product of some record producer’s warped mind.

"Whatever and Ever, Amen" really is (and I speak from experience here) the perfect "I’ve just broken up with the girlfriend" album. If you sense the need to feel sorry for yourself, then track 3, "Brick", would bring a tear to the eye of Genghis Khan. Be careful, however, as you’ll quickly be snapped out of your self pity by the next tune "Song for the Dumped" with the immortal chorus "Give me my money back, give me money back you bitch and give me back my black T-shirt!" There’s a rag time jazz feel to "Steven’s Last Night in Town", while "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" even made it into those Britpop compilations that were very popular a couple of years ago. Ben and the boys did subsequently release a follow-up disc in 1999, entitled "The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner" (where do they get their ideas from!?!), which, though it contains great tracks such as "Mess", "Army" and the brilliant "Lullabye", does not quite manage to reach the heights of their first recording. Still, listening to Ben doing his stuff on the keyboards does make me wonder whether I should have continued those piano lessons into my teens. Oh whatever.

The follow-up to Bennett’s self-titled first release in 1996, this album sees this incredibly talented, but little known, Scottish-Canadian musician on his best form yet. Apart from perhaps lacking some haunting female vocals, this recording has pretty much everything. I still remember the first time I listened to "Swallowtail" in a little record shop in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It blew me away then and I’m still having trouble trying to grasp how the hell one guy can play so many instruments. It’s hard to pick out any standout tracks as the album works as a whole, but I must admit enjoying the Nordic/Celtic dance mix of "Joik" and "Yer Man from Athlone". This album is all the proof you’ll need that "folk" music does not belong in a museum. But the best analysis of what "Bothy Culture" is actually all about comes from Bennett himself who writes:

"The tunes are of the old style: Scottish, Irish, Swedish, even Islamic. The beats and mixes are of a new style: Garage, Breakbeat, Trippy, Hip, Drum & Bass. I hope that when you listen or dance to these tunes you get a sense of your own roots. If you push back the pressure of urban development for a second you might remember where you came from. Go climb a mountain and see."

There seems, since the untimely demise of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, to have been very few interesting "rock" groups to emerge from the United States. So with the energy of The Offspring, rhymes as potent as Eminem and lyrics which would make even the band members of Pig’s Vomit blush, the Bloodhound Gang seem to have come out of nowhere. If I hadn’t stumbled across one of their videos on Viva Zwei one evening in Vilnius last September, I probably still would not know who they are. The black sheep of my album selection, "Hooray for Boobies" could easily be dismissed upon first listening as just another dumb white rock album for the frat parties of US colleges. But this album takes the piss out of itself and contains a large refreshing slice of sarcasm, something that normally escapes folk from across the pond. For example the song "Mope" is a tribute anthem, which samples "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and is dedicated to a "money makin’ playa that ain’t with us no mo’ – Falco." Other standout tracks include "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope", "I Hope You Die" (which has guitars so lour that even Rammstein would be impressed), "Along Comes Mary" and their first single "The Bad Touch". "You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals, so let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel". Indeed.

Perhaps not as rousing as Shane Mac Gowan. Maybe not as emotive as Christy Moore. Nonetheless, on his day Donegal singer Paul Brady can really stoke the home fires inside this emigrant. "Nothing but the Same Old Story" was my anthem when studying for a year in Lille in 1992/93 and it always used to get a listening whenever I got the homesick blues or indulged in a few too many "pints o’ plain". However, Brady’s repertoire stretches far beyond the usual rebel-rousing anthems one usually hears on traditional Irish albums. From pop songs such as "Paradise is Here" and "Crazy Dreams" to poignant ballads such as "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" and "Arthur McBride", Brady even found time to pen "The Island" a melancholy melody, which Irish ex-hostage Brian Keenan stated was his favourite song during his captivity in Beiruit. And if the tin whistle introduction to "The Homes of Donegal" doesn’t make you think of green grass, stone walls and red haired cailíns, then you’re nothing but a plastic Paddy. Daniel O’Donnell this ain’t.

I remember hearing "Runaway" in Dublin in 1995, and falling instantly for the singer. I nearly didn’t want to see a picture of her as I was sure that my vivid imagination would feel short changed. So you can imagine my utter disbelief when I saw the Corrs in the flesh playing at Lansdowne Road before an Ireland v New Zealand rugby match and saw for myself that not only did Andrea Corr give my imagination a good run for my money, but her older sisters Sharon and Caroline were absolutely stunning too. I’d always been happy growing up in Dublin, but at that instant I wished I could have been a native of Dundalk!

But good looks will only get you so far and if the three sisters and their brother Jim (lucky bastard) were not gifted musicians, they wouldn’t be the worldwide success story they are now, four years after the release of their first album, "Forgiven not Forgotten". Having the good sense to get some of their tunes remixed by top British DJs was a wise move that earned them a new audience and made their second album, "Talk on Corners", the biggest selling album in the UK in 1998. "Unplugged" was recorded by the Corrs especially for MTV and features songs from their first two albums and some new tracks, plus several cover versions of classic tunes by Mary Black, Jimmy Hendrix, REM and one of my favourite songs of all time: "Old Town" by Phil Lynott, the frontman of Thin Lizzy. "This boy is cracking up, this boy has broken down..." Will the girls ever come to my rescue, I wonder? I imagine so.

I don’t know a great deal about DJ Rap apart from the fact that she’s another looker (well hey, if it doesn’t work out between me and the Corrs there’s still hope) and she is considered the Queen of Drum ‘n’ Bass. But you don’t have to be a hardcore London clubber to get to grips with "Learning Curve". Aside from track 11, "Changes", this album is quite a departure from Rap’s regular world of drum and base and is probably more accessible as a result. It took me several weeks to discover what the CD as a whole was like however, as I was so blown away by the first two tracks "Bad Girl" and "Good to be Alive" that I constantly kept pressing the repeat button before making it to track 3. True, I did subsequently find the rest of the album a bit of a letdown, but there are some other fine tunes on it, such as "Human Kind" and the killer global track "Stories from around the World". In her sleeve notes, DJ Rap dedicates her disc to "all the people who love music". It’s always nice to get a mention.

The thing I probably miss most about Dublin is not having a massive choice of concerts to go to see. Most major artists, when they do bother to make it to Italy, venture no further than Milan or Rome, and perhaps Bologna at a push. But one evening in Turin in February 1999 at the Red Docks (which is sadly no more), I witnessed what I can only describe as the best gig I’ve ever been to. I’ve been to larger shows of course, but what made Faithless’ first concert on Italian soil so special was the very fact that it was both intense and intimate. There must have been no more than a couple of hundred people out by the Dock’s Dora that night, but the place was hopping. Very few acts possess or can generate the energy that Faithless seem to conjure up at will. The calmness of the delivery of Maxi Jazz’s lyrics contrasts starkly with the dynamism of the group. And it is very refreshing to see a dance act playing live instruments, as opposed to hiding anonymously behind the latest technological gadgetry. Being let "backstage" to hang out and sink a few bevs with the band, ostensibly because we spoke English (living abroad does have its advantages), added the final touch to a wicked evening.

"Sunday 8pm" quickly found its way into my record collection, along with the group’s first album, "Reverence", which had been released two years previously. If you like dance music "Sunday 8pm" is a must. If you don’t like dance music, this album will change your mind. "Why Go?" features a guest appearance from Boy George, "Postcards" sees Maxi Jazz on top form and "God is a DJ" is an anthem the likes of which haven’t been produced since the Glam Rock era of the early ‘70s. Make this your church.

The presentation of the prize for best dance act to Fat Boy Slim (aka Norman Cook) at this year’s crass MTV Europe awards in Dublin was probably the high point in an otherwise dire evening. For starters, at least Norman Cook is a European, something which most of the recipients or performers on that evening were not. Secondly, the quality of the other acts that he beat, Basement Jaxx and the Chemical Brothers included, proved just how far the influence of Fat Boy Slim has spread, not just within club culture, but throughout the music industry as a whole. For recognisable dance tunes among the global popular music listenership, only New York house DJ, Armand Van Helden, comes close. Fat Boy Slim is unique among British acts in even having conquered the difficult US market, a scene usually more interested in sugar-sweet R&B, lightweight east-coast hip-hop and Latino pop music. Signor Cook has indeed come a long way since his days as one of the Housemartins. And while some were aware of his work as the Mighty Dub Kats on "Magic Carpet Ride" back in 1997 or with the release in 1996 of his first album "Better Living Through Chemistry" under the "nom de plume" Fat Boy Slim, it was only with "You’ve Come A Long Way Baby" that he achieved superstar status.

True, Cook’s biggest two hits to date, "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Praise You" are merely reworkings of Camille Yarborough’s "Take Your Praise" from 1975, and the 1971 northern soul instrumental "Sliced Tomatoes" by the Just Brothers respectively. However, his intelligent treatment of these older, though less well known songs, not only helps to make new converts to the UK dance scene, but also opens up the possibility for a new generation to discover and take pleasure from the original recordings. "You’ve Come A Long Way Baby" does contain a couple of fillers, but what dance record doesn’t? Other hits present include "Gangster Trippin’" and the intoxicating "Right Here, Right Now". It seems at the moment that Norman Cook can do no wrong. Plus he apparently got his new wife, English TV presenter Zoe Ball, to dress up as a schoolgirl on their wedding night. What a jammy git!

Okay. I’ll come clean. If you’ve ever seen the sleeve of this CD you’ll understand why it caught my eye as I wandered around the "Ricordi" record store on Piazza San Carlo in Turin one Saturday afternoon. But it’s no wonder that by giving his album such a ridiculous title, a name which would make even a dyslexic Japanese advertising agent jealous, Kid Loco knew rightly that he’d have to resort to slapping a load of naked ladies on his album cover to make the thing sell. And I, for one, am certainly glad that he did. "Jesus Life for Children under 12 Inches" sees the Parisian DJ collaborating with a wide variety of acts, including Saint Étienne, Talvin Singh and Pulp. A trip-hop fest, this is a CD for coming down after a late night on the town. Remixed highlights include Jarvis Cocker’s phone message in "Franglais" on "A Little Soul", "Tracy" by Mogwai (which gives more than a cursory nod to "With or Without You" by U2) and "Youpi" with Cornu, (which is an excellent song if you want to tell your "ex" that you’re really beginning to enjoy life without him/her on the scene – providing your "ex" understands French of course). Basically the whole experience is chillin’. If this album were any mellower, you’d need a prescription to buy it.

Fela Anikulapo (formerly Ransome) Kuti died from Aids in August 1997. During his lifetime Fela recorded some 42 albums and by taking elements of jazz and funk, and replacing American R&B rhythms with traditional African beats, he invented a new type of music, called Afrobeat. Fela Kuti is to African music what James Brown is to soul, what Bob Marley is to reggae and what Chuck D is to revolutionary hip-hop: its prophet and standard bearer. During his lifetime in Lagos he was one of Africa’s fiercest dissidents, campaigning against the corrupt civilian and brutal military regimes of his native Nigeria and of Africa as a whole. For his troubles he was imprisoned and tortured by his political opponents on many occasions, his mother was killed, his 27 wives were beaten and raped and his home, the self-styled Kalakuta republic was destroyed. But Fela has had the last word. Already the first true African pop star, his death ironically refocused attention on this great man’s musical achievements and political message. Now a new global generation are enjoying the funky sounds of Afrobeat and Fela’s son, Femi, is also busy winning over new disciples.

My first introduction to Afrobeat was driving on the way home from the office one evening last April. My flatmate, Andy, was playing a tune he’d recorded on Gilles Peterson’s superb World-Wide Show on BBC Radio One. "What the fuck is that!?!" I believe those were my exact words. The sound coming from the car stereo just blew me away. I’d always liked dance music and I had recently got into the sound of the Dark Continent. But I never had heard all that mixed in with jazz, soul and funk. That tune turned out to be "Shakara" and so began my musical love affair with Afrobeat. The world tour I was planning took a different turn completely. What I had initially planned as a two-week jaunt around Capetown and the Garden Route has now expanded into a six-month adventure throughout the whole continent.

"The Best Best of Fela Kuti" contains such great classics as "Zombie", "Sorrow Tears and Blood", "Coffin for Head of State", and "Shakara", although it somehow inexplicably manages to omit "Expensive Shit". But no matter. The music of Fela sounds so fresh, it’s hard to believe that it was mostly written a quarter of a century ago. Buy this album. Even if you already have it!

Femi Anikulapo Kuti has some big shoes to fill. But his third album, "Shoki Shoki", has put the 35-year-old well on the way to fulfilling his destiny. In my humble opinion, it is the best release of 1998, bar none. The stunning opening tracks "Truth Don Die" and "Beng Beng" have been remixed by top house DJs Ashley Beedle and Master’s At Work. You should keep an eye out for the newly released CD on Barclay records of remixes from "Shoki Shoki", which clearly demonstrates the great crossover potential of Femi’s music for the world of European club culture. Furthermore, songs like "Scatta Head", "Blackman Know Yourself" and "Victim of Life" are just as poignant and visionary as the music of Fela. But Femi is not merely living off the reputation of his illustrious father. His songs embrace modern technology and the latest recording techniques and are as a result a lot shorter in length and sharper than the rambling grooves of Fela and the Africa 70 or the Egypt ’80.

Femi, with his political movement M.A.S.S. (Movement Against Second Slavery), has also continued the fight of his father for justice in his country and continent at whole. He aims to encourage the younger African generation to bring fresh and positive ideas to bear on the corrupt politicians and soldiers ruling Africa today. Says Femi himself: "All I know is that I’m alive. If I truly believe I love my country, my people and culture then I have to influence a change. If I am gifted with the talent to play music and influence people’s lives then I have to utilise this gift and resource in this positive way. If I don’t, then my life is meaningless!" Truth don die.

What do you get when you put one of Britain’s most progressive dance acts together with the best MC on this side of the Atlantic? You get "Dusted", the song which opens "Rhythm and Stealth", the new release from Leftfield. Often known for their unorthodox collaborations ever since ex-Sex Pistols and P.I.L. frontman John Lydon featured on "Open Up" back in 1993, Leftfield have surpassed themselves yet again by hooking up with Roots Manuva, who, despite his young years, raps with an authority the likes of Michael Franti (of Spearhead) or Guru (of Gangstarr) took years to establish. Another excellent collaboration is with hip-hop veteran, Africa Bambaata, who guests on "Africa Shox". The more commercially aware among you will also recognise track 2 as the music behind the recent Guinness ad. The commercial features a group of thrill-seeking surfers being chased by giant galloping white stallions riding breaking waves, as we hear passages of Hermann Melville’s classic novel "Moby Dick" being quoted to the backdrop of Leftfield’s song "Phat Planet", which becomes louder as the horses and waves swallow the surfers. Some of the tracks on the album, such as "Double Flash", "Dub Gusset" and "6/8 War" resort to the type of monotonous techno with which this genre of music is all to often associated. However, on the whole "Rhythm and Stealth" was worth the anticipation. But of course the boys from Leftfield know that "All good things come to those who………wait."

Guitar bands no longer feature highly in the types of music to which I know listen. This might possibly be because I have become more musically aware in recent years. More likely, I feel however, is that it is due to the dearth of original guitar bands. The type of groups who, not content merely to rehash tired tried and tested old formulas à la Oasis, try to push back the boundaries of their musical genre. With the exception of Blur, Supergrass and ex-Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown, four man English group Mansun are probably the only guitar act out there who have dared to experiment with different sounds and rhythms (often mid-song), uncaring of what detriment this has on their so called popularity or chart position. This is why Mansun (not to be confused with American neo-Goth musician Marilyn Manson) will remain unaffected by the creeping demise of Britpop.

The follow-up to their critically well-received 1996 release "Attack of the Grey Lantern", "Six" is harder going and less commercially accessible, but it is definitely worth the effort. It doesn’t really contain any obvious "hits", though the last track "Being A Girl" did pretty much as well as "Wide Open Space" did from their first album. It also lacks any legendary songs like "The Chad Who Loved Me", which opened "Attack of the Grey Lantern" and which is, in my opinion, second only to "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by the Verve in the list of great songs by guitar bands of the past decade. Nonetheless, Mansun’s second album is, on the whole, more interesting than its predecessor.

Split into two sections, Part I of the record opens with the brilliant identically-titled "Six", a track that has chameleon-like qualities, so easily does it quicken and slow, explode and then mellow out. The short "Inverse Minds" reminds me of REM or the Ben Folds Five on top form, while "Fall Out", has the cheek to sample Tchaikovsky’s classical piece "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". Never willing to compromise on the lyrical front, lead singer Paul Draper laments in the refrain of "Cancer" how he is "Emotionally raped by Jesus". Told you. Easy listening this is not. In the middle of the album there is an interlude (I can literally picture their record company rep pulling his hair out by this stage), which is followed by "Witness to a Murder". This tune sees Tom Baker (of Dr. Who fame – "Anyone for a Jellybaby?") reading "All my life, what I mistook for friendly pats on the back, were really the hands that pushed me further and further down". The lyrics are accompanied by some haunting operatic singing – the kind of music that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and gives you the shivers. "Television" is the best piss-take of that mode of entertainment since "Television, the Drug of the Nation" was released back in 1991 by the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Though the last three tracks are more accessible on first hearing, "Six" will nonetheless take several listenings to get you on board. Persevere though, because it’s definitely worth the effort.

With the recent example of the late great Tupac Shakur proving once again the old adage that death need not come between a recording artist and a successful career, the Marley family sought fit to release this assemblage album, "Chant Down Babylon". Though this Marley compilation unfortunately does not feature the dance remix by Funkstar De Luxe, which lately had such chart success, there are enough great collaborations on this record to welcome its release as a genuine attempt to further spread, especially in black America, the message of the "King of Reggae", and not merely as a cynical money-making ploy. Such talented African-American artists to appear on the record include Erykah Badu, Guru, Chuck D, Busta Rhymes, and the Roots. Quite why the CD also features ageing rockers Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, as well as several almost incoherent rambling quotes from the great Rastaman himself is a mystery to me though, as they don’t seem to fit into the album as a whole.

My favourite tracks are "Turn Your Lights Down Low" with the gorgeous and extremely talented Haitian-Americam Fugee, Lauryn Hill, and the classic tune "Jammin’" with female US rapper MC Lyte. Some people will abhor this compilation. Probably the type of people who hate hip-hop and the bastardisation of what they consider reggae music should be. People who would like to "Leninise" Marley’s memory. But Bob Marley’s music developed from the same African roots that rap music holds so dear and the combination of reggae and hip-hop on "Chant Down Babylon" is very effective. Plus anything, which introduces a new generation to the sound of the Rastafari, should be welcomed. The legend lives on.

If the Cure were for me the band of the ‘80s, then Massive Attack are undoubtedly the band of the ‘90s. Nobody else comes close. Through sampling old records and using new technology, they inspired a generation of musicians and created a new genre of music: trip-hop. "Mezzanine" is their third official studio album following on from the revolutionary "Blue Lines" (1991) and "Protection" (1994). It is a darker album than its predecessors are and it took me a good year to warm to it, given my love of the first two records and consequent high expectations. The turning point came in August 1999 in Stockholm, Sweden, when I witnessed Messrs Grant Marsall and Robert Del Naja (without Andrew Vowles who had just split from the band due to "artistic disagreements") giving a blinding concert at the "Water Festival". All their collaborators were there on stage, including Elizabeth Fraser, Sara Jay and the great Jamaican singer Horace Andy. Their top billing at the festival provided ample evidence of how far this band has come since "Unfinished Sympathy" (the video to which the Verve’s "Bitter Sweet Symphony" gave more than a cursory nod) was unleashed back in 1991. Massive Attack’s use of beats, rhythms and music videos ("Teardrop", with its singing embryo in the womb, won the Best Video award at the MTV Europe Awards in Milan in 1998) have always been avant garde.

Quite why the three strongest tracks on the album, "Angel", "Rising Son" and "Teardrop", are all placed at the start of the CD is a mystery to me. Once they are out of the way "Mezzanine" hits the "chill out" button big time and needs time to slowly creep up on you. I still don’t rate it as highly as I do Massive Attack’s first two recordings ("Blue Lines" would easily make it into my all time Top 5 albums, probably second only to "Purple Rain" by Prince). But its absence would literally leave a massive hole in your record collection.

Were it not for the release of "Beyond Skin" by Nitin Sawhney, "Play" would quite simply be the best album of 1999 as far as I’m concerned. It sees New Yorker, Moby, adopting a new tack, away from the purely dance genre with which he had become increasingly associated. There still are one or two hardcore techno tunes present, such as "Bodyrock" and "Machete", but on the whole they seem out of place on this 18-track recording. On the rest of the album, however, what Moby manages to do with supreme effect is to juxtapose old slave spirituals and black Gospel and jazz refrains with modern beats and trip-hop rhythms. This mix of old and new gives the resulting tunes more soul and feeling than one would normally associate with dance music of today. But the music on "Play" should not merely be categorised as dance music, as due to its diverse sources, it has a universal quality. Listeners will recognise the melancholy "Why does my heart feel so bad?", but other attention grabbing tracks include the opener "Honey", the excellent rhythmic blues songs "Natural Blues" and "Run On", and the atmospheric "Everloving", complete with Spanish guitar and piano accompaniment.

The sleeve notes of "Play" also give an interesting insight into Moby’s character. In them he has written short "essays" on religious fundamentalism, the treatment of prisoners, vegetarianism (Moby is a vegan), state-sponsored genocide and violence committed in the name of Christ, especially by pro-life fanatics who attack doctors who perform abortions in the US. And while I’m normally quite sceptical and cynical about musicians with a message (you can blame Sting for that), everything Moby writes, whether you agree with him on each aspect or not, is balanced and reasoned. In any case, libertarian ideologies aside, just put the damn disc in your CD player and press the button marked "Play".

Saviours of hip-hop. The most powerful force to come out of the African-American community since Gil Scott-Heron, the Last Poets and the Black Panther Movement. Public Enemy single-handedly stopped rap music from going the way of all the musical fads and fashions that preceded it. With "It takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back" (1988) and "Fear of a Black Planet" (1990), Public Enemy redefined race-relations in the US. They have often been accused by reactionary forces as being anti-white. But their message is pro-black. A call to the African-American community to self-sufficiency and belief in their abilities. And as such they should be encouraged, not lambasted. Compare the energy and importance of the message of Public Enemy ten years ago with the frivolity and impotence of the Puff Daddy’s of today’s world and you’ll realise just how far hip-hop has sold its soul to the corporate musical industry in America and the lame R&B scene. "Paying mental rent to corporate Presidents" as Chuck D says on this record. Nowadays in the States, with the rare exception of young acts such as Philadelphia’s the Roots, it’s pretty much left to the "old skool" such as Public Enemy and Gangstarr to keep it real. It’s as if we’re witnessing a black spin on the degeneration of punk into "new romanticism" as happened in the UK in the late ‘70s.

"He Got Game" could of course never attain the heights of PE’s early releases. But Chuck D is still as angry as ever on "Resurrection", "House of the Rising Son" and "Game Face" and when he tells you that "What you need is Jesus" on track 10, you believe him. Flavor Flav also has his turn as MC on "Shake Your Booty", his levity contrasting well with Chuck’s sincerity. And while even Terminator X would even admit that there are weak songs on the album, the title track "He Got Game", with its sample of ‘60s classic "For What It’s Worth", has a greater crossover potential to the white community in the US (Europe, in contrast, has always proved fertile ground for PE) than any of their songs ever has. I will listen to their newest album "There’s a Poison Going on" (1999) with interest, but till then, I’m just happy to see that PE are still in full effect and continue to "Fight the Power".

"I have fallen for another, she can make her own way home." Say these words to any Irishman or Irishwoman and they’ll immediately know what you’re on about. I remember the first time I heard "I Uesta Lover" by the Saw Doctors back in 1990. Never before had I heard a song on the radio talking about mass and the real reason why we went there as teenagers in Ireland of the 1980s – to check out the local talent. The Saw Doctors exploded onto the Irish scene with that single. They then succeeded in becoming favourites of the global Irish Diaspora (this was pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland when a huge number of Irish youth still emigrated in search of jobs and a better future) with their second single "N17", a road song which is at heart as Irish as "Route 66" is American. To this day they remain, as they were then – honest, real as muck, quintessentially Irish and as rabble-rousing as Ian Paisley! The 17 songs that feature on "Sing A Powerful Song" are taken from their first three albums – "If this is Rock ‘n’ Roll, I want my old job back" (1991), "The Green and Red of Mayo" (1992) and "Same Oul’ Town" (1996). It was their first US release and came out before their fourth record, "Songs from Sun Street", which, with the exception of the opening song "Good News", was a disappointment.

But "Sing A Powerful Song" sees the four lads from Tuam, County Galway, on top form, and can, apart from the inexplicable omission of "That’s what she said last night", "I hope you meet again" and "World of Good", be seen as a "Best of" compilation. This is the album I stick on when I have had a few jars and am alone in the house (as I normally start singing along). From lively tunes such as "Macnas Parade", "Hay Wrap" and "To Win Just Once" through to nostalgic ballads like "The Green and Red of Mayo", "Red Cortina", "Same Oul’ Town" and my particular favourite "Share the Darkness", the Doctors dose out the right medicine goodo. And I can’t listen to "Clare Island" without giving a big shout out to my best mate John. Wherever it is that they’ve sent you now Johnny boy, just remember to keep safe, keep ducking and don’t let the bastards grind you down. "Sing A Powerful Song" is not the best album I own. I certainly don’t think it’s the "hippest" album I have. But in fairness, if I had to bring only one CD with me on my travels, this would be it. "Go on outta dat, we don’t believe ya!"

It’s hard to do this piece of work justice. Put simply, it is the best album of the year. I picked this CD up by chance when I was in London in September, not knowing that it was on its first day of general release and that it would completely change my perceptions of Asian music, which I had always held in less esteem than its African equivalent. What "Beyond Skin" has over its rivals is that it works as an album on a conceptual level, not merely as a collection of great songs. The samples used, the rhythms, the sleeve notes, the mix of eastern melodies and the newest western technology all come together seamlessly. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is superfluous. Not a note. Not a beat. If "Beyond Skin" had been released a month or so earlier, I am sure that it and not "OK" by Sawhney’s fellow British Asian, Talvin Singh, would have won the Mercury Prize for album of 1999.

The quotes used - beginning with the Indian Prime Minister, Vajpayee, announcing the testing of three nuclear bombs on Indian soil and ending with the spine-chilling poem (taken from the "Bhagavad Gita – the Hindu "bible") by the progenitor of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer, in condemnation of his own creation - are all relevant to the message Sawhney is trying to convey. The BBC World Service reports from India which feature between the songs add gravitas and globality to the album, while the featuring of his parents talking about their immigrant experiences give a personal touch to the recording. Sawhney uses a wide range of collaborators on the record. Some like Sanchita Farrunque’s vocals on "Broken Skin" and the beautiful "Immigrant" are a resounding success. Others such as Spek’s rapping on "The Pilgrim" are less so. But make no mistake. This is Sawhney’s record. So I’ll leave the last word to him:

"The BJP in India. The BNP in England. The first would define me by my religious heritage, the latter by the colour of my skin. I believe in Hindu philosophy. I am not religious. I am a pacifist. I am a British Asian. My identity and my history are defined only by myself – beyond politics, beyond nationality, beyond religion and Beyond Skin."

There’s no denying that there has been a renaissance in Celtic culture of significant proportions in the last decade. In Ireland there have been several forward-looking bands such as Kila, Tecnogue, Sin É and the Afro-Celt Soundsystem who have tried to modernise and internationalise the Irish "trad" scene. But I learned while on a two-week jaunt around Scotland in August 1997 that it was in that country where I could find the broadest diversity of great folk artists. From the trance influenced dance tunes of Martyn Bennett, through the funky pipes of the Tartan Amoebas to the mix of Scottish melodies and Brazilian rhythms of Scottish emigrant, Paul Mounsey and his original albums "Nahoo" (1994) and "Nahoo Too" (1997), my stay there reawakened my interest in this Gaelic-rooted, but urbanised traditional music. Of all the musicians I heard however, one outfit stood that little bit above the rest of the talented ensemble: Shooglenifty.

This six-piece band, taking their influences from the Edinburgh club scene as much as from the Gaelic Western Isles and the Viking-steeped Orkney and Shetland Islands, Shooglenifty are a group with a difference. Combining more traditional instruments such as the mandolin, the banjo and the fiddle with drums, the bass and the acoustic guitar, they have succeeded in producing a lively sound, which is both modern and old at the same time. A sound which is (according to the sleeve notes of the CD) "exciting on the ears and infectious on the feet". Released on the Real World record label in 1996 (I am therefore exceptionally breaking my own "three-year rule"), this live CD sees Shooglenifty playing the best songs from their two studio albums, "Venus In Tweeds" (1994) and "A Whisky Kiss" (1996). The energy of their music comes across very well outside the recording studio, even if the crowd reaction in the Box village hall is more muted than one might have expected. The disc skips between rousing foot stomping songs like the opener "The Pipe Tunes", "Venus in Tweeds" and "Da Eye Wifey" (though the studio version of the latter which appears on "A Whisky Kiss" actually provides a far superior rendering) and more mellow tunes such as "Two Fifty to Vigo", "Hopstoi" and "Waiting for Conrad". However, it is the final track, "The Tammienorie" that will blow your mind. Whenever I have played it late in the evening at parties or at Paddies’ day bashes, the place has always gone ballistic. As they explain themselves, the tune is "popular among doubters". Buy "Shooglenifty Live at Selwyn Hall" and you’ll doubt no more. You will become a convert.

Hip-hop is not everybody’s cup of tea. A lot of people like the breakbeats and the melodies, but are put off by gangsta rappers going on about "bitches", "hos", "niggas" and "motherfuckas". To these people I recommend French hip-hop, which has all the energy of the US west-coast scene, but is more relevant and appropriate to the realities of Europe in the ‘90s than stories of drive-by shootings in South Central LA. Hip-hop has spread throughout Europe and I have heard MCs rapping from the UK, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. But it is only in France, with its angry black, and especially Arab, minorities, that has produced a plethora of groups, which can rival the best to come from Stateside.

My first introduction to French hip-hop was (as it was for most whites in France) MC Solaar’s 1991 album "Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo" (He who sows the seed, reaps the tempo) which I often listened to when studying in Lille the following year. And while the Franco-Senegalese MC rhymes as good as anyone alive, he stands at the jazzy end of the hip-hop spectrum, lacking the anger of the younger Maghrebin MCs. I gradually acquainted myself with other group in the genre (several long weekends in Geneva were a big help in finding a wide enough selection of CDs) and discovered other artists such as Alliance Ethnik, Doc Gynéco, I Am, Bisso Na Bisso from the Congo, and even white Breton rappers, Manau. You should check out the 1998 double CD compilation "Le Flow" on Delabel Records for an excellent introduction to the French hip-hop scene.

From the many French hip-hop records I have acquired I picked the self-titled album by Suprème NTM, simply because it is my favourite. Standout tunes on this 16-track CD include "Laisse Pas Trainer Ton Fils", "That’s My People", "On est encore là", "Odeurs de Soufre", "Pose Ton Gun" and "C’est arrivé pres d’chez toi" (a reworking of the title in French of the excellent Belgian black comedy film "Man Bites Dog"). Even if your French doesn’t stretch beyond asking where the nearest metro station is, check out this album. It explodes the myth held in the English speaking world that unless music is in English, then it’s not worth a damn. To anyone who still thinks thus, I’ve only one thing to say – "Nique Ta Mère!"

To complete my list of 25 albums which I feel make essential listening and which I hope to take with me on my travels around the world, I would find it difficult to find a more appropriate record that the Transglobal Underground’s "Backpacking on the Graves of our Ancestors". This cleverly titled double CD is a retrospective of their five albums to date, covering the years 1991-1998. Transglobal Underground were pioneers and catalysts for the huge increase in popularity of "world music" among western audiences. During the ‘90s they rode the wave and captivated listeners throughout Europe through their mix of old and new sounds from across the five continents, transforming their music into something universal and timeless. It is this type of cross-cultural and tradition-blending musical experimentation, which is the best example of the music that turns me on.

They say on the sleeve notes not to treat this album as a "Best of". Indeed the second CD is comprised solely of song remixes, some of which are hardcore dance reworkings by the likes of Dreadzone and Fun Da Mental. Other remixes also appear in their original versions on the first disc. Not every track will be to everybody’s liking. Indeed they are not all to mine. But keep your eyes pinned for "Nile Delta Disco", "Ali Mullah", "I, Voyager" (which is my particular favourite) and "Temple Head", the anthem of Transglobal Underground if you will. On the sleeve notes it is written, "Stop watching the sky – it’s in your bedroom". When you stick on "Backpacking on the Graves of our Ancestors, you’ll begin to understand what they mean. Na na na, na na na…