A good day! Mostly...

I like big, serious rock music, made by big, serious artists. Groups of men, often with beards and serious expressions, who spend three weeks in the studio getting just the right bass drum sound. Or more likely, sitting around drinking coffee while an engineer gets just the right bass drum sound. These are people who make albums that need to be listened to properly. I spent many years putting my hi-fi system together, and I would make sure that I was sitting up straight on the sofa, because my head needed to be in exactly the right spot for perfect stereo reproduction.

So what did I start of with when I got I to work on this particular morning?

Kylie Minogue - Greatest Hits

And not even a good Greatest Hits...

This was one of those £3.99-in-a-sale things that contained, for the most part, the sort of stuff that she churned out when she was working with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. If 'Locomotion' popped up at a party, you'd jig around for a couple of minutes. If you were at a wedding and the DJ put 'Step Back In Time' on, you'd probably dance around in an ironic fashion.

But this was an hour and twenty minutes of the same song over and over again. SAW must have gone through about three drum machines a week...

DSP rating - 3

But then things picked up.

Marillion aren't everybody's cup of tea. Prog-rockers with a Genesis fixation. A band who holds three day gigs at off-season holiday camps. A bunch that have funded recent albums by getting the fans to stump up the cash before the band have been anywhere near a studio.

They're an easy target for ridicule.

But I'm in the 'Really quite like them' camp. As Marillion enthusiasts go, this means that I barely register on the fan-o-meter. Marillion fans are dedicated to the cause in a big way.

The other thing that makes Marillion stand out, apart from their extraordinarily zealous fans, is the fact that they survived the loss of their lead singer.

To say that Fish was a larger than life character would have been putting it mildly, and he sang and wrote for the band from their formation in 1979 until he left, after four albums, in 1988.

He was replaced in 1989 by Steve Hogarth, who has been with them for 21 years and eleven albums.

It is a mark of the impact that Fish had, that despite the above statistics, many people, myself included, still think of Steve Hogarth as 'the new guy'.

So what had Matt picked out? Old Marillion or new Marillion?

As it turned out, it was Fish's swansong, 'Clutching At Straws'.

This has always been overshadowed by the album that came before it - Misplaced Childhood. Ask most people to name a Marillion song - and assuming that they're not a fan (who will promptly reel off everything they've ever done), most people will either look at you blankly, or say 'Kayleigh', the huge hit from Misplaced Childhood.

Interesting trivia note : 'Kayleigh' wasn't simply a girl's name that Fish used for a song title - he actually created it. There are a number of 20-something girls out there who have Derek Dick to thank for their name...

Anyway, back to Clutching At Straws.

It's one of those albums that I hadn't listened to much. I was familiar with the single, Incommunicado (which contains one of my favourite Marillion lines "I've got an allergy to Perrier, daylight and responsibility") but not really much else.

Something of a revelation! A good, solid album full of great songs and proper musicianship, and topped off by finishing with an absolute corker - 'The Last Straw : Happy Ending".

Fish clearly went out on a high note!

DSP rating - 8

And we were clearly on a roll on this particularly day! A million miles away from prog, but great all the same...

One-Hit Wonders Vol. 5 (1977-1979)

This was a bargain! An eight CD set of 160 one-hit wonders, stretching from 1960 to 1993 - all originals, and mostly great. I think I paid about £6.00 for it.

(Crikey! I've just checked it on Amazon - it's out of print and used copies are going for £40!)

Vol 5 had some gems. 'Dancing In The City' by Marshall Hain? Cheesy? Hell yes, but great pop. 'My Sharona' by the Knack! Slightly dodgy sentiment, but a classic tune. 'Baker Street' by Gerry Rafferty, with one of the greatest sax breaks ever.

But the pick of the bunch? Not the most well known song, but one of my all time favourites...

'Substitute' by Clout.

If you don't know it, go and get yourself a copy, now!

DSP rating - 8

And the last album of the day...

I'm not sure whether this would make it into my top 10 favourite albums of all time, but it would certainly be in with a shout.

A bunch of West Coast session musicians who decided to put a band together. One of my (and indeed most drummers) favourite drummers - the late, lamented Jeff Porcaro.

Basically a bunch of guys who have sold millions of records, but could walk past you on the street unrecognised.

Figured it out yet?

Toto - Toto IV

Plenty of people would write them off as middle-of-the-road and bland. People who know music though, know just how good they were. And IV was probably their finest moment.

There were two big hit singles - 'Africa', and the song that a thousand drummers listened to, to try and work out just how that shuffle went - 'Rosanna'.

Truth be told, there isn't a duff track on here. I had this album on vinyl when it first came out in 1982, I've bought another copy on CD, and when I moved in with Katie, it was one of the few albums that we both had a copy of.

I can listen to this album at any time - it's great driving music, it's great party music, it's just great music.

Good way to finish the day.

DSP rating - 10