The idea is to list 15 albums that have been meaningful to you for whatever reason without wasting too much time on the exercise.

1. Paul Revere and the Raiders – the one with the guys sitting on the tank. First album I ever bought.

2. Neil Diamond – Some Neil Diamond album. Oh, yeah: Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Part of a set of what, a dozen? albums received at considerable discount from Columbia House, if you know what I mean. If not for this album, the next album would be the most embarrassing album I ever bought.

3. Elton John – Goodby Yellow Brick Road. This got a lot of play. And yet, my parents didn’t beat me to death. Why not, I will never know.

4. Ramones – Ramones. Thank God for punk music. 1976 was a good year. I found out about the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley.

5. Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks.

6. Bob Marley and the Wailers – Rastaman Vibration

7. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

8. Jimi Hendrix – I never owned a Hendrix album when I was a kid, for some reason. And whenever I hear the Doors “Rider on the Storm” I think about picking raspberries one rainy day (one of my first jobs), when that song was on the radio. Funny how the memory works.

9. Devo – Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo!

10. Kraftwerk – Autobahn I don’t think I owned this album, but it was a big deal

11. Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy

12. Elvis Costello – My Aim is True. I saw Mr. MacManus in concert for a buck in Seattle back in college and he was great.

13. Sigur Rós – Saeglopur (or any other album of theirs)

14. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers This also brings back memories.

15. Stephen Isserlis – Bach Cello Suites

Boy, any list of 15 isn’t going to do it, is it?