As threatened, part 2. This is all about albums that opened me up to new sounds, new styles, and new bands. 1. As with my search for the Fall's "High Tension Line", Wings of Joy didn't contain the track I was looking for, which turned out years later to be "I Hope". But it is a beautiful, blazing album. Begins with gentle classical sounds and gradually becomes darker and more stormy, like Autumn. A journey. 2. My first Black Sabbath vinyl. Can't remember if this was before or after a boozing chum gave me a cassette comp recorded by his psychotic older brother. I got into metal in dribs and drabs over the years, most of it with Led Zeppelin, and bits of of Iron Maiden, Pantera and Sepultura. But these days I listen to as much Black Sabbath as anything else. 3. A great little compilation which introduced me to what seemed at the time to be an endless supply of vintage punk bands. In those days I was snapping up punk/new wave singles and albums by the armful from Weasel's and Ferret's Records in St Mary's Street. Never Mind the Bollocks was on heavy rotation, of course, but like the Beatles you can take that as read. 4. Radiohead took me in new directions. After my forays into punk, synth and baggy, the melodies and melodrama of Radiohead were something new. So were Suede and Verve, but for me those bands were more about the singles. These days I realise Radiohead were listening to the likes of King Crimson, and Radiohead's next album was even better, but this was new ground for me. 5. Nirvana's "Nevermind" might have been more honest, but Babes in Toyland have aged better. Soundgarden also broadened my horizons, but I refuse to subject you to a part 3. 6. My first Stranglers album. It was the organ that set the Stranglers apart from other punk bands and made them worthy of their own entry in a top 9 of influential albums. The likes of Goodbye Toulouse and Hanging Around felt like they were opening doors to new corridors of music and human geography in my head. 7. Strong contender for greatest shoegazing album. The scene was dominated by EPs, but I could listen to every song on this album. It made wimpy boys sound like human dynamos. Seeing them live many years later was a great disappointment. Their 'rock band' live appearance, with Gardener wearing a fucking cowboy hat, was very jarring in comparison to the sublime sonics of the records. 8. Could have chosen several glam rock albums, but this folky, pre-glam incarnation of T-Rex was unique. Again, it was a whole new world of music opening up to me. The sounds of Narnia and Middle Earth. Closest thing to it for me was maybe Led Zeppelin IV, which shared some of the fantasy world feels. 9. Was already into Cocteau Twins via Iceblink Luck and the Spanglemaker 12", but this was Cocteau Twins dialed up to the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Didn't find room for Abbey Road, which was in the house when we were little and definitely had an impact (especially Come Together and She's So Heavy), and will probably berate myself for missing several other albums and genres which opened my mind like new levels on a computer game. Dub is dominated by singles. Led Zep and Beatles almost too obvious to post. Never Mind the Bollocks would have been a bit pretentious to say it changed my life as I was 3 when it came out and by the time I bought my own copy as a teen I was well aware of punk. Couldn't bring myself to throw in the Cure's Disintegration when the website wouldn't let me add the Walk EP.