Electric Warrior – T-Rex

1971 was the year of musical cusp in Britain. The Beatles were gone with the 60s, Jimi Hendrix was dead, and The Rolling Stones were headed towards the end of their Golden Era (although Sticky Fingers, released in the same year was a fantastic album).

Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane

Summer of Love was a social movement that happened in 1967 by a bunch of people known as hippies (coming from the word ‘hip’ meaning fashionable) propagating love as the cure for violence, particularly the one happening in Vietnam. The epicentre of this movement was the American west-coast city of San Francisco, where thousands of these propagators gathered in their colourful clothes and created a sub-culture scene with its music, art and the infamous drugs. Out of this scene was born the mysteriously charming second album by the local band Jefferson Airplane, pioneers of the psychedelic rock sound. It had a mysteriously charming name as well – ‘Surrealistic Pillow’.

Awara – Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar - Jaikishan (popularly known as SJ), were the musical alter-ego of filmmaker Raj Kapoor. Together (along with lyricists Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra), they gave the Hindi Film industry some of its finest albums. ‘Awara’ (1951), their second collaboration (after ‘Barsaat’ in 1949) was one of them.The album has some real gems shining melodiously as well as famously.

Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities – AR Rahman

25 years ago, something lovely happened to this country. A person called AR Rahman through the music of Mani Ratnam’s movie, ‘Roja’, entered the nation’s musical subconscious. With songs like Roja Jaaneman, Dil Hai Chotta Sa and Yeh Haseen Waadiyan, he single-handedly and almost overnight, changed the landscape and grammar of popular music in India

21 – Adele

Three years after the release of her celebrated debut album 19, Adele returns quite in style with her sophomore set 21. The LP represents the personal and artistic growth of the Grammy-winning vocalist. Adele’s 2011 album to commemorate her turning 21 needs no introduction

Me and Mr. Johnson – Eric Clapton

One sold his soul to the devil, the other was giventhe status of God and the two came together in this album called, “Me and Mr. Johnson”. Robert Johnson has always been a guiding light for Eric Clapton, giving him some of his early hits like Ramblin’ on My Mind with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and the powerhouse ‘Crossroads’ with Cream. But here,Claptondedicates the entire album to his master(sans the previously recorded material). Something which was long overdue.

Bitches Brew – Miles Davis

Miles Davis used to address great musicians as ‘bitches’ and he lined up 15 (yes, 15!!!) of the best in the industry, for this ambitious Double LP. His concept for the album was not to write out a chart with specific changes and form

It feels so good – Sonique (Single)

When DJ Sonique came on the scene with this track in the year 2000, it created a flutter in the Billboard charts. If you just heard the original version of her track, how about the remixes

Teesri Manzil – RD Burman / Majrooh

Dev Anand was supposed to star in this classic whodunit but because of certain differences with Nasir Husaain the producer, Dev walked out. In comes Shammi Kapoor. Shankar Jaikishan, Shammi Kapoor’s favourites were supposed to score for this Vijay Anand directed flick but Shammi listens to some compositions of SD Burman’s son, the new kid on the block, and loved them. In comes RD Burman. Rest, as they say, is history.

Marasim – Jagjit Singh & Gulzar

‘Marasim’ is an Urdu word which means ‘connections’ and that’s what the album does. It makes connections between memories and melody (its tagline is ‘Memories woven in melody’).