J is for...

Now that my records are installed, it's the return of the alphabet. So where were we...?

- Japan

- Jansen/Barbieri

- The Jam

- Joy Division

- Jean-Michel Jarre

- Journeyman

- Johann Johannsson

- Philip Jeck

- Elton John

- Michael Jackson

Dreadful first two albums aside, Japan were sublime if frustratingly short-lived. Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum are up there with the best of them, all Euro-Japanese, Moroder to Sakamoto, and bursting with exotic arrangements. Karn's fretless bass, Jansen's off-beat drums, Barbieri's moody synths and Sylvian's languid vocals were perhaps the naissance of New Romanticism. Jansen & Barbieri are also worth adding for the albums they've recorded together since.

The Jam were around at exactly the same time as Japan but there the comparisons end. Played Snap! from start to finish the other day. Wonderful stuff. I have a slight problem with Joy Division in that the Curtis mythology tends to overpower objective opinion, but if you can put that aside, yup, great.

Jean-Michel Jarre!? OK, not cool, 90% dire - not least his overblown concerts. But Oxygene and Equinoxe, released at the height of punk/new wave, retain a strange charm. I hum'd and ha'd about Michael Jackson, but in the end, you've got to say Don't Stop Till You Get Enough and Wanna Be Starting Something, along with much of Thriller, are, er, thrilling. As for Elton John, I have a soft spot for the early stuff, especially his two '73 albums Don't Shoot Me... and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which, like so much 70s pop/rock, were the soundtrack to my formative years.

More leftfield, we'd have to include turnrtablist Philip Jeck, if not for his albums, then live (I have fond memories of three shows in Japan particularly); Journeyman's dubby electronica; and Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson.

Those that didn't quite make it: James, Jane & Barton, Johnny Conquest, Jazz Jamaica, Keith Jarrett, Jesus & Mary Chain, Marsen Jules and respect to Robert Johnson. But forget Jamiroquai, Joe Jackson, Howard Jones (although, embarrassingly, I quite like his first few singles), Jane's Addiction, Jethro Tull, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Judas Preist and Journey - except their excellent version of (Don't Fear) the Reaper. Did I forget anyone?