The atmospheric, echo-laden martian world of Dub is the most 'reggae-sounding' varietal of all the reggaes - and it was created by a workaday radio wireman from Kingston. King Tubbys Meets the Rockers Uptown represents Dub at it's finest - quietly released during the global boom of reggae in 1976.

In 1974 forty-five year old Cameroonian Renaissance Man Francis Bebey retired from a career as a journalist and musical director of UNESCO to focus more time on his family and the arts. He turned a spare room of his Parisian flat into a studio, bought a synthesizer, drum machine and four-track recorder - and began an early-retirement musical quest that would last thirty years. Trésor Magnétique is twenty tracks beautifully extracted from the wagonload of unused analog material Francis Bebey left behind in that glorified walk-in closet.

Ten years before transforming into a suited-DILF headed for MTV rapture - Robert Palmer along with the coolest cast of session musicians ever - cranked out a spirited blue-eyed funk winner called Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley. An amazing piece of work and yet another gift of the collaborative spirit (aka Satan).

A galley pisser and a tighty-whitey wearer meet in a record store in Athens, Georgia and form R.E.M. They begin their thirty year gentle-rock quest with Murmur - a deep-track treasure considered a Rosetta Stone to all indie-rock that followed.

Released during the height of the Grunge Hunx Dynasty - Dirt remains one of the coolest albums of the 1990s - an absolutely heroic effort by Jerry Cantrell. Dirt was Alice In Chains' brief view from the top before beginning the inevitable slalom down smack mountain.

A dispatch of wonderful garage sleaze from France made by a Boogie Chitz supergroup consisting of The Limiñanas, loose-of-mind Anton from Jonestown and Emmanuelle Seigner - the GILF wife of creepo director Roman Polanski.

Even as the musical tide was shifting from the Golden Oldies Era to the Classic Rock one in 1963, the radio was still filled with snappy sing-alongs regardless of genre. You had to go to the jazz rack for exploratory action - and even in that world the gently-cosmic lounge swing of Moon Gas is one of a kind.

Somewhere is the only release by Gum Country - a side project of the guitarist from artisanal grunge band The Courtneys. Infectious 1990s shoegaze rockery for the present day slacker - it's hard to believe an album this catchy can be so obscure. A 'blind listening' treasure to the fullest.

We enter the world of Kosmische Musik thru the psychedelic soundscapes of Manuel Göttsching's Ash Ra Temple. Starring Rosi was the fifth and final Ash Ra LP - and it's definitely the sonic outlier of the batch - the only one that comes close to a traditionally-tracked rock record. This of course is only noticeable once you've actually sampled the first four - which we will do.

Given the MTV buzz and debutantal boom the Bangles experienced during the second half of their run, it's easy to forget their debut LP is a bonafide hitless alt-rock classic. All Over the Place reminds us that the Bangles were a really cool Paisley Underground band before the Egyptian pantomimes and Prince lil' purple penis pageantry.