Probably an Ace of Hearts LP of Michael Coleman, which had the most awful bejasus artwork on it you could ever imagine. It got supplemented, but never quite replaced in my affections, by Gael Linn's superb double CD of Coleman which they released in the 1990s, and which was recently re-released. The beauty of it is that the Ace of Hearts has several tracks which never made it onto the later compilation.

Then there's the very first blues LP I ever owned; Back Country Blues by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.

The Manchester Angel. Yup. Definitely MacColl's masterpiece.

Kingdom of the Sun. A marvellous LP of Peruvian music on the Nonesuch label, which no record of Peruvian music I've come across since has quite been able to match.

John Doherty. Pedlar's Pack. An LP from the EFDSS Folk Classics stable. For all the controversy surrounding Peter Kennedy, and the way he treated his informants, this one breathes more life into Doherty than all his other records put together.

Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. A 2 LP release of music from Doc Watson, Fred Price, Clint Howard, Clarence Ashley, Tex Isley and several other good guys from the North Carolina/Tennessee border. reissued on CD as Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley; 1960 through 1962.

The Best of Muddy Waters. Sublime, mate. Totally sublime.

Harry Cox Sings English Love Songs, and English Folk Singer. Two LPs which came out around the same time and which complimented each other magnificently.

Grand Airs of Connemara. The LP which first opened my eyes to the wonders of Irish sean nós singing.

Just about anything in the Living Tradition series of ethnic music LPs, which Argo released from the collection of Deben Battacharya.

Fred McDowell. I do not play no Rock 'n Roll. That was the one I managed to snaffle from the tighest dealer in the busines, for a mere £3.75.

Hedy West. Old Times and Hard Times. The first, and for my money the best, of three LPs which she recorded for Topic in the 1960s. All three have just been reissued on an unmissable Fellside double CD.

The Muckle Sangs. A double LP of some of the finest field recordings of Scots Child ballads ever assembled.

From the same stable (Scottish Tradition) Music From the Western Isles, Bothy Ballads and Gaelic Psalms from Lewis. There have been many more in the series, but those are the ones I definitely wouldn't be without.

There's quite a few others as well. But they'll do for now.