Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)

Nick Drake is one of those artists I kept hearing about for a very long time, before I actually familiarised myself with his music. Now it seems quite mad how long it took me to start listening to him. I only really started listening to his music when I moved to London. Nick Drake must've been a strong influence to so many of the 90s and 00s singer-songwriters I adored as a young adult (and still do). His tragic death at a young age limits his discography to three albums, but they're all fantastic. His debut album Five Leaves Left is my favourite out of the three, probably because it's the most melancholic and, you know me, I like my songs sad. I bought this on a vinyl only a few years ago when they made a re-issue of all of Drake's albums. This is the kind of music that needs to be listened to on vinyl to get into a right mood.

The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues (1988)

I started my journey to adult music in the early 90s. Around that time, especially for a pre-teen boy, it was all about electric guitars. This meant that 80s music with all the synthesisers was a no go. It took me years and years to realise that there was actually some really good music made in that decade. It just wasn't the kind of music I associated with that decade. To be fair, I've kind of started to appreciate that synth music from that decade as well recently, but that's another story. Anyway, I had never even heard of the Scottish band The Waterboys until I moved to London. I don't really remember where I first encountered them, but it definitely was a surprise to me that I hadn't heard about this band that sounded so great. It fits in well with other indie bands of the 80s in terms of the sounds, but there's some true originality with this band as well.