Humble pie

One of the first festivals I covered not long after joining Melody Maker in 1974 was in Buxton, a bleak outpost on the Yorkshire Moors, headlined by Rod Stewart and The Faces, as they were increasingly billed after the departure of Ronnie Lane and not long before Rod himself legged it to LA and a subsequent solo career of great success if variable artistic merit.

“Are you all sitting comftybold two square on your botty?” The acid cockney odyssey on 3 CDs – stereo, mono and a documentary. In a tin, of course.

Slung-together bargain-priced selection

To Paris, for a rare meeting with the pioneering chanteuse

Sprawl, swagger, poetry and epics

The Stranglers bassman picks his peachiest tunes: “It's the nearest thing to an orgasm in music”

Another road trip – with vivid reflections in the rear-view mirror

The Canadians’ resurgent sixth

Timeless tales of loss and redemption fuel folk-informed Southern songwriter’s stirring return

These are the 50 best LPs that came out this year