 | Aman Iman: Water Is Life by Tinariwen
Buy used from: £7.82 I'm positive although not intended, Aman Iman is one of the best Rock and Blues albums of the year. Nomads who met a Qadafy camp, they chose to put the weapons down and pick the electric guitars.
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 | Back To Black by Amy Winehouse
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £1.44 I often get turned off rather than swayed by massive critical acclaim but in Winehouse's case the praise is right. Only 23 years old, Amy has a voice whose range and maturity is breathtaking.
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 | Vengo Venenoso by Antonio Carmona
Buy used from: £43.90 The music is simply stunning. You can definitely compare it to the best of Ketama (Carmona's great Spanish group) and it is produced by Gustavo Santaolalla.
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 | La Radiolina by Manu Chao
Buy used from: £4.10 Manu Chao returns with an album to rival Clandestino, his classic debut. Chao has enough talent and guts to shame any major Pop artist out there, imagine if Joe Strummer grew in Spain.
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 | In Rainbows by Radiohead
Buy used from: £10.46 In addition to the stir they created with its marketing, In Rainbows should cause an even bigger splash with the sheer beauty of the music contained here. Radiohead's back at its best.
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 | Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon by Devendra Banhart
Buy new: £7.68 / Used from: £6.99 Devendra keeps pushing the envelope unconcerned, it seems for whom it might please or piss off. I like that in an artist.
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 | River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock
Buy new: £10.78 / Used from: £5.58 Consider this album a set of studies of Joni Mitchell's music. Different moods, some closer to how Joni,s songs might sound in your head than others, but, as a whole, a pretty stunning piece of work.
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 | The Reminder by Feist
Buy new: £3.98 / Used from: £1.93 Forget about the proverbial sophomore slump prophecy. Ms. Feist's second album is a keeper. The emotional range she shows throughout these songs and her gift for phrasing are remarkable.
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 | Dub Qawwali by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Buy new: £7.38 / Used from: £12.16 Usually mixes of such unrelated genresQawwali devotional singing and Dub/Reggaeturn out horrendous hybrids. But Qawwali Dub is a huge exception.
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 | Multishow ao Vivo by Caetano Veloso
Buy new: £20.49 / Used from: £20.26 Caetano, sixty-plus years old, last year decided to record "Cé" an album closer to Punk than MPB, and now it's the live version. The sound is stripped down to its unsentimental essence and yet rich.
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 | Sweet Spot by Yura Yura Teikoku
Buy used from: £45.71 Amazing, amazing album. Yura Yura Teikoku is Japanese Rock band that cut its teeths in the Psych scene in Tokyo, and that means anything from Floyd to CAN, and yet a totally distinct.
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 | Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams
Buy used from: £3.24 The man continues to produce some of the best Americana material of the last decade, which is even more amazing given how prolific he's been. The great songs rank among his best.
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 | Yes, I'm A Witch by Yoko Ono
Buy new: £8.98 / Used from: £2.48 I don't know about you but I stopped blaming Yoko for the Beatles's demise long enough to appreciate the artist she has always been in her own right.
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 | We'll Never Turn Back by Mavis Staples
Buy new: £8.88 / Used from: £7.45 Strong new album by Mavis Staples, magnificently produced by Ry Cooder. Neither one could have asked for better company, particularly given the power and relevance of these songs.
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