2025 was the 10th year of On the Record, my album adventure that involves listening to a variety of albums throughout the year to widen my musical taste and knowledge. It’s amazing to look back and think about how this little project started and what it has turned into, a pillar of my weekly routine with many highs and lows and the occasional unlistenable record.

To recap, at the start of 2016, my lack of musical knowledge and, dare I say it, sophistication, became unsustainable in our household. It was summed up so nicely by a conversation on Peter Kay’s Car Share and the idea of this year long adventure was born.

The rules were simple: each week listen to two albums. One, a new album, ideally recently released but allowed as far back as the previous year. The second, a classic, as selected by Mr C, to broaden my horizons. I listened to each album twice because sometimes the first listen through was never enough to get a handle on it, and then I reviewed my findings. Initially, they were just a collection of blog posts but eventually the albums got their own Music section, which I love.

What’s surprised me about the journey of listening to all these albums is that, like a lot of things that are fun as you do them, I haven’t realised how much I’ve learnt. But then we’ll be doing quizzes like Popmaster or Hit List, and I know things that I didn’t know I knew. Also, paying more attention to events which might help with the classic album selection for the week - anniversaries of albums, or that artist making a comeback, or of course to commemorate the sad passing of artists as well.

At the start, the classic album was always selected by Mr C as he had a list he wanted to get through and I was keen to learn. That left me picking the new album based on whatever was being released at the time. Somewhere along the way, Mr C’s list of must-listens ran out, and I took over the classic album selection. At the same time, I slightly lost touch with the imminent releases and Mr C started picking those for me - sometimes going so far as to give them a listen first to see if it’s worth it… a bit like how parents might watch a film first to see if it’s suitable for their kids.

It’s amazing how this adventure has ebbed and flowed, changed around the edges but ultimately kept at its heart the aim - listen to more music, and listen to it consistently. 2 albums a week, 50 weeks a year, for ten years. That’s a fantastic 1000 albums done and dusted, and the list is ever-growing and the eagerness each week is still there. So, here’s to 1000 more!