Thanks for that, Stuart.  I had never heard of Kevin Ayer.  Reading the description of his work in AllMusic, he sounded a bit like Stephin Merritt.  I'm listening to him as I type this and I wouldn't say that comparison is particularly apt.  Less whimsical and musically much more rock and roll.  I can't help marvelling at the amount of music that is out there.  AllMusic lists 20 albums from  between 1969 and 2007, and in all the time that I've been listening to music and associating with people like you whose combined knowledge of popular music history is truly vast, I can't remember his name ever coming up (I confirmed with a search of Metabeats that had but a single result).  And I like what I'm hearing.  This is clearly the kind of music that I should have come across by now, given my preferences and predilections.

I've also been thinking of posting something for a while - for the interminable period that Brian's challenge for us all to produce our 2012 lists sat there at the top of the pile while the virtual crickets chirped.  So I've developed a concept designed to compel us all to contribute a little more regularly, and also (hopefully) to benefit more directly from this forum.  Here it is for your consideration and refinement (or rejection):

I suggest that each month, on a rotational basis, one of us is responsible for choosing a single album that we want everybody to listen to.  It could be something familiar that we want to create a discussion around, or it could be something more obscure that we want to introduce.  Either way, that person must identify the album  early in the month along with some reasoning for its selection.  The rest of us must commit to actually listening to the album in its entirety at some point during the month and then sending in our own comments.  We can simply say why we like it or don't like it very succinctly, or we can offer a track-by-track review.  But we all have to commit to writing something honest about our reaction to the chosen album.

I'm not suggesting that the blog be limited to this concept - any and all posts about music should be welcome as before.  But this will drive at least 6 posts each month, and more importantly, it will force us all to actually listen to each other's recommendations, and collaborate in a shared experience at least once a month.

What do you think?