2001 The Bunker

Although critics will argue over the merits of his work, there is no denying that Serge Gainsbourg is one of the most fascinating figures in French popular music. He is best-known on this side of the Atlantic for "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus," a breathy duet with Jane Birkin whose slick, sensual soft rock melody won over many a listener (Birkin's convincingly acted moans of pleasure made it fairly scandalous).

Benefit was the album on which the Jethro Tull sound solidified around folk music, abandoning blues entirely. Beginning with the opening number, "With You There to Help Me," Anderson adopts his now-familiar, slightly mournful folksinger/sage persona, with a rather sardonic outlook on life and the world; his acoustic guitar carries the melody, joined by Martin Barre's electric instrument for the crescendos. This would be the model for much of the material on Aqualung and especially Thick as a Brick, although the acoustic/electric pairing would be executed more effectively on those albums. Here the acoustic and electric instruments are merged somewhat better than they were on Stand Up (on which it sometimes seemed like Barre's solos were being played in a wholly different venue), and as needed, the electric guitars carry the melodies better than on previous albums.

The leap from 1970's Benefit to the following year's Aqualung is one of the most astonishing progressions in rock history. In the space of one album, Tull went from relatively unassuming electrified folk-rock to larger-than-life conceptual rock full of sophisticated compositions and complex, intellectual, lyrical constructs. While the leap to full-blown prog rock wouldn't be taken until a year later on Thick as a Brick, the degree to which Tull upped the ante here is remarkable. The lyrical concept – the hypocrisy of Christianity in England – is stronger than on most other '70s conceptual efforts, but it's ultimately the music that makes it worthy of praise.

Sad Café was a British soft rock outfit, that enjoyed a recording somewhat successful career from the mid-'70s through the early '80s. The group's leader, singer Paul Young (not the same Paul Young that scored the '80s hit "Every Time You Go Away"), got his start with music in the mid-'60s, when he fronted a forgotten Manchester group called the Toggery Five, which included a few members that would later go on to join prog rockers Jethro Tull – guitarist Mick Abrahams and drummer Clive Bunker. By the early '70s, Young was fronting another forgotten outfit, Gyro, and by 1976, opted to leave the band – taking Gyro guitarist Ian Wilson with him.