Since he first burst upon the music scene with the band Talas, Billy Sheehan has put the world on notice that the bass was not to be ignored.

Throughout the years, Sheehan, a recipient of just about every 'Best Bassist' award known to man, has lent his expressive yet mind-blogging chops to recordings by David Lee Roth, Steve Vai and dozens of other artists. Most notable, of course, is his work with his own band Mr Big, and after a much-too-long hiatus, the multi-platinum group has wrapped up a new album, due for release in early 2011.

MusicRadar will be talking with Sheehan about Mr Big shortly. In the meantime, we asked him to run down those recordings he considers to be the 10 greatest bass albums of all time, ones that have had a profound impact on his playing and musical aesthetic. In order of rank (and with one - or many, as the case may be - thrown in for good measure), here they are...