"I still remember the first few records that I bought. Some were at the urging of my uncle, who played guitar and insisted that I listen to Jimi Hendrix, the MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges. Others were at the urging of the television set, which convinced me that the Osmond Brothers were the most exciting band possible.

"There was the radio, which turned me on to Led Zeppelin (even better than The Osmonds) and all of those great '70s 'AM Gold' hits. There was also my parents' collection of Beatles, Stones, Animals, Who and classical albums… and blues! My dad would always play Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and BB King around the house, with plenty of live Leon Russell and J. Geils as well. And finally, when I started joining bands, there were the musicians, invariably older than me, who turned me on to bands like Rush, ELP and Utopia.

“When I moved to LA, I discovered some great used record stores. I would buy a huge pile of vinyl for the price of dinner at Sizzler and then come home and make cassette compilations of my favorite new discoveries. Nowadays, my wife exposes me to all kinds of interesting music – Bulgarian Voice and Melody Gardot among them.

“And so, without further ago, here are my Top 5 Not-So Guilty Pleasures, i.e., un-guitar records. Let’s start with the obvious!”