As 2012 rumbles gently into its parking spot, I'm finding myself looking back over it. For the most part, it's been a pretty good year. There's been ups and downs, as there is in every year, but generally, I think it has treated the Bolgies quite well.

I found this to be a hugely challenging, but largely rewarding exercise. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Justin for his idea. The heartache, torment, joy, anger and introspection have all been worth it. I’m quite happy with the list. I think I could work on it for days, tweaking here and there, but you just have to tell yourself to walk away sometimes. This is my #essential20 playlist, as Spotify saw fit.

It seems fitting that I start up where I left off last year with my Frank Zappa albums listening. July 31st saw the re-release of his first ten albums, as the Zappa Family Trust finally own the rights to his entire back catalog now. Every month will see the release of the next ten until they have all been officially reissued. Exciting, huh? We also got a staffy puppy in the house, and his name is Zappa. Fortuitous, no? He's very cute. Anyhoo...I last listened and tweet-reviewed a Zappa album in September, 2011. That was for the 1984 concept 'live' album Thing-Fish. Here are my tweets for all the albums that came before that. Enjoy!

For those who don't know, Chimes of Freedom is the name of a four-disc album of Bob Dylan covers. It has been released to mark both Dylan's 50 year career and Amnesty International's half century. It features 73 songs, most of which have been recorded especially for this album. I decided to give it a listen last week. Here are a collection of my tweets as I did, hashtags and all. Enjoy!