When I research and draw a discography map, the albums are the easy part. The real work is the people, and few bands have moved as many musicians through their ranks as The Charlatans. Mapping The Charlatans albums meant tracing every member, session player and guest as a tube line, running each one only through the records they actually played on, and watching where those lines begin, branch off, or stop for good. This is my walk through the discography behind my Charlatans discography map, album by album.
The map covers fourteen Charlatans studio albums, from the 1990 debut to 2025, plus the two Tim Burgess solo records that sit alongside them. Tim Burgess and bassist Martin Blunt are the two unbroken lines that run the full length of the chart. Almost everyone else joins, leaves or guests along the way, which is exactly what makes the band such a rewarding one to map.
The Charlatans' Discography: Album by Album
Some Friendly (1990)
The debut, and a number one album. The founding line-up is all here: Tim Burgess on vocals, Martin Blunt on bass, Jon Brookes on drums, Rob Collins on that unmistakable Hammond organ, and John Baker on guitar. "The Only One I Know" made them one of the defining bands of the Madchester moment.
Between 10th and 11th (1992)
The first big change, and one the map makes obvious at a glance. John Baker steps away and Mark Collins picks up the guitar line, a line he still holds more than thirty years later. It is the first of the band's quiet succession stories, and the kind of thing a transit map shows far better than a paragraph ever could.
Up to Our Hips (1994) and The Charlatans (1995)
The mid-1990s steadied the band. The self-titled 1995 album, with the single "Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over", restored their momentum and set them up for the record that would define them.
Tellin' Stories (1997)
The emotional centre of the whole map. The sessions, largely at Rockfield Studios in Wales, were marked by tragedy: organist Rob Collins died in a car accident in 1996, before the album was finished. Martin Duffy of Primal Scream stepped in to help complete the keyboards. Tellin' Stories became their second number one, carrying singles like "One to Another" and "North Country Boy", and on the map Rob Collins' line ends here, after five albums. It is the hardest kind of detail to plot, and the most important to get right.
Us and Us Only (1999) and Wonderland (2001)
Tony Rogers joined on keyboards for Us and Us Only, taking the seat Rob Collins had left, and he has held the keyboard line ever since. Wonderland, recorded with a Los Angeles soul flavour and Burgess's falsetto pushed to the front, took the band somewhere new.
The Tim Burgess solo records: I Believe (2003) and Oh No I Love You (2012)
Two Tim Burgess solo albums sit on the map as a parallel line to the band's, the frontman's own route through the same years. They are not Charlatans records, but they belong on the chart because they show where his line goes when the band pauses.
Up at the Lake (2004), Simpatico (2006), You Cross My Path (2008) and Who We Touch (2010)
A steady run through the 2000s, with Jon Brookes' drum line carrying right the way through, and Ged Lynch adding session drums on some of these records. Who We Touch would prove to be Jon Brookes' last studio album with the band.
Modern Nature (2015)
The first album after Jon Brookes died in 2013, having been diagnosed with a brain tumour after he collapsed on stage in 2010. Rather than name a single replacement, the band brought in guest drummers, and the map shows three short lines arriving at once: Pete Salisbury of The Verve, Stephen Morris of New Order and Gabriel Gurnsey of Factory Floor. Pete Salisbury would become the band's drummer from here on.
Different Days (2017)
The most guest-heavy record in the catalogue, and a joy to map because of it. Branch lines arrive from every direction: Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Kurt Wagner of Lambchop, the novelist Ian Rankin and Sharon Horgan all appear. It is the album where the chart fills up with one-off contributors.
We Are Love (2025)
The fourteenth album, and their first in eight years. The band went back to Rockfield, the studio where they lost Rob Collins, a decision Tim Burgess framed as a way of honouring every member who has ever played in the band. Produced by Dev Hynes of Blood Orange with Fred Macpherson and Stephen Street, and with Peter Gordon's saxophone among the very few guests, it pulls the five-piece of Tim Burgess, Martin Blunt, Mark Collins, Tony Rogers and Pete Salisbury back to the centre. On the map, it is the newest station on a line that now runs thirty-five years.
The Line-Up the Map Makes Visible
This is why I draw bands as transit maps. Read across The Charlatans chart and the story tells itself: the guitar line passing from John Baker to Mark Collins at Between 10th and 11th; the keyboard line passing from Rob Collins to Tony Rogers after 1996; and the drum line held by Jon Brookes for two decades before passing, through a cluster of guests on Modern Nature, to Pete Salisbury. Tim Burgess and Martin Blunt run unbroken beneath all of it.
The Guests and Session Players
By the logic of the map, every credited musician becomes a line, and one-off contributors appear as short branch lines that touch a single album. Martin Duffy's emergency keyboards on Tellin' Stories, the all-star cast of Different Days, and the producers behind We Are Love all sit on the chart as branches off the main routes. It is the cleanest way I know to show a band that has always been generous with collaborators.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many albums have The Charlatans released?
Fourteen studio albums, from Some Friendly (1990) to We Are Love (2025). My map also plots the two Tim Burgess solo albums, I Believe (2003) and Oh No I Love You (2012), alongside them.
Who are the members of The Charlatans?
The current line-up is Tim Burgess (vocals), Martin Blunt (bass), Mark Collins (guitar), Tony Rogers (keyboards) and Pete Salisbury (drums). Founding members Rob Collins and Jon Brookes both have their full lines on the map.
What happened to Rob Collins?
Rob Collins, the band's original organist, died in a car accident in 1996 during the Tellin' Stories sessions at Rockfield. His keyboard line on the map ends with that album.
What is the best Charlatans album?
For me it is Tellin' Stories (1997), both for the songs and for everything the band carried into it. The map is the best way I have found to show why it still matters.
Related Music Maps
Get the Map
The Charlatans discography map is a museum-quality Giclée print on 230gsm archival fine art paper, made to order in A2 and A1 sizes from £42.00, with handmade Italian solid wood frames available in oak, black or white. You can browse the rest of the catalogue in my music and film wall art collection.
