If you want a gift for The Charlatans fans that a lifelong listener has not already got, the discography map art print is the one I would point you at. It plots sixteen stations, every studio album from Some Friendly in 1990 to We Are Love in 2025 plus Tim Burgess's two solo records, and draws every credited musician as their own named tube line running through the albums they actually played on. I researched and drew it myself, album by album, credit by credit, from my studio in East Sussex.
Why This Is the Gift for The Charlatans Fans Who Already Own the Records
A fan who has bought every album since 1990 does not need another copy of Tellin' Stories. What they have never seen is the shape of the band laid out sideways, with the line-up changes, the guest players and the long unbroken runs all visible at once.
That is the whole argument for this print as a present. It gives someone information about a band they already love, rather than a picture of something they already own.
Tim Burgess Is the Only Line That Calls at Every Station
When I finished the grid, one thing stood out immediately. Tim Burgess is the single line on the map that touches all sixteen stations, and that is only because two of those stations are his own solo records, I Believe from 2003, and Oh No I Love You from 2012.
Martin Blunt runs the bass line through all fourteen Charlatans albums without a gap, which is remarkable in itself, but he does not appear on the solo pair. On the printed map, that difference is a small break in one line and an unbroken one beside it, and it is the sort of detail a serious fan will spot in about four seconds.
Rob Collins's Keyboard Line Stops at Tellin' Stories
Rob Collins is credited on the first five albums, ending at Tellin' Stories in 1997. He died in July 1996, during the sessions for that record at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and the album was finished and released without him.
Drawing that line was the part of this map I thought hardest about. A tube line that simply terminates is a blunt piece of design language, and here it is doing something no caption could do as quietly. Tony Rogers picks up the keyboard line two albums later at Us and Us Only in 1999, and he is still on it.
John Baker Plays One Album, Then Mark Collins Never Leaves
John Baker is credited on guitar on Some Friendly in 1990 and nowhere else on the map. His is a branch line, one station long, the kind of credit that vanishes from most band histories entirely.
Mark Collins picks up the guitar from Between 10th and 11th in 1992 and has been credited on every studio album since, thirteen of them and counting. Two guitarists, one album versus thirty-three years, sitting next to each other in the same key. If you are buying for someone who argues about line-ups in the pub, this is the section of the map they will be pointing at.
The Drum Chair Changes Hands Across a Five Year Gap
Jon Brookes is credited on the drums from Some Friendly in 1990 through to Who We Touch in 2010, eleven albums straight. He died in 2013, and the next Charlatans studio album did not arrive until 2015.
Pete Salisbury takes the chair from Modern Nature onwards. On the map that is one line stopping and another starting five years later at the next station along, which is a fairly accurate picture of what actually happened to the band in that period.
Nineteen Credited Names on Different Days, Including a Novelist
Different Days in 2017 is the busiest station on the whole map with nineteen credited musicians, and the guest list is the reason. Some of these names are one-off branch lines that touch the Charlatans catalogue exactly once.
| Name | Better known for | Charlatans albums credited |
|---|---|---|
| Johnny Marr | The Smiths | Different Days only |
| Paul Weller | The Jam, The Style Council | Different Days only |
| Stephen Morris | Joy Division, New Order | Oh No I Love You, Different Days |
| Gillian Gilbert | New Order | Different Days only |
| Anton Newcombe | The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Different Days only |
| Kurt Wagner | Lambchop | Different Days only |
| Ian Rankin | Crime novelist | Different Days only |
| Sharon Horgan | Writer and actor | Different Days only |
Compare that with Tellin' Stories in 1997, which carries ten credited names and pulls in Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, Martin Duffy of Primal Scream and Richard March. The visiting cast changes completely between the two records, twenty years apart, and the map shows both crowds arriving and leaving.
The Producer Rule, and Why Steve Hillage Gets a Line
My rule across every map I make is that a producer only gets a line if they are also credited playing or programming something. It keeps the map honest, and it means the lines really do represent sound made rather than decisions taken.
Steve Hillage produced Up to Our Hips in 1994 and the self-titled album in 1995, and he is credited on programming for both, so he earns a line. Dev Hynes qualifies the same way on We Are Love in 2025, where the credit runs well past production into synthesizer, guitar, piano and backing vocals. Engineers who only engineered do not appear.
"Brilliant idea... really like what you've done, Mike."
Billy Bragg, on the maps
Sizes, Paper and Price
Both sizes are landscape, printed as Giclée on 230gsm premium textured matte fine art paper, archival and acid-free. Prices start at £42, and every size is available unframed or in a black wood frame.
| Size | UK | US / CAN / AUS equivalent | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | 594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in) | 24 x 18 in | Hallways, studies, reading at arm's length |
| A1 | 841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in) | 36 x 24 in | Living rooms and record rooms, reading from a chair |
If the person you are buying for will be standing and reading the guest credits on Different Days, buy the A1. If it is going up in a hallway as a handsome thing to walk past, A2 does the job.
The Charlatans Discography Map Art Print
Sixteen stations, every credited musician drawn as their own line, from Some Friendly in 1990 to We Are Love in 2025. A2 or A1, unframed or black wood frame, from £42.
Related Music Maps
Two of these are recommendations the credits made for me. Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert both turn up on Different Days, which makes the New Order Discography Map Art Print a genuine companion rather than a shelf-filler, and Paul Weller's credit on the same album leads straight to the Paul Weller Discography Map Art Print.
For the wider scene, the Oasis Discography Map Art Print sits well beside it, and the whole range is in the Manchester bands collection and the Music Wall Art Prints collection.
Questions I Get Asked About This Map
Which albums are on The Charlatans map?
All fourteen studio albums, from Some Friendly in 1990 to We Are Love in 2025, plus Tim Burgess's solo albums I Believe from 2003 and Oh No I Love You from 2012. Sixteen stations in total, in release order.
Is We Are Love included?
Yes. It was released on 31 October 2025 and it is the last station on the map, with its full credited line-up drawn in.
Who appears on the most Charlatans albums?
Tim Burgess and Martin Blunt are credited on all fourteen band albums. Mark Collins is on thirteen, everything from Between 10th and 11th in 1992 onwards, and Tony Rogers is on every album from Us and Us Only in 1999.
Does the map show what each musician played on each track?
No. The band maps show which albums each credited musician appears on, not track by track roles. Only my Goats Head Soup album map goes to that level of detail, because it covers a single record.
What if I am not sure which map they want?
Buy a gift card and let them choose. It is the safer option if you know they like the idea but you are not certain which band map they would hang.
Give a map that tells them something they did not know
The Charlatans discography map art print, researched and drawn by me, from £42 in A2 or A1.
