So, 2008 is over, and 2009 is beginning. What better time than this arbitrary demarcation to look back at 52-and-a-bit weeks worth of television and music?
Like Tesco's almond coke, this blog post is an entry into a saturated market, an unwanted and unnecessary addition to an already heaving catalogue; but also like Tesco's almond coke, lurking beneath a rather mediocre wrapper is a unique taste just begging to be tried.
Okay, contrived metaphor falls apart there. On with the lists.
Top 5 Albums Released in 2008
I'm rubbish at listening to music as it comes out. Instead, I discover an artist somewhere between five and fifty years into their career and catch up with their back catalogue as time and money allows. Thankfully, despite this idiosyncrasy, I still found time to hear at least five albums released this year that I actually liked. (Even if four were by artists I was already familiar with..)
5. The Killers - Day and Age
I liked Sam's Town, but it seems no-one else did, so it was back to synth-pop-rock for album the third. I won't complain, as the songs here are consistently good. Even if that godforsaken "Are we human or are we dancer?" will crop up in "worst lyrics ever" polls from now until infinitydom. Opener "Losing Touch" is probably the best song here.
4. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
Indiepop kids of the moment, Los Campesinos!' first full-length album was a delightful affair (though they'd probably be mighty pissed that I'm describing their material as "delightful", a word usually reserved for post-menopausal women discussing Daniel O'Donnell). The highlight would be "My Year In Lists", because I like lists. Heh. A song called "My Year In Lists" is featuring on a list of my favourite albums of the year. How's that for meta.
3. Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Stephin Merritt's latest 12-track travail into indiepop was united by the running theme - er, sound - of distortion. It works well, making already-awesome songs at least 1.4 times as awesome as they would otherwise be. Highlight is "California Girls". Most definitely not a cover of the Beach Boys song. Oh, my, no.
2. Keane - Perfect Symmetry
The most varied Keane album yet. Ok, that's not really saying much, but there's a surprising amount of ground covered here. In parts there are even hints of reggae and trip-hop beats! I'm as shocked as you are. The absurd catchiness of the opening tracks, "Spiralling" and "The Lovers Are Losing", makes them the top contenders for my favourite track from the album, but the epic-by-Keane's-standards title track is no slouch.
1. R.E.M. - Accelerate
In which the guys' rock roots hadn't died, they were just hibernating. R.E.M. kick ass for the first time in more than a decade, and sound great doing it. Even the slower numbers - "Houston", "Until The Day Is Done" - engage; while the album's very best - "Man-Sized Wreath", "Supernatural Superserious", "Mr. Richards" - rate among R.E.M.'s all-time finest.
Honourable mention: Barenaked Ladies' Snacktime. Some quality stuff for a kids' album, especially "Pollywog In A Bog" and "Louis Loon".
Top 5 Albums Not Released in 2008
A far more hotly-contested category than the former. But I'm not just rating any old album that wasn't released this year: these are the best five albums I've discovered this year, that just happened to be released in years gone by.
5. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes - Best Of
Okay, so we're only on the first album and I'm already cheating. A best of?! I'm everything that's wrong with the record-buying public. But whatever. At least I buy records. Sometimes. Anyhoo, this compilation of Southside's best bits is surprisingly well-picked - including, as it does, nine-tenths of the seminal Hearts of Stone, alongside some of the very best mid-tempo ballads to ever emerge from the Asbury Park scene - "Love on the Wrong Side of Town", "This Time Baby's Gone For Good", "I Don't Want To Go Home".
4. Die Ärzte - Jazz ist Anders
Mellowing in their later years somewhat, Die Ärzte deliver an R.E.M.-like mix of rock songs that range from the crazy-catchy ("Vorbei ist vorbei") to synthpop ("Lasse redn") to their traditional hard, punk-influenced work ("Allein").
3. Various Artists - Indoor Picnic Music
iTunes-only compilation of the best bands on the Nettwerk record label. Every song is a winner. Barenaked Ladies are the main event, but cuts from Josh Rouse ("Looks Like Love"), Adrienne Pierce ("Arizona"), Hem (the heart-stoppingly beautiful "Not California"), Conjure One ("Extraordinary Way") and The Format ("She Doesn't Get It") are just as worthy. I haven't yet tried listening to it while partaking in an indoor picnic, but it's only a matter of time.
2. Joe Grushecky - American Babylon
Pal of Springsteen, Grushecky's American Babylon is arguably his best LP. Full of rockers ranging from the restrained frustration of "Chain Smoking" to the harsh, aggressive "Dark and Bloody Ground" to the, er, waltz of "Billy's Waltz"
1. Bruce Springsteen - Tracks
Ok, so I've screwed you all. My number one isn't even a proper album. Instead, it's a 70-odd track collection of Springsteen (yep, him again, I'm obsessed) miscellany: B-sides, outtakes, demos, songs his next-door neighbour heard him singing in the shower, etc. With any other artist this collection would suck, but tis Brucie baby, so a good 2/3 of the material here is on a par with tracks that made his "proper" albums. Especially the power-pop of disc two ("Roulette", "Where the Bands Are", "Loose Ends" and "Dollhouse" are simply perfection).
Honourable mention: Vonda Shepard's entire back catalogue. Best. Pop. Ever.
Top 5 Songs Of The Year That Didn't Come From The Above Albums
My full top 100 songs of 2008 list is filled with tracks from the aforementioned albums, so to make this article marginally more palatable (and if you've made it to this stage, you'll take what you can get), let's look only at songs that don't feature on the LPs above. And, to make it even more difficult, they can't be by any of the artists mentioned above at all. So, what you're really left with is "5 Random Songs I Kinda Liked This Year". But it's not boring!
5. Julee Cruise - "Falling"
Eerily haunting. No surprise, as it was composed by the eerily haunting Angelo Badalamenti, and was featured in the eerily haunting Twin Peaks, which was directed by the eerily haunting David Lynch.
4. Hybrid - "Finished Symphony"
Classical-come-trance classic. Hauntingly eerie. I would go as far as to call it eerily haunting, but you might think I was repeating myself.
3. Marah - "Christmas With The Snow"
One of the best Christmas songs ever, the insane jollity of the chorus ("It's Christmas with the snow, with the snow, with the snow, snow") able to provoke memories of the wintertime even in boiling-hot June. Well, this is England, so moderately-hot June, but you take my point.
2. Johnny Cash - "I Hung My Head"
Approximately 49 trillion times better than the original, Cash imbues this song with a disconcerting fragility. Liable to make me cry if I hear it at the wrong time. But keep that quiet.
1. Tommy Tutone - "867-5309 (Jenny)"
"Eight-six-seven-five-thre-oh-ni-e-ine!"
-- A look back on my favourite TV of 2008 coming later this week.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I'm glad I'm not the only person who got meta-fied by including "My Year In Lists" in a list of the year. Although we must be careful, for if anyone makes a list of lists including "My Year In Lists" as I understand it, the entire space-time continuum will collapse into a sticky puddle of meta.
And no, Stephin Merritt very much did not cover the Beach Boys, but now you've raised the idea I would quite like it if he did.
What I wouldn't give to hear "Surfin' Safari" or "Barbara Ann" Magnetic Fields-ized.
Post a Comment