So This Year
So, what have been my favourite albums and songs this year? As far as albums go, new releases by Ash, Badly Drawn Boy, the Bluetones, Crowded House, the Divine Comedy, Ben Folds, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Goldfrapp, Gorillaz, the National, the New Pornographers and Sufjan Stevens all failed to register sufficiently to make a top ten; no doubt they would repay closer listening, but I haven’t had the opportunity. The new GB3 album (Glenn Bennie of the Underground Lovers, with Steve Kilbey of the Church) has hovered in the wings since I got it last month. Annie’s Don’t Stop from late 2009 is another I considered. On the basis of their excellent demo-mix bonus discs, I even thought about including the 2010 remasters of Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn. But in the end, I decided it would be a better reflection of my album-listening to go for a top...
8. James, The Morning After/The Night Before
This isn’t even an album, but a pair of mini-albums. Together, they feel like a more satisfying comeback than 2008’s Hey Ma.
7. Kylie Minogue, X (2007)
Prompted by Popular, this year I worked my way through Kylie’s post-Stock-Aitken-Waterman albums (I still can’t face listening to the SAW ones). They all had their high points, and Light Years and Fever are obvious peaks, but I also really liked this, which had a lukewarm reception from some quarters. Still sounds better than this year’s Aphrodite.
6. The Chemical Brothers, Further
One of my favourite bands of the past decade (I’ve realized in retrospect). Although it has one or two weaker moments, this all-instrumental album continues their high hit rate.
5. Spoon, Transference
Typically fine offering from my favourite discovery of 2006.
4. Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
This was the year that Dylan finally clicked for me, thanks again to the Popular crew and the suggestion that I start with Freewheelin’. It proved an excellent entry point; I felt that half the stuff I’ve listened to over the past decade had prepared me for it, and that I finally got what all the fuss was about.
3. Röyksopp, Senior
The partner/sequel to last year’s Junior almost snuck under my radar, but I’m glad it didn’t: this might be my favourite of theirs since Melody A.M. Opening track “... and the Forest Began to Sing” is one of the best album intros ever.
2. Manic Street Preachers, Postcards From a Young Man
I was lukewarm about last year’s Journal for Plague Lovers, so dithered over picking up this, but since I did I’ve listened to hardly anything else. Probably their best work since the mid-’90s. It’s hard to choose a stand-out track, they’re all so good, but “(It’s Not War) Just the End of Love” and “Golden Platitudes” might be first among equals. The kind of album that reminds you why you own all of their others.
1. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Well, it had to be, didn’t it?
But albums tell only half the story. Here were my favourite iPod tracks this year.
- “I Walked”, Sufjan Stevens
- “The Suburbs”, Arcade Fire
- “It’s Over” (1964), Roy Orbison
- “Golden Platitudes”, Manic Street Preachers
- “Tightrope”, Janelle Monáe
- “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do”, Robyn
- “2 Hearts” (2007), Kylie Minogue
- “Eisbär” (2006, 1981), Nouvelle Vague, Grauzone
- “Chiquitita” (1999), Sinéad O’Connor
- “My Love is Better” (2009), Annie
Given how many times I listened to “I Walked”, I’m baffled why I haven’t warmed to The Age of Adz yet; at this point I still prefer his preceding All Delighted People EP. But give it time. Maybe I should have procrastinated for a year before compiling these lists. Now there’s an idea.
30 December 2010