Best Albums of 2014

Well I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas. I'm just catching my breath after all of the festivities and while everyone else seems to be at the sales, I at last have time to sit and ponder on the best new album releases of 2014.

I have to say, for my money it hasn't been a year of outstanding album releases. For a start there were a few disappointments which included a lacklustre album from Bruce Springsteen with the ironic title 'High Hopes'. Neil Young released not one but two albums but neither quite hit the heights of his best work. 'A Letter Home' featured some fine cover versions but was recorded in such a lo-fi way as to drastically reduce any enjoyment one might have had of listening to it. The other, 'Storytone' did feature Young's original material but sadly fell well short of what we have come to expect from him. The fact that we were presented with two versions of each song, one performed solo and the other performed in front of an orchestra or band, did little to alleviate the disappointment with the material.

Goat were a band I had high hopes for after their 2012 debut 'World Music'. Despite plaudits from a number of critics, I found the follow-up, 'Communion' to be just more of the same. I was also disappointed with '... And Star Power' from Foxygen who had impressed me greatly with last year's 'We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic'. Shame, but that gets the disappointments out of the way so we can move onto the good stuff.

The early part of the year saw the release of 'English Oceans' by the Drive-By Truckers. As I asked at the time, have they ever released a duff record? OK this may not be quite up there with their finest work but it is good to see Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley equally sharing the songwriting credits again. For some time it looked as though it might make it into my top slot.

The album 'Benji' by Mark Kozelek who operates under the moniker Sun Kil Moon was another early contender. Pitchfork were even daring enough to declare it one of the best albums of the decade so far. Heavy praise indeed! The subject matter of the album tends to be mortality so there are a few deaths to deal with but there is humour in there also. All in all it is a very fine album though fans of Sun Kil Moon don't need me to tell them that.

I was impressed with the return to form of Jack Bruce with his album 'Silver Rails' on which he was supported by several family members and friends. It was almost as if Jack was saying his goodbye and although he sounded strong on the album itself I watched a documentary about the making of the album and I thought he looked vary frail. Of course as we now know, he did not have long left with us which makes this album all the more poignant.

Another elder statesman, Leonard Cohen also returned with another fine album 'Popular Problems'. Full of bluesy themes and witty lyrics, the album carries on from where 'Old Ideas' left off which isn't a bad thing.  

Two British bands that are forging quite a reputation in the melodic jazz style are the Neil Cowley Trio and Gogo Penguin, Their respective 2014 albums, 'Touch & Flee' and 'V2.0' were very much on my playlist in a year when I have been absorbing myself in an awful lot of jazz music both old and new. Of course Ginger Baker also produced a very jazz influenced album this year with 'Why'.

I have already commented on the releases from Lucinda Williams, Jack White, Jolie Holland, Royal Blood, Robert Plant, Pere Ubu, Opeth, Ryan Adams and Anais Mitchell. Clicking any of these links will take you to my original thoughts.
They are all very enjoyable albums but you may be surprised to hear that none have made it into my own personal top 3 this year.

To find out what has, I suggest you check back here in the next few days.


 

Best Albums of 2012 - My Top 3

And so we come to my choice of the best three albums of 2012.
In traditional fashion, I shall present them in reverse order.

3. Bill Fay - 'Life is People'
Read here what I wrote earlier this month - http://eddie-graham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/bill-fay-life-is-people.html

A wonderful follow-up album released 40 years after its predecessor!

2. Goat - 'World Music'
I don't recall how I came to hear of this band but I was intrigued by the story that surrounds them. It is alleged that they stem from a collective of townsfolk from the village of Korpilombolo in the north west of Sweden. Wearing masks on stage, they shun individual attention but prefer to focus on the songs rather than the song sources. The village itself is alleged to have been visited by a travelling witch doctor several hundred years ago and ever since has had strong connections with voodoo.
I'm not sure I hold with all of that but what I do know is that this album slowly sucked me in until I found myself totally hooked. Described elsewhere as a cross between Can, Faust, Spacemen 3, Fairport Convention, Fela Kuti and the Edgar Broughton Band they are clearly very difficult to define. The opening track the instrumental 'Diarabi' begins hesitantly but finds its groove with a repetitive guitar phrase picked up by the other instruments until it ends in a squeal of feedback leaving just the drums to take the song to it's conclusion.
Several tracks feature a female (?) singer with a voice that is again difficult to categorise. Part Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), part Renate Knaup-Krotenschwanz (Amon Duul II) and part Bjork (Bjork) she howls and wails her way through the lyrics. It takes a few listens but soon becomes quite mesmerising.
'Let it Bleed' strikes me as having a Velvet Underground guitar influence but soon evolves into something more akin to Tinariwen. Then a honking sax turns it into something different again.
The most commercial song (if such a thing exists on this album) is 'Run to Your Mama' which starts off with thunderous Black Sabbath-like chords and continues over an insistent beat. There are three songs with a goat theme - 'Goatman', 'Goathead' and 'Goatlord' but each is very different from it's predecessor. Maybe the band just have a thing about goats. The middle of these songs has a driving rhythm, a fuzzy bass and strident guitar parts including Hendrix-like feedback, then suddenly it turns into a sublime version of the melody played on a lone acoustic guitar over the sound of waves crashing on a shore.
On first hearing I never dreamt that this album would end in my top three but there you go. It just goes to show that persistence pays off. I will be fascinated to hear what this lot come up with next time around.



1. Anais Mitchell - 'Young Man in America'
I first wrote about this album back in May and you can read it here - http://eddie-graham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/anais-mitchell-young-man-in-america.html

Since then, as promised, I have fully explored her back catalogue and it reaffirms my opinion that Ms Mitchell is a major talent who has progressed steadily with each piece of work released. Part of me wonders when the rest of the world will catch on to the fact that she is a sensational songwriter though there is also a selfish part of me that hopes this never happens or I will be unable to see her live again at intimate little venues such as Newcastle's Cluny 2 where I saw her in June.
In my view this album is the best of the year - no contest!

So that's my list. I'd love to hear your own views.

Just one more post to come before the start of 2013.