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.


 

Neil Cowley Trio - Touch & Flee live at Sage Gateshead

The first time Neil Cowley performed on Tyneside, he was part of a tribute band called Utter Madness. Unfortunately the hostile crowd appeared to be expecting the real Madness so Cowley and his colleagues were fortunate to escape with their lives.

How times, and Cowley's fortunes, have changed. With the Neil Cowley Trio, he is now welcomed as something of a hero. On the basis of their performance at Sage Gateshead on Saturday evening, I can understand why.

I have owned their latest album 'Touch & Flee' for a few months but didn't offer my opinions then as I knew I was due to attend this leg of their tour to promote their 5th studio album. Consequently the first half of their set was a performance of pretty much the whole of the album. After a short break, they returned to the small stage in Hall 2 to run through what Cowley jokingly referred to as the "greatest hits". Throughout the whole evening there was scarcely a dull moment and the audience lapped it up.

If you are not familiar with the Neil Cowley Trio, they are from left to right as they line up on stage, Cowley on Steinway grand piano, the impressively bearded Rex Horan on upright bass and Evan Jenkins on drums. They play self composed jazz but not as you may know it. There is no piano solo, applause, bass solo, applause, drum solo etc etc. Instead they perform tight, melodic compositions with little or no improvisation and no solos to speak of. Rather there are some numbers where certain individuals are allowed to stretch out shall we say. In many ways I regard their sound as close to a local band, the Slowlight Quartet who do similar things but with the addition of saxophone. I assume that they are fans of Cowley as two of their members were spotted a few seats away from me.

Aside from the current album, I recognised 'Rooster Was a Witness' from 'The Face of Mount Molehill', 'Degree in Intuition' from their first album, 'Displaced' and  'Box Lily' a song dedicated to Cowley's daughter, which only appeared on  'Live at Montreaux 2012'.  There were others I half recognised but was unable to recall the titles - one of the drawbacks of instrumental music I fear. Switching effortlessly between gorgeous ballads and numbers that bordered on 'rock' music, interspersed with Cowley's raps with the audience about Tony Hadley (who was playing in Hall 1 next door), and Peter Andre who stole Cowley's parking space in Bristol, the two hours just sped by. I hope it will not be too long before we see them back in these parts again. Catch them live if you can.

As a taster I will leave you with a video of 'Rooster Was a Witness'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw2apVXsFXM