Thirty-one of the albums I quite liked this year
(new, and stumbled upon from the past)
I had a bit of a problem with this
list, as I found that – partly due to the show – much of my time
was spent listening to individual tracks rather than entire 'albums'. Which of course raises the question of whether the 'album' is a song-package relevant to today's digital age. I guess for me it always will be, as my musical tastes were formed in the days of 12-inch vinyl, and there is a lot of eBay plastic nostalgia here. But I came very close to just working out a list of individual tracks, and who knows what will happen next year, 'if we're spared' !
I'm not saying these are the best albums I listened to during 2013, but as I write in December, they're the ones that stick in my mind. I know there are some very highly praised and obvious things that are not there, and that local and personal bias may come through on occasion, but well...what can I say? I have no defence.
I'm not saying these are the best albums I listened to during 2013, but as I write in December, they're the ones that stick in my mind. I know there are some very highly praised and obvious things that are not there, and that local and personal bias may come through on occasion, but well...what can I say? I have no defence.
In no special order:
Pictish Trail – Secret Soundz Vol 2
Johnny Lynch paints his masterpiece.
2013 saw the Eigg/Fife/Fence/Lost Map division taking place. You can smell
the secret acrimony.Who knows what's really going on, but there's
some great music floating from one archipelago and a seaboard.
Foy Vance - Joy of Nothing
Born in Bangor, NI, raised partly in
Oklahoma, living in Aberfeldy. Fantastic Morrison/Miller voice,
songwriting on this is superb. The Ed Sheeran/Bonnie Raitt guest
spots were a bit obvious. Serious US record company muscle. Expect
worldwide success in 2014 if he doesn't go hermit in Perthshire..
Joe West and the Santa Fe Revue –
Blood Red Velvet
The bold Joe and his exquisite
art/country ensemble from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Funny, charming,
beautifully sung and played, very poignant and funny. Oh, to be in
Santa Fe on a Thursday night to watch an evening of this unfold.
'Hometown Shit Beer' is beyond brilliant.
Mr Niz – The Gospel According to Mr
Niz
In which top Scottish sessioneer Stuart
Nisbet, with a curiously parallel background to Foy Vance (expat
fundamentalist preacher's son) revisits some classic gospel tunes
with tremendous heart, soul and instrumental expertise. And an
unexpectedly affecting voice.
Yvonne Lyon – These Small Rebellions
Greenock based, Coatbridge-produced,
really resonant songs with depth and great melodic strengths,
beautifully sung.
Rotifer – The Cavalry Never Showed Up
Edgy, dark, witty and full of energy
and insight. Robert Rotifer's classic Aberdeen Marine Lab echoes in
my head every time I arrive in Castle Greyskull, but this tackles
age, culture, politics and the history of rock'n'roll with a
colloquial verve astonishing in one whose first language isn't even
English. Loads of great scrapy jangle as well.
Legend – the first album (weird beach
scene cover)
Legend – the second album (the
'flaming Chelsea boot' cover)
Mickey Jupp's three Legend albums (from
the late 60s/early 70s) have been lovingly repackaged and the first
one especially takes me back to Fairbairns in Troon in 1970, where it
sat reducing in price week by week until my friend Dougie bought it.
All acoustic, 'National Gas' is a superb track. Tony Visconti
produced the 'flaming boot' record and it has the original, wondrous
version of Dr Feelgood's Cheque Book on it.
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
My ultra-discriminating and
gig-seasoned daughter got into the Barrowland show and said it was
the best thing she'd ever seen. The record has its ups and downs but
it's the sense of ambition and scope, not to mention sheer
breathtaking power, that I love. And Bowie's cameo makes up for his
terrible album.
Nic Jones - Penguin Eggs
Introduced via the superb BBC4
documentary. Loved it so much I bought a 1979 Fylde Orsino guitar.
The version of The Humpback Whale on this is absolutely staggering.
Sam Cooke – Portrait of a Legend
1956-64
Got into this via Spotify and Peter
Guralnick's astonishing and massive biography Dream Boogie: The
Triumph of Sam Cooke, which is shocking, revelatory and moving. There
is an unbelievable amount of sex in it. But the incredible depth and
range of Cooke's abilities, from commerce to production, songwriting
to performance are key. Put this record on and you won't believe he
wrote all these stone-cold classics. And the sense of a developing
talent cut short is tragic.
Dumb and Dumber – original movie
soundtrack
The Farrelly Brothers have the 'proper'
Dumb and Dumber sequel coming out in 2014 (original cast, with the
sublime Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey, but what a soundtrack the first
film (my favourite, most watched comedy of all time, no question)
had. Pete Droge, Crash Test Dummies, Butthole Surfers, The
Proclaimers for starters.
Attic Lights – Super De Luxe
Back with their soaring melodic jangle
and some great songwriting. One of the session highlights of Morton
Through Midnight this year.
This is Blues (Guy Stevens' Sue Records
compilation)
I got this as a cut-out bargain in
Troon when I was about 13 and had never heard people like Elmore
James or Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton, Lowell Fulsom or Homesick
James. Changed my life and so a total pleasure to acquire it on
vinyl. This time without the ruined front cover due to scrubbing to
get the bargain price stickers off.
The Age of Atlantic (1970 Atlantic
compilation)
I bought this new when it came out
(99p) because I couldn't afford full-price albums at 14. I know every
note, every whisper on this record. Clapton's playing on Delaney and
Bonnie's Comin' Home is staggering. And then there's the Allmans, the
MC5, Led Zeppelin (twice!) and Dr John. Not to mention Buffalo
Springfield and Yes when they were good...
Fill Your Head With Rock: The Sound of
the Seventies (1970 CBS compilation)
Not as good as its 'The Rock Machine
Turns You On' predecessor, but a bargain double album full of tracks
that were hugely influential on my subsequent tastes: Al Stewart,
Leonard Cohen, the exquisite Driving Wheel from Tom Rush, Taj Mahal
and Janis Joplin. Bought on vinyl without the ostensibly
devil-worshipping Come to the Sabbath scored out with an evangelical
screwdriver!
Andy Irvine and Paul Brady – album
An absolute revelation, fuelled by Brady's appearance in Shetland and an interview. Hard Station may be his
Gerry-Rafferty-inspired contemporary singer-songwriter breakthrough,
but listen to this and you can hear why hardline devotees of
traditional Irish folk felt betrayed. His approach to the ballad
Arthur Macbride is utterly breathtaking, both vocally and
instrumentally.
Kid Canaveral – Now That You Are A
Dancer
More from the Fence-to-Lost Map stable.
I fear KC (Kid Canaveral as opposed to King Creosote) may have been
slightly nudged off course by all the shenanigans. I hope not.
Captain Beefheart – Safe As Milk
Featuring the young Ryland P Cooder in
1967 and as accessible as Beefheart ever was. Disturbing as ever,
though, due to those strange shifts in time signature and the (best
left indecipherable) lyrics.
Lost Soul Band – the Land of Do as
You Please
Gordon Grahame, Mike Scott with
splenetic rage instead of mysticism and ambition. A wonderful band
and a major talent who had the wrong record company at the wrong
time.
Gareth Davies-Jones – Now But Not Yet
Like Yvonne Lyon, Gareth is from/hovers
on the edge of the Christian music scene and both albums were
produced in Coatbridge's Foundry Music Labs by Graeme Duffin and
Sandy Jones. There are some lovely songs on this, though, none more
so than the opener, Dawn.
Billy Bragg - Tooth and Nail
Produced by the wondrous Joe Henry,
this album has a laid-back Americana feel that initially distracts
from the typical political power of some songs, notably the
apocalyptic There Will Be a Reckoning.. Some lovely lascivious
wordplay on Handyman and the closing optimism of There Will Be a
Better Day is splendid. Bastard wouldn't do an interview though.
Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
I was worried that FR had spent too
much time on this and that their thunder had to an extent been stolen
by fellow travellers in glottal stop territory Admiral Fallow, but no
worries. All Scott Hutchison's plangent power is intact.
British Sea Power – Machineries of
Joy
Why aren't this lot as big as U2? They
have the electric muscle and the anthems. Is it the
onstage-shrubbery? They're a stadium band hiding their light show
under a bush.
Howlin' Wolf – Blues from Hell
Arrived at via Beefheart and an old TV
appearance. Mighty, mighty music with enormous amounts of humour,
aggression and style.
Kevin Ayers – Songs for Insane Times (Anthology)
Huge compilation that reveals one of
the great English eccentric talents in all its variations. Stranger
in Blue Suede Shoes...it's like Graham Greene filtered through Lord
Snooty, Noel Coward, Chuck Berry and, well, Soft Machine.
Clifford T Ward – Home Thoughts from
Abroad
Am I the only person in the whole world
who rates the late Clifford? Lushly orchestrated, very English
chamber pop with real emotional power. Avoid the whimsy and there's
some wonderful things here.
Graham Kendrick – Footsteps on the
Sea
As a member of the Key Record Club in
1972, this arrived in the post, unrequested, and at 16 I was
transfixed. Christian singer-songwriter material, sung with serious
sinus issues and with the legendary Gordon Giltrap on guitar, but
done with a lot more than just sincerity. Proper poetry, actually, in
places. I later got to know Graham and he became the titan of
waved-arm worship song that he is today. But before he was hoist on
his own theological petard, he was great. The acoustic sound of this
on vintage vinyl is magical too.
Larry Norman – Only Visiting This
Planet
Lyrically it's almost unlistenable, and
hindsight/knowledge/the internet makes the late Larry's up-and-down
(but very American gospel – see Sam Cooke) life seem odd and
disturbing. But the sheer bonkers power of 'Six O' Clock news' and
the threatening fundamentalist bombast of 'Why Don't You Look Into
Jesus' crunch effectively. Hugely important figure for those of us
who grew up in the extreme corners of Christianity.
Peter Nardini – Hug. Came to this and
indeed getting Peter on the show through the fuss over his song
'Larkhall' which is both very old and very funny, still. I had no
idea of his own family ties to the place. One of the great overlooked
Scottish songwriters – better and a lot funnier than The
Proclaimers and with a real cutting intelligence. His paintings are
superb, and very good value for money when you compare the prices to
those of other visual artists.
Tom Waits – Round Midnight: The
Minneapolis Broadcast 1975.
Waits at his (apparently) sozzled piano
bar peak, with all the tall tales and Nighthawks at the Diner songs.
For some of us, everything from Raindogs on will be a let down. But
this? This is gin alley magic.