There's a right time for end-of-the-year reviews, and that's
December, so why post this this
now? I guess because this
isn't an
end-of-the-year review. How
could it be? I've bought maybe 10 new records (and about 150 old ones) this year, and listened to maybe 20 more - not enough for me to make such a list. But I
do buy the music papers for their year retrospectives. Last December I bought
these four, so I thought I'd publish their Top-50 lists and my thoughts on them. My first impression from comparing these 4 lists is that, judging from the critics' choices, Bowie's
"Blackstar" must be head and shoulders above the competition - but is this
really true? IMO "Blackstar"
is intellectual, emotional and original, a worthy epilogue to an unparallelled musical career. On the other hand, it's a rather difficult album which I doubt we'll often be playing a few years from now - so its unanimous top position is probably an emotional reaction to the sudden passing of one of the greatest pop/rock musicians ever. Another recently departed musical giant was Leonard Cohen whose last album
"You Want It Darker" also found itself high in the lists - but then again, the same happened with his 2 previous albums. One may argue that everybody expected each of them to be his last, so maybe these were also emotional choices. But there's no denying "Darker" was, like its immediate predecessors, terrific: poignant poetry, excellent orchestration, and that raspy yet warm and soothing voice...an album every bit as good as his early material. An artist I was
very glad to see featuring high in the lists was Iggy Pop.
"Post Pop Depression" even deposed Bowie from the top position of Classic Rock's list, thanks to QOTSA's Josh Homme who took over as musical director. Not that Iggy's material wasn't good by itself, but he evidently needs someone to play the role that Bowie did for him in his
Berlin period. I'm glad for Iggy 'cause I like him - and
who doesn't? he's such a sweet and goofy character, even in his crazy drugged days all that violence was turned inward, hurting mostly himself. Another favourite of mine who made an excellent album last year was P.J.Harvey. She's about my age and through the years it's been great to watch her try out new things and evolve. Her
"Hope Six Demolition Project" is a mix of music, poetry and journalism - a bit
precious maybe, but it's nice to see someone tackle the big issues without ever becoming too self-important to give attention to the music - which
Neil Young has been doing of late. See any Neil Young in these lists?
No? Now you know
why. Another singer of my generation, Antony (formerly of The Johnsons), reinvented him/herself as Anohni adopting a different, more electronic, sound for
"Hopelessness". After a string of beautiful but somewhat samey albums, his/her (complicated this trans-gender thing) voice stops being so impressive, so a change seemed necessary - though I'm still not totally convinced that I should add "Hopelessness" to my collection. The discussion on Nick Cave's
"Skeleton Tree" has been dominated by the accidental death of his son. Understandable, given its sombre and dramatic character, though most of it was written before his personal tragedy - and anyway Cave has never been anything if not somber and dramatic. For me it's slightly inferior to his previous one, but still outstanding. Cave is probably the last of the great ones, a poet/ musician/rocker of the calibre of Cohen or Dylan. Speaking of whom, I'm surprised by how little was made of Dylan winning the Nobel prize for literature. The man himself may have chosen to underplay it, but I expected it to be cause for celebration, a recognition for songwriters in general. Meanwhile he just released
"Fallen Angels", his third album of classic standards in a row. If I didn't know better I'd worry his creative well is running dry. Radiohead released another well-received album this year, with a minimum of fanfare and promotion. 20 years ago it seemed they would become huge, the successors of classic rock titans like Pink Floyd. Instead they left the big hooks and stadium shows to imitators like Muse and Coldplay, and embarked on an experimental low-profile journey.
"A Moon Shaped Pool" sounds like they've at last stopped sabotaging themselves. I may be wrong but it seems like they're slowly reclaiming their place at the top while carefully holding on to their "artistic integrity". All the critics had nice things to say for the albums of the two sisters,
Beyoncé and
Solange. As far as I know I haven't heard any of them, and will not. In my universe R&B means Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye - names like Rihanna or Beyoncé ring a bell, but that's about it. Up to now, Iggy excepted, there's a notable lack of
Rock in these lists, which is a shame. Thank god we have Classic Rock (CR) to redress the balance. For
this magazine there's no such a thing as a
guilty pleasure, and loud guitars don't have to be ironic post-something. So they keep supporting bands like Blackberry Smoke, Rival Sons and
Blues Pills. I
get it, especially in the case of the latter who I think are unfairly snubbed by the music press because of their frontwoman Elin Larsson. The world just
isn't a fair place for 20-something blond Scandinavian chicks - if she was African-American, bespecatcled and chubby like The Alabama Shakes'
Brittany Howard, her band might have broken out of the
CR ghetto. The Rolling Stones'
Blue & Lonesome generally got positive reviews but only features on one list. Wanna bet it'd be No.1 if Keith Richards had died instead of Bowie? Looking at the CR list, one gets the idea it must have been a great year for Prog Rock: Marillion, Steven Wilson, Opeth, Dream Theater etc figure on their Top 50, despite passing unnoticed by the other magazines. Same with new albums from the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Heart, Cheap Trick. Guess that's why it's called
Classic Rock,
dah...
