Monday, 19 January 2015

Best of 2014

I started to write this in December thinking about the good and the bad for the year.  then I just started getting a bit busy and now I am only just now getting around to review it

Albums from this year that I am sure I will be listening to in ten year's time.
  • Roseanne Cash : The River and The Thread
  • War on Drugs : Lost in the Dream
  • Drive By Truckers : English Oceans :  While I agree with most that The Big To Do was a low
    point in their career I personally thought that Go Go Boots was one of their best.  English Oceans is just another great album.  
  • Then in the middle of the year I started listening to a string of country tinged singer songwriter albums that all showed great albums can still be made and bend genres
    • Robert Ellis : The Lights from The Chemical Plant : 
    • John Fullbright : Songs
    • Patrker Millsap : Parker Millsap : One of those albums where you have to forgiove the preaching because the music is so good.
    • Jamestown Revival : Utah
    • Sturgill Simpson : Metamodern Sounds in Country Music - it took a few listens but I do like this.  
    • Pokey Lafarge
    • Lake Street Dive's Bad Self Portraits, ooking forward to seeing them at WOMAD next year.
    • Hiss Golden Messenger : Lateness of Dancers
    • Hurray for the Riff Raff : Small Town Heroes
    • The Felice Brothers : Favourite Waitress - a real return to form and nice to see them in New Orleans when we were there.  
    • Old 97's - Most Messed Up - Another great party album - celebrating 23 years together 
  • J Mascis : Tied to a Star -  while many claimed it to be a step up from his last solo album I have to admit it felt like (confident) treading water to me.
  • Dirk Hamilton : More Songs from my cool life - always been a fan and its nice to now be communicating with the odd email - hoping one day we will catch up  for that beer.  This is is a great reflective collection of well written songs as usual.
  • Billy Joe Shaver : Long in the tooth
  • Robert Plant : Lullaby and the ceaseless roar
  • Damien Jurado : Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son

Albums from 2013 that I am only just now getting into;
  • John Murry : The Graceless Age  - it helped seeing him in Sydney in a small bar.  Enjoyed the show and was pleased to finally pick up a copy of the CD.  Have even managed to track down one of only 500 slabs of vinyl made!
  • Shovels and Rope : O Be Joyful - and it is
  • Willie Nile : American Ride









Best Vinyl Reissues

  • Bob Carpenter's Silent Passage
  • Jim White's The Mysterious Tale of how I shouted wrong eyed Jesus
  • Matthew Sweet : Girlfriend
  • Steve Earle : Train A Coming
  • Blue Note's 75th anniversary series


Biggest Disappointments : 
  • Ray LaMontagne's  new album was a sad let down after consistent quality for the last few years
  • The Hold Steady's Teeth Dreams was not a bad album but showed that they need to rethink and grow (but not as much as Ray' please)
  • Aimee Mann's album The Both - some raved - but I found this album to be forgettable and after giving it a few tries (especially after reading a positive review) and trying to work out what I was missing I doubt I will play it again.  I did pick up a copy of Til Tuesday's Welcome Home album on vinyl and while not up with their final album I know I will play it more than The Both. 

Best Music Documentary : Muscle Shoals - could I have said anything else?

Best Buys - During the year I spent a bit of time in second hand record stores searching out some lost gems
  • The Youngbloods : Elephant Mountain
  • Stan Getz : Jazz Samba and Getz/Gilberto both in Mono
  • Billy Joe Shaver's debut album on monument
  • Lulu's New Routes - a great muscle shoals album - I can almost forgive her for what she did to Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World and Watch That Man!
  • Cher's 3614 Jackson Highway
  • The first two Preservation Hall Jazz Band Albums
  • Freddie King's Getting Ready - finally on vinyl 

Best Rediscoveries - stuff I had forgotten about but which I was reminded of for some reason or other and so went back and rediscovered just how good it was....
  • Howlin' Wolf's first two albums
  • Nancy and Lee : Nancy and Lee
  • Dinosaur Jr's  back catalogue (or at least 5 I have)
  • Buddy and Julie Miller : Written in Chalk
  • Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend - on vinyl (less three tracks sadly)
  • Waylon Jennings Dreaming My Dreams and Honky Tonk Heroes - does country get any better?
  • Ann Peebles : I Can't Stand The Rain
  • Mink DeVille : Cabretta (some call it just Mink Deville 
  • John Hiatt : That late 80's purple patch - I count this as being everything from Riding with The King through to Perfectly Good Guitar.  This year through some astute buying I have managed to get some of these in near perfect condition on Vinyl.  
  • Shelby Lynne : I am Shelby Lynne - great re-release package with a contemporary DVD of her first live show in LA
  • Anders Osborne : His whole back catalogue - oh for some vinyl of it. 
Jazz I enjoyed most
  • Stan Getz : Getz Gilberto and Jazz Samba (both in mono)
  • Grant Green : Green Street
  • Jimmy Smith : Dot Com Blues and Back at the Chicken Shack
  • Jonathan Crayford : Dark Light - An old school friend's younger brother producing a New Zealand Classic
  • Frank Sinatra : Where are you?
  • Horace Silver : Song for my father  - it was sad to read of Horace Silver's passing but it was a good excuse to drag this out again 
  • Preservation Hall Jazz Band

And there is nothing like a trip to Memphis and The Crossroads to rekindle a love of the blues and a few obscure fat possum releases;
  • Asie Paton
  • Rober Belfour,  
  • Junior Kimbrough
  • RL Burnside





All in all a pretty good year but a worry that what I considered the best new material was all pretty much in  and around one genre - country soul or country folk. 



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