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.