My Favourite New Albums in 2018

2018 In Review - New Releases

About halfway through the year I had the feeling that musically speaking 2018 was a little light in comparison to previous years.  Certainly apart from some great New Zealand Music there was not a lot to get too excited about.  But the year finished strongly with some excellent releases from old hands like Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson and Boz Scaggs as well as newer comers like Parker Millsap, Phosphorescent and The Record Company.

I think the first three really standout as albums that are pretty special - after that the ablums are all worthwhile having.  Finally I mention two that I wish I had never heard and recommend you avoid at all costs.  I will never get that time back!!!!!


The Record Company - All of This Life - Last year The Record Company's Give it Back to You was one of my favourite discovery.  So pleased they managed some consistency and also a step forward with their second record.  A good mix of old style R'n'B with a sound influenced by the likes of the better stuff by  The Black Keys.

The album kicks off as it intends to continue with A Life to Fix .  Other tracks I enjoy include Make it Happen and Roll Bones.

A great record and my current go to.






Parker Millsap - Other Arrangements - This is a real return to the promise and form of his self titled debut - a terrific record and was delighted my trip to Seattle coincided with Parker playing an excellent small concert in an old church.  Great show.

Millsap has a nice blues influenced voice while his songs this time are more electric based and tend more towards a raunchy side of country.  Favourite tracks are the title track, Your Water, and Fine Line.  If you like these I strongly recommend you check out his self titled debut.

Bettye Lavette - Things have changed - This was my first pick as album of the year when it was title track (which was on the Wonder Boys sound track, Ain't Talking, Mama You've Been On My Mind, Political World and Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight.
released. Some great interpretations of Dylan songs.  As usual with Bettye she bring her own special meaning and lyrics to the songs.  Like Dylan she messes  with her own lines and versus.  You know she means every word.   She digs deep into Dylan's cannon and most of the songs are what have now become known as "Deep Cuts".  Whether the

One of the best interpretive singers around and one of her best albums to date.  I suppose that is what happens when you couple a great singer and a great songwriter.

Imarhan - Temet - My fascination and enjoyment of West African Desert Blues extended again this year with additional of Imarhan to my listening.  They remind me of a lot of earlier/younger Tinariwen.  The songs are generally shorter though with less jams while not as funky as Songhoy Blues.  Pleased I came across them.


Bombino's Deran is a continuation of the execellent work he did on his previous Azel (still my favourite of his).   I have really got hooked on these Taureg desert blues and Bombino's shows at WOMAD a few year's ago were a revelation.  Key tracks on this one include his reworking of a traditional wedding song Deran Deran Alkheir  Tenesse and Tehegrin

Israel Nash - Lifted - Roger from Southbound records in Auckland has a nasty habit of changing the music when I enter the store.  He invariably captures my imagination and I end up walking out of the shop poorer and usually calling him a bastard yet again.   This year one of the artists he put me onto was Israel Nash.  He was surprised I had never heard of him and played me a few early tracks.  For people who like their americana with atmospherics like Iron & Wine, Hiss Golden Messenger and Phosphorescent, his later stuff like this one fits the bill.  I did manage to find a copy of his earliest album in a record store in Barcelona of all places and that really sounds like Heartbreaker era Ryan Adams.


Phosphorescent - C'est La Vie - It has been a long time between albums for Phosphorescent but the sound is still there.  Atmospheric, thoughtful and exquisitely played.  Worth the wait and let's hope it is not the same length of time to the next album.

You know an album is good when you find yourself not only playing the new one but also reaching out for the older stuff.






Hard Working Americans - We're all in this together - an appropriate title for an indie sub-super-group.  In some respects it seems a little early in their career to be releasing a double live album.  Could not find this economically on vinyl but was pleased to picked up a second hand cd in Seattle.  Sometimes I have to settle :-).  The live playing is sensational and Todd Snider's vocals retain the irony that he seems to be able to portray.  If you have not heard this band it is a great place to start as they present tracks like Roman Candles, Ascending into Madness and  Another Train/Is This Thing Working .

Elvis Costello - Look Now.   Elvis is one of those artists that I want to like everything he puts out because he can test himself so much - but I do think he has a few failures in his canon (not many though) so I usually wait a while.

His last collection was his excellent Wise Up Ghost collaboration with The Roots. Really testing himself with a mixture of some reworked obscure songs and some new trial all with an R&B / Hip Hop flavour.  This is nothing like that and has a mixture of old style Attractions rockers - complete with the old word play - Bacharach influenced and assisted ballads and mid period groove.  Pleased I picked up the deluxe edition with a few extra tracks.

Rolling Blackouts CF - Hope Down.  I am not sure these guys are the saviours that many say they are.  To me they sound like an (excellent) 80's alternative band - somewhere in between The Clean and The Go Betweens.  However they do update the sound just a little.  Apparently they rock a little harder live - so I will try and check them out.








Boz Scaggs - Out of the Blues : Another solid late career highlight for Boz.  Soulful renderings of well selected songs.  Not quite to the standard of the previous A Fool to Care which really was a stunning musical success but still an interesting and worthwhile addition to his discography.   My favourite tracks are the two that I knew best beforehand Neil Young's On the Beach and Down in Virginia and Those Lies





Willie Nelson - Last man standing - So good to have been able to catch him this year live at the Hollywood Bowl.  Understandably it was not a show lasting hours - but what was pleasing was his (very under-rated) guitar playing and showmanship were still there. He is still releasing one or two albums a year and one of them is always worth getting.  An album of reflection and hope and of course some humour.  Probably best shown on the funky title track.  After reflecting those that have gone before him  he wryly says "I don't wanna be the last man standing - but on second thought maybe I do"   Heaven is Closed (and Hell's Overcrowded) - so I think I'll just stay where I am.    Let's hope he does.

Cedric Burnside - Benton County Relic.  I first heard Cedric 10 years ago when he played a multi-instrumental set with Lightening Malcolm.  In addition to their own set they were supporting David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Hubert Sumlin at a show in Chicago celebrating what would have been Robert Johnson's 100th birthday. Cedric is RL Burnside's grandson and started playing drums for  RL when he was only 14.

I have his excellent 2 Man Wrecking Crew album which is a nice mix of blues and more modern R'n'B.  This was recommended on a website that I follow so I thought I would pick it up.  Not disappointed at all.  An excellent mix of modern and traditional blues.  Some grungy and driving numbers (like his grandfather) but also some nice acoustic blues like Death Bell Blues  and Hard to Stay Cool  (the former recorded in Sun Studios - with a  mic used by Elvis and that I have posed behind).

It was another good year for New Zealand releases.  I was probably not as brave as I have been in recent years and only purchased a few albums by new local artists.    Instead I relied in those I knew I could rely on with only one or two exceptions.   The new artist I was most impressed with was Emily Fairlight  and her excellent - Mother of Gloom.  The album title reflects what the music is.

My pick of other NZ music goes to three musicians whom I was lucky enough to see on their album release tours.


Tami Neilson's  Sassafrass is a worthy successor to her almost perfect predecessor Don't Be Afraid.  Tami manages to write songs that are both topical and entertaining.  Stay out of My Business kicks it off and is pretty self explanatory, while A Woman's Pain is a nice ode to her grandmother.  I was lucky to see her live this year and it was one of the best of year.  Great entertainer backed by a great band.

I also saw Marlon Williams play one of his two wellington concerts this year to support the release of Make Way for Love.   I think he would have very much benefited from playing a single show at The Opera House like Tami as the Victoria University Venue has to be one of the worst I have been to.  However he put on a good show and this is as sophisticated as country pop you are likely to hear.  It was nice that Williams got a bit of a  break playing a Roy Orbison tribute in the recent incarnation of  A Star Is Born.



Darren Watson's  Too Many Millionaires completes my favourite four New Zealand Releases.  I have been a reborn fan of Watson since he released the excellent Introducing Darren Watson a few years back.  Since being back in Wellington I try and catch his shows as often as possible.  A great showman and excellent guitarist with a nice feel for the blues.  It was nice to be able to support the recording of this through Kick Starter and get a signed copy hand delivered on the day of its release.  This is an all acoustic album and he then played a tour of the same.

In terms of other New Zealand releases I am still waiting for the arrival of Mel Parson's new album Glass Heart.  Her excellent last album Drylands has been a fixture in our car's CD player for two years now (somewhat incongruously with The Hold Steady).  I have a ticket to the album release show in Wellington in a few weeks that I am looking forward to.   The album has been produced by Mitchell Froom (Crowded House and Richard Thompson) so I am hopeful of a step up.




St Paul & The Broken Bones - Young Sick Camelia.  Thanks Sam and Michelle for this.  It is a great bit of funky soul, think a mix between Al Green and Sly - played by white boys .  True to the past but also experimental and honest.  Favourite Tracks include Bruised Fruit , Apollo and Nasa.

Anjelique Kidjo - Remain in Light - this is a bit of a revelation - a reinterpretation of Talking Heads' masterwork.  Staying true but also moving on , check out her versions of Born Under Punches and Once in a Lifetime.  Not sure why but I was lucky enough to score one of the 150 initial vinyl pressings of this.   I think hearing this live at WOMAD may be a good enough reason to drive up to New Plymouth next year.

Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers - Richard Thompson is one of those who in recent years seems incapable of putting out a bad record.  Only been through it twice and as usual the songcraft and playing are top notch.  As usual it is hard to pick just one or two songs maybe this one that kicks things off, The Storm Won't Come or the more traditional Bones of Gilead or Do All These Tears Belong to You?

Joan Baez - Whistle Down The Wind.  I almost have a pathological dislike of Joan Baez's early work.  Just something too perfect about her presentation and too worthy about her focus.  However I heard her earlier album  Dark Chords on a Big Guitar and her takes on songs by Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch, Greg Brown and others.  I kind of see this album as its logical follow up.  This time with two songs by Tom Waits, the title track and Last Leaf .  My favourite track however is her take on Joe Henry's Civil War.  However the undoubted centre-piece is her take on The President Sang Amazing Grace a heartrending song about when Obama visited the church in Charlotte to pay respect to the victims shot there.

David Byrne - American Utopia - When this was released I enjoyed it but it did strike me as "another good David Byrne Album" rather than something special.  When we booked tickets to see him we then started to do our homework.  We played it regularly for a few weeks into the lead up and slowly some tracks did start to stand out, and then the ones in between started to shine.  It is a damn fine album and then when you combine it with what I now think is definitely one of the best shows I have ever seen.  Some of the tracks to check out in particular are the anti anti immigration Everybody's Coming Up to My House, Every Day Is A Miracle and I Dance Like This

Calexico - The Thread That Keep's Us.   I really enjoyed Calexico's previous two albums Edge of The Sun and Algiers.  Both I thought brought something new to Calexico's impressive repertoire of mixing country with spanish/mexican music.   On first listen this did not seem to build on those two albums.  However I am currently doing my homework again as I prepare for their concert early in the new year and once again that homework has me discovering some new depth.    It opens with End of The World With You, a song that reminds me of The Replacements softer moments.  Another highlights to me is Under The Wheels .  Looking forward to the show next year.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS
While I generally try to stay positive about music and think if I don't get it and others do that is cool.  However two releases I listened to in 2018 that really were pretty appalling were Arctic Monkey's Tranquility Base Hotel and anything by Greta Van Fleet.