January - August 2005
So far, so dull.
A year in which I've bought fewer new releases that I've liked than any other I can remember (although the forthcoming albums from Elbow and Sigur Ros look promising).
Having said that, the back catalogues of favourites such as Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Brian Eno, David Bowie and John Martyn have done a fine job of making me realise how much music still matters to me.
Bjork - Drawing Restraint 9 (2005)
The haunting Vespertine is undoubtedly one of my favourite albums of the last decade, but this, along with Medulla, is something I find really difficult to emotionally connect with.
Laudably inventive and idealistic in a conservative time, I wish I liked it more.
Lori Carson - The Finest Thing (2005)
A gorgeous fusion of intimate singer-songwriter confessionals, late-night Jazz moods and Ambient atmospheres.
The Cure - 17 Seconds (1980)
Spartan and restrained in way that Robert Smith would never be again, this is a definitive reissue of a classic album that filled many a dark teen night.
The Cure - Trilogy (DVD) (2002)
Undiluted Goth Juice at its best!
Pornography, Disintegration and Blood Flowers performed in their entirety in Berlin.
Surprisingly strong and committed performances, and a nice set of extras (with an eerie If Only Tonight We Could Sleep providing my personal highlight).
Sandy Denny - Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz (1973)
Perhaps the most consistent and melancholy SD album and the best of the recent spate of reissues.
Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968)
Celtic Folk, hummable pop classics, psychedelic whimsy and fragile ballads.
What more can you want?
Brian Eno - Another Day On Earth (2005)
Probably closer to the Passengers project (Eno's moody mid-90s collaboration with U2) than to his quirkier, early solo work, this is a warm and soothing selection of melodic electronic meditations that may not push any boundaries, but does possess an assured maturity and a rare sense of completeness.
Bone Bomb is a chilling highlight.
Rickie Lee Jones - The Duchess Of Coolsville - Anthology (2005)
A superbly packaged and well chosen collection of some of RLJ's output.
At her best (Skeletons, Hey Bub and On Saturday Afternoons In 1963), she's as good as anything I've ever heard.
Also contains her excellent version of Easter Parade performed live with The Blue Nile.
Paddy McAloon - I Trawl The Megahertz (2001)
A highly personal and ambitious work, perhaps closer to John Adams, Laurie Anderson and Arvo Part than to Prefab Sprout.
Like Talk Talk's later work, this represents a brave departure from type.
Joni Mitchell - Songs Of A Prairie Girl - Anthology (2005)
The Mitchell-Meister curates a themed collection of songs (that span her entire career) relating to her Canadian upbringing.
Includes the rare Urge For Going, the peerless Song For Sharon and a nice new mix of the classic epic Paprika Plains.
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (2005)
More 'Rock' than usual, but as ambitious as anything the ever-talented SW has done, and in 2005 that's obviously no bad thing.
Mellotron Scratch and the delicate Glass Arm Shattering are my personal favourites.
September 2005
With new releases aplenty, 2005 almost seemed to come alive this month, and aside from the rather dreary Neil Young offering, most lived up to their promises.
The Blue Nile - Peace At Last (1996)
This remains my least favourite Blue Nile offering, but even at their most mundane, this is a band that still manages to induce awe with their perfectly weighted snapshots of heightened emotional states.
For the tear-jerking Happiness and Family Life alone, Peace At Last continually reinforces TBN's position in my personal list of all-time greats.
Kate Bush - King Of The Mountain (2005)
Nagging harp-like samples and strangely murmured vocals build to a potent percussion dominated climax in this powerful and uncompromising return from one of the most idiosyncratic talents in Planet Pop.
A great calling card for what hopefully will be a great album.
Cathal Coughlan - Black River Falls (2000)
Pitched somewhere between Walker-esque crooner, Cale-esque trenchant observer and tune-infested singer-songwriter, this to me is the most satisfying of any of the enigmatic Coughlan's albums.
Dropping the vicious unpredictability of The Fatima Mansions, Coughlan creates a consistently downbeat, but melodically rich album that supplements its finely wrought songs with frequently interesting woodwind, string and electronic arrangements.
In a parallel universe, this man is a household name.
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World (2005)
With Guy Garvey's blend of choked emotionalism and casual Northern wit firmly upfront, this is a more natural sounding album than its predecessor.
Leaders Of The Free World is strong, inventive and frequently moving, with the delicate acoustic musings of Great Expectations providing my personal highlight.
Steve Hackett - Voyage Of The Acolyte (1975)
A consistently good debut solo effort that fits very nicely indeed between the spiky invention of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and the sunnier, more tuneful, charm of A Trick Of The Tail.
Steve Hillage - Green (1978)
Yet another 70's guitar hero called Steve!
Green is a bizarre blend of the past, present and future all gathered together in one supremely wayward and unfashionable package.
Fusing then current disco and funk back beats with dated Hippy gumbo lyrics and futuristic Ambient textures, the album is an intriguing collision that sounds as interesting and fresh now as it did then.
One to don your pixie hat with pride to!
Joni Mitchell - Shadows And Light (1980)
Yet another month and yet another Mitchell album on the playlist.
A live postscript to her 1970's 'Jazz odyssey' (Hissing, Hejira, Don Juan and Mingus), Shadows And Light always sounded a little glib to me, but there's nothing better than a FOPP price to help me re-assess stock opinions.
Looser and more dynamic than their studio counterparts, the songs feature some wonderful interplay from the stellar line-up of Jazz-bots, with the God-like Jaco Pastorius and the then rising star Pat Metheny shining.
Not as texturally rich or cogently intimate as her studio albums, nevertheless, Shadows And Light succeeds in placing old ideas in vibrant new settings.
Sigur Ros - Takk (2005)
To me, a slightly disappointing follow-up to the intensity and consistency of 2002's classic () album.
Despite that, Takk confidently promotes Sigur Ros as the Cocteau Twins of the new Millennium, with its soaring guitars, fragile melodies and indecipherable lyrics signifying everything, but possibly meaning nothing.
The sound of emptiness has rarely sounded so exquisite.
October 2005
Battiato - Fetus (1972)
The Cure - Faith (Deluxe Edition) (1981)
Mark Eitzel - Candy Ass (2005)
Elbow - Great Expectations (album track) (2005)
Gil Evans - The Individualism Of Gil Evans (1964)
Stan Getz - Plays (1952)
Francoise Hardy - La Question (1971)
Francoise Hardy - Star (1977)
Rickie Lee Jones - The Magazine (1984)
Le Orme - Contrapunti (1974)
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow (2005)
Gary Numan - Dance (2001 reissue) (1981)
Steve Reich - You Are/Cello Counterpoint (2005)
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier (2004)
November 2005
Kate Bush - Aerial (2005)
12 years on from the disappointing Red Shoes, KB returns with perhaps the most personal and ambitious album of her laudably wayward career.
Featuring a more muted and burnished production than most of her previous work, the album possesses a highly singular and cinematic musical approach that seems quaintly dated in the iTunes era, yet wholly appropriate as an intelligent and emotionally charged response to an increasingly disposable culture.
The fragile beauty of A Coral Room, the strange sensuality of Mrs Bartolozzi and the whole of A Sky Of Honey have provided an almost constant soundtrack to the last month. |
