2020: Compilations, Reissues, & Boxes

Timely as ever, I just want to belatedly offer a few more thoughts on some of the releases added to the everythingsgonegreen music vaults across 2020. When it came to compilations, reissues, and box sets, it was a fairly heavyweight line-up.

Starting with perhaps the heaviest of them all, reputation-wise at least. Digging Deep: Subterranea, which offers a barely anticipated but very welcome 30-track Robert Plant solo career overview. One that sees the more obvious “hits” like ‘Big Log’, ‘Ship of Fools’, and ‘In The Mood’ sitting snuggly alongside a whole bunch of far less obvious stuff. And as any Plant fan will tell you, it’s the latter category where the real gems can be found. Digging Deep: Subterranea collects work from all but a couple of Plant’s post-Zepp solo releases across nearly four decades. The only notable absentee being work from the superb Alison Krauss collaborative effort, although Jimmy Page himself would surely argue that particular point. There’s three new (or previously unreleased) tracks to be found, the best of which is the Patty Griffin duet, ‘Too Much Alike’. More than anything, the album highlights what an exceptional career Plant has had. And still has.

In December 2020 the pop world found itself mourning all over again with the realisation that a whole 40 years had (or have) passed since John Lennon was so needlessly gunned down outside his NYC apartment. Naturally, without wishing to get too cynical about it all, a lot of fuss was centred around a new collection of Lennon post-Beatles work in the form of Gimme Some Truth. At 36 tracks in its deluxe form, it’s a balanced mix of his (and Yoko’s) best known material, alongside the not so well-kent stuff. I grabbed it, because I wanted to play the game, I like a bit of John, and of course I needed a long overdue companion set for my 2007 remastered version of Shaved Fish (1975). Apparently.

A far less-hyped late-in-the-year compilation release from a band that rarely put a foot wrong during its pomp of roughly a decade ago, was The Kills’ Little Bastards. Which is everything it promises to be on the tin. Rough, ready, raw and rudimentary rock n roll, across 20 tunes, the vast majority of which are hugely improved from their original form thanks to 2020 remastering. Highly recommended, and all that.

Speaking of rough and rudimentary, the long lost and I guess, very overdue, obligatory White Stripes Greatest Hits set was sitting in my collection before I even knew I needed it. Which I very much didn’t. I’m a Jack White fan, I don’t mind owning that … what else can I say? I’m also a bit of a Meg fan, if I’m being completely vulnerable and honest about everything. You’ll know all of these so-called greatest hits, or more shamefully, you might be someone who knows only ‘Seven Nation Army’. If you’re the latter, don’t sleep on this one, the White Stripes’ Greatest Hits album is here for you, not me.

Which brings me to a couple of compilations that aren’t really compilations because they appeal as being a little more niche or specific than that broad brush stroke might allow. New forms of old work:

Foals Collected Reworks Volumes 1, 2, & 3. More than four hours’ worth of the Oxford band’s finest moments reconfigured for what appears to be a rather large heavily lit dancefloor. Although it’s nowhere near as dubious as that may sound. Volume 1 is actually rather good, with serious producer-types, the likes of Hot Chip, Alex Metric, Purple Disco Machine, and Solomun, for starters, going mental on a career-spanning collection of Foals’ best stuff. In fact, Solomun’s edit of ‘Late Night’ is the stand-out track across the entire three volumes, which can all be picked up separately - as opposed to the full set I managed to snare. It is however a three volume set that falls slight victim to the law of diminishing returns. I felt a little jaded by the end. Volume 1 is probably quite enough techno-fried Foals, thank you very much, despite the best efforts of Jono Ma Jagwar Ma, Lindstrom, Mount Kimbie, and Trophy Wife on the second and third instalments. File this one away under: good to have, but not essential.

A little more essential for me, and another release that was both new material and yet not quite new material, was another intriguing instalment in David Bowie’s Changes series. This one - ChangesNowBowie - being specific to a radio special the great man recorded back in 1996. Featuring tunes like ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, ‘Aladdin Sane’, and Tin Machine’s ‘Shopping For Girls’. How much Bowie is too much Bowie? … wash your mouth out with soap. Reviewed here.

Reissues and deluxe sets: yet more heavyweight carry-on.

I’m probably preaching to the converted here, but New Order’s Power Corruption and Lies deluxe reissue, and Joy Division’s 40th anniversary edition of Closer proved irresistible additions, even though I’m sure I already have both albums in their original form somewhere. Maybe even on cassette. The key thing worth noting about each work is the way these albums made a mockery of the age-old “difficult second album” cliché. Of the two, I think the New Order release was the best value for money, if indeed deluxe releases are ever really value for money, with an Extras disc featuring those pesky non-album singles and previously unreleased versions of many of the album cuts.

Another landmark album celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020 with a multiple disc deluxe edition, and yet another release I didn’t really need but couldn’t resist, was Ultravox’s Vienna, the highlight of which was the “Rarities” disc featuring early versions (‘Sleepwalk’), soundcheck versions, the single version of ‘Vienna’, the 12-inch version of ‘All Stood Still’, and a bunch of live takes (at St Albans City Hall and The Lyceum) from the year of its release. Some of this stuff is incredible to listen to again, and a timely reminder of just how special Ultravox was during its pomp.

Ditto Depeche Mode, of course, and somewhat by accident, more by crook than hook, I managed to pick up a copy of the Violator 12-inch singles box set. Multiple versions of ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Policy of Truth’, and ‘World In My Eyes’, plus all of the associated b-sides … 29 tracks all up, including a dizzying 15 and a half minute ‘The Quad: Final Mix’ version of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ (phew).

An eight-volume deluxe set of Prince’s Sign of The Times, anyone? Probably unnecessary, but wow … the quality of the material he didn’t release when he was alive is all the testimony needed, if ever needed, for indisputable proof of Prince’s sheer genius. Or his commitment to his art. Or his perfectionist stance on releasing music. I found more than a few hidden gems modestly tucked away amongst the 90-plus (count em) tracks included on this deluxe set of an album I’d always previously (wrongly) regarded as being slightly inferior to Parade. I'm quite sure Parade didn’t have this many quality cast-asides, but that may yet remain to be seen. Just wow.

Last, and probably least, to be fair, a Bandcamp name-your-price I picked up was Pitch Black’s Electronomicon Live, which was essentially a prelude to the first ever vinyl release of the duo’s fantastic second album, Electronomicon, which celebrated its 20th birthday in 2020. As difficult as it might be today to process the fact that the relatively DJ/club-friendly original album had never previously been the beneficiary of a vinyl release, the live version - with tracks sourced from hours and hours of DAT tapes/live recordings from the era - stood up pretty well I thought.

Right, we’re nearly there, albeit weeks after the fact, I’ve got just one more 2020 retrospective blogpost to come, one that looks at the best EPs I picked up during the year.

Albums of 2017

2017 has been a fairly quiet year for everythingsgonegreen. That’s not the result of some great master plan, or of any conscious decision to wind things down, it’s just the way life’s been. And while I’ve blogged a lot less than in previous years - managing around a post per week - I’ve still been listening to a lot of music, reading about music, and attending gigs. I’ve just been less inclined to write about that stuff. It’s not like I haven’t had the time to blog, and I even had a spell mid-year when I was more or less living alone for a month, so there’s no real excuse. The flip-side to that has been a mentally demanding year for the day job, and an early summer overseas break, which robbed me of some momentum just as I was starting to ramp things up a little.

All of that said, 2017 has been a bumper year for new music, and albums in particular, despite continual assertions from naysayers that the album format itself is a dying art-form. The following list refers to my “most played” albums of the year, which, by extension might be interpreted as “the best” albums of the year, but I’ve doubtlessly missed many others that perhaps should have made the cut. The only prerequisite for the list is that I own a copy (in any format other than Spotify, which remains a mystery to me):

10. Peter Perrett – How The West Was Won

Without question, How The West Was Won is the blog’s comeback album of the year. It couldn’t really be any other way. I suspect even Perrett himself could scarcely have anticipated the hugely positive response his solo debut has attracted. It’s a heartfelt, intimate body of work, which marks Perrett’s card as one of rock’s ultimate survivors. My review can be found here.

9. Aldous Harding – Party

Speaking of barely anticipated success stories, Aldous Harding will forever recall 2017 as the year she went global. The year she went stratospheric, even. And rightly so. Party is just nine songs in length but they’re all immaculately crafted dark hypnotic gems. Challenging, unsettling, and ultimately very rewarding. The real test for Aldous Harding will be to better it next time out. My review is here.

 

8. Bonobo – Migration

Every year, there’s always one album that reveals itself a lot more slowly than the rest, and this year, Bonobo’s Migration wins the highly coveted EGG gong for “creeper” of the year. As uncomplimentary as that label may seem, Migration is an album that just keeps on giving, with each and every listen revealing something new and previously unheard – be it a small or otherwise undecipherable bleep, a nagging loop, a flurry of keys, or perhaps something more obvious like an additional layer of bass. Because this album has a lot of bass. Whatever the case, it’s not an album to be absorbed entirely over the course of one listen. It requires patience and a keen ear, and since it was released as long ago as January, I’ve given this one a fair amount of ear time during 2017. Despite not actually getting around to giving it a full review on the blog. Just a quick summary then: aside from compilations, collaborations, and remix efforts, Migration is album number six for LA-based Englishman Simon Green as Bonobo, all of which are released on Ninja Tune, and it brings together a multitude of influences and instrumentation, from strong North African flavours, to jazzy hip hop vibes, to glitchy electronica, and all manner of bass-driven world music textures. Beautifully produced, and just over an hour in length, the two best tracks on the album involve elements of collaboration – ‘Break Apart’, featuring Rhye, and ‘No Reason’, featuring the vocals of Nick Murphy (aka Chet Faker). The way things are going, the way this one is continually rising in my estimation, by this time next year, Migration could well be this year’s number one. Or something like that.

7. Coldcut & On-U Sound – Outside The Echo Chamber

Regular blog readers and friends (which, let’s face it, is pretty much the same person) will have picked this one. They’ll know of my obsession with all things On-U Sound. The label could release an album of (producer) Adrian Sherwood passing wind and I’d probably still include it on my year-end list. Providing he applied some echo and other marvellous FX, of course. This one is different though, because it’s not actually an On-U label release, and it includes stalwart Ninja Tune duo Coldcut, plus a host of other rather terrific collaborators. My review is here.

6. Lord Echo – Harmonies

I’m not sure why this album doesn’t feature more prominently on other local year-end lists. I can’t help but wonder whether it would have gained more traction had it been made by a more high profile R’nB or funk producer … an overseas-based artist, say? Which is madness. My review can be found here.

 

5. Slowdive – Slowdive

This is another album that didn’t get a full review on the blog. And another one that arrived as far back as January. It’s also the runner-up in the comeback of the year poll (I polled myself, okay?). It could all have been so different. It could all have gone so horribly wrong. A quarter of a century ago, Slowdive were at the very heart of this thing, or genre, we call “shoegaze”. A band for its time, very much of its time. Yet, after years of inactivity the band returned in 2017 with this self-titled pearler of an album. And how. In fact, if you compiled a playlist of the ten most essential Slowdive tunes since the band first started releasing music back in 1990, then at least four of them could be lifted from the eight tracks found on this, the fourth album of four, and the Reading band’s first for 22 years. Main protagonists, vocalists Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, are key to its success, their chemistry being front and centre on the tracks with lyrics or those that include vocals. Not that those vocals are particularly orthodox, and if I have a slight criticism, it’s that too often their voices are a little muddy or buried too deeply within the mix. There’s obligatory walls of driving guitar, multiple layers of purposeful noise, and during lighter moments, ethereal keys and ambient interludes to die for. Production comes courtesy of Halstead himself. Ultimately it’s a wonderful concoction of dreamy pop, and an album full of lovely surprises. Check out: ‘Star Roving’, ‘Sugar for the Pill’, and ‘Falling Ashes’.

4. Cigarettes After Sex – Cigarettes After Sex

In my original review (go here), I beat myself up just a little for loving the music of Cigarettes After Sex. What, with the album being so unrepentantly emo and pubescent ‘n all. I figure I really should know better, or at least, I really should be over all of that angst and nonsense by now, at my advanced age. Etc. Well, it turns out I’m not, and just between us … (*whispers, looks around anxiously*) … I’m really looking forward to the band’s Auckland gig next month.

3. Fazerdaze – Morningside

With all of the fuss being made over Lorde, Aldous Harding, and Nadia Reid during 2017, Amelia Murray (aka Fazerdaze) may feel a touch hard-done-by in the local-girl-done-good stakes. But she shouldn’t, she has talent to burn, and Morningside is its own reward. It’s the best thing to emerge from these shores all year. My review can be found here.

 

2. Robert Plant – Carry Fire

Where to start with the phenomenon that is Robert Plant? In truth, I probably don’t need to add anything, his career speaks for itself. More specifically, the five albums he’s released over the past dozen years or so - starting with Mighty Rearranger in 2005 - have made a mockery of any ill-conceived (yet common) notion that he’s just another crusty old rocker going through the motions. Carry Fire is the eleventh Robert Plant “solo” album, a second successive outing with the Sensational Space Shifters, and what once worked for him way back at the dawn of time, still works for him today. More or less. Only now, there’s quite a lot more variation on that much loved formula. Plant is essentially the consummate roots artist, only for him, roots means everything from country, folk, and blues, to orthodox pop, Celtic rock, and African rhythms. Carry Fire presents a veritable potpourri of all of the above. His customary Rock God howl is no longer as prominent as it once was, but with that change comes a seasoned voice full of subtlety and nuance. A voice that remains a weapon, an instrument in itself, even, but one that’s evolved into a weapon of a very different nature. These days it’s seduction by one thousand soft kisses, as opposed to the full on “wham bam” approach of his rather enviable youth. There’s some great stuff on Carry Fire; the past-referencing opener ‘The May Queen’. The intoxicating duet with Chrissie Hynde, ‘Bluebirds over the Mountain’. The closer, ‘Heaven Sent’. And the title track itself. See? … all of that, without once mentioning Led Zeppelin. Oh, darn.

1. The National – Sleep Well Beast

A lot of people love to hate this band, but you’ll know I’m a big fan of The National. And if an ordinary effort like 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me could make that year’s year-end ten for the blog, then you’ll sure as hell know that this year’s monstrous Sleep Well Beast is going to cane it. My typically fawning review can be found here.

Five honourable mentions and other everythingsgonegreen year-end gongs (“the EGGs”):

The Horrors – V … I used to think the Horrors was a try-hard goth-wannabe novelty cartoon band. A pale imitation of that, even. Without ever really listening to the music. This year’s release helped me see the error of my ways and the folly of my ill-informed prejudice. V was a good mix of psychedelia, nostalgia, and synthpop: see the Numan-esque album opener, ‘Hologram’ (“are we Hologram, are we vision?”), for evidence of the latter.

The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding … following on from the huge promise of Lost in the Dream (2014), this one felt a tad disappointing at first. Which only goes to show how high the bar had been raised, and it’s probably unfair, because A Deeper Understanding is a thoroughly decent album in its own right.

Ryan Adams – The Prisoner … a sixteenth studio album from the prolific American singer/songwriter. This one was all about not ever really being able to escape from that pesky broken relationship. Hence the title, I suppose. By the way, is there ever any other type of relationship? It’s all about degrees of “broken”, I guess.

Alt-J – Relaxer … or technically, alt-J, but that makes me cringe a little. My teenage kids have mentioned this band in passing, separately, more than once. Which must mean they’re hugely popular. I had no idea just how weird and whacky Relaxer would turn out to be when I picked it up on the strength of early single, ‘3WW’, which features Wolf Alice chanteuse Ellie Rowsell. This week's Wellington show is a sell out.

The Trainspotting 2 soundtrack wins the EGG for compilation album of the year. Thanks mainly to the fact that I enjoyed the movie so much. And because I didn’t really hold onto many of the other compilation albums I picked up during the year. Reviewed here.

Five more … close but no cigar: Depeche Mode – Spirit, LCD Soundsystem – American Dream, Mogwai – Every Country’s Sun, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Soul of a Woman, Zola Jesus – Okovi. Each of these albums had an extended run of pod time during the year.

Speaking of movies, the local festival “hit”, Swagger of Thieves, Julian Boshier’s fly-on-the-wall documentary about the trials and tribulations of Wellington rockers Head Like A Hole just shades Lion as EGG’s film of the year. Yes, there’s a huge amount of local bias and personal connection in that selection. Reviewed here.

The short album or EP of the year bauble goes to Wellington masters of the dark arts, Dreams Are Like Water, with A Sea-Spell, a striking debut, featuring a handful of tunes packed full of texture and depth. My love for this was instant. My review is here.

 

2017 was a big year for re-releases, deluxe versions, and anniversary reissues, with the EGG going to Radiohead’s 20^th birthday celebration of OK Computer, OKNOTOK, which included not only the band’s original masterpiece, but the added value of an entire new album of unreleased, previously discarded material from the same period. The “throwaway” material was superb, and proof, if it was needed, that Radiohead remain one of rock’s most important bands of the past 25 years. I had a real soft spot for Bob Marley’s ridiculously good Exodus reissue (40^th anniversary), and thought R.E.M.’s Automatic For The People (25^th anniversary deluxe) had a nice mix of live material and early demos to supplement the original. So good, you can trace the album’s evolution from start to finish when listening to those demos.

My gig of the year was Lord Echo's funk-fest at Wellington’s San Fran in early November, on the occasion of his Harmonies album release tour. With so many co-conspirators involved in the making of the album, I was curious as to how it might translate in a live environment, but he pulled it off with some aplomb. Ensuring that vocalists Lisa Tomlins and Mara TK were a big part of the show was key, obviously, but props to the entire band, which was sensational all night. As was support act Julien Dyne, who offered a virtuoso live drumming performance. That Saturday night gig just shaded the two Wellington Fazerdaze gigs I caught during 2017, the first at Caroline (reviewed here), right at the start of the year, and then much later on, in September, at Meow, which turned out to be even better. At each gig, Amelia Murray fronted an entirely different band. No mean feat in itself.

 

Which just about covers it. Obligatory year-end wrap completed. All in less than 2,500 words (yawn). Well done for making it this far. I nearly didn’t. If you don’t catch me here again before the silly season, dear reader, have a great festive period.

 

Albums of 2013

 

Albums of 2014

 

Albums of 2015

 

Albums of 2016

Albums of 2014

Okay, time for the annual EGG awards, aka “the Eggs” … or more simply, a list of your blogger’s favourite (read: most listened to) albums of 2014 …

10. Todd Terje – It's Album Time

It might well have been album time, but it was also about time. Norwegian producer Todd Terje has been relatively prolific as a remixer for other artists over the past few years, but this time it was finally all about him and he came up with a cracker. It's Album Time was an absorbing mix of tracks that had been out for a while in one form or another ('Strandbar', 'Inspector Norse') and newer previously unreleased material. It was also an almost perfect hybrid of state-of-the-art technology and old school dance vibes, with disco rhythms grinding hard up against softcore techno beats – all set to Terje's trademark electronic pulse. Bryan Ferry made a cameo appearance and gave us one of the album's surprise gems with his take on Robert Palmer's 'Johnny And Mary'. The album may have been a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait.

 

9. Al Dobson Jr – Sounds from the Village Volume 1

To be honest I probably wouldn't have known too much about this one if an old friend (connected with the artist and label) hadn't sent me a Bandcamp download code. Although some of the shorter sketches barely qualify as tunes, when consumed as a whole, the album was never anything less than a warm and seriously infectious listening experience. My original review can be found here.

8. Jack White – Lazeretto

Another year, another Jack White album, and while he appears to have overstayed his welcome in some quarters, I remain a fan. In fact I've got a theory about why I love Jack so much: for years I cursed that genre loosely defined as "classic rock" – it was just music for those who relied only on FM radio for their daily music fix and it wasn’t for me. In any form. Ever. Then along came Jack White – unconventional (White Stripes), raw (Dead Weather), challenging (Raconteurs), and farking loud (everything). A basket to place all those classic rock eggs I'd been denying myself (but had subconsciously, secretly even, started to appreciate). And so now that I'm at an age where the guilt has been removed from the notion of "guilty pleasures", I can just fully indulge in the music of Jack White without fear. Because White is nothing if not old school classic rock, and Lazeretto is merely the latest quite brilliant manifestation of that. Even though I know it's all been done before, there's no overkill here, and this shit still sounds relatively fresh to me.

 

7. Ha the Unclear – Bacterium, Look At Your Motor Go

Dunedin and/or sometime Auckland-based band Ha the Unclear is one of the few bands I missed at the Galatos showcase gig back in September … more fool me. And although I only picked up a copy of this album in early December, it's been given a good old fashioned thrashing across the past month – so much so I just had to include it as one of the most instantly loved albums of my year. To call the album “quirky” and quintessential Kiwi pop feels like an injustice to a work that’s so much more than that, yet for me those (admittedly lazy) descriptions somehow best nail the most immediate appeal of Bacterium, Look At Your Motor Go. I think vocalist Michael Cathro’s strong local accent only enhances that sense of Nu Zild-ness, because for the most part the album’s lyrical themes are universal, if somewhat odd and peculiar, and not at all exclusive to this part of the world – from religious ritual (‘Apostate’) to old age and regret (‘85’). But it’s when the perspective is expanded to include that of a coffee table reflecting upon its relationship with its owner (on ‘Secret Lives of Furniture’) that the narrative truly astounds … all set against a series of triumphant jangly/harmony pop tunes.

 

6. The Nomad – 7

7 was one of those albums that just kept getting better and better each time I heard it. Which was often. I got the chance to interview and profile Daimon Schwalger (aka The Nomad) for NZ Musician mag and I think what separates him from the vast majority of electronic producers is that he bears none of the stereotypical dance music snobbery you often tend to encounter with many DJ/producers. He is, in fact, a music lover first and foremost. It's something that shines through on all of his work, never more so than on 7, an album rich with the sort of cross-genre pollination we've come to expect from him. Co-conspirators on 7 included Jamaican up-and-comer Dexta Malawi, Melbourne-based grime merchant MC Lotek, talented newcomer (vocalist) Christina Roberts, Israel Starr, and past collaborators like Caroline Agostini, King Kapisi, and Oakley Grenell. Plus others. A line-up that pretty much speaks for itself. The album release party at Wellington's Boat Cafe in September – part of a NZ-wide tour – turned out to be one of the best nights out I had all year.

5. Tackhead – For The Love of Money

Some will just as likely write this one off as little more than just another covers album from a band struggling for any degree of 2014 relevance. I pity those people, for they know not what they miss. My original review is here.

4. Radikal Guru – Subconscious

Radikal Guru is a longtime everythingsgonegreen favourite and Subconscious was a more than worthy (late 2013) bass heavy follow-up to The Rootsteppa album, which topped this list in 2011. My review is here.

3. Sun Kil Moon – Benji  

It's a simple enough formula: man, guitar, stripped back folk rock, and a lyric sheet full of compelling lyrics. Mix deathly themes with no little amount of personal tragedy, and you get the wholly unique yet nonetheless unsettling Benji. Original review here.

2. The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

I'm sure I must have played Lost In The Dream more times than any other album during 2014. It probably helped that its smooth lines and nostalgia-friendly grooves were so workplace compliant ... my original review is here.

1. Robert Plant (& The Sensational Space Shifters) – Lullaby and The Ceaseless Roar

Harking back to that classic rock thing again, it turns out my favourite album of the year was made by a 66-year-old man whose music I could barely bring myself to listen to 30 years ago. But as much as I avoided Led Zep (where possible) during my teenage years, I've also grown to love the solo career of its key protagonist. Across the past decade particularly – from 2005's Mighty Rearranger to 2010's Band of Joy, and all collaborations in between – the music of Robert Plant has been nothing less than a revelation. And as much as that has given me a different and far more positive perspective on the band that made his name, Plant's latest work bears little resemblance to that of Zep. In fact, given the eclectic nature of Lullaby, it's practically impossible to burden it with any label – there's fiery Celtic rock, soft acoustic tones, some bluegrass, and a smattering of unrepentant edgy Americana. The critical element to all of it though is Plant's unmistakable vocal, which just keeps getting better with age. Another great body of work to add to an already incomparable legacy.

 

Honourable mentions: Celt Islam's Generation Bass, Brian Eno and Karl Hyde's High Life, First Aid Kit's Stay Gold, Jakob's Sines, and Vorn's More Songs About Girls and the Apocalypse.

Best reissue of 2014: it is impossible to go past the deluxe version of Nightclubbing, the 1981 Grace Jones classic. Aside from the original full length album you get five additional mixes of 'Pull Up To The Bumper' – including a particularly early version produced under the working title of 'Peanut Butter', which was credited to the Compass Point Allstars as a nod to the incredible studio line-up who worked alongside Jones at the legendary Bahamas-based studio. There are also alternative mixes for key album tracks like 'Use Me' and 'Demolition Man', but the other truly interesting artefact here is the cover of Gary Numan’s 'Me, I Disconnect From You'.

 

Best compilation of 2014: given the attention to detail I paid when diligently reviewing all four volumes of Hyperdub’s 10 series, I can’t really go past that little lot when it comes to ‘various artists’-type releases. With 101 tracks over the course of nearly seven hours it was as comprehensive as these types of retrospectives can be. A great collection from a seminal bass music label.

2014 was a year I finally got to listen to more Kiwi music. Something I’ve wanted to do for many a year, without really following through. Although The Nomad album shaded the Ha the Unclear release for my New Zealand album of the year, I could just as easily have selected a handful of local releases for the blog's ten albums of the year. That includes work from Jakob, Vorn, and Darren Watson.

Other thoughts: despite criticism elsewhere and a general shrug regarding the Pink Floyd finale, I thought the bulk of The Endless River represented a fairly decent album of previously shelved material. I also thought regular blog favourites like The Raveonettes and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart made good albums in 2014, even though neither scaled the heights of previous work. Thom Yorke’s latest solo effort also had its moments.

Flops of the year: U2’s spam effort, whatever the hell it was called. The Sinead O’Connor album was very ordinary and something of a generic plod-rock release with few redeeming features (and I say that as a Sinead fan). And naturally enough the Smashing Pumpkins (aka Billy Corgan) threw up another very disappointing effort, one that landed itself in the recycling bin after just one listen.

So there it is, the obligatory annual list posted for another year … here’s Grace doing Gary Numan:

 

 

 

 

 

Album Review: Robert Plant - Band of Joy (2010)

****

What is there left to say about the genius of Robert Plant?

From his time as frontman with the legendary Led Zeppelin, through various solo incarnations during the Eighties and Nineties, to wonderful post-Millennium albums alongside the Strange Sensation (Mighty Rearranger from 2005 is a genuine pearl) and Alison Krauss, Plant’s range and versatility continues to astound and inspire.

And now the grizzled old rocker’s “Indian summer” continues with the sublime Band of Joy (apparently the name of Plant’s pre-Zep band – who knew there was life before Zep? Hell, who can even remember that far back?), which combines almost equal portions of Rock, Gospel, Blues, Folk, and Country elements to produce one of 2010’s best albums.

I’ve never really been sure what Americana is, because its definition tends to change every time I see the word being used, but I reckon I’d not be too far off the mark to describe Band of Joy as Plant’s tip of the hat to that genre (see above combination of styles).

For a boy from the dirty grey facades of England’s “black country” region, Plant certainly has an inordinate and almost unfathomable amount of the American “southern man” present in his music. But then, he always did, and if the previous collaboration with Alison Krauss helped emphasise and remind us of that, then Band of Joy hammers the point home so strongly we’ll be a long time forgetting it.

But every style must have some substance and the key to Plant’s longevity is that amazing voice – yes it’s getting older and rather more frayed around the edges, but that merely adds to its character; Plant has become a master at getting the absolute most from it, and the songs on Band of Joy – quite a few of them being carefully selected covers – are perfect for him.

I could probably rave on about this album indefinitely but I’ll spare you, and it might just be a helluva lot easier and less painless if you just pick up a copy for yourself. You won’t regret it.

Highlights include ‘Angel Dance’, ‘Cindy, I’ll Marry You One Day’ and ‘Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down’, but both ‘Monkey’ and ‘Silver Rider’ are the real hidden gems here, and each demands repeated listening.