Day 363. The top ten. (29/12/13)

First, a little bit of housekeeping:

Those that pay attention to the bit at the top may have noticed that last night's blog was day 361 and today's is 363. There is a reason for this. Somebody (and I'm naming no names) decided that both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were day 358. I've given the guilty party three days notice and as of Thursday he's no longer involved in the blog.

Anyway...

You're probably wondering (in the interest of end of year summing ups and polls and lists and that kind of thing) what the top 5 albums of the year were. Well, I'm glad that you asked. Here goes.

Bowie - The Next Day

Was it ever going to be anything else? An absolutely essential return from out of nowhere, a staggering way of reclaiming popular culture and stardom for the man that spent the first decade of his career defining those areas. Luckily the album stood up to the publicity surrounding this return with its lead single 'Where Are We Now' (single of the year by some distance) disguising the fact through its stately elegance that it's mother album was actually upbeat, dark, bruised, aggressive, paranoid and sinister. Standing, in other words, with the best that Bromley Dave's catalogue has to offer.

Ian McNabb - Eclectic Warrior

I told you all this the other night - he plugged in again, rediscovered his Neil young vibe, got his mojo back courtesy of his new back up band and made one of the finest albums of his time as a solo artist. If you have any time for the grand gesture in rock'n'roll, if you find beauty in loud guitars and melodic soloing then this is quite definitely for you.

Prefab Sprout - Crimson Red

Yes, these are all old people and some are making comebacks but, hey, I'm old and this is the stuff that I like. It's not my fault that young people aren't up to the task of making decent pop songs is it? Paddy McAloon, troubled with near blindness and crippling tinnitus, makes what may well be his masterpiece. Utterly timeless in structure, recalling his late eighties and early 90s pop classics in its sound this album covered ageing, mortality, the beauty of music, the remembrance of your younger days and the deals we try to make to stave off the onset if darkness. For some reason it struck a chime with me.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor

The Canadian band have now hit a level of invention that reaches a Beatles/Clash standard of ingenuity. Anything is possible, any influence is open, everything feeds into their own sound and transforms. There is an obvious eighties indie feel but it's coupled with the modern dance of producer James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem, a touch of seventies disco bass lines, a heavy dose of dub reggae and a ton of Haitian voodoo tinged rhythms. After three great albums this may well be their masterpiece. The secret gigs that accompanied the album's release were as special and interesting as the band have always provided; disguises, giant papier/mâché heads, arriving at their Blackpool gig on the tram, insisting that their audience wore either formal or fancy dress? The music world is a better place for them. As everybody will discover when they headline next year's Glastonbury festival.

My Bloody Valentine - mbv

Years in the making, years of disappearance, rumour and myth. How do you follow up two albums that have stood as icons of indie for two decades? Easy, you improve on your formula; more melody, a larger wall of noise, more for your audience to bury itself within and then you release it as a download only through your website, only to find that the demand has hit a level that destroys said website within seconds. So you stream it on YouTube just to ensure that people get to hear it. Why do things the old fashioned way when you've spent your career inventing the future?


And - more briefly - the next five;

Jonathan Wilson 'Fanfare' - listened to a lot of Floyd in the making of this, it would seem. The production, the groove, the instrumental passages; all bigger than the songs initially. The ferocious live display transformed the album.

I Am Kloot 'Let It All In' - delicately beautiful, sparse, melodic, permanently on the brink of 'doing an Elbow' and becoming massive, never quite happening. THIS should have won the Mercury this year.

John Grant 'Pale Green Ghosts' - Queen Of Denmark had been all acousticy, singer songwritery traditional feel; this embraced electronica and haunting soundscapes. Truly great throughout but worth buying simply for the title track and the beautiful, life affirming and comedic 'GMF' as long as you don't mind rude words.

Nick Cave 'Push The Sky Away' - now an elder statesman of Rock, Saint Nick returned from Grinderman's last album of ferocious psychedelic blues to a gentler but still dark restraint. An early gem from the beginning of the year and a perfect Nick Cave album for people that wouldn't think that they'd like Nick Cave.

Arctic Monkeys 'AM' - I keep making the same point this album; I very rarely deliberately go back to it but when I hear any of it by accident I love it. Heavily influenced by hip hop the band took Urban beats and married them to heavy, circling guitar riffs while Alex Turner drawled lyrics that spiralled in an out of the groove and his bandmates backed him with the kind of 'sha-la-las' that vanished from vogue in the seventies. A late night album, if it's set in the 'am' then we're talking the very early am when still drunk, still high, still alone.

There you go then, ten albums to go out and buy. Or download. Or Spotify. Or however you all get your music nowadays. But trust me, they're worth the effort.

Oh bugger. I missed out Primal Scream's latest. Shall we go for twenty instead? No, it's okay, I don't mean it, you're safe, stay, there's only two days left and I promise - no more lists.