2004: Stuff: Listening
Jan. 5th, 2005 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coalescentIt was a slightly lacklustre year for me on the music front. I bought, or had bought for me, or at least listened to, about 30 CDs, and many of them were ... not bad, necessarily, but disappointing.
Ash's Meltdown, for instance, has a brace of great tunes--'Orpheus', the thundering 'Clones', 'Evil Eye', 'Renegade Cavalcade'--but never really comes together as an album in a way that its predecessor, Free All Angels, so emphatically did. Similarly, the main failing of The Divine Comedy's Absent Friends, the Rock of Travolta's Uluru and The Music's Welcome To The North was in each case to be 'not as good as the previous album'. In the former case, the culprit is too much filler, in the latter a misjudged move from a more dance-y sound to a more rock-y one. For the Rock, I'm not sure what went wrong. I haven't listened to Soulwax's Any Minute Now or the Kings of Leon's second album Aha Shake Heartbreak enough times yet to offer a fair assessment now, but they seem to be victims of the same syndrome.
On the other hand, Badly Drawn Boy improved on Have You Fed The Fish Today? with One Plus One Is One, which goes back to the more rambling, folksy style of his debut. My favourite track is the simple, string-led ballad 'This Is That New Song', but 'Another Devil Dies' and 'Four Leaf Clover' are also good; and 'Year of the Rat' even gets away with having what sounds suspiciously like a school choir on backing vocals (although repeating the same trick on the album closer works less well). Ben Folds released a clutch of EPs, of which I've heard two, Speed Graphic and Sunny 16. The latter is my favourite; only the cover of 'Songs of Love' is uninspiring, and 'There's Always Someone Cooler Than You' and 'You've Got To Learn To Live With What You Are', despite their cumbersome titles, deserve their place in the Folds canon. Embrace's comeback album, Out of Nothing is probably more of a failure than a success, but since I have listened to 'Ashes' about fifty thousand times in the last month it has that, at least, to recommend it.
I was a bit more successful when it came to debut albums this year, although the best I bought--The Stills' Logic Will Break Your Heart, all ringing melodies and tenth-generations-removedd eighties influences--is an album from 2003. The Silent Hours by The Open has grown on me considerably since I first heard it: standout tracks include the opener, the rolling closer, 'Elevation', and the epic, anthemic ballad, 'Lost' ... even if the last of those does sound a little too much like Radiohead for comfort. Both the sparkly, poppy Faded Seaside Glamour by Delays and the indie rock-n-roll Hot Fuss by The Killers are almost very good albums; both, however, have one or two too many filler tracks. Lastly, Charlotte Hatherley--her out of Ash--gave us Grey Will Fade, a mixed bag of spiky, spindly punk-pop. Get hold of 'Kim Wilde' and 'Bastardo' if you want to hear the best tracks.
Hands-down the finest album I listened to this year, though, was Ryan Adams' Love Is Hell. Actually, this is a bit of a cheat. Though the full album was released this year, the original Love is Hell EPs were released at the end of 2003, and it's those that I'm basing my judgement on, because to my mind the album release omits several of the best tracks. My personal version of the album, however--all sixteen tracks of it--is outstanding, all the way from 'My Blue Manhattan' to 'Hotel Chelsea Nights'. If I had to pick best tracks, they would be 'This House Is Not For Sale', 'English Girls Approximately' and--of course--'Halloween'; but really there's nothing bad here. Adams' bruised country-rock has never sounded better, and the CD barely left my stereo all year.
So that's the best album covered. For best song, I'm going to take you track-by-track through the end-of-year compilation I made myself a few nights ago.
01. Ashes - Embrace (from 'Out of Nothing')
I covered this above, more or less: I've simply listened to it so many times that it will be indelibly associated with 2004 forever more. The most upbeat track Embrace have produced since 'You're Not Alone', and one that I needed to hear, whatever![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brassyn might claim.
02. Gender Bombs - The Stills (from 'Logic Will Break Your Heart')
Surely this has one of the most perfect intros ever? I could listen to those chiming guitar notes over and over, all night long, and not get bored. Plus, 'logic will break your heart' makes an even better lyric than it does album title. Thanks tofba for introducing me to this band (and for not mocking me too much when I got them confused with The Stands ...)
03. Mr Brightside - The Killers (from 'Hot Fuss')
This track has followed me around since its release. I heard it everywhere!colours even insisted I watch an Angel vid set to it (Angel/Spike/Shanshu, if you're wondering). But it is clearly the best track on the album, and probably one of the best singles of the year.
04. Orpheus - Ash (from 'Meltdown')
Meltdown might not be Ash's best album, but this has to be one of their best singles, from the opening thunder of drums to the perfect, ray-of-sunshine chorus. Perfect for driving to. I've tested it extensively.
05. Bastardo - Charlotte Hatherley (from 'Grey Will Fade')
The bouncy, punchy tale of a girl who, after a one-night stand, is dumped when the guy decides he prefers her guitar. Lovely.
06. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
The most commercial, poppy track I liked all year, this first impinged on my conciousness when I heard it three times in two days: on the way to Ollie and Rachel's wedding, on the dancefloor at Ollie and Rachel's wedding, and on the way back from Ollie and Rachel's wedding. I like it for more than just being associated with such a happy occasion, however--it's a damn fine song. Sometimes the radio still gets it right.
07. Paperback - The Scooters
I havecolours to thank for introducing me to this band, and to this song in particular. It's a slice of jangly, melodic guitar-pop. I may adopt it as my theme song.
08. Sit & Listen To The Rain - Whiskeytown (from 'Pneumonia')
In a shocking plot twist, the Ryan Adams track I pick for my best-of-the-year compilation isn't from Love Is Hell at all, but instead comes from one of the albums he made as the frontman of Whiskeytown. Gloriously melancholy--trust me, it's not an oxymoron--and beautifully bruised.immortalradical loaned me the album originally, and veggiesu bought it for me for christmas. I have listened to it many times since then.
09. Walking 2 Hawaii - Tom McRae (from 'Just Like Blood)
There had to be a Tom McRae track on here for two reasons: firstly his superb gig at the Islington Academy in November, and secondly I seem to remember blearily singing along to a tape of Tom McRae indespotliz' car, on the way to and from Eastercon. I can't actually pick a favourite track from Just Like Blood, but for today this will do.
10. Black Heart - Calexico (from 'Feast of Wire')
Also not a 2004 album, but after many recommendations frombrassyn I did finally buy it this year, along with 'Hot Rail'; and after I'd stopped being pleased with myself for noticing that Calexico provided the instrumental score music for the Angel episode 'The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco', 'Black Heart'--an immense, aching, bond-theme-esque ballad--became my favourite track from either album.
11. City Astronaut - Cindy Alexander
Another one I havecolours to thank for, this is a very simple, slightly ethereal, very beautiful piano-led track. I was most put out to learn that apparently the rest of her album isn't as good.
12. Little Bird - Emmylou Harris (from 'Stumble Into Grace')
immortalradical's turn to take the blame again. After being persuaded to attend a Harris gig at the end of 2003, it was only a matter of time before I picked up one of her albums. I don't like Stumble Into Grace unreservedly, but 'Little Bird', all mandolin and pretty, whistling melody, is wonderful.
13. You've Got To Learn To Live With What You Are - Ben Folds (from 'Sunny 16')
This is probably my favourite track from either of the Folds EPs I picked up this year; I love the chord sequence that doesn't quite do what you expect when the chorus comes, and I love the honesty of it all.
14. Let Go - Frou Frou (from the soundtrack for Garden State)
A late entry, this, from the fine soundtrack to a rather fine film. It plays over the final airport scene--if you've seen it, you know why it works. It makes me want to sing and dance and smile.
15. Elevation - The Open (from 'The Silent Hours')
It's not actually all that typical of the album, but this rolling road-trip of a song sits somewhere between Doves and U2 on the musical scale. And that's a good thing.
16. Appalachian Song - KTB (from the Truck 7 CD)
I have wanted a copy of this traditional a capella track for, literally, years, ever since I saw KTB silence a room at The Sunflower Club in Birmingham by singing it. This recording still doesn't quite do her voice justice, but it comes closer than anything on All Calm in Dreamland; and in the absence of a second album, I'm damn glad to have this.
Endnotes: in 2005, I'm looking forward to new albums from Doves and Tom McRae, and hoping for new albums from Elbow and Beth Orton (surely we're due?). I also can't wait for the Ben Folds gig in May.
Ash's Meltdown, for instance, has a brace of great tunes--'Orpheus', the thundering 'Clones', 'Evil Eye', 'Renegade Cavalcade'--but never really comes together as an album in a way that its predecessor, Free All Angels, so emphatically did. Similarly, the main failing of The Divine Comedy's Absent Friends, the Rock of Travolta's Uluru and The Music's Welcome To The North was in each case to be 'not as good as the previous album'. In the former case, the culprit is too much filler, in the latter a misjudged move from a more dance-y sound to a more rock-y one. For the Rock, I'm not sure what went wrong. I haven't listened to Soulwax's Any Minute Now or the Kings of Leon's second album Aha Shake Heartbreak enough times yet to offer a fair assessment now, but they seem to be victims of the same syndrome.
On the other hand, Badly Drawn Boy improved on Have You Fed The Fish Today? with One Plus One Is One, which goes back to the more rambling, folksy style of his debut. My favourite track is the simple, string-led ballad 'This Is That New Song', but 'Another Devil Dies' and 'Four Leaf Clover' are also good; and 'Year of the Rat' even gets away with having what sounds suspiciously like a school choir on backing vocals (although repeating the same trick on the album closer works less well). Ben Folds released a clutch of EPs, of which I've heard two, Speed Graphic and Sunny 16. The latter is my favourite; only the cover of 'Songs of Love' is uninspiring, and 'There's Always Someone Cooler Than You' and 'You've Got To Learn To Live With What You Are', despite their cumbersome titles, deserve their place in the Folds canon. Embrace's comeback album, Out of Nothing is probably more of a failure than a success, but since I have listened to 'Ashes' about fifty thousand times in the last month it has that, at least, to recommend it.
I was a bit more successful when it came to debut albums this year, although the best I bought--The Stills' Logic Will Break Your Heart, all ringing melodies and tenth-generations-removedd eighties influences--is an album from 2003. The Silent Hours by The Open has grown on me considerably since I first heard it: standout tracks include the opener, the rolling closer, 'Elevation', and the epic, anthemic ballad, 'Lost' ... even if the last of those does sound a little too much like Radiohead for comfort. Both the sparkly, poppy Faded Seaside Glamour by Delays and the indie rock-n-roll Hot Fuss by The Killers are almost very good albums; both, however, have one or two too many filler tracks. Lastly, Charlotte Hatherley--her out of Ash--gave us Grey Will Fade, a mixed bag of spiky, spindly punk-pop. Get hold of 'Kim Wilde' and 'Bastardo' if you want to hear the best tracks.
Hands-down the finest album I listened to this year, though, was Ryan Adams' Love Is Hell. Actually, this is a bit of a cheat. Though the full album was released this year, the original Love is Hell EPs were released at the end of 2003, and it's those that I'm basing my judgement on, because to my mind the album release omits several of the best tracks. My personal version of the album, however--all sixteen tracks of it--is outstanding, all the way from 'My Blue Manhattan' to 'Hotel Chelsea Nights'. If I had to pick best tracks, they would be 'This House Is Not For Sale', 'English Girls Approximately' and--of course--'Halloween'; but really there's nothing bad here. Adams' bruised country-rock has never sounded better, and the CD barely left my stereo all year.
So that's the best album covered. For best song, I'm going to take you track-by-track through the end-of-year compilation I made myself a few nights ago.
01. Ashes - Embrace (from 'Out of Nothing')
I covered this above, more or less: I've simply listened to it so many times that it will be indelibly associated with 2004 forever more. The most upbeat track Embrace have produced since 'You're Not Alone', and one that I needed to hear, whatever
brassyn might claim.02. Gender Bombs - The Stills (from 'Logic Will Break Your Heart')
Surely this has one of the most perfect intros ever? I could listen to those chiming guitar notes over and over, all night long, and not get bored. Plus, 'logic will break your heart' makes an even better lyric than it does album title. Thanks to
fba for introducing me to this band (and for not mocking me too much when I got them confused with The Stands ...)03. Mr Brightside - The Killers (from 'Hot Fuss')
This track has followed me around since its release. I heard it everywhere!
colours even insisted I watch an Angel vid set to it (Angel/Spike/Shanshu, if you're wondering). But it is clearly the best track on the album, and probably one of the best singles of the year.04. Orpheus - Ash (from 'Meltdown')
Meltdown might not be Ash's best album, but this has to be one of their best singles, from the opening thunder of drums to the perfect, ray-of-sunshine chorus. Perfect for driving to. I've tested it extensively.
05. Bastardo - Charlotte Hatherley (from 'Grey Will Fade')
The bouncy, punchy tale of a girl who, after a one-night stand, is dumped when the guy decides he prefers her guitar. Lovely.
06. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
The most commercial, poppy track I liked all year, this first impinged on my conciousness when I heard it three times in two days: on the way to Ollie and Rachel's wedding, on the dancefloor at Ollie and Rachel's wedding, and on the way back from Ollie and Rachel's wedding. I like it for more than just being associated with such a happy occasion, however--it's a damn fine song. Sometimes the radio still gets it right.
07. Paperback - The Scooters
I have
colours to thank for introducing me to this band, and to this song in particular. It's a slice of jangly, melodic guitar-pop. I may adopt it as my theme song.08. Sit & Listen To The Rain - Whiskeytown (from 'Pneumonia')
In a shocking plot twist, the Ryan Adams track I pick for my best-of-the-year compilation isn't from Love Is Hell at all, but instead comes from one of the albums he made as the frontman of Whiskeytown. Gloriously melancholy--trust me, it's not an oxymoron--and beautifully bruised.
immortalradical loaned me the album originally, and veggiesu bought it for me for christmas. I have listened to it many times since then.09. Walking 2 Hawaii - Tom McRae (from 'Just Like Blood)
There had to be a Tom McRae track on here for two reasons: firstly his superb gig at the Islington Academy in November, and secondly I seem to remember blearily singing along to a tape of Tom McRae in
despotliz' car, on the way to and from Eastercon. I can't actually pick a favourite track from Just Like Blood, but for today this will do.10. Black Heart - Calexico (from 'Feast of Wire')
Also not a 2004 album, but after many recommendations from
brassyn I did finally buy it this year, along with 'Hot Rail'; and after I'd stopped being pleased with myself for noticing that Calexico provided the instrumental score music for the Angel episode 'The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco', 'Black Heart'--an immense, aching, bond-theme-esque ballad--became my favourite track from either album.11. City Astronaut - Cindy Alexander
Another one I have
colours to thank for, this is a very simple, slightly ethereal, very beautiful piano-led track. I was most put out to learn that apparently the rest of her album isn't as good.12. Little Bird - Emmylou Harris (from 'Stumble Into Grace')
immortalradical's turn to take the blame again. After being persuaded to attend a Harris gig at the end of 2003, it was only a matter of time before I picked up one of her albums. I don't like Stumble Into Grace unreservedly, but 'Little Bird', all mandolin and pretty, whistling melody, is wonderful.13. You've Got To Learn To Live With What You Are - Ben Folds (from 'Sunny 16')
This is probably my favourite track from either of the Folds EPs I picked up this year; I love the chord sequence that doesn't quite do what you expect when the chorus comes, and I love the honesty of it all.
14. Let Go - Frou Frou (from the soundtrack for Garden State)
A late entry, this, from the fine soundtrack to a rather fine film. It plays over the final airport scene--if you've seen it, you know why it works. It makes me want to sing and dance and smile.
15. Elevation - The Open (from 'The Silent Hours')
It's not actually all that typical of the album, but this rolling road-trip of a song sits somewhere between Doves and U2 on the musical scale. And that's a good thing.
16. Appalachian Song - KTB (from the Truck 7 CD)
I have wanted a copy of this traditional a capella track for, literally, years, ever since I saw KTB silence a room at The Sunflower Club in Birmingham by singing it. This recording still doesn't quite do her voice justice, but it comes closer than anything on All Calm in Dreamland; and in the absence of a second album, I'm damn glad to have this.
Endnotes: in 2005, I'm looking forward to new albums from Doves and Tom McRae, and hoping for new albums from Elbow and Beth Orton (surely we're due?). I also can't wait for the Ben Folds gig in May.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 12:54 pm (UTC)Another one I have colours to thank for, this is a very simple, slightly ethereal, very beautiful piano-led track.
Hmmm. I like the sound of this one. *notes it down for future ref* Shame about the album, though.
14. Let Go - Frou Frou (from the soundtrack for Garden State)
That film isn't on at my local cinema, yet. Feh.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 10:21 pm (UTC)And Garden State is hardly on anywhere--I ended up seeing it in central London. If it appears, though, go! :)
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 09:10 am (UTC)There is one other track on the album that I really like - Sick of Me, which is rather more angsty than City Astronaut but is a very good tune. The rest of the album is however rather rubbishy cliched sappiness, although admittedly most people are rather more tolerant of that kind of stuff than me ;o)
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 05:33 pm (UTC)my dvd came today and i am wallowing in deleted scenes, outtakes and commentaries like a very happy hippo.
*does happy hippo dance*
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 10:20 pm (UTC)This would be a region americaland DVD, yes? It can't be out over here already!
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 10:28 pm (UTC)Do so. It's great!
Mostly.
-- tom
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 11:07 pm (UTC)