Well what a year it has
been for music. 2013 has thrown up plenty of surprises, controversy, some good
things and some bad; there have been some really good albums and the odd good song
too, and some amazing tours. It’s also at this time of year where people like
the good folks at NME, or Rolling Stone are paid, or in a few cases not paid to
give their opinion on what the highlights of the year were musically. You get
the annual end of year best albums and best song lists, all of which tend to
follow a similar pattern. British magazines and online sites will root for
British artists, while their American equivalents will do the same for their own
acts. The end result being that these lists really don’t go anywhere in
establishing a definitive list of best albums and best songs of the year, and
that apart from a select few top rating selections such as Daft Punk’s “Random
Access Memories”, or Kanye’s “Yeezus” these lists are a matter of opinion and
taste on the part of the reviewer, editor, or writer.
Which brings me to my
album highlights for 2013. Now I am not going to follow the norm of all the
music publications and bore you to death delving into the merits of my twenty
favourite albums, but instead I will keep it nice and short in giving you my
New Zealand album of the year, international album of the year, and what I like
to describe as my two eye-catching surprises of the year on the album front.
New
Zealand album of the year
Fat
Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
What a fantastic
comeback album this was for the Wellington band. Now initially I hadn’t been
too excited at the prospect of listening to their new album as it had been so
long since their last, but curiosity in the end got the better of me and boy oh
boy am I glad I did decide to give it a whirl. This album was fantastically
good, their best in my opinion, with some great songs combining reggae, jazz,
R&B, and electronica. The songs on “Blackbird” had more body and soul than
a lot of their other work, which I find at times can get a bit too laboured for
my liking. Here they got the formula spot on in what turned out to be a super
listen and my New Zealand album of the year.
Key Tracks: Blackbird,
Mother Mother
International
album of the year
David
Bowie – The Next Day
When I heard Bowie was
coming out of the wilderness and releasing a new album I was shocked, surprised
and excited all at once, as the announcement came completely out of the blue.
After hearing the first single off the new album “Where Are We Now” I didn’t
know what to expect to hear on the album, as I thought the new track was good
without being amazing. Thankfully the
album was beyond anything I could have fathomed, as Bowie came back with an
album as good as anything he has released in thirty years, and arguably what is
now his best album since 1980s “Scary Monsters”. This album had everything from
dance pop, rock, keyboard laced new wave, while some tracks even conveyed
shades of his wonderful Berlin period, in fact as I listened I was convinced I
was listening to a remake of “Heroes” (cover included). For a man who had
supposedly been out of music for a decade to come back with such a strong
offering, it makes me hope that there is more to come from this music genius, and that any more material Bowie decides to
release will be just as good as this.
Key tracks: Love is
Lost, Boss of Me
Surprises
of the Year
Bob
Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 - Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)
The latest release in
the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series “Another Self Portrait” is my first candidate for
surprise of the year, a release which focussed mainly on Dylan’s ill-fated “Self
Portrait” album. This great compilation is made up re-released tracks, demos,
new mixes and some unreleased songs and does a brilliant job in conjuring up a
new sense of life to a period in Dylan’s career which has its detractors. Many
of the tracks are superior to the originals, while some of the unheard tracks
are gems highlighting why the late-60s and early-70s period for Dylan was
arguably his best despite the initial mixed reaction to “Self Portrait”. A
definite candidate for compilation of the year, with plenty of variety on
display and heaps of songs to keep you interested across the two discs.
Key Tracks: Bring me a
little Water, This Evening So Soon
Wise
Up Ghost – Elvis Costello and The Roots
My second choice for
surprise of the year goes to “Wise Up Ghost”, the album which came out of the
unusual collaboration between Elvis Costello and The Roots. When I first heard
about this collaboration occurring I was a bit unsure how it would go and what
the results would be like. It would either be a confused train wreck and an
example of how often famous collaborations never work, or it would be a genius
paring of two completely different artists. Thankfully, and from my own perspective
surprisingly the latter came through, with the album being a wonderful
concoction of R&B, jazz, pop and experimental, and with both artists
equally bringing their own styles and influences to the table on the songs. The
end result was a fantastic chill-out groove-laden album, with some tender
moments from Elvis thrown in for good measure. If there was a category in all
the big awards ceremonies for hipster album of the year, “Wise Up Ghost” would
stand a good chance of winning, as this beauty of an album certainly had me pleasantly
surprised.
Key Tracks: Walk Us
Uptown, Stick Out Your Tongue
- Sam
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