2008: A Year in Music [Part 5: Musical discoveries]

The previous posts in my 2008 wrap-up suggest that I didn't buy a lot of music last year. Quite the contrary, I bought 113 albums in 2008. That's an average of 2 albums purchased per week! With only 8 albums from 2008, there's still 105 other albums I purchased during the year. The cream of those 105 albums is going to rise to the top, forming the basis of this post: my musical discoveries of the year. This is the post which I enjoy writing the most; if I can introduce at least one reader to one of these excellent albums, I'll consider it mission accomplished.

The albums here are listed in order of purchase.

The Divine Comedy - Promenade

I actually bought this album at the tail end of 2007, but I decided to cheat and include it in this list anyway. Casanova was in my list of 2007 musical discoveries, but Promenade was the Divine Comedy album I really wanted to buy for a long time. Unfortunately, it has been out of print for a long time, meaning that I had to resort to buying it off eBay second-hand. Thankfully, I found it for a very reasonable price.

There are many adjectives I would use to describe this music. The best phrase to describe it that I could come up with is lush, literate and romantic chamber-pop. If this description sounds in any way attractive to you, you will thoroughly enjoy this album.

Lyrically, the album could be described as a concept album, telling the story of a day in the life of two young lovers. Each song is a self-contained vignette covering a particular point in their day, but there is also a story arc over the course of the record.

There are highlights scattered throughout, but I particular enjoy The booklovers (basically a list of the lovers' favourite authors, which sounds boring but isn't), The summerhouse (a nostalgic ode to youth), the quirky A drinking song (where the lovers get drunk) and the optimistic and feel-good closer Tonight we fly.

This is one of those albums where there isn't a note out of place throughout its 45-minute running time. A stunning album.

MP3: The Divine Comedy - The summerhouse [Link removed]

Ed Harcourt - The beautiful lie

I bought Ed Harcourt's 2001 debut album Here be monsters shortly after it was released, and it quickly became one of my favourite albums of that year. I haven't purchased his subsequent albums From every sphere and Strangers because they are corrupted with that blasted Copy Control technology, which EMI thought was a great idea in the mid-noughties but have thankfully discontinued now. Luckily, his excellent 2006 album The beautiful lie is free of that feeble attempt at copy protection.

Ed Harcourt is a brilliant singer-songwriter from England who deserves a lot more acclaim than he is getting. His lyrics are slightly quirky (the result of a subtle Tom Waits influence), his voice is full of character and emotion, and his musical composition and piano playing are out of this world.

While I loved Here be monsters, Ed has shown a lot of progression in the five years since that album was released. The album generally alternates between upbeat jazzy rockers (Visit from the dead dog, Shadowboxing, Revolution in the heart) and late night laments (You only call me when you're drunk, The last cigarette, Good friends are hard to find). Rain on the pretty ones is stupendous, one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in the last five years. And Braille is a beautiful, haunting, duet with his wife Gita Harcourt.

If you are a fan of Jeff Buckley and lament most of the singer-songwriter fare released this decade, give Ed Harcourt a listen. You won't be disappointed.

MP3: Ed Harcourt - Rain on the pretty ones [Link removed]

New Order - Technique

Everyone knows New Order for their hits (Blue monday, Bizarre love triangle, True faith), but not many know that they also have some pretty good studio albums as well. Prior to purchasing Technique, I had Substance (their best-of from 1987), Power, corruption & lies (their 2nd album from 1983) and Low-life (their 3rd album from 1985). I enjoyed Substance, but those other two albums seemed a bit patchy to me (although there were definitely some great moments on each).

Technique is a different beast entirely. Partially recorded on the island of Ibiza, it incorporates a lot of acid-house influences that were prevalent in the late 80s. The change of scenery had a very positive effect on the band, refreshing their sound while still not losing what made them so good to start with.

Opener Fine time is a bit of a red herring, emphasizing dance and beats a little too much over catchy pop. But from All the way until closer Dream attack, this album is a non-stop party. It's melodic, hooky, and you can dance to it. And most importantly, it makes you happy while you listen to it. A very impressive album.

MP3: New Order - Round & round [Link removed]

Various Artists - "Death Proof" soundtrack

To be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed with Quentin Tarantino's latest film Death proof. It was okay, but his movies seem to be getting a little cliched and lacking the spark that made Reservoir dogs and Pulp fiction so amazing and some of my favourite films of all time.

Despite my thoughts on the movie, the soundtrack is another gold Tarantino compilation of unearthed gems. I don't know how he does it, but Quentin is always able to uncover these hidden classics from the 60s and 70s and compile them in such a way to make an endlessly listenable and brilliant soundtrack.

What I love about this soundtrack (and pretty much all Tarantino soundtracks) is how he eschews the obvious and well-known songs that would work well in a car chase movie, simultaneously enthralling the listener and introducing them to music they would otherwise probably never hear.

The soundtrack consists of some great soul numbers (Staggolee, The love you make, Down in Mexico), moody instrumentals (The last race, Paranoia prima, Sally and Jack), glam (Jeepster), early 60s power-pop (Hold tight) and even a bit of quirky bubblegum (Chick habit). And no Tarantino soundtrack would be complete without the trademark movie dialogue scattered throughout at appropriate moments (although I'll admit the dialogue is much less memorable this time around).

Even if you haven't seen Death proof, I wouldn't hesitate recommending this soundtrack to anyone. This was one of my most listened albums of the year.

MP3: The Coasters - Down in Mexico [Link removed]

Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram

I had read about this album a lot over the years, and eventually purchased it in 2008. Released in 1971 (a great year for music), it is considered to be one of his best solo albums. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical about the album before I purchased it. I already had his best-of compilation All the best!, and while there are undoubtedly some amazing tracks on there, I was suspicious that he couldn't maintain brilliance over the course of a whole album. I'm glad that I can now say that I was completely wrong.

Ram is up there with All things must pass and Imagine as a brilliant and fully realised Beatles solo album. While All things must pass showed that George had so much more to say (if only John and Paul had let him), and Imagine was an intensely personal masterpiece by John, Ram was a quirky and immaculately recorded window into Paul's creative mind in the early 70s.

It doesn't have many hits on it (Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey excluded), the lyrics certainly didn't have the depth of Lennon's (apparent in the Beatles' music as well), but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in heart. This is an endlessly listenable album, where each song has a purpose, and it's just old fashioned fun music.

The highlights? The semi-title track Ram on is a stunning, minimalistic number that sounds like it would fit nicely on the White album. The aforementioned Uncle Albert is a quirky number that can't help but make you happy. Monkberry moon delight is a crazy singalong that sounds like it would have been a big influence on Tom Waits. And the best is saved till last -- Back seat of my car is a multi-faceted masterpiece that is as good as anything the Beatles ever released.

MP3: Paul & Linda McCartney - Back seat of my car [Link removed]

James Brown - 20 all time greatest hits!

The first James Brown album I bought was Live at the Apollo, which is considered to be his masterpiece, and one of the great live albums of all time. I'm generally not a big fan of live albums, but there are always exceptions. Even though I have listened to Apollo many times over the years, it has never really hit me as being as brilliant as everyone says it is.

For such a soul legend as James Brown, I thought the most logical next step was to pick up a compilation that represented his most well-known songs. There are a lot of James Brown compilations out there, and I didn't want to just pick up any compilation. So I did a bit of research, and this one was mentioned many times as the pick of the bunch. Unfortunately for me, it seemed to be out of print and unavailable in Australia. In May 2008 I was on a business trip in Vancouver, and managed to find this CD in a downtown second-hand CD store.

For a man who has had so many classic singles scattered across different discs, a great compilation like this was easily the best way to appreciate his genius. This is a funk and soul odyssey, kicking off in brilliant fashion with I got you (I feel good), upping the ante with Sex machine, making a few rest stops (It's a man's man's man's world) and uncovering some lesser-known gems (Get on the good foot) along the way.

Put this on, crank it up, and bathe in the genius of the Godfather of soul.

MP3: James Brown - It's a man's man's man's world [Link removed]

Mansun - Attack of the grey lantern

I was a big fan of the Britpop genre in the early to mid 90s, but there were a few bands who I had missed along the way. The Britpop train definitely left the station in about 1997-1998; while I can still appreciate albums from that era with a sense of nostalgia, it's always scary coming to the party late because without the memories of enjoying that music at the time it can be a futile attempt to appreciate music which might very well be of its time.

I recently read many reviews praising this album (Mansun's debut) which was released in 1997, one of the greatest years for music. I managed to find it for $5 on eBay, picking it up with very little risk if it turned out to be a bit on the shite side. Luckily for me, there are no disappointments here. This album actually holds up remarkably well, and I think it's because Mansun don't emphasize their British-ness as much as some of the other Britpop bands of the era (e.g. Menswear).

This album has a bit of a glam-rock feel to it in places, reminding me a little bit of a more grounded version of Suede's amazing album Dog man star. The sound is simultaneously epic (The chad who loved me, Dark Mavis), upbeat and dancy (Taxloss, Stripper vicar), anthemic (Wide open space) and at times quite reflective (Disgusting). Even the hidden track is great; a clever piece on how obsessive fans read too much into lyrics.

MP3: Mansun - Wide open space [Link removed]

Various arists - Tropicália: A Brazilian revolution in sound

Tropicália is an art movement that arose in the late 60s in Brazil. There was a more sinister political side to the movement (which you can read about here), but musically this was a highly creative era which influenced many musicians in subsequent generations.

I first became aware of this great compilation when I saw a very high score next to it on MetaCritic. It was enough for me to do a bit of investigation, and I snagged it up on eBay in 2008.

This is the first CD of its kind that I have in my collection, and it goes to show how much great music one can miss out on when they limit themselves to more conventional genres. This music is simultaneously exciting, passionate, political, complex and multi-layered. It doesn't matter that I don't understand a word on the whole album (with the exception of the superb Take it easy, my brother Charles, the only English song); the music speaks for itself, saying more with its musical passion in 5 seconds of music than a lot of modern English-language music can do over the course of an album.

The compilation is made up of several songs by key artists from the movement -- Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze and Jorge Ben. The packaging is wonderful, including a wonderfully thick booklet describing the movement and what it meant in the context of the time.

Be open minded and give this great CD a listen.

MP3: Gilberto Gil e Os Mutantes - Domingo no parque [Link removed]

Martha Wainwright - Martha Wainwright

With a few notable exceptions such as Kate Bush, I generally prefer male vocalists of female vocalists. I'm not sure why, but it's just a personal preference that hasn't changed a lot over the years. Every now and then, a female vocalist comes along that I fall in love with. Martha Wainwright is one such example.

Martha's voice is a stunning, bluesy instrument which conveys a tremendous amount of emotion. Combining this with her dark and sometimes tortured (Bloody mother fucking asshole) lyrics makes for a compelling listen. This is an intensely personal album, with each song sounding like a diary entry from a woman who has many skeletons in her closet.

Martha has music in her blood -- her father is legendary folk/blues musician Loudon Wainwright III (and apparently the bloody mother fucking asshole who she dedicated that lovely song to), her mother is Canadian folk musician Kate McGarrigle, and her brother is baroque indie popster Rufus Wainwright. While I have never really gotten into Rufus' music (sorry Adam), Martha's work is a different story entirely.

To think that this is only her debut album -- this woman has lots of potential. She's already released her 2nd album, and it's definitely one I will be picking up in the future.

MP3: Martha Wainwright - Bloody mother fucking asshole [Link removed]

The Boo Radleys - Giant steps

No, this isn't a re-recording of John Coltrane's infamous landmark 1960 jazz album.

The Boo Radleys were someone who I always categorised as "just another Britpop" band, and they did become that way in the late-90s. But when I did a bit more digging, I saw this album constantly come up in lists of "lost classic" albums. And lost classic is exactly what this album is.

This is an epic record, alternating between melodic gems (I hang suspended, Wish I was skinny, Best lose the fear, The white noise revisited), distorted shoegaze numbers (Upon 9th and Fairchild, Leave and sand, I've lost the reason) and even dubby reggae-influenced numbers (Lazarus).

All of the sounds are woven into an epic whole, and the end result is an album which is simultaneously accessible and challenging. Some songs jump out at you on the first listen, and others creep up to you on the 10th listen, and you wonder how you ever missed them in the first place. Overall, this album achieves the perfect balance of pop sensibilities and musical depth, and highly deserves its status as an underrated classic of the early 90s.

MP3: The Boo Radleys - Upon 9th and Fairchild [Link removed]

Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley shoals

I'd like to give a shout-out to Stefan, who recommended this great album to me, which prompted me to purchase it. I already mentioned in my review of the Mansun album that there were a few Britpop classics from the mid-90s which I had somehow overlooked in my appreciation of the genre back in the end. Well, Moseley shoals is another example of such an album.

This album is only Britpop by definition, as it's not really poppy at all. Opting instead for a mod-blues sound, this music is more influenced by Paul Weller, Traffic, Faces and The Who than anything by The Beatles. Singer Simon Fowler has a great voice which suits the music really well, and the rest of the band are a very tight unit as well. Because their style of music isn't really Britpop at all, it has aged really well despite the fact that it was released 13 years ago now.

There are many highlights -- opener The riverboat song is propelled by a fantastic riff, The day we caught the train and The circle complete the opening trifecta in a stunning fashion, and One for the road would make a great roadtrip song.

This album was big in the UK, but it deserves a much bigger audience.

MP3: Ocean Colour Scene - The riverboat song [Link removed]

Ben Harper - Lifeline

Thanks to my friend Brett, a lifelong Ben Harper fan, for recommended this great album to me. I own all Ben Harper studio albums except There will be a light and Both sides of the gun, both of which I never purchased because they are cursed with that infernal Copy Control technology. This one is thankfully free of that.

In my loudness war post, I mentioned how Lifeline was a great example of a contemporary album which had been beautifully produced. You only need to listen to the opening track on this album to hear how refreshing the production on this album is compared to a lot of other so-called music released nowadays.

Musically, this is Ben Harper's inevitable soul/R&B album. He had always dabbled in this genre before on his previous albums, but this is the first time he had dedicated (almost) an entire album to that style. Ben is in fine voice throughout this album, and the Innocent Criminals continue to be one of the best backing bands of recent times.

Brett mentioned to me that the first time he heard Fool for a lonesome train, he was convinced that was a cover of an old soul classic, and was surprised to find that it was a Ben Harper original. I have to agree with him; this is a brilliant song, and likely to become a soul/R&B standard in many years to come.

While the last two songs don't seem to really fit in with the vibe of this album (another point I was made aware of by Brett), I don't think they detract from the album as a whole. Instead, I think of them more as a fantastic encore to the songs which preceded them. The final title track Lifeline has one of his final vocal performances to date, and the album is richer due to its inclusion.

MP3: Ben Harper - Fool for a lonesome train [Link removed]

Carole King - Tapestry

For many years, I had delayed picking up this landmark singer-songwriter album because I had the silly impression that I wouldn't like it (mainly due to radio overplay, and the general dated feel of some of the songs).

Silly, silly Jiggy! This is a masterful album by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our generation. Many of the songs on this album were already classics before this album was released, being recorded by other artists such as Arethra Franklin and The Shirelles. But the versions on this album are great for two reasons -- Carole King has a remarkable soulful voice, and we get to hear the song by the person who [co-]wrote them, emphasizing the personal nature of the lyrics.

As good as the well known songs on this album are (and there are lots of them -- I feel the earth move, It's too late, You've got a friend, Will you love me tomorrow? and You'll make me feel like a natural woman), it's the quality of the lesser-known tracks which really surprised me. In particular, Beautiful is a wonderful number which puts me in a great mood, Smackwater Jack is a fun story song and the title track is a beautifully evocative stunner.

And every time I hear Where you lead, I can't help but picture Lorelei and Rory Gilmore eating in Luke's Diner.

MP3: Carole King - Beautiful [Link removed]

Sam & Dave - The very best of Sam & Dave

My first exposure to legendary soul duo Sam & Dave was through Elvis Costello's cover of I can't stand up for falling down, on his classic 1980 album Get happy!! While Elvis' version was an upbeat toe-tapping number, the original version (included on this compilation) is a slow-paced ballad. It's always interesting when you hear a cover of a song before the original, and in this case it was particularly surprising.

Most people would know Sam & Dave's classics Hold on, I'm a comin', Soul man and Soothe me, all of which are included on here. This is 60s R&B at its finest. While they didn't write their own songs (most were written by the legendary Isaac Hayes together with David Porter), they were true interpretors and excellent performers whose voices complemented each other perfectly.

This is a great compilation, without an ounce of filler, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wants to expand their soul/R&B collection.

MP3: Sam & Dave - Soothe me (Live) [Link removed]

Stevie Wonder - Hotter than July

Stevie Wonder's 5-album run of genius, by most critics' accounts, starts at Music of my mind (1972) and ends at his magnum opus Songs in the key of life (1976). I have the 5 albums from that era and can highly recommend them as some of the finest music ever released. I had always heard that Hotter than July (from 1980) was another brilliant album that fell just outside the classic period, but had never purchased it.

I'm not sure why I waited so long, because this album (to me anyway) deserves to be included amongst the best albums he has released. Three classic singles (Master blaster, Lately and Happy birthday) provide the album with its foundation of familiarity, but they are just the tip of the iceberg of musical enjoyment that is to be had on this album. Each song is funky, catchy, musical, vocally fascinating, and everything else that you come to expect of Stevie's work.

Less well-known highlights include the beautiful Rocket love, too-catchy-for-its-own-good I ain't gonna stand for it (try getting this song out of your head) and the funky little Cash in your face. But it's all good, and in a way I'm glad I only bought this album now because it's exciting discovering another amazing Stevie album that I didn't even know existed. My only gripe is the title of the album, which doesn't work so well in the southern hemisphere.

MP3: Stevie Wonder - I ain't gonna stand for it [Link removed]

Midnight Oil - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

This is a classic case of an album which I had heard a few times in its entirety (many years ago), knew it was a classic which I should have in my collection, but had for some reason never purchased it. I already owned two Oils albums -- the excellent compilation 20,000 Watt R.S.L. and classic Diesel and dust. 20,000 Watt R.S.L. contains a lot of tracks from this era, and could have quite easily cannibalised 10...1 (making it less attractive to purchase), but for some strange reason two hits from this album (Short memory and Read about it) weren't included on that compilation. The only way I could get those great songs would be by purchasing this album.

I'm glad I did, because this is an album in the true sense of the world. It has an excellent flow to it, a conceptual unity to the lyrics, and not a dud song in the bunch. Opener Outside world has a fantastic mood and atmosphere, and for some reason I hadn't picked it as a standout all those years ago. But it is, and as an opener it fulfils its mission of "reeling the listener in" perfectly.

Follow-up track Only the strong has one of Peter Garrett's finest "angry" vocal performances. This song is pure energy, with the last few minutes of the song being a fantastic come-down. The aforementioned hits Short memory and Read about it follow, being as fascinating musically as they are lyrically. It's depressing that the political lyrics still mean as much now as they did in the early 80s. Scream in blue ends side A (as it was in vinyl) in a fascinating fashion -- the opening half being a feedback-laden instrumental, and the second half being a beautiful piano-based ballad.

Side B kicks off with two more hits which were on the best-of compilation -- U.S. forces and Power and the passion, the latter of which includes an excellent drum solo from Rob Hirst which is up there with Moby dick on Led Zeppelin II. We get a bit political with the last three tracks, with Marilinga being a particularly powerful song about the plight of the Aboriginal communities who were affected by the nuclear testing in the 50s.

This is an immensely powerful album lyrically, but what I find most fascinating about listening to it now is how experimental the music is. I had always considered Midnight Oil to be a fairly commercial band who had something interesting to say, but I can say after coming to this album late that they were also an incredibly tight band during this era, who weren't afraid to do things which were quite anti-commercial. They could have quite easily opened the album with Power and the passion (or one of the other hits), but choosing to open with the oddity Outside world showed how left-field and dedicated to their art they were.

This is a fantastic album which deserves its place amongst the greatest Australian albums of all time.

MP3: Midnight Oil - Outside world [Link removed]

Various artists - 101 80s hits

I have already discussed this compilation at great length in this post, so there's no need to repeat myself. Needless to say that it gave me much musical enjoyment in 2008, and it was also very educational, introducing me to lots of songs from the 80s that I should have known better than I did.

MP3: A Flock of Seagulls - I ran [Link removed]

Jens Lekman - When I said I wanted to be your dog

Jens Lekman is a twenty-something Swedish singer-songwriter who writes and performs quirky, funny, honest and unabashedly romantic folk songs mainly about girls and his (often failed) romantic conquests. Most of the songs on this 2004 album (his debut) sound like diary entries from a lovesick teenager.

Musically, the strongs are stripped-back and quite simple in their structure, sometimes embellished with strings and horns to increase their emotional impact. But it's the lyrics where Jens shines, elevating him to a higher place than "just another indie singer-songwriter". Get a load of the opening lyrics to album highlight You are the light:

Yeah I got busted
So I used my one phone call
To dedicate
A song to you on the radio

I don't know what it is, but the thought of a twenty-something man getting caught by the fuzz and using his phone call to dedicate a song to his crush cracks me up every time I hear it. I'm not normally a lyric man, but the lyrics in Jens Lekman's music hit me in ways that a lot of other music doesn't.

I won't hesitate to say that his music is up there with early Belle & Sebastian, and I look forward to picking up his more recent album Night falls over Kortedala.

MP3: Jens Lekman - You are the light (by which I travel...) [Link removed]

Elton John - Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy

I had a couple of Elton John albums before this one, but this is the first one that I have truly loved (and it's still growing on me after about 5 listens). The first one I bought was Goodbye yellow brick road, which is widely considered to be his classic album, but to me feels a bit overlong and bloated. Then I bought Tumbleweed connection, one of his earlier and more country albums. While that albums has some excellent songs on it, something that I can't quite put my finger on puts me off that album -- I think it may be the slightly-cheesy female backing vocals on some of the tracks.

Even from the first listen, I could tell that Captain Fantastic was a different sort of album. Firstly, at 46 minutes it's very concise and doesn't leave a lot of room for filler. Secondly, it has a conceptual unity both musically and lyrically (yes, it's a concept album). Thirdly, it has some of the finest songwriting of Elton's and Bernie Taupin's career. And to top it off, the vocals and performances on this album are some of the best I have ever heard. Did I mention the production? That's great too.

Lyrically, the concept of the album is about the struggle that Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin went through in the mid-late 60s before Elton hit the bigtime. The album covers a lot of ground lyrically, but the album flows remarkably well; it's one of those works of art where not a note feels out of place.

I also have a confession to make. While I knew of the classic song Someone saved my life tonight, for some reason I had never heard it (or at least remembered it) before I picked up this album. I'm not sure how I missed this classic piece of songwriting and performance, because it's one of the best songs I have heard in a long time. Based upon a true story of Elton trying to kill himself (and Bernie saving him), the song builds and builds musically, reaching many crescendos during its 7-minute running time, but never for one second does the listener lose interest.

It is an amazing composition that sits comfortably amongst the finest songs released in the last 50 years. On a lesser album, the other songs would have been so overshadowed by the brilliance of this one number that they would have quickly become forgotten. It's a testament to the power of this album that this doesn't occur.

MP3: Elton John - Someone saved my life tonight [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Ron Asheton 1949-2008

Ron Asheton, guitarist and co-songwriter with Iggy Pop in the proto-punk band The Stooges, has died at the age of 60.

The Stooges were a major influence to the punk movement of the late 70s. The original line-up released 3 albums in the late 60s and early 70s, all now considered classics: The Stooges (1969), Fun house (1970) and Raw power (1973). They recently re-formed, releasing The weirdness in 2007 to mostly negative reviews.

I personally own Fun house and Raw power, but the self-titled debut is on my list of CDs to purchase.

Fun house is a fantastic album which didn't do a lot for me on initial listens, but eventually grew on me. It's got an amazing vibe to it which is hard to explain but easy to appreciate. As an album it has a crazy structure -- it starts out fairly traditional hard rock, but by the end it completely dissolves into chaos. A crazy album that is definitely worthy of purchase.

The original version of Raw power was produced by David Bowie, but Iggy Pop personally remastered it in 1997. The Iggy Pop remaster (which I own) is turned up to 11 for the entire running time, and is considered by many to be the loudest album ever, although I have a feeling that Metallica's Death magnetic may have recently overtaken it. The opening two tracks, Search and destroy and Gimme danger, are classic proto-punk songs.

Rest in peace, Ron. Your riffage will live on.

MP3: The Stooges - Gimme danger [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

2008: A Year in Music [Part 4: Top 5 albums of the year]

Happy new year! It's 2009 already, and I'm still talking about 2008. Talk about living in the past. Anyway, time for my my top 5 albums of 2008.

5. Oasis - Dig out your soul

The fact that this album did make the cut of my top 5 list is a pretty good indication that 2008 wasn't a great year for me for newly released music (or it at least indicates that I didn't buy a lot of new music).

Here are very short reviews of all of the previous Oasis albums:

Definitely maybe - One of the best debut albums of all time! This is a masterpiece and all-time classic.
Morning glory - This album made them huge. It plays like a greatest hits compilation; the songs are that good! Another masterpiece.
The masterplan - An amazing B-sides compilation. Nay-sayers, listen to this before dissing Oasis!
Be here now - Coke-fuelled, over-long and self-indulgent. But there are some amazing songs here as well.
Standing on the shoulder of giants - A career low-point. There are a few good songs on here, but a lot of filler as well.
Heathen chemistry - A pretty solid album overall. This album showed that they still had something to say.
Don't believe the truth - A step up from HC where they took some risks. A great comeback!

So where does Dig out your soul fit in their discography?

Let's start with the good. There are some great songs on this album! The opening two tracks Bag it up and The turning really rock, and they have great singalong choruses which I would imagine would absolutely go off live. In particular, the "shake your rag doll" line from the latter stands out as as a very memorable Oasis moment. I already mentioned The shock of the lightning in my top 10 songs of the year post; it's a classic Oasis number that sits comfortably amongst their finest moments.

I'm outta time is a pretty and melodic ballad written by Liam, although it's a little cliched even by Oasis' standards. All in all, it's probably Liam's finest songwriting moment together with Songbird from Heathen chemistry. It includes a sample from John Lennon's last interview which is used quite poignantly in the song, also working as a cheeky smirk to those who call them Beatles rip-offs (as if the endless stream of ripped-off lyrics wasn't enough). Falling down also works in a weird kind of way, sounding quite different from anything they have released before.

Now for the bad. Waiting for the rapture (which contains the first Noel lead vocal on the album) rips off the opening riff from the Doors' Five to one, but doesn't seem to really go anywhere. The lyrics are tiring, the melody is boring; it's just not memorable. Similar comments apply to (Get off your) high horse lady, the 2nd song on the album with Noel on lead vocals. With a few exceptions (Acquiesce), Noel's voice has always worked a lot better on ballads (Talk tonight, Half the world away) than on rockers. He just doesn't have the rock-star voice that Liam has.

The last four tracks of the album (two written by Liam, the other two written by the other band members) are where the album really sinks into mediocrity. Almost all Oasis albums have some degree of filler material, but by leaving the four least memorable tracks until the end, it makes the bad material stand out more and leaves the album way too top-heavy. If only the closing track was as good as Let there be love was, it could have redeemed the 2nd half of this album.

And I haven't even discussed the production values yet. Many critics have gone out and said that this is the best Oasis sounding album to date. The overly compressed production of this record does not deserve such praise. Granted, most Oasis albums have had pretty bad production values. Maybe this is the first time I have noticed the production, and it has affected my enjoyment of the album. I know what they mean now when they say that ignorance is bliss.

4. Augie March - Watch me disappear

I made the analogy not long after buying this album that Watch my disappear is to Augie March what 16 lovers lane was to The Go-Betweens. This is a bit of a loose analogy; 16 lovers lane is a masterpiece of an album which I would probably include in my top 20 albums ever made, while Watch me disappear is a long way away from that. It isn't even close to being my favourite Augie March album.

What I do mean when saying this is that they have toned down some of their more experimental tendencies (present on their earlier albums Sunset studies and Strange bird), refining their sound into a more polished, accessible and concise album which may or may not give them some more commercial success. At a mere 44 minutes in length, it's also the shortest album of their career (their previous three albums being 76 minutes, 62 minutes and 66 minutes in length).

All of this reeks of a pretty major sellout, but this is not quite true. While some songs (Pennywhistle) come close to twee indie-pop, two very important things make this album stand out from their contemporaries -- the dark and literary lyrics (always one of their strong points), and Glenn Richards' always amazing vocals. In this age of overly loud and compressed records, the spacious production in this album is also a welcome sigh of relief.

And what about the songs? The opening title track is quite unlike anything they have ever released; a dark, atmospheric number that for some reason (which I can't quite put my finger on) reminds me a bit of Eskimo Joe. Becoming Bryn and City of rescue sound a bit like Nick Cave and The Pogues' more raucous moments, while The Glenorchy bunyip is a toe-tapping rocker in the spirit of This train will be taking no passengers from Strange bird, albeit not as successful.

Farmer's son begins with a guitar line that may be one of their most accessible and melodic song openings they have ever had, and for me provides a great analogy of what Glenn and the gang have achieved on this album -- making literate, intelligent indie pop accessible to a larger number of people.

Overall, this album works better for me than their last one Moo, you bloody choir. Moo found them at a crossroads, staring commercial success (One crowded hour) in the eyes while still trying to keep their experimental tendencies intact. In light of this, it came across as a slightly unfocused and transitional album.

Watch me disappear shows what happens when they take the other road; as a self-contained capsule of accessible songwriting and musicianship, it succeeds in achieving everything it set out to do. These guys have worked hard at success and deserve all the accolades that come their way. While I fear they may eventually sell out and lose their more complex and experimental tendencies of their earlier work, I have confidence that they have enough artistic integrity that they won't let this happen.

3. Elbow - The seldom seen kid

It's amazing how your perceptions of a band can change over the course of a few albums. Many years ago, I picked up Elbow's debut album Asleep at the back after reading some over-hyped reviews in Q magazine. This was back in my less cynical days when I used to buy into a lot of critical hype. While that album has some standout tracks on it, it never really impressed me a lot overall. I liked their follow-up Cast of thousands better, as it was a bit less claustrophobic sounding and the tunes were better.

Earlier in 2008, I picked up their 3rd album Leaders of the free world and it was an even more subtle progression. I'd read a lot of reviews of The seldom seen kid, their 4th album, many praising it as one of the albums of the year. And I can honestly say that this is one album that has truly lived up to my (very high) expectations.

This is the album where Elbow started firing on all cylinders. They have always been a band with the potential to be brilliant, but each of their previous albums was a little bit scattershot. For every stunning moment (Red, Fugitive motel, Picky bugger), there were other moments which lacked a little in songcraft (Little beast, Fallen angel, Crawling with idiot).

This is the most consistent Elbow album to date. Unlike previous efforts, every song on this album seems to have a purpose. Starlings is a stunning and quirky opener, The bones of you is simultaneously complex and entertaining and Grounds for divorce may be one of their catchiest songs to date (and it really gets under your skin after a few listens). Then there's Audience with the pope (apparently their "James Bond" song) and The fix, a brilliant duet about a caper with Richard Hawley. Even One day like this, which seems to be their attempt at an epic lighter-waving stadium ballad, works better than it should. The album's stunning closer Friend of ours is a gorgeously understated tribute to their dearly departed friend Bryan Glancy.

While Coldplay were busy adding Brian Eno touches to their latest album in an attempt to get street cred, Elbow went back to first principles and showed what happens when amazing songwriting, performance and production collide.

2. Al Green - Lay it down

Lay it down, lay it down, lay it down
Put your head on the floor

So begins the opening title track from Al Green's remarkable new album. The Reverend is 62 years old now, and he's still showing the plethora of contemporary "R&B and soul" pretenders how it's done. For a man who has released so many classic songs over the years, he doesn't really have to prove anything anymore. What he has proven on this album, without a shadow of a doubt, is that he is still the master of the genre.

Allow me to make myself perfectly clear here. This hot little CD, this one right here, is how to write, record and produce a contemporary R&B album. There's hardly a wasted note over the 11 tracks and 45-minute running time. He brings in a few younger singers, including Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend, to duet with him on some of the songs. Their presence isn't really necessary (Al Green's vocals are still amazing) but they add a bit of variety to the mix and help him appeal to a younger audience. I'm hoping that fans of the current "pseudo R&B" that clogs our airwaves listen to this album, so they can see how a master does it.

There are too many highlights to mention, but I'll name a few. The opening title track is gorgeously seductive and sets the scene perfectly; No one like you has an amazing groove which is highly contagious; Too much possesses one of the most fragile vocals on the album; Standing in the rain is an upbeat Otis Redding-esque number which closes the album on a high note.

Al Green has a huge smile on the front cover, and quite understandably. He has released one of the albums of the year.

1. Brian Wilson - That lucky old sun

I think Pet sounds proved without a shadow of a doubt that Brian Wilson was never able to match the beauty of an album with an equally beautiful record cover. That lucky old sun, Brian Wilson's 8th solo album, continues this oddball tradition. Unless it's a subliminal message to get us to eat more citrus?

That lucky old sun seemed to come out of nowhere for me. With the exception of SMiLE, I'd never considered looking into Brian Wilson's solo discography as I had always thought of it as a pale imitation of his golden years with the Beach Boys. This may well be the case, but this album is as good if not better than many of the albums that Brian Wilson recorded with his former band.

The album opens with a beautiful rendition of the title track, a 1949 popular song made famous by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. The title song is reprised (lyrically and instrumentally) at several key points on the album, giving a conceptual unity to the record.

Also interspersed throughout the album, breaking up the longer compositions, are some poems written by Van Dyke Parks (but recited by Brian) which almost sound like beatnik poetry. Many critics have dismissed these poems as pointless self-indulgence, but I find that they work really work in breaking up the album and also tying together the various lyrical themes.

And what about the lyrics? I mentioned some of the songs on my top 10 songs post, but the overruling feel of the album lyrically is one of nostalgia (Southern california), romance (Forever she'll be my surfer girl, Good kind of love) and acceptance (Midnight's another day). While this sounds like your standard lyrical fare, Brian manages to intertwine the themes together in such a way that makes each moment sound like a vital piece in a musical mosaic.

Musically, it's incredibly rich and diverse as well. Sure, there's some kitschy moments (Good kind of love) but they have such hummable melodies that you can't help but feel a rush of adrenaline when listening to them. The ballads are exquisite, with the trademark Beach Boys harmonies you have come to expect from the songwriting genius of Brian Wilson.

Many have dismissed Brian Wilson's voice, saying that it is past its prime. I'm not one to argue with this; his voice is definitely nowhere near as great as it was in the late 60s and early 70s. But the man is 66, so it's a bit unfair to judge his voice in this way. Many older singers would give one of their kidneys (if they hadn't already destroyed them) to sound as good as Brian Wilson does on this album.

This is going to be a controversial comment, but this album works better for me than SMiLE did. SMiLE had the weight of 37 years of expectations resting on its shoulders, and many studio outtakes from the era where Brian Wilson was in fine voice and had the the world at his feet. As successful as the official SMiLE album was, it could never quite match the expectations that were thrust upon it.

That lucky old sun, on the other hand, seemed to come out of nowhere. Nobody was expecting Brian Wilson to release such an amazing album after all these years. If this is the last we ever hear from him, it will prove to be a very fitting epitaph and a spectacular bookend to a remarkable career.

2008: A Year in Music [Part 3: Cutting room floor]

These are the albums that didn't make my top 5 albums of the year, which I will put in my next post. I didn't buy a lot of CDs from 2008 this year, so this will be a pretty short post.

R.E.M. - Accelerate

This was hailed by critics as a return to their rockier sound after a trilogy of more subdued affairs since the departure of drummer Bill Berry after New adventures in hi-fi. And for most of the time, it works pretty well as a solid and melodic rock album. It's great to see R.E.M. back in melodic form on nuggets like Man-sized wreath, Supernatural superserious and Until the day is done. And it's also good to see R.E.M. much more tight and focused on this album - at only 35 minutes, it's the shortest album of their 25-year career.

I have two gripes with this album. Firstly, despite its brief running time, it still contains a few songs which aren't particularly memorable to me. Opener Living well is the best revenge, despite providing a great statement of intent for the album, lacks a good melody. The title track doesn't excite me a lot either. And there's a few songs near the end (Horse to water and I'm gonna DJ) which don't particularly reward repeated listening for me.

My second gripe is more serious - this album is an unfortunate victim of the loudness war. It brickwalls on the first track and is turned up to 11 for pretty much the entire running time, except on a few ballads. I blame the influence of Jacknife Lee, who has worked on similarly loud albums by artists such as Bloc Party, Snow Patrol and U2.

I own all of R.E.M.'s albums, and if I find myself in the mood for listening to them I can't possibly see myself choosing Accelerate over Murmur or Automatic for the people, amongst other brilliant efforts. Call something a return to form as much as you like, but if you don't get an urge to listen to it, what's the point?

Elvis Costello - Momofuku

This album was recorded in a couple of weeks, and it sounds like it -- it's Elvis' rawest album since Blood & chocolate from 1986. On many of the songs, the rawness works really well -- the opening two tracks No hiding place and American gangster time are a great way to open the record, both classic Costello rockers. There's a few nice ballads to add a bit of variety -- the jazzy Harry worth, sentimental My three sons and melodic Flutter & wow.

It's a good album, but it lacks a little in cohesiveness, feeling more like a collection of songs than an album. The album was named after Momofuku Ando (the inventor of cup noodles) and, in a sense, the name is appropriate -- it's all a bit of a hodge-podge of genres and styles mixed up in a way similar to how meat and vegetables are thrown together in a stir-fry. A solid Costello effort, but for a latter-day album I'd choose The delivery man over this.

You Am I - Dilettantes

After the garage-rock rawness of Convicts, this was hailed as their return to the melodic form of their golden era (c. Hourly, daily). Sometimes I wonder whether critics really listen to the whole album when they do reviews. The album starts off really good -- the opening title track is a beautiful, melodic ballad that hints at their previous classics like Heavy heart. Disappearing has an interesting groove to it which makes it very listenable, and Beau geste (discussed in my last post) is a melodic little nugget and one of the best You Am I songs in years.

Unfortunately, I struggle to remember anything memorable about the rest of the album. The songs don't seem to have a direction, many of them lacking decent melodies; because of this they fail to maintain my interest. All of the songs tend to blend into one for me, and while I sometimes notice some decent songs amongst the mix while listening to it, I immediately forget about them after the album has finished playing. There's also (I know I'm getting boring here) a pretty severe lack of dynamic range on all of these songs, making the album aurally unpleasant to listen to at times.

I think we can safely say that the chance of You Am I ever releasing an album on par with any of their earlier classics is pretty close to nil. It's sad to see such a great band fall from such great heights. Luckily, we'll always have Hourly, daily and Hi-fi way to listen to, to remind us of how great they once were.

2008: A Year in Music [Part 2: Top 10 songs of the year]

We'll continue the 2008 countdown with a list of my top 10 songs of 2008. As with my lists from previous years, songs can only appear in this list if I own them legitimately on CD, and they were from an album that was released this year. Considering that I haven't purchased a huge amount of CDs from this year, some artists are included more than once.

10. You Am I - Beau geste [Link removed]

This was one of the few tracks from Dilettantes which lived up to the great reviews that were being bandied around various music publications. It starts with a few repeated guitar strums interspersed with what sounds like Tim Rogers sighing in relief, possibly after farting. That last bit was speculative, but I like my interpretation.

All said and done, this is one of the most melodic You Am I songs since the Deliverance album. And melody is something which has been sorely lacking in their recent output. Musically, the song has a nice groove to it; punctuated with moments of silence and reprises of the opening riff, it surprises with an atmospheric mid-section which adds a significant amount of interest to the body of the song. I haven't really interpreted (or even read) the lyrics, and the only bits I remember are repeats of the phrase You're the best.

It's a bit of a pity that the rest of the album, bar a few exceptions, didn't live up to the promise of this song.

9. Elbow - Starlings [Link removed]

Some piano tinkling for a few seconds, followed by the low frequency of a bass drum, and then the always pleasant sound of Guy Garvey's crooning. Just before we reach the minute mark, a blast of brass almost literally scares the shit out of the listener. A mere twenty seconds later, the listener is blasted again. Shortly after, we get the opening lyric of the album:

How dare the Premier ignore my invitations?

It's pretty clear at this point that Elbow are a little bit different from your average 2008 British indie band, and I mean that in the best possible way. There's obviously the quirky lyrical element, as illustrated above. But more importantly, there's the musical element.

I'm probably sounding a bit like a broken record with my discussions of loudness and dynamics, but this song is a perfect example of how a wide dynamic range can make music so much more exciting. This song builds up from minimalistic beginnings, building up over the course of its 5 minutes to an amazing climax that blows the listener away.

Elbow have always had a fairly quirky opening song on their albums, but none has lured me into the album as much as this eccentric little number.

8. Augie March - The slant [Link removed]

Their last album Moo, you bloody choir had a great song on it called Bottle baby. It was one of my favourite songs of 2006.

The slant is the Bottle baby of their new album. I'm not sure why it reminds me of that song, but I think it's in Glenn Richard's amazing vocals and how they stand out from the rest of the album by completely inhabiting the character of the song. The lyrics tell a story from the perspective of a petty thief who (accidentally?) murdered a 16-year-old boy and was sent to jail.

Musically, it's a fairly simple folk song in the tradition of Sunstroke house from Strange bird. It's one of the few songs from the new album that sounds like it could have been included on one of their first two albums, and this gives me hope that they haven't completely abandoned their more experimental sound in favourite of slick and sometimes powerful (see #3) indie pop numbers.

7. Brian Wilson - Southern California [Link removed]

The closing track from the superb album That lucky old sun is quite similar to the rest of the album - it has the trademark Brian Wilson melody, and is very much seeped in nostalgia. What elevates it above many of the other songs on the album is the poignancy of the lyrics:

I had this dream
Singing with my brothers
In harmony
Supporting each other
Tailwinds, rear spin,
Down the Pacific coast
Surfing on the end
Heard those voices again

This is Brian Wilson looking back at his days in the early 60s, performing in the Beach Boys with his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, now both sadly deceased. Lyrically, it's simultaneously sad, touching and idealistic. And Brian shows why he is one of the greatest composers of the past 50 years by marrying the lyrics to a beautiful piano-based melody.

Just when you think you know where the song is heading, the whoa whoa whoa it's magical bit that kicks in just after the two minute mark adds a beautiful counter-point which is reprised later in the song. The last thirty seconds is made up of (yet another) reprise of the title track, bringing the album to a close. A gorgeous song.

6. Elvis Costello - American gangster time [Link removed]

It's interesting to note that for an artist who has reinvented himself successfully so many times over the course of his career, my favourite songs on his latest album Momofuku were those in which he emulated the raw rock 'n' roll sound of his classic early years.

Vocals notwithstanding (his voice has definitely changed over the past 30 years), this track could quite easily be mistaken for a This year's model outtake. The Imposters emulate the Attractions sound to perfection, which isn't particularly surprising considering that 3/4 of the Attractions are also Imposters.

Steve Nieve's stabbing organ chords, Elvis' lyrics, the rawness of the production (the album was recorded in only a couple of weeks), the fun it sounds like they're all having - it's all here on what is sure to be remembered as a classic Elvis tune from this era.

5. R.E.M. - Supernatural superserious [Link removed]

"Everybody here, comes from somewhere" sings Michael Stipe on the opening of this song, the first single released from Accelerate, and a classic R.E.M. song. This is a return to the sound of some of their anthems on the I.R.S. label in the early 80s, before they went major label on Green.

It's simply a fantastic pop song, nothing more and nothing less. There's some great trademark backing vocals from Mike Mills on the refrain "And you cried and you cried" which is about as close as this song gets to a chorus.

Unfortunately the compressed mix lets the song down a bit, but that's only a small gripe. R.E.M. haven't rocked this hard since New adventures in hi-fi.

4. Oasis - The shock of the lightning [Link removed]

Ever since Be here now, Oasis have followed a fairly standard pattern when it comes to releasing the debut single from their new album. They have released a song which is pretty much Oasis-by-numbers, ignoring some of the subtle new directions they have explored on each new album, giving the impression to the casual radio listener that they have remained pretty stagnant over the past decade. See Do you know what I mean?, Go let it out, The hindu times and Lyla for some textbook examples of this. This song, the debut single from Dig out your soul, follows this tradition.

The truth of the matter is that Oasis have only released 2 classic albums (Definitely maybe and Morning glory) and 1 classic compilation (The masterplan). With each album it's become pretty clear that while they still have some amazing moments on their post-MG albums, they also have a helluva lotta filler as well.

All said and done, this is a great song which ticks all the boxes about what a great Oasis song should be. Beatles-esque fade-in? Check. Easy to remember singalong chorus? Check ("Come in, come out tonight"). Obvious Beatles lyrical reference? Check ("A magical mystery").

It's a bleeding obvious Oasis song, but it happens to be one of the best ones they have released in many years. And it's one of their few songs from this decade which manages to capture the youthful exhuberance of Definitely maybe.

3. Augie March - Lupus [Link removed]

Watch be disappear is easily the most accessible Augie March album to date, their stab at commercial success if you will. While initial reviews made me a little concerned that they had sold out, after purchasing the album I soon found out that it wasn't so much a sellout as a refinement of their sound. While previous albums did little to hide its experimental sound, the new album was built around some amazing pop songs like this one.

It takes about 17 seconds for the guitar riff to make its first appearance in the song, and it soon becomes the foundation of one of the catchiest songs of their career. The structure of the song is fairly simple: 3 line verse, 2 line chorus, repetition of the introductory guitar figure. Throw in a few amazing chord changes in key parts of the song, and it quickly ascends into the heavens.

I'm not sure if this song will help them achieve the commercial success they deserve, but every time I listen to it, it makes me happy. What more can you ask of a song?

It was all I ever do...

2. Al Green - Lay it down [Link removed]

I started getting into old-skool R&B and soul music in a big way in 2008. It's interesting to note than one of my favourite R&B albums was released this year by an old performer showing that he still had lots of new tricks up his sleeve.

This song, the opening and title track of the Reverend's new album, is an amazing slow burner of a song. At the age of 62, Al Green still shows that he has "it" - the verses are all his, simultaneously smooth and showing the grittiness of his age, while Anthony Hamilton backs him up on the gorgeous refrain.

This is a sensational track that would be considered a classic even if it had been released in the 60s or 70s, during the golden age of soul and R&B.

1. Brian Wilson - Midnight's another day [Link removed]

The first 20 seconds is made up of some beautiful piano playing which would be the highlight of a song by a lesser artist. In the case of this masterful song, it doesn't even hint at what's about to come next.

This is one of the finest songs that Brian Wilson has written; from a purely emotional perspective, it's up there with some of the finer moments on Pet sounds. My interpretation of the lyrics are Brian Wilson dealing with his well-publicised bout with mental illness, shrouding the song in sadness.

While his vocals have nowhere near the range they did in the late 60s, they suit the lyrical theme perfectly - here is a man who is one of the greatest songwriters and performers of the 20th century looking back at his struggles and finally coming to terms with his life.

Musically, the song builds and builds, and then builds further. It's an epic song, one which is simultaneously longing for the past and hopeful for the future.

With the unfortunate number of bands and artists who are over-hyped by money-hungry record companies, it's so refreshing to see one of the elder statesmen of pop music show that he still has what it takes to write a song as gorgeous as this, my favourite song of 2008.

Update: Song links removed.

2008: A Year in Music [Part 1: Overview]

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for my analysis and summary of the year in music that was 2008. As usual, this will be divided into 6 posts which I will try to get out before the end of the year (otherwise they may bleed into early January). For the newer readers, the posts will be broken down like this:

Part 1: Overview
Part 2: Top 10 songs of the year
Part 3: Cutting room floor
Part 4: Top 5 albums of the year
Part 5: Musical discoveries of the year
Part 6: Re-evaluation of 2007 list

Part 1: Overview

I have a feeling that the posts in the series are going to be a bit briefer than those of the previous years. Why? Well, partially down to laziness. It takes a long time to write most of the posts on this blog, and I'll admit that I'm lacking a bit of motivation on this front. After all, I'm on holidays from work at the moment and I should really be relaxing.

The second reason is that, if my recent points haven't hinted this enough, I'm become gradually disillusioned with a lot of modern music. While it was pretty exciting compiling my top 10 albums of 2005, I'd be fooling myself if I said that I was as excited to be writing about my favourite albums of 2008. Most of my listening habits have tended towards older music which can be appreciated on its own merits, rather than a lot of the overhyped stuff that is released thesedays. How many bands have we had in recent years who have been proclaimed as the future of rock? While I used to buy into this hype in previous years, my bullshit detector is too finely tuned thesedays.

With these comments in mind, part 5 of this series is going to be the post which I will have the most passion in writing. Because it is these musical discoveries from previous years (90s, 80s, 70s and 60s) which have shaped my musical listening habits of 2008. I look forward to discussing the albums which really excited me this year.

What did 2008 mean to me?

Less new music

As stated before, I have been buying much less new music. There are technical reasons for this, but I am also generally happy to wait until an album has been out for a bit to see if it's truly the classic which some reviewers make it out to be, or a flavour of the month which will be gathering dust within 6 months. Giving myself a year or so buffer is a good technique to shield me from this kind of hyperbole.

Old-skool R&B

I have always enjoyed real R&B music from the 60s and 70s, and not the modern tripe which is released under this genre thesedays. I'm talking artists like Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield as well as some funkier outfits like Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and Funkadelic. Well, this appreciation of African-American music has only continued to grow in 2008. I've also gotten into a few new genres this year, which I'll talk more about in the future posts.

Bring on eBay!

While I was previously a JB Hi Fi man for most of my music purchases, this has gradually changed and I now do most of my CD buying on eBay. Music on eBay has well and truly become a buyer's market in the last few years, and combined with the downturn in CD sales this has made it a great place to satisfy my CD purchasing addiction. It has also been great for picking up some rare albums that I haven't been able to find in retail stores. If you are a keen music purchaser, I highly recommend checking out the eBay market.

Gigs

On the gig front, from a look at my blog posts of 2008, it doesn't look like I went to any gigs this year! This is probably the first time in many years where this has been the case. My next gig is scheduled for the end of January 2009 when I will be seeing My Morning Jacket at Billboard. Looking forward to that one.

Anyway, that's the end of the overview of 2008. I hope you enjoy the rest of the posts in this series!

Loudness war or: How I learned to stop enjoying modern music

The final straw

Just last week, I picked up Hold on now, youngster..., the debut album from Welsh indie pop outfit Los Campesinos! Many reviewers have described them as Belle & Sebastian gone punk. Belle & Sebastian are one of my favourite bands; the last time I picked up an album by an unknown band who were compared to B&S was Neon golden by the Notwist (the love-child of B&S and German electro-pioneers Kraftwerk), and that album paid high dividends for me. So picking up the Los Campesinos! album at the relatively cheap price I saw it at seemed like a no-brainer to me.

Hearing an album by a band you don't know for the first time can be an exciting yet daunting experience. In this case, I had no idea what to expect. Male or female vocalist? Quirky or old-skool punk? The answer to these 2 questions was both and quirky respectively.

But what I wasn't expecting (although maybe I should have, in hindsight) was the wall of noise I was confronted with, within only a few seconds of the opening track. This is the audio waveform of what I heard:


Unfortunately, Los Campesinos! are not alone in the noise stakes. The crazy brick wall you see above is part of a disturbing recording industry trend which has become known as the loudness war.

The loudness war is associated with the perceived need for albums to be mastered louder and louder as each year goes by. The additional loudness is achieved in the mastering process through excessive use of technology known as dynamic range compression.

I have been against the loudness war in all of its forms ever since I become aware of it. But this Los Campesinos! album was the first time that I have ever returned an album for a refund because the CD was too bloody loud to listen to.

Background reading

I'd like to thank Nick Southall, of the sadly departed Stylus Magazine, for his insightful article Imperfect sound forever. This article is essential reading for anyone who even remotely takes their music listening seriously. As an avid reader of Stylus Magazine back in the day, this was the article which enlightened me with information about dynamic range compression and its mis-use in the record industry.

Nick explains compression in a lot of technical detail, better than I could ever do. Nick has been a bit of crusader against the loudness war for many years, and I really respect his opinion on music.

My article will only gloss over the technical details, so please do some background reading if you are interested in further information.

My musical habits

I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. Since I purchased my iPod a few years ago, 98% of my music listening happens on the iPod (the other 2% being on CD when I buy an album on the weekend and don't rip it until I come to work on Monday).

My music is ripped at 160kbps CBR AAC. While a lot of music fans would spit at such a low bitrate (and I'll admit that this is far from CD quality), this is good enough for me. Whenever you decide on a bitrate to use, you always need to weigh up quality vs. file size. Back in the day, I only had an 80GB iPod which was disturbingly close to being filled up. I made an executive decision (with invaluable input from MattT) to rip all of my music at 160kps; it was a happy medium between file size and quality.

Down in the music rut at midnight

Over the past few years, I have found myself much less excited about newer music. There are of course some exceptions, but my musical listening tastes have definitely headed towards music from the 80s and earlier (and I'm not just talking about the cheesy fluff here). On my shortlist of potential blog posts was one entitled Down in the music rut at midnight, where I was going to talk about how I was so sick of new music coming out and how old music brings so much more excitement to my ears. But that post will have to wait for another day.

There are many subjective reasons why new music may stop exciting you. After all, there's only so many ways that you can combine vocals, guitar, bass and drums in innovative ways before history will start repeating itself (obviously I'm focusing on rock music here). If it's been done before, it's bound to be much less exciting the 2nd time around; I've certainly alluded to this in previous posts.

But there are also objective reasons why new music may stop exciting you. When I compiled my top 10 albums of 2005, the Go-Betweens' last album Oceans apart made it into the 10th position. At the time, I said the following:

Robert finds a renewed energy in his songs Here comes the city and Born to a family, while Grant reaches the melodic heights that came so naturally to him during their golden years on The statue and Finding you. This album would be higher on the list if it weren't for what appears to be a mastering problem on some of the tracks, where they sound distorted (especially on the iPod). It's both unfortunate and frustrating that a great album has been tarnished by a technical problem.

I wrote this review in December 2005. This was before Nick Southall had published his article, before I knew about dynamic range compression and the loudness war. Back on those days, I thought the only war that was going on was in Iraq. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that I can look back at this post, and see how the loudness war was affecting my enjoyment of music.

From a pure songwriting perspective, Oceans apart was one of the Go-Betweens' finest efforts (only their masterpiece 16 Lovers Lane can beat it). It's only the disgusting production which lets it down. I'm now at the point where, if I feel like listening to a Go-Betweens album, I would choose any album but Oceans apart to listen to.

Excessive compression in music is a little bit like having a dead pixel on your brand new LCD television. You can wallow away in blissful ignorance, enjoying the entertainment and being none-the-wiser. But as soon as you are aware of it, you won't be able to ignore it. So on behalf of the readers of this post who are like me, I humbly apologise for (potentially) destroying your enjoyment of a lot of modern music.

What is dynamic music?

In its simplest form, dynamic music has quiet bits and loud bits. If we listen to an album that has a wide dynamic range, we'll often find that we need to regularly adjust the volume knob while we listen to it. This is because the quiet bits are a little too soft to hear (so we turn it up to hear the subtle details). Then the loud bit comes in, and the new volume we adjusted it to is now too loud so we quickly turn it down again. You may especially notice this while listening to dynamic music in a car, where background noise also interferes with your listening experience.

Let's compare this with music which is generally played on the radio, or through PA systems in shopping centres. Music which is transmitted on the radio is compressed so it fits into the frequency band allocated to the station. Music played on PA systems is hardly an intimate experience, and its purpose is often for background music. Neither of these types of music would generally be considered dynamic.

Let's get (a little bit) technical

Okay, I'm gonna try and keep it fairly simple here. I'm not an expert in sound recording techniques and I'm not going to pretend that I am. There are great articles on the web that could explain this much better than I can. Treat this more as a Dummies guide to dynamic range compression™.

Over the course of the past 15 years or so, the loudness war has lead to albums becoming progressively louder as each year goes by. Why? Well, record company big-wigs seem to think that loud records sound better and will sell more records:

"If my record isn't as loud as your record, it will sound less powerful, less punchy and less impressive. This means it will also get less radio play. And this will result in less record sales."

So what's the solution? We'll have to one-up you and make sure ours is even louder than yours. It's the musical equivalent of the bully in the playground picking on the little guy with glasses, just to make sure that he shows him who is boss.

So what does dynamic range compression have to do with loudness?

Unfortunately, the maximum amplitude of a CD audio waveform is fixed. Trying to increase the sound of the quiet bits will cause the loud bits to exceed the maximum volume. If the waveform exceeds the maximum, it needs to be chopped off to keep it within range. This results in a square wave at the peak, and when a square wave is played back through a CD audio player, it "clips" or sounds distorted. Have you ever tried to play a data CD through a CD player? It's the same sound you get from that, but a bit more subtle as the clipping may only last for a fraction of a second.

To prevent clipping but still maintain the loudness that is desired, the entire sound wave is compressed to a similar volume, and then the compressed signal is adjusted to the new loud volume. The idea is that the whole sound wave is flattened into a homogenous block, which can then easily be adjusted to increase loudness without the fear of distortion or clipping.

In practice, it doesn't always work out. Many modern recordings, despite the "best" intentions of the engineers, still end up suffering from clipping and distortion. This has become disturbingly more prevalent in the past few years.

Compression has proper and tasteful applications during the recording process. For example, individual instruments within a recording can be compressed to make them sound more punchy, or reduce their sustain. This is what producers and engineers do; utilise the studio as another instrument to help make the end result (the album) sound as good as possible.

The problem with compression is that the music industry has been mis-using this technology for the past 15 years or so. Instead of compressing individual elements within a mix, the engineer takes the (already mixed) recording and compresses the entire mix again before it is pressed to CD. This practice completely narrows (and sometimes eliminates) the volume gap between the quiet bits and loud bits, so that everything ends up at a similar volume.

What about data compression?

As I said earlier, I compress all my my music at 160kbps. This is what is known as data compression, and it is completely different to dynamic range compression.

MP3 (and other similar) data compression algorithms are concerned with reducing the overall size of the file so you can fit more information on to your portable listening device. This is achieved by removing the inaudible (to humans at least) portions of the music - mainly the very high frequencies (which only dogs can hear), and very low frequencies.

Data compression also involves other smart techniques. If the compression algorithm detects two waveforms being played simultaneously, one quiet and one loud, it will remove the quiet waveform as it will be drowned out (and thus inaudible) by the loud waveform anyway.

While some data is lost forever in data compression, if you choose a decent enough bitrate, most listeners (except the keenest audiophiles) will find it difficult to tell the difference between a compressed MP3 and the original CD audio.

Most importantly, data compression is designed to preserve the dynamics of a recording.

Musical enjoyment

Dynamic range compression sucks the life out of music. The excitement that you get from a snare hit is gone in a compressed recording, because it is the same volume as the rest of the recording. That funky bassline that seems to come out of nowhere becomes part of the furniture. The beauty of a quiet, whispered vocal is lost because the volume of the vocal is the same as the rest of the mix. It's just not musical.

The disturbing thing is that, to the untrained ear, loud and compressed records do sound better. INITIALLY. It is only with subsequent listens that the listener realises that there is absolutely no depth to the recording. No hidden details, no subtle layers, no instruments buried under the mix.

Why not just lower the excessively loud volume by using the volume knob? Sure you can do that, and it's probably a good idea if you respect your ears. But thinking that this will improve the sound is completely missing the point. The signal has already been compressed, which means the dynamic range has been lost forever. All the volume knob will do is reduce the overall amplitude; the variation (peaks and valleys) have already left the building.

Have you listened to any music from recent years that has given you a headache? It's probably a victim of the loudness war. The human ear can be fairly tolerant to loud music and noises, but its tolerance is inversely proportional to the length of time it is subjected to the noise. When the music has a wide dynamic range, the quiet bits give your ears (and head) a break and a little bit of time to recover. This prepares them for the loud bits when they come.

WHEN THE MUSIC IS MASTERED AT A CONSTANT AND LOUD VOLUME, LISTENING TO IT IS SIMILAR TO READING AN EMAIL OR WEBPAGE WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN CAPITAL LETTERS. IF EVERYTHING IS LOUD AND IN-YOUR-FACE, IT GETS PRETTY TIRING AFTER A WHILE DOESN'T IT? THERE'S NO RELIEF.

But I like my music loud!

So do I! A lot of music sounds much better when played at a loud volume. So if the CD you want to listen has been mastered at a quieter volume to preserve the dynamics of the recording, how do I enjoy it loud?

There's a very simple solution to this problem. Reach for the volume knob and turn it up. This will increase the overall loudness of the entire waveform, but keep the new waveform in proportion with the original, quieter waveform. The peaks and valleys will be maintained and the dynamics will be preserved. Music can be both loud and dynamic, as long as the dynamics haven't been compressed out of the CD.

Some examples

Here is the audio waveform of I'll regret it all in the morning, a tender ballad by Richard & Linda Thompson from their 1975 album Hokey pokey:


And here is the audio waveform of Cast no shadow, a tender ballad by Oasis from their 1995 album (What's the story) morning glory:


Think you can spot the difference? Note that these songs are both [supposed to be] quieter moments on their respective albums.

Look at the peaks and valleys in the Richard & Linda Thompson track. Notice the variance in the wave form. Even if this song isn't to your taste, you get a pretty good feeling from looking at that waveform that it will at least sound pretty good.

Now look at the Oasis waveform. It just looks like a wall of noise. There's very little variance in the track. There's no highs, no lows, and nothing in between. IT IS JUST CONSTANT NOISE. All of the emotional intensity, subtlety and nuance has been sucked out of the music by excessive compression.

Don't get me wrong - that Oasis album is in my top 10 albums of all time. I grew up with this music. But there's no denying that the production is absolute shite.

The brick wall you see above is not what Phil Spector dreamt up when he invented the wall of sound.

Remasters

Remasters are one of the most disturbing casualties of the loudness war. Why? Because they take an album from the past which probably had brilliant (albeit a little bit quiet) sound and "remaster" it for the purposes of selling it off to a new generation of music listeners who may have never heard it before. The record companies would lead you to believe that a remastered recording is superior to the previous one in every way.

Unfortunately, the reality is a lot less pretty than this. In the modern age, remastering is often not a lot more than making the CD a lot louder so it sounds good when listened to next to modern CDs. As described earlier, there are limits to how loud you can make a CD, which is where our evil friend compression comes in. And as described earlier, compression of this form is completely lossy - once a CD is compressed, the dynamic sound is gone forever.

Record companies try to argue this by saying that the majority of music listeners in this day and age listen to music on their portable listening devices, such as iPods. The justification is that if you put your whole music collection on shuffle, you should be able to listen to an old (quietly mastered) Beatles song followed by a new (over-compressed) Muse song without having to get up and adjust the volume.

As I said before, I do practically all of my music listening on the iPod too. And last time I checked, my iPod had a feature on it called Sound check which automatically normalises the volume across subsequent songs so you don't run into this exact problem the record companies are trying to avoid. I'm not sure if other MP3 devices have a similar feature, but I don't care. Maintaining a consistent volume across songs on an iPod is no excuse for over-compressing music on the CD itself.

I'm now at the point where I will actively track down the original CD pressings of old albums, even if it means having to buy them 2nd hand on eBay. This is coming from a guy who only a few years ago sold a few of his original CD pressings to "upgrade" to a remastered version.

One thing to be aware of is that there are always exceptions. Some remasters are done tastefully, and with respect for the music. This is where the power of the Internet at your fingertips is a great thing. Read reviews, and not just from professional critics (who I suspect are often getting kickbacks from record companies). Read user reviews on Amazon and similar websites. You'll quickly find out whether a "remastered edition" is an improvement or butchering of the original album.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Bob Dylan was recently quoted as saying the following:

"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," ... "You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."

While this is largely true, there are luckily still a few artists and bands out there who have the balls to stand up against the evils of the loudness war. These musicians have my utmost respect for standing up against this disturbing trend.

Manchester band Elbow have stood up against the loudness war, refusing to over-compress their music like many of their contemporaries, including Coldplay. Their latest album even has the Turn me up! logo on it, a non-profit organisation campaigning for the release of more dynamic records.

Ben Harper's latest album Lifeline proudly boasts that it was recorded entirely on analog equipment, with no use of Pro Tools. And you can hear it on the recording - rich, warm and dynamic. This is how music is supposed to sound; when listening to this album (from 2007) next to other albums from the same year, it sounds like a real musical experience and not a manufactured one.

Other recording artists with integrity, like Tom Waits and Augie March, have also maintained a high degree of dynamics in their recent releases.

I wish I could say the same about Oasis, R.E.M. and You Am I; despite the fact that they have written some great songs on their albums this year, the over-compressed sound doesn't make me want to listen to them again in a hurry. No matter how good the songwriting is, bad production can still ruin it. Even the (usually reliable) Elvis Costello went a bit too loud on his recent effort, although not as bad as some of the others.

Metallica are where it gets ugly. Their latest album Death magnetic is considered by many to be one of the loudest albums ever released. Take a look at this wave-form analysis. It's a monstrosity of music production, and it also suffers from excessive digital distortion or clipping. Which is a real pity, because apparently the songwriting and performance on the album is some of their best in years.

Most people will get a headache after listening to Death magnetic for longer than 10 minutes. You only need to listen to Master of puppets or Metallica (the "Black album") to know that music doesn't have to be compressed to the max to be powerful. Quite the opposite really.

The good news about the botched production job on Death magnetic is that many fans have noticed it and complained. Metallica are a very popular band, and I hope the flood of complaints will lead to some sort of revolution against the loudness war.

It must stop!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading my ramblings. While I am definitely not the first to write about the loudness war and dynamic range compression, I hope you found this article informative. If you find that newer music isn't exciting you as much as it used to, I hope this helps to shed some light on why this may be the case.

Further reading (and viewing)

The Loudness War - A great YouTube clip demonstrating how compression is affecting music
Imperfect Sound Forever - The article that started it all for me
Loudness war - Informative Wikipedia article
Top 10 worst sounding records, 1997-present - Nick Southall's list of poorly mastered albums...
Top 10 best sounding albums, 1997-present - ...and his list of the best sounding albums
Turn Me Up! - Organisation aiming to bring dynamics back to music

RIP: Richey James Edwards 1967-1995

Hmmm...this is quickly turning into an rockstar obituary blog.

And while it looks like I'm reporting 13-year-old news (hear it first on Wireless Cranium!) there's a twist to this one.

Richey Edwards, rhythm guitarist, lyricist and founding member of Welsh band Manic Street Preachers, disappeared on 1st February 1995. It's almost 14 years on, and no body has been found. On 23rd November 2008 he became officially "presumed dead". Hence, this obituary.

Richey embodied the spirit of early Manics. They released 3 albums in his lifetime: the patchy and overlong (but brilliant in parts) debut Generation terrorists (1992), underrated follow-up Gold against the soul (1993) and dark tortured masterwork The holy bible (1994). While he was a pretty poor rhythm guitarist by all accounts (James Dean Bradfield made up for it with his stellar lead guitar work), it was his dark, tortured lyrics which he became known for.

Richey was also quite a troubled young man, into self-mutilation and the like. In hindsight, it's no surprise that he became a member of the not-so-exclusive 27 club. Like Elvis, there have been many Richey sightings over the years. But I think we can safely say that if he is alive, he doesn't want people to know about it.

It's been a long time, but rest in peace Richey, wherever you are.

Here's one of the Manics' darkest songs (about anorexia) from The holy bible.

MP3: Manic Street Preachers - 4st 7lb [Link removed]

P.S. Apparently the Manics' 9th studio album, Journal for plague lovers, will contain many lyrics from the late Richey. It will also be produced by Steve Albini.

Update: Song links removed.