The art of a great compilation CD (Part 2 of 2)

As promised in my previous post, I will now provide a list of my top 10 favourite compilations of all time. All of the compilations in this list are pretty close to perfect in my opinion; please don't hesitate to pick them up!

10. Cold Chisel - Chisel

For 73 minutes of fantastic Aussie rock, it really doesn't get much better than this superb disc. If you have any relatives or friends who live overseas and want to know what popular Australian music is like, this is the disc to give them. It starts with a bang with the classic cock-rock radio staples Standing on the outside, Rising sun and You got nothing I want. There's a few ballads around the middle of the disc (Breakfast at Sweetheart's, Choir girl) which show that these guys could write beautiful melodies as well. It keeps a few classics for the latter half of the disc, including Flame trees which is possibly my favourite Chisel cut. And, knowing that they wouldn't be able to top it, they saved their most well-known song until the end with Khe sanh. A gutsy move.

9. Madonna - The immaculate collection

The only compilation in this list that I don't have in my personal collection (although my wife has it); I felt it would be a travesty of justice if I left this one out. Say what you want about her as a person, and her more recent musical endeavours. The fact remains that this is a note-perfect collection of some of the best pop that the 80's and early 90's had to offer. Even the "never before released" tracks of Justify my love and Rescue me sit comfortably alongside her earlier classics such as Like a prayer, Borderline and Holiday. This is the template for how good pop compilations can be.

8. Tom Petty - Greatest hits

I was surprised when I picked this CD up recently how many of these songs I knew. It's a great feeling when you buy a CD expecting that you only know 2-3 songs and you end up knowing 5-6, and liking them too! This chronological ordered CD of Mr Petty's greatest hits is probably the only CD of his that you need to get; the melodies never end and you can't help but smile as it gets you caught up in its groove.

7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle

The finest swamp-rock/blues fusion band released their fair share of great albums, but no disc is more satisfying than this stupendous collection of 20 classic old-skool radio station staples. Starting with a few songs from their traditional blues debut album, practically every song on this album screams out "classic" to the discerning listener. So many bands have tried to emulate the sound that these guys perfected on their fantastic run of singles, all of which are collected here. These guys are almost up there with the Beatles in terms of their sheer consistency, which is represented perfectly on this compilation. My only gripe with this album (and many other critics have commented on this) is including the 11-minute version of I heard it through the grapevine which unfortunately disrupts the flow of the CD, considering that most of the other tracks hover at around the 3-4 minute mark. But it's a small gripe relative to the beautiful tunes contained within.

6. Elvis Costello - The very best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Declan McManus has released many compilations throughout his career, but this one (now unfortunately deleted) tops the list. Why? Because it ticks that one "great compilation" box I mentioned in my previous post: it focuses on his golden years. Elvis changed record labels halfway through his career, recording with Columbia 1977-1986 and Warner Brothers from 1986 onwards (he changed record labels a few times more recently as well). With the record label change came a change in his sound as well, and this compilation wisely (in my opinion, anyway) focuses on his golden years from 1977-1986 (okay, so Goodbye cruel world wasn't so golden, but luckily there is only one track on here from that overproduced mess of an album). Like the Tom Petty compilation mentioned earlier, you may be surprised at how many of these songs you know. And as for the ones you don't know, well isn't about time you were introduced to the genius of Elvis Costello? This is also a great entry-point into his vast discography, and the songs you like on here will help steer you in the right direction when purchasing some of his proper albums which you will inevitably want to do. Pick it up on eBay if you can.

5. Crowded House - Recurring Dream

I absolutely envy anyone who hasn't yet heard anything by this Aussie/Kiwi band (although it's unlikely as they had some pretty big international hits early on in their career). Before getting this album, I knew a few of their songs: Don't dream it's over, Better be home soon...and a few others as well. But really, how can one band write so many fantastic songs and so many memorable melodies? This compilation, while not chronological, does a great job at covering a great cross section of their first 4 albums (the only 4 albums until Time on earth was released last year); it includes 4 tracks from each album, and 3 never-heard-before tracks. In doing so, they didn't make any of their albums redundant which meant that there was so much more to explore when you inevitably fell in love with them. And the 3 tracks aren't poor quality cast-offs strategically included to make the hardcore fan buy the album; Not the girl you think of you are may actually be my favourite Crowded House song of all time. That, my friendly reader, is a big call.

4. Queen - Greatest hits I

I received the double disc set of Greatest Hits I & II as a birthday present one year. Greatest Hits II covers most of their 80's output, which includes some classics (Under pressure) and some less than impressive material as well (Radio ga ga). But Greatest Hits I, which focuses on their peak 70's output, doesn't really have a dud in the bunch (I'll forgive them for Flash, because that was specifically for a movie soundtrack). Freddie Mercury was a genius, one of the finest singers of his (or any) generation. And the other guys were pretty bloody good as well. You probably know most of the tracks on this compilation, and some of my favourite songs of all time are contained within this hour-long set.

3. Bob Marley - Legend

A perfect example of showing restraint when it comes to releasing a compilation from an artist as influential as Bob Marley. They could have so easily released a double-disc set of his material, but instead they kept it to a lean 14-track 62-minute compilation. All of his classics are here: opening with the lovely Is this love, moving on to the beautiful live rendition of No woman, no cry...the tunes roll of this album like one of his joints before he smoked it. This isn't only some of the finest reggae music of all time, it's some of the best music.

2. The Cure - Standing on a beach

While the Cure are also a great "album band", they have also released many fantastic singles, and this disc collects the singles from the early part of their career, 1979-1985. This is one of the compilations in the list where the singles are played chronologically, and it really helps for a band who have been through so many different phases as the Cure. On tracks 1-4, they showed us why they were one of the best post-punk bands. On tracks 5-10, they moved into their more well-known (and pigeon-holed) gothic phase. The rest of the disc showed them edging more towards pop territory, which reached its peak on their The head on the door album from 1985 (the last album represented on here). They mastered every genre they tried, and proved to be influential to many bands who formed after them. And because it focuses on their earlier period, you still get to hear Disintegration from 1989 (arguably their best album) untarnished by hearing songs out of their context.

1. Sly & The Family Stone - Greatest hits

Really, just go out and buy this one now. I don't care what music you're into; country, metal or techno. Just get it. You can buy this so cheaply now - I was lucky enough to get it for $5 which is easily the best value in terms of dollars per listen that I have ever had in my entire music collection. I almost feel guilty, and feel that I should send Sly Stone a cheque to compensate for how cheaply I got this disc.

Anyway, this is life-affirming music of the highest order. That sounds like a wanky think to say, but it's true. Sly & The Family Stone were a multi-racial funk/goodtime band who broke all sorts of boundaries when it came to music. This is a 12 track 40 minute compilation, which makes it pretty short by compilation standards. It borrows from their earlier albums up until 1969's Stand!, and includes a few tracks which are unavailable elsewhere including the absolute classics Everybody is a star and Hot fun in the summertime. By stopping at Stand!, it avoids some of their darker moments like those on 1971's There's a riot goin' on; that make this the ultimate party album.

Even if you end up buying all of their albums after hearing this (and believe me, you will), this compilation is worth getting just so you can get those tracks. Seriously, go out and buy it now and let me know what you think. You will not regret it, and you will have a new favourite band.

Honourable mentions:

The Police - Greatest hits
The Kinks - Greatest hits
Pet Shop Boys - Discography
Paul Kelly - Songs from the south
Badfinger - The best of Badfinger

The art of a great compilation CD (Part 1 of 2)

Greatest hits, The best of, The very best of...whichever way you put it, there's no doubt that compilation CDs play a big part in many music collections.

I have talked in previous posts about how I was never a big fan of compilation CDs. I have also talked more recently about how I've become more fond of compilation CDs even since I've been converted to the joys of the iPod. My fondness for compilations has grown even more over the past year, and I have started to appreciate the joy of a well-chosen compilation as an entry point for performers with a large discography.

This is a two-part post. This, the first post, will provide the ground rules about what makes great compilations great and bad compilations suck. My second post will provide some concrete examples of some of my favourites.

Part 1: Ground rules for a great compilation

For every great compilation, there are countless others where the artists/bands (or possibly record companies) just can't get it right. I have started to appreciate that, like an album, there is an art to a great compilation CD.

Here are some of my ground rules for a great compilation. Note that this article is strictly talking about compilations of songs by the same performer (artist or band), not those 100% hits or Songs for the aussie truckie who likes pies compilations that are so ubiquitous in this day and age (and which I avoid like the plague).

Don't spread the compilation too thin. Many artists have had very long careers spanning decades - some examples being Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Neil Young. These artists have always had their peak period, and periods where they were lacking in inspiration. There's a simple rule here: keep the compilation focused on their golden years! There's no point including dud uninspired tracks just for the purposes of covering their entire career, especially when you do so at the expense of more tracks from their golden years.

Track order matters. Many critics insist on compilations being chronological, so you can see how the performer progresses. I tend to agree with this, but I don't think this should be a strict rule. All I insist is that the compiler pays attention to track order. Make the compilation flow in a logical way. Don't just use the CD as a dumping ground for songs - show some care!

Don't fill the CD just because you can. This comment definitely applies to albums, but it also applies to compilations. Don't feel compelled to release an 80 minute compilation CD if you only have 60 minutes of quality material. I'd take a focused hour-long effort over a patchy 80 minute compilation any day of the week.

Keep the compilation to a single disc. This is sure to be a controversial point, but I stand by it. Why? Because you play a compilation CD to get a sampler of great songs by the artist. All killer, no filler. Unless the artist can truly justify a two-disc set (and there are some that could pull it off), I'd rather have a single disc. Otherwise the great moments will get spread over two discs, making my decision about which one to put on all that more difficult. Some examples of the 2 approaches: the Hoodoo Gurus' excellent and focused single-disc Electric soup vs. their patchy double-disc hits and rarities set Ampology. INXS also had a great single disc set, which I traded in for a double CD of some great and some less inspiring tracks.

Don't obsolete proper albums by the performer. A compilation should be an entry-point into a performer's discography, but it shouldn't include too many tracks from a single album, thus rendering that album almost obsolete. Save some tracks for the real fans who want to buy their albums and still experience the joy of hearing most of the tracks on the album for the first time. Some examples of this are Creedence Clearwater Revival's Chronicle (almost making Cosmo's factory obsolete) and The Police's Greatest hits (Synchronicity).

Keep the rarities off the disc. Following up from the last few points - a compilation shouldn't be about rarities. That's what albums and B-sides compilations are for! You have to reward the person who goes out and buys the proper albums by the performer. If you give the casual compilation purchaser these rare tracks, it feels like you are cheating the real fan. Also ties in with the previous point about not rendering albums obsolete with a compilation. Focus!

Include exclusive track(s) not available elsewhere. This is an interesting point which I may or may not always agree with, and it all comes down to order of purchase. If the compilation CD is the first CD I buy of the performer, having a track unavailable elsewhere is a great thing. It means that the compilation CD itself will never become obsolete if I end up buying all their albums anyway. But if the compilation CD comes out after I already have many of their albums, the exclusive track is a real slap in the face to try and extract more money from me even though I already have (almost) all of the tracks on it!

Avoid premature compilation. Maybe there is a nasal spray available for this one; I do recall reading something in my email about it. Coldplay released a best-of (in the UK only, from memory) after 3 albums. Silverchair did the same. Yes, it's usually not a decision made by the performer, but a greedy record company trying to cash-in on the Christmas buying season. But it just doesn't make any sense. If you've only got 3-4 albums of material to choose from, surely it isn't all going to be A-grade material. And the artists who don't make it past their 4th album? Well eventually their albums will go down in price, so why not just buy them all. There are some exceptions to this rule: The Smiths only released 4 albums, but had some great compilations. But that's because they had a lot of non-albums singles to include on there as well.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for part 2 in this series. What makes a compilation great for you?

Upcoming 2008 album releases

Well, it's about that time of the year when music geeks like me start to get pretty excited about the upcoming scheduled music releases of the year. Unlike last year's post where I listed all of the artists who were potentially releasing albums that year, I'll instead talk about a select few artists who have confirmed that they will definitely be releasing an album in 2008 and what they have told the press about the albums.

Michael Jackson - Tabloid junkie
In what has to be one of the biggest publicity stunts of his career, Wacko Jacko's latest was apparently heavily influenced by O.J. Simpson's ultra-controversial book If I did it. This album takes its title from one of his lesser-known songs from double album HIStory, but where that song was against the media in all of its forms, this is a "hypothetical concept album" about what Jacko's life would really have been like if he had really committed all of the acts that he has been accused of in the media. Whether you believe him or not is beside the point; this is a gutsy move from a man who we had all pretty much given up on.

Weird 'Al' Yankovic - I'd like to be serious now
Mr Yankovic has built a career on writing parodies of songs by other artists. Which makes his upcoming 2008 release I'd like to be serious now even stranger: Al has decided to release the first serious album of his career. Tackling all sorts of topics from the Iraq war to climate change, this is Weird Al as you have never heard him before. Which is not very weird at all.

Spinal Tap - Shark sandwich
These guys started out as stars of the brilliant mockumentary movie This is Spinal Tap. Ironically, they wrote songs and performed better than many of the artists they were satirising! They followed their 1984 soundtrack album (the one with the cover that couldn't get any blacker) with the disappointing 1992 reunion album Break like the wind. But now they are doing the unthinkable: they have decided to start releasing albums with the same fictional titles as those mentioned in the original 1984 movie. This is the funniest blurring of fiction and reality I have heard about in a long time; I look forward to many reviews consisting entirely of those immortal words: Shit sandwich.

Radiohead - Out of rainbows
The sister album to 2007's infamously-released In rainbows, Out is reportedly the yang to In's yin (whatever that means). Either way, let's hope this one is better than Amnesiac, which was always Kid A's less talented little brother. Early reports suggest that they will be taking the "choose how much you pay" thing even further with this release. Maybe they'll pay us to download it, and include subliminal ads throughout the music?

Metallica - Scrapbooking
The title of this album suggests that this would be an "odds and sods" collection collecting all of the B-sides and other unreleased tracks from their 25-plus year career. At least that's what the fans were hoping for. Unfortunately, the reality is much more scary. Apparently this is their much awaited "middle age" album, where they have mellowed their sound down to Counting Crows-esque soft rock. And the title? Apparently that was coined by drummer Lars Ulrich, who has discovered the joy of cutting out frilly bits of fabric and sticking them in a scrapbook. I wish I was joking.

Bob Dylan - In the 'hood
He started out as a folkie (Freewheelin'), then went electric (Highway 61 revisited). He dabbled a bit in country in the late 60's (Nashville skyline), become a born-again Christian in the late 70's (Slow train coming), released some pretty forgettable stuff in the 80's (too many to mention) before finally discovering his form again in the late 90's (Time out of mind). For a man who is now in his 5th decade of recorded music, where can he go from here?

Hip-hop apparently. Yes, the man with the "love it or loathe it" voice has decided to try his hand at rapping. Reports about this album are still a bit vague, so it's a bit too early to determine whether the guy who was once dubbed "the voice of his generation" will rap his way into a 4-album winning streak.

Robert Smith vs. The Smiths - Frail spool
Robert Smith, lead singer of gothic rockers The Cure, never had many nice things to say about Morrissey, lead singer of the brilliant 80's band The Smiths (even though they had the whole name thing in common). He was famously quoted as saying (of vegan Morrissey) "if Morrissey says don't eat meat, then I'll eat meat because I hate Morrissey". Nasty stuff indeed.

Which makes this album all the more surprising, as the former enemies have decided to collaborate on their new album. Frail spool has been described by its creators as "campy gothic folk". Which pretty much sounds like what you'd get if you threw Disintegration and The queen is dead in a blender.

RIP: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1918-2008

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, once a spiritual leader for the Beatles and certainly a big influence on their later music, has reportedly passed away.

Out of respect for the deceased, I'd like to post an MP3 of Sexy Sadie, which is one of my favourite Beatles songs and was inspired entirely by John Lennon's not-so-positive experiences with Maharishi. Replace the name 'Sexy Sadie' with 'Maharishi' in the lyrics, and that's pretty much how John had originally written the song.

Enjoy!

MP3: The Beatles - Sexy Sadie [Link removed]

UPDATE: Song link removed.

2007: A Year in Music [Part 6: Re-evaluation of 2006 list]

Time to re-evaluate my top 5 albums of 2006 post to see how my opinions have changed over the course of the year. Maybe some albums which I initially praised too highly have over time lost their appeal. And maybe some other albums which I didn't like too much at this time last year have grown on me (as many great albums do). In addition to this, I have also purchased many more albums from 2006 which I didn't have when I made the list last year.

These were my top 5 albums of 2006, as published at the end of last year:

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. Augie March - Moo, you bloody choir
3. Belle & Sebastian - The life pursuit
4. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
5. Yo La Tengo - I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass

And here are the albums from 2006 that I have purchased since I made that list:

Thom Yorke - The eraser
Tom Waits - Orphans
TV on the Radio - Return to cookie mountain
Paul Simon - Surprise
The Knife - Silent shout
Camera Obscura - Let's get out of this country
Loose Fur - Born again in the USA
James Dean Bradfield - The great western
You Am I - Convicts
Regina Spektor - Begin to hope

The eraser is a decent album, but nothing mindblowing. In terms of Radiohead albums, it definitely has the most in common with Amnesiac. Considering that Amnesiac is probably my least favourite Radiohead album, this isn't really a compliment. That's not to say there aren't some choice cuts on The eraser -- Harrowdown hill is an amazing track which could quite comfortably fit amongst some of the finer cuts in Radiohead's catalogue, and Cymbal rush is a highly effective closer.

Return to cookie mountain was highly praised by many critics as one of the finest albums of 2006, but after many listens, I'm not sure I quite understand all the praise that it is getting. There are some great songs on there, don't get me wrong, but so many of the songs aren't particularly memorable for me. Wolf like me is one of the greatest songs of 2006 though!

I have already discussed Orphans and Surprise in my musical discoveries post, so no need to repeat myself here.

While I am not generally a fan of the dance/electronica genre, there are always exceptions to this rule. Silent shout by Swedish band The Knife is one such exception. It was actually voted by Pitchfork Media as the best album of 2007. I'm always a sucker for a great review, so I picked it up this year. It's a highly recommended album: a haunting slice of electronica with eerie vocals and atmospheric beats. Kind've like a more scary version of Björk, but there's a male vocalist in there as well to mix it up a bit.

While Scottish band Camera Obscura sounded like Belle & Sebastian clones on their previous album Underachievers please try harder, they carved out a really unique sound for themself on their follow-up Let's get out of this country. It's a fantastic indie pop album with a Motown/soul feel in parts, and comes highly recommended. Very catchy stuff indeed.

Loose Fur (a supergroup consisting of Wilco members Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche, together with Jim O'Rourke) released the follow-up to their self-titled debut with Born again in the USA. I was very underwhelmed with their debut album, but Born again is a much better album; while Loose Fur was more jam-based, Born again is more song-based. It's a very solid album that comes highly recommended.

I recently purchased The great western (the first solo album by Manics frontman James Dean Bradfield) and Begin to hope (an album by the quirky anti-folk artist Regina Spektor). Unfortunately I haven't given these albums enough listens to comment on them.

Which leaves You Am I's latest album Convicts, which I recently picked up cheaply on eBay. I know two of my friends Pete and Dean aren't into this album and they summed it up as fairly generic rock music, and a shadow of their former brilliance. So you could say I went into listening to it with extremely low expectations. While I agree that it's a very patchy album, and nowhere near the heights that they reached in their glory days, I also don't think it's all worthless. Thuggery, The sweet life, Gunslingers, Explaining cricket and I'm a mess are all very catchy songs that wouldn't sound out of place on a compilation CD amongst some of their older classic rockers. One of the main problems with the album is that the opening track (Thank God I've hit the bottom) lacks a real melody, and it's unfortunate because I can see how it can put someone off the album from the start.

Okay, so that's a rundown of the more recent 2006 albums purchases. Initially when I made my top albums list of 2006, I didn't have enough to make a top 10, which is why I only made a top 5. Now I have 21 albums from 2006, so I think I can make a top 10 list. Without further ado, here's my (updated) top 10 albums of 2006 (old positions are in brackets):

1. Tom Waits - Orphans [New entry]
2. Joanna Newsom - Ys [1]
3. Paul Simon - Surprise [New entry]
4. Augie March - Moo, you bloody choir [2]
5. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis [4]
6. Belle & Sebastian - The life pursuit [3]
7. The Knife - Silent shout [New entry]
8. Yo La Tengo - I am not afraid of you and I will kick your ass [5]
9. Camera Obscura - Let's get out of this country [New entry]
10. Loose Fur - Born again in the USA [New entry]

Summary of changes:

• Tom Waits' brilliant 3-CD compilation Orphans has usurped the top position from Joanna Newsom's excellent Ys album. But it's a compilation! I hear you say. Yes, but many of the tracks on it are newly-recorded ones that have never been released before, which makes it eligible for the top 10 albums of 2006 list. My list, my rules.
• Paul Simon's excellent Surprise album has also come in near the top, overtaking Augie March's Moo, you bloody choir which has slipped down two positions to number 4. I know some people who will be upset by this decision, but I love Surprise and time has not been any kinder to Moo for me.
• Jarvis Cocker's debut solo album Jarvis has over-taken Belle & Sebastian's The life pursuit. Over time that album has continued to grow on me, and I think it's up there with some of the more classic Pulp material.
• Yo La Tengo's long-titled I am not afraid of you and I will kick your ass has had its ass kicked down 3 positions, mainly because there's other albums which I have listened to more and appreciate more than that one.
• Other newly-purchased albums have made the list: Silent shout, Let's get out of this country and Born again in the USA.

And that concludes my 6-part extravaganza on the music of 2007, musical discoveries, and the 2006 re-evaluation. I hope you have enjoyed reading it!

Happy new year everyone! I hope you all have a happy, healthy and safe new year.

2007: A Year in Music [Part 5: Musical discoveries]

Now we come to the part of my 2007 summary that I like best -- the bit where I talk about some great music from the past that I have gotten into this year. I like this best because my musical appreciation lately has been less focused on the present and more on the music of old. So any discussion of the year that was 2007 will be incomplete unless I talk about some of these discoveries.

There's quite a few albums here, so I'll try to keep my descriptions brief and let the song samples do the talking for me. But I'm not promising anything, as I do have a tendency to ramble on. It all started back in nineteen dickity six; we called it dickity because my primary school had temporarily banned use of the word eighty due to [...]

Albums that I have discovered

Spoon - Kill the moonlight

Of course I loved Ga ga ga ga ga; it was one of my top 5 albums of 2007. Before getting their latest, I started to delve into their back catalogue. Prior to picking up Kill the moonlight, I only had Gimme fiction which was one of my top 10 albums of 2005. Sensing a trend here? Three albums of theirs, two in my best of the year lists and one in a list of my musical discoveries of the year. Yep, they are a great band, and I'm excited that I still have their first three albums to discover as well. One of my new favourite bands -- The way we get by is as close to a perfect piano-based pop/rock song that I could imagine hearing.

MP3: Spoon - The way we get by [Song link removed]

Tom Waits - Orphans

Seriously people -- I hate to sound all elitist on you, but one day (mark my words) you will discover the genius that is Tom Waits. Unfortunately he'll probably have to die before he gets the recognition he deserves, which is a tragedy. Right now I'm happy for him to be a cult hero known by little but loved to death by those who appreciate his songwriting brilliance. He's an incredibly difficult artist to get into, and yes you have to get past that voice which has been described by many friends as a human incarnation of the cookie monster. But if you are open minded enough to spend time exploring his music, you too will discover one of the true musical geniuses of our time.

Orphans is a 3-CD compilation of new tracks and older rarities which have either never been released, or were scattered across movie soundtracks and other compilations. Each CD represents a different aspect to his sound: Brawlers consists of his barroom bluesy stompers, Bawlers is filled with alcohol-soaked ballads and Bastards has his more weird and surreal moments. They are 3 CDs that many lesser artists could build their entire career around, but merely a drop in time for Tom.

MP3: Tom Waits - Widow's grove [Song link removed]

Paul Simon - Surprise

In a discography which has been reaping diminishing returns for many years, Surprise certainly lives up to its title. This collaboration between Paul Simon and Brian Eno is truely a match made in heaven; combine the unique and effective vocals of Mr. Simon and the ambient electronica of Mr. Eno's soundscapes and you have an album which sounds unlike anything in Paul Simon's discography. Quirky pop (Outrageous, Sure don't feel like love), melodic gems (Father and daughter) and gorgeously epic ballads (Wartime prayers, Another galaxy) gel together to form a surprisingly (there's that word again) cohesive statement from one of pop's elder statesmen.

MP3: Paul Simon - Wartime prayers [Song link removed]

The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic

The Exploding Hearts were a punk/pop quartet from Portland, Oregon who were relatively unknown. They released only one album (this one) before tragedy struck in 2003 when three of the four band members were killed in a car accident. After all of this, they were still relatively unknown.

On paper, this album sounds like it shouldn't be that impressive: take a band who's influences range from Ramones, Clash and Buzzcocks and release an album which builds upon these foundations and adds a power-pop twist to everything. Sounds a bit Green Day doesn't it? I don't know what it is about this album, but it's absolutely magical to me. Their influences are certainly obvious, and it would certainly be right to call them derivative, but they have also fused these influences into an album which is entirely their own and possibly even better than many of the albums made by their predecessors.

This album is a modern lost classic which deserves to be heard by many more people.

MP3: The Exploding Hearts - Sleeping aides & razorblades [Song link removed]

My Morning Jacket - At dawn

When I included Z in the list of my top 10 albums of 2005, I hadn't heard any of their previous albums. It's always exciting going backwards through a band's discography to see how their sound evolved, albeit in reverse order. I soon realised (thanks to recommendations from Pete) that they were quite a different band back when they released At dawn. A much better band with a fantastic southern reverb-based sound that owed a lot more to Lynyrd Skynyrd than the Flaming Lips of Z-era MMJ.

At dawn is an album that can only be described as epic. The opening title track takes about 2 minutes before the vocals even kick in. The way that he sings is really all about...how he sings. What a voice. What a great band these guys were -- the downside of getting into this album is that Z seems quite poor in comparison now!

MP3: My Morning Jacket - The way that he sings [Song link removed]

Johnny Cash - At San Quentin

It's amazingly how different the common public perception of Johnny Cash is from the reality. Those who only know him by name (and not by his music) probably think of him as an old daggy country music star (who sadly passed away in 2003 at the age of 71). But the reality is a very different thing indeed -- this man was punk. Yes, his music could be classified in the country music genre (that's certainly where JB Hi-Fi file his CDs) but it's so much more. This is rock-n-roll, rockabilly, gospel, blues and yes...country too. He even throws a bit of western in there.

But these are just labels! Don't let the daggy stigma of country music put you off the genius that was Johnny Cash. This is a man who's two most famous albums were recorded in jails to an audience of convicted criminals! How punk is that? At Folsom Prison may be the more cohesive album (all the songs are about prison) but this is the better album. It has the songs, the atmosphere, the vibe and is also quite hilarious in parts -- notably the classic A boy named Sue, and the almost-title track San Quentin which he plays not once but twice, almost inciting a prison riot.

I'm not usually into live albums, but this is a special album.

MP3: Johnny Cash - A boy named Sue [Song link removed]

The Kinks - Muswell hillbillies

This album will come as a bit of surprise to those who only know the Kinks by their big hits from the 60's (e.g. You really got me, Lola, Waterloo sunset). Many probably don't realise that the Kinks continued recording from the 70's to the 90's -- technically they haven't actually broken up yet even though they don't really record together anymore.

This album from 1971 is considered their last great album, even though it is very different to their 60's work. It's a bit all over the shop musically, covering a wide variety of genres from rock (20th century man), blues (Acute schizophrenia paranoia blues), music-hall (Holiday and Alcohol), country (Muswell hillbilly) and of course no Kinks album would be complete without their trademark British whimsy (Have a cuppa tea, Complicated life). And it all works remarkably well.

They probably would have been better off calling it quits after this album, as they would have certainly ended on a high note. Better to burn out than fade away, as a wise man once said.

MP3: The Kinks - Alcohol [Song link removed]

Badfinger - Wish you were here

Before you go accusing Badfinger of stealing the album name from Pink Floyd, this album was released in 1974, a year before the Pink Floyd album. I've said many times before that I love uncovering lost classics from the days of old, and this is one of those albums.

You know the old album review cliche where the reviewer says that this is the kind of album that the Beatles could have released if they didn't break up in 1970? Well, this is seriously one of those sort of albums. It helps that their career was actually kick-started by Paul McCartney, who wrote their early single Come and get it for them. But this album is not about hits; none of the songs are well-known, but it's got an unmistakeable vibe to it and so many of the songs sound like instant classics that you wonder why it didn't receive more acclaim than it did.

Reading about what happened to the band next only adds to the mystique of this superb album (I won't go into detail here, but please check it out on their Wikipedia page).

MP3: Badfinger - You're so fine [Song link removed]

Randy Newman - Good old boys

I had a few Randy Newman albums before this one (Little criminals, Sail away and 12 songs) but this one is in a league of its own, mainly for its thematic unity. This is a great concept album about the American south, all told through Randy's warped vision. The man has a hilariously dry sense of humour and his musical arrangements are up there with the best of the 70's singer-songwriters.

This is an album which is worth your time, and I would recommend it as a great entry-point to Randy Newman's vast discography.

MP3: Randy Newman - Birmingham [Song link removed]

The Divine Comedy - Casanova

The Divine Comedy is basically the moniker for Neil Hannon, a British singer-songwriter who writes songs in an old tin pan alley style. I've heard him referred to as the Scott Walker of the 90's, which is a fairly good comparison (although the comparison only applies to 60's-70's era Scott Walker, not his more recent avant-garde material).

This is a great album of impressive melodic and lyrical depth. There's some classic material here, and you can't help but smile and tap your foot along with the great run of songs from Songs of love to Through a long and sleepless night.

An artist definitely worth exploring. I recently picked up the out-of-print Promenade album on eBay, and look forward to receiving it based on the excellent reviews I have read!

MP3: The Divine Comedy - Songs of love [Song link removed]

Compilations that I have discovered

Pet Shop Boys - Discography



Tom Petty - Greatest hits



Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle

I have grouped these together, as they are all 'greatest hits' or 'best-of' compilations which are worth your time. In the past I have been against compilations, but if you are in any way interested in any of these artists, I would recommend any of the above compilations without reservation. Considering you can pick them up for around $10 each, take a risk -- you won't be disappointed.

No need to go into great detail about these artists as their hits are pretty well-known, but if I have to sum them up in a few words: Pet Shop Boys make highly-polished 80's pop music which is almost the best of their genre; Tom Petty records songs which are instant-classics even if they aren't particularly innovative; Creedence Clearwater Revival are the masters of the blues-rock genre and they released a ridiculous amount of fantastic material in the late 60's-early 70's, the best of which is perfectly documented on Chronicle.

MP3: Pet Shop Boys - It's a sin [Song link removed]
MP3: Tom Petty - You got lucky [Song link removed]
MP3: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green river [Song link removed]

Soundtracks that I have discovered

Saturday Night Fever

The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (one of the highest selling records of all time) epitomises the disco genre. It is predominantly made up of tracks by the Bee Gees, many of which are now radio staples. But it also includes other classics like Yvonne Elliman's If I can't have you (also written by the Bee Gees), Boogie shoes by K.C. & the Sunshine Band and Disco inferno by the Trammps (also known as "burn baby burn"). A great soundtrack and time capsule of the 70's.

MP3: Yvonne Elliman - If I can't have you [Song link removed]

Jackie Brown

I don't know why I didn't get this sooner. Quentin Tarantino is a master film writer and director, but he is also the master at creating the perfect movie soundtrack, and this is no exception. While Jackie Brown is definitely not one of his better movies, the soundtrack almost makes up for what the movie lacks. I love how Tarantino is able to uncover hidden gems that you have never heard but after listening to a few times feel like you have known your whole life. Across 110th street by Bobby Womack is the best of the bunch here, but the whole soundtrack is definitely worth your time.

MP3: Bobby Womack - Across 110th street [Song link removed]

Artists who I have discovered

Bruce Springsteen

Yeah, the man has been overplayed to death on the radio. But in the year that I started to make an effort to get into a lot of older music, he was an artist who I felt I had overlooked for too long. And I soon discovered that there's a lot more to him than his radio hits.

I had actually picked up his most critically acclaimed album Born to run a few years back, and while it had some fantastic songs it, I also found it frustratingly uneven. I picked up the stripped-down Nebraska shortly after, and soon discovered that this is an album which needs a lot of time invested in it before it will (hopefully) reap its rewards.

Since then, I have picked up Born in the U.S.A., The wild, the innocent & the E-Street shuffle, Darkness on the edge of town, Tunnel of love and double album The river. Each has slowly painted a bigger picture about the man who is Bruce Springsteen, and while he has a tendency to sing a helluva lot of songs about cars and girls, he really epitomises the working class rocker.

The wild, the innocent & the E-Street shuffle (his 2nd album from 1973) is the pick of the bunch for me so far, even if it's a bit of a red herring in his discography. It has a much more jazz-blues based sound, and is even a bit musically quirky in parts. A highly recommended album.

MP3: Bruce Springsteen - 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) [Song link removed]

Joe Jackson

Radio listeners may know Joe Jackson by his hits Is she really going out with him? and Steppin' out. I picked up his debut album Look sharp! (from 1979) on a whim this year, and found that he started out as an artist knee-deep in the new-wave sound of the late 70's-early 80's. An artist very similar in style to Elvis Costello in the early days, but not quite as good in the songwriting department.

Since picking up his debut, I have been lucky enough to find three more of his albums on eBay for $4 each (!) - I'm the man from 1979 (similar in style to his debut, but a bit more developed), Night and day from 1982 (where his songwriting started becoming more sophisticated) and Beat crazy from 1980 (which had a bit of a reggae influence).

Night and day is probably my favourite at this stage, as it is the best example of the more sophisticated and interesting side of his music. It's still early stages for me with all of these albums, so time will tell whether he will become an artist that I will cherish.

MP3: Joe Jackson - Real men [Song link removed]

UPDATE: Song links removed.

2007: A Year in Music [Part 4: Top 5 albums of the year]

Time to talk about my top 5 albums of the year (at the time of writing this). Enjoy, and feel free to chime in if you disagree or can recommend any other great albums from 2007!

5. Crowded House - Time on earth

Reunion albums can be dangerous affairs, especially when talking about a band with the stature of Crowded House. They released 4 studio albums in their original line-up, which ran from 1986 until their breakup in 1996. Frontman Neil Finn has had various side projects since then, including a couple of impressive solo albums and collaborations with his brother Tim under the name The Finn Brothers.

Former drummer Paul Hester tragically took his own life in March 2005, and the mourning in the aftermath of this became a catalyst for Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour to get back to recording music together. Neil Finn was working on a solo album at the time (the follow-up to 2001's One nil), and this eventually morphed into a new Crowded House album Time on earth.

While there are probably only a handful of tracks here which have the potential to go down in history as classic Crowded House tracks (Don't stop now, She called up, English trees), this is an amazingly consistent album which at almost an hour hardly outstays its welcome.

Rather than trying to re-create one of their late 80's - early 90's masterpieces, the line-up instead try to branch out experimentally on this album: A sigh is all atmosphere, Transit lounge is a strange jazz-tinged oddity that doesn't quite work for me and Neil's inner crooner comes out on You are the one to make me cry.

You can have the "is it a Neil Finn or Crowded House album?" argument ad infinitum. At the end, with results like this, it doesn't really matter. Great music is great music no matter what name it is released under.

4. Spoon - Ga ga ga ga ga

The title of this album has been a subject of amusement for many reviewers of this album, so I won't go there. With every album we are waiting for this Texas band to trip-up, but they just keep on subtlely evolving and continue to impress with their amazing rock minimalism.

They strip music down to the raw elements and get to the heart of why many of us love music. There's the emotion of frontman Britt Daniel's voice, the tight rhythmic foundation of Jim Eno's drumming, the lyrics which veer from abstract to personal; the parts on their own are impressive enough, but then there's that old cliche about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

Spoon try a few new things on this album: there's the sheer spookiness of The ghost of you lingers, the brassy Underdog and You got yr. cherry bomb, the abundance of typos in the song titles (yr? evah? rhthm?). If they can continue to churn out quality releases like this every few years, the world will be a happier place.

3. The Good, the Bad & the Queen

The last track on this album is called The Good, the Bad & the Queen. I thought this was kind've cool, because for the first time in my CD collection, the track name, artist name and band name of a track were all the same (I don't have Iron Maiden's debut album, but I believe the opening track on that album fits the critieria as well).

I can say that for the purposes of an anecdote, but strictly it's not true! You see, the band that released this album doesn't actually have a name. You see, The Good, the Bad & the Queen is actually the album name by the unnamed musical line-up consisting of Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti). A bit of a British supergroup when it's all said and done.

The fact that this album only has a title is quite appropriate in a way, since this album almost has a very cinematic feel to it and could almost be a soundtrack to a unreleased noir film about life in Britain in the 00's. It has an incredibly dark feel throughout (musically and lyrically) which doesn't really let up through the 43-minute running time. It's also one of the biggest growers I have heard this year, and is a perfect example why professional music reviewing is a double-edged sword; an album like this which could quite easily be called boring on the first or second listen eventually reveals its magic by the seventh or eighth listen. This is an album worth investing your time in.

2. The Arcade Fire - Neon bible

Funeral was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2004, and while it was certainly very impressive, a couple of tracks fell a bit short of the other tracks in my opinion which made it mildly inconsistent in parts for me.

I could make this analogy with other bands I'm sure, but Gomez is a band that springs to mind; Neon bible is to Bring it on what Funeral was to Liquid skin. In summary: Neon bible is the more consistent album overall, with no sub-par tracks in the bunch; however, the highs on Funeral outshine the highs on Neon bible.

While Neon bible thankfully demonstrated that The Arcade Fire are more than one-album wonders, calling this merely another excellent album is underselling it a bit. This album has cemented the reputation of this Canadian line-up as one of the great bands of this decade. This is intelligently well-written music with energy, passion and real soul lacking in so many of their contemporaries. Listen to Intervention, Ocean of noise, and No cars go; the highlights of this album and also of 2007.

1. Radiohead - In rainbows

The unique marketing strategy has been discussed to death in reviews of this album, and I've already discussed it enough in some previous posts on this blog. There's really no need to discuss it much further in this review, so let's focus on the music instead.

Their previous album Hail to the thief (from 2003) was an impressive return to form for me after the disappointing Amnesiac. While in my opinion it was 4 tracks too long (I have come up with an alternate 10-track 39-minute track listing which could rival OK computer as their best album), it brought pack the power of the song and importantly brought real melody with it. Songs like A punch up at a wedding showed that a band who had alienated their listeners with the disturbing electronica on many of the Kid A/Amnesiac songs still had a soul at the heart of their sound.

In rainbows is in many ways a continuation of the accessible sound that Radiohead started returning to on Hail to the thief. The first few seconds of 15 step are a red herring, with a burst of electronica suggesting that this was a retreat to the sounds of Amnesiac, or even Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser. Thom's still amazing vocals kick in, and thankfully (for me anyway) the guitar comes in shortly after this.

There are tracks on In rainbows which impress on the first listen, and successfully draw the listener back for subsequent listens -- Nude is a beautiful epic ballad that wouldn't sound out-of-place on the alienating OK computer, Faust arp is a gorgeous string-laden piece which sounds like nothing they have released before and All I need almost sounds like something that could be on The bends.

Then there are the tracks which pass the listener by initially, and slowly reveal themselves like a magic eye picture on additional listens -- Bodysnatchers sounded like pretty generic rock on first listen, but has revealed itself to be an epic song of considerable depth; Videotape also reveals its charms over time and has become a perfect closer for the album.

With In Rainbows, as with all of their albums, Radiohead have successfully been able to re-invent themselves as the definitive alternative band of this generation. That they can continue to impress so much seven albums in, and never be accused of repeating themselves, puts them up on a pedestal so far away from their peers that I often wonder what the temptation is like for the others to throw in the towel.

2007: A Year in Music [Part 3: Cutting room floor]

We'll continue the rundown of 2007 with the albums which didn't make the cut of the top 5 list of my favourite albums of the year. Some of these were disappointments, and some were simply pushed out of the top 5 by fierce competition.

There is no order to these, so they are simply sorted alphabetically by the artist or band name.

Manic Street Preachers - Send away the tigers

A bit of a return to form for these veteran rockers after their partially successful attempt at fitting in with the Coldplay crowd on 2004's Lifeblood. Many reviewers have called this their best album since their 1996 classic Everything must go (their first post-Richey album). I've never understood how critics could pan 1998's This is my truth tell me yours; in my opinion this was a classic album of the late 90's. Although I'll admit I am a bit biased as that album has nostalgic value for me as it was the first Manics album I had heard, and I got into it at a time of my life when discovering new music like this was still pretty exciting. I'm also a big defender of 2001's Know your enemy; while I agree that it is over-long and could have been trimmed down to a tighter album, the best songs on that album are up there with some of the best that Manics have released.

What of Send away the tigers, then? This is just a solid Manics album; at 38 minutes it is nice and concise, but most importantly there is an abundance of great tunes. There are some anthems here that only a band like Manics still record (the title track, The second great depression, Autumnsong), a surprisingly effective duet with Nina Persson from the Cardigans (Your love alone is not enough), and in something which has become par for the course for latter-day Manics albums, a few filler tracks which don't quite work as well (Underdogs, Imperial bodybags). Not a great album, but certainly not an embarrassment and better than we should be expecting from them after all these years.

The Polyphonic Spree - The fragile army

2004's Together we're heavy was a massive leap over their debut album, mainly because I started to believe that this crazy 24-piece band could really shed the novelty aspect of their cult-like status and be real players in the indie music biz. It was for this reason, and also because it was a corker of an album, that it was in my top 5 albums of 2004.

The fragile army is unfortunately more of a sideways step rather than a leap to something new. There are some new elements to their sound on this album (a music-hall movement on the title track, for instance), but for me to take a band like this seriously, the songwriting needs to make me forget that I'm listening to a 24-piece band, and unfortunately it all feels a bit over-the-top this time. While most bands can still remain interesting by making gradual progressions between albums, it doesn't seem to work as well for these guys...maybe the progression that is required to remain interesting is proportional to the size of the band?

Gruff Rhys - Candylion

The second solo album from the quirky Super Furry Animals frontman, Candylion continues to prove that this guy has a bottomless pit of fantastic melodies just waiting to be recorded and released to his legion of happy fans around the world.

These songs are mellower and a bit less strange than those from 2007's SFA album Hey Venus!, and it's only for this reason (and the fact that Gruff handles all vocals on this one) that one can differentiate this from just another SFA album (not that an SFA album is particularly easy to pigeonhole).

There's really not a duff track here, and many of the songs are instant classics (The court of King Arthur, Beacon in the darkness and the hilarious closer Skylon!) that sound like stuff the Beatles may have recorded in their later days if they were from Cardiff instead of Liverpool.

The Shins - Wincing the night away

The first Shins album to be released since Natalie Portman famous hyped them up in Garden state. It has become customary to mention Ms. Portman in the opening sentence of any review of this album, so why should I be any different?

This is the 3rd album from these Milwaukee tunesmiths who have almost become the defining indie popstars of this decade. And there's not a lot to fault on this album; these guys are masters of their craft, and many of the songs here are not only classic Shins songs, but classic songs of their genre (melodic indie folk-pop is probably the best way to describe it). They even try a few new things here (a short segue track in Pam Berry, a mellow hip-hop beat in Sealegs), which show that they are at least up for trying new things even if they don't always work.

The only real criticism I can give this album is that these guys set the bar too high with their previous album Chutes too narrow, which over the years has grown on me immensely and I now think of it as one of the greatest albums of the decade so far. But we shouldn't penalise them for past glories now, should we?

Elliott Smith - New moon

This is disqualified from the running of the top 5 as it's not an album but merely a compilation of tracks recorded by the late indie folk genius. What can I say about these tracks? The man never released a bad song in his short life, and these tracks are no exception.

Most of the tracks on New moon were recorded at the same time as his 2nd self-titled album from 1994 and his 1997 masterpiece Either/or, so quite naturally they share a fairly similar sound to the songs on those albums (although I would say that they share more similarities with the stripped-down songs on Elliott Smith).

Unfortunately I probably haven't given attention to these 2 discs, so many of the tracks blend into each other for me and I find it difficult to pick standout tracks. But, if I had my arm twisted, I would probably pick out High times, Whatever (folk song in C) and Either/or as standouts. I look forward to more songs being squeezed out of the vaults for future CD releases.

Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!

Many critics called this a return to form after 2005's Love kraft, but I for one loved that album and included it in my top 10 albums of 2005. This is probably their most straight-forward (read: less weird) album since their debut Fuzzy logic in 1996, but there is no shortage of amazing songs on this album: Run-away is already an SFA classic, Show your hand and The gift that keeps giving are ridiculously catchy and the fascinating Carbon dating almost picks up where the subdued Love kraft left off.

8 albums in, SFA are a band who continue to impress with each and every release and while they definitely have a sound of their own, you could never accuse them of repeating themselves. One negative - bring back Pete Fowler to do the artwork for the next album! The Hey Venus! artwork sucks.

Wilco - Sky blue sky

This was one of the more debated albums in the Internet community this year. Pitchfork summed it up for many fans when they referred to this album as "dad-rock". Many other reviewers praised Wilco for making the album they wanted to make.

From the start, every album that Wilco has made has been different enough from the previous album that they have never been a band that you could accuse of repeating themselves. A.M. was the alt-country album. Being there was the rough and dirty (and not filler-free) double album, their Exile on Main Street if you will. Summerteeth was their Beatles album. Yankee hotel foxtrot was their re-invention album. A ghost is born was their avante-garde krautrock-influenced album. And yes, Sky blue sky is most certainly their back to basics album.

What about the songs then? Look, there are some really impressive songs here -- Impossible germany features some great Marquee moon-esque guitar interplay, Side with the seeds and Walken almost sounds like Ghost outtakes, Hate it here is just a great pop song with a fantastic guitar hook. Then there are the songs which just blow by in an air of inoffensiveness - Either way, Sky blue sky, Please be patient with me, Leave me (like you found me), On and on and on...all nice songs, don't get be wrong. But for the first time since they formed, I don't feel challenged by this album, and for that reason I can't help but call it a slight (albeit still impressive) disappointment.