Friday 18 December 2009

News, Views and Music Issue 50 (Intro)


                                             December 18:

                                       Hello everybody and welcome to our 50th issue! Sorry once

                               again for the delay in newsletters for the past few weeks – it’s

                              my health that’s got in the way this time, not my laptop’s for

                             once! This may prove to be our last newsletter of the year as

                            well so – just in case – we wish all our members a happy xmas



 and look forward to seeing you in the new year. As a special treat, this will be an extended version of the newsletter, taking in an extended ‘top 5’ and all of the news items we’ve missed over the last week or two as well as our usual review. And of course we will be taking our yearly look back at the year’s releases, celebrating the highs and lows of 2009. What a year it’s been, dear readers -  33 newsletters taking in everything from talking cows to articles sent back to us through time with lots of great great music in between. There’s been a new lease of life for The Beatles, a return to form from Cat Stevens, the end of Oasis and a sad goodbye to Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin. As for our AAA artists, they’ve given us wit, wisdom, laughter and some more great CDs, although sadly most of them seem to be re-issues again this year. More on that story later, as they say, for now we say adios to 2009 and hope that 2010 will be another stellar year in terms of new releases.



                                                   

  Beatles News: In our original draft for this newsletter we were all set to say what a quiet end to the year The Beatles were having after all that hoo-hah in September when everything fab four-related seemed to be back on the shelves again (I swear I even saw a yellow submarine lunchbox!) But now Paul McCartney has a new DVD out, or will have once we go to press, entitled ‘Good Evening New York City’ and catching the fab one live with his current band during a gig at the Citi Field. Like most things modern and Macca it comes in a myriad of different versions: a 2 CD and 1 DVD set and a 2 CD and 2 DVD set featuring bonus footage. The set will also be available as a digital download, apparently, but I wouldn’t have a clue about that.

An even weirder – and expensive – xmas for the Beatles pundit this year is a storage case for htis year’s Beatle re-issue frenzy, bookended by two books detailing the discographies of the US/UK and in the second book the rest of the world with rare picture sleeves to boot. Very nice, but the second book isn’t really relevant when the set only replicates the UK versions of the records (barring the US version of ‘Magical Mystery Tour’) and has a £82 price tag. Ouch! (I got my set of the music for £135!)

Finally, what better way to see out the year than in the company of the fab four? Paul Gambaccini offers yet another take on the Beatles’ history on Radio 2 on December 30th and 31st with ‘Here, There And Everywhere’, ambitiously trying to tell in two hours what the Beatles’ Anthology series failed to do in ten.

 ♫ CSN News: Well, its not strictly a CSN release but they are one of the lynch-pins of a well-received new book of photographs about the artists who lived in Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon. The book, titled ‘Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon’, is written by Harvey Kubernik and published by Sterling.

♫ Jefferson Airplane/Starship News: A welcome discovery that’s slipped out quietly during the last few months – with no mention in any music papers that I saw – is the first ‘proper’ CD release of the first five Jefferson Starship albums (some of them have been out before, but only on a series of increasingly head-scratching two-for-one combinations). The set includes mini-CD replica sleeves for the superlative ‘Dragonfly’, the over-rated million-selling ‘Red Octopus’, the under-rated piddling-selling ‘Spitfire’, the weak ‘Earth’ and the energetic ‘Freedom At Point Zero’, although the only bonus tracks are a handful of alternate takes and demos for ‘Red Octopus’. It’s a nicely presented set, though, that will look good on the shelf next to the Jefferson Airplane 5 CD set (which contains Takes Off!/Surrealistic Pillow/Bathing At Baxters/Crown Of Creation/Bless It’s Little Pointed Head – everything you need for a truly psychedelic trip in other words, although of course these albums have been out on CD individually for decades now in different formats)

Monkees News: This Saturday, December 19th, Radio 4 will attempt to tell the story of The Monkees in, erm, half an hour. The show, entitled Here We Come, is already causing controversy due to Davy Jones allegations that everything that went wrong with the band was down to Mike Nesmith.  And we thought the BBC were ambitious trying to tell the fab fours story in two hours...

 Oasis News: Liam Gallagher will definitely be continuing his recording career under his own name backed by the other band members, while brother Noel has been keeping uncharacteristically quiet about his future. However, Noel has been in the news enthusing over the remix of Oasis track ‘Falling Down’ by Amorphous Androgynous – a four-minute work of promise from the band’s final album ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ now extended into a 22-minute epic.

  Pink Floyd News: A tape of the Floyd’s early Top Of The Pop’s appearance plugging ‘See Emily Play’ in July 1967 has come to light after being mis-labelled for decades in an anonymous music archivist’s collection. The show from Jul 6 1967, along with another from July 27 that year, will be screened as part of the ‘Missing: Believed Wiped’ event at London’s SouthBank on January 9 next year. Another TOTP discovery was made by the family of comedian Dick Emery, recently, who discovered that one 1974 show in his collection was not in the BBC archives.

♫ Rolling Stones News: Two big big anniversaries for the Stones this month: First up, it’s 40 years since Altamont (or was on December 6th anyway), the Stones’ free festival that ended up with four deaths (including one murder) and effectively ended the trend for free festivals begun so wonderfully by Woodstock just 4 months before. Radio 2 celebrated, if that’s the right word, by way of a fascinating documentary looking back at all the factors that went to make up the mess and included a few snatches of performances and interviews that haven’t been broadcast before. BBC 4 also repeated the ‘Gimme Shelter’ film of the concert – planned with such enthusiasm for the stars taking part and instead twisted to become a moving and harrowing glimpse at how so many good intentions can go so bad so fast. The scene of Meredith Hunter’s death from a Hells Angel’s knife still has the power to shock to this day, as do Mick Jagger’s increasingly frustrated attempts to calm the crowd down. However, it’s sad that only the Stones’ part in events ever seems to get mentioned – CSN performed, albeit briefly while Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin – the unsung hero of the festival - even got beaten up by a Hell’s Angel in an attempt to stop an argument going on in the front row while the rest of the band play on, horrified (Paul Kantner’s neat response: ‘to the hell’s angel whose just beaten up our lead singer...gee, thanks for that!’)

It’s also 40 years since the second and for most people definitive Stones live album ‘Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!’ The show, recorded during the Stones’ tour of 1969 is yet another example of the Stones producing live albums from their weakest tours not their best but is still well regarded by many a Stones fanatic. The latest re-issue includes a DVD of performances from the same period and the restored opening sets by Tina Turner and BB King. Paint it black, you devils!

♫ Cat Stevens/Yusuf News: There’s a repeat hearing of the nicely intimate ‘Radio 2 Live’ perfomance from earlier this year on December 22nd, which features plenty of classic songs (including some rarities such as early song ‘Portobello Road’ and film soundtrack song ‘Don’t Be Shy’) as well as songs from Yusuf’s impressive new album ‘Roadsinger’.

♫ Neil Young News: A surprise and welcome showing of the 2005 Neil concert film ‘Heart Of Gold’ took place on Channel Five the other week. A shame the UK premiere of this Nashville concert had to take place in the early hours but still, it was an unexpected bonus for us British fans and reveals the film to be a rather lopsided affair featuring the whole of the patchy but still best-in-a-decade album ‘Prairie Wind’, followed by some old acoustic friends dominated by 1992’s ‘Harvest Moon’ with a delightful ‘Comes A Time’ and thoughtful ‘Old Man’ the highlights.

                                    



♫ ANNIVERSARIES: (December 5-11th) Happy Holidays to the following AAA musicians – Jim Messina (bassist with The Buffalo Springfield 1968) who turns 62 on December 5th and Bobby Elliott (drummer with The Hollies 1964-present) who turns 67 on December 8th. Anniversaries of events include: The Rolling Stones hold a ‘Beggar’s Banquet’ to celebrate the release of their new album – it quickly turns into a food fight between the band and the media (December 5th 1968); The Beatles fan club posts the very first fab four xmas flexidisc to thousands of members (December 6th 1963); it’s 40 years since four people died at the Rolling Stones’ hosted free concert at Altamont Speedway. AAA groups CSNY and Jefferson Airplane also appeared (the Grateful Dead were due to play but refused due to the ‘bad vibes’) (December 6th 1969 – the ‘Gimme Shelter’ film outlined above is premiered on the same day in 1970); The Beatles appear on the pop panel show Jukebox Jury in a well remembered TV appearance sadly missing from the archives (December 7th 1963); CS and N announce to the press their intention of working together in the future – the trio begin recordings the following summer (December 7th 1967); On the same day The Beatles’ Apple Boutique begins its ill-fated run in London’s Baker Street (December 7th 1967); The Beach Boys release their first single ‘Surfin’ which becomes a minor hit on the national charts (December 8th 1961); Pink Floyd release ‘The Wall’ 30 years ago this week (December 8th 1979); John Lennon dies 29 years ago this week on December 8th 1980 at the age of just 40; the same week in 1972 saw the first issue of Lennon’s ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ single which surprisingly flops the first time round, having been issued too close to yuletide to reach most radio playlists (December 9th); The Moody Blues’ first line-up, including Wings’ Denny Laine on lead vocals, release their famous single ‘Go Now’ (December 10th 1964); The Minbenders release their first single with future 10cc member Eric Stewart on lead vocals ‘Groovy Kind Of Love’ (December 10th 1965); Gentle Giant Otis Redding dies in a plane crash at the age of 27 (December 10th 1967) and finally, Lennon releases his ‘primal scream’ album, Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, the record that waves goodbye to the Beatles in more ways than one (December 11th 1970).

Anniversaries (December 12-18th): Happy Birthday To You if your name is Ray Jackson (singer and harmonica player with Lindisfarne 1970-75 and 1978-93) who turns 61 on December 12th, Frank Allen (bassist with The Searchers 1964-present) who turns 66 on December 14th, Tony Hicks (guitarist with The Hollies 1963-present) who turns 66 on December 16th and Keith Richards (guitarist with The Rolling Stones 1963-present) who turns 66 on December 18th. Anniversaries of events include: Pink Floyd’s first ever concert outside their local college for charity Oxfam as part of an all star cast of young hopefuls at the Royal Albert Hall (December 12th 1966); The Rolling Stones Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus is recorded during a marathon 22-hour session from the early hours of December 12th-13th December 1968. It won’t be seen by anyone outside the band for another 25 years; the first ever solo Beatles concert takes place when the Plastic Ono Band, with a guesting Eric Clapton on lead guitar, perform a set at the Toronto Peace Festival (December 12th 1969); The day after sees The Who playing their new rock opera Tommy at London’s Colosseum Opera House (December 13th 1969); Mick Taylor leaves the Rolling Stones to make way for Ronnie Wood (December 14th 1974); George Harrison is deported from Hamburg for playing a club while under-age (the rest of the Beatles sheepishly make their way back to Liverpool without him, after a short brush with the police who charge two of the makeshift Beatles for trying to set their employers’ club on fire; December 16th 1960) and finally The Who call it a day – for the next seven years at least – with a farewell show at Canada’s Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, with The Small Faces’ Kenny Jones on drums (December 17th 1982).  

And finally, hip-hip hooray to those between December 19-25th: Carl Wilson (guitarist and so much more with The Beach Boys 1961-2003) who would have been 63 on December 21st and Ian Burden (keyboardist and programmer with the Human League) who turns 52 on December 24th. Anniversaries of events include: Keith Moon’s first on-stage collapse (of many during his 12 years in the limelight), as early as The Who’s 1965 UK tour (December 19th 1965); Paul Simon scores what is to date his only #1 solo single with ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ (December 20th 1975); The Beatles begin their 1963 Christmas Show tour (December 21st); Janis Joplin is the special guest star vat a one-night only Stax super-star soul night (December 21st 1968);  Small Faces drummer Kenny Jones officially joins The Who in the wake of Keith Moon’s death in September (December 22nd 1978); Paul McCartney performs his last ever gig with Wings at the fondly remembered Kampuchea Benefit concerts in London – there are rumours of a Beatles reunion too, reportedly the closest all four members ever came to an agreement. The gig is also special because its the first time McCartney is meant to have met Elvis Costello, his future writing partner, who is also performing at the event (December 22nd 1979); Tom and Jerry, aka Simon and Garfunkel, release their first ever single at the tender age of 14. ‘Hey Schoolgirl’ is a bit local hit that becomes a minor national chart entry (December 23rd 1957); Mike Smith of Decca Records travels to the Cavern Club to see the Beatles play – contrary to popular opinion about Decca, the label are really interested in the band until Brian Poole and the Tremeloes comes along and the label demur over signing two such similar bands at the same time come January (December 23rd 1961); Poor Brian Wilson has a pretty miserable xmas in 1964, after suffering his infamous breakdown on a plane leaving home for yet another American tour – this is the last time he will be a regular sight on a Beach Boys stage (December 23rd); Ready Steady Go goes away forever when the last edition of this iconic series is broadcast on December 23rd 1966; Blues singer Johnny Ace dies when a game of Russian roulette goes wrong on December 24th 1954 – his death will help inspire the classic Paul Simon song ‘The Late Great Johnny Ace’ in 1983; The Who chart with their first album ‘My Generation’ in the UK (December 25th 1965) and finally, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher announce their engagement on December 25th 1967. The relationship only lasts a few months after this, however...

Friday 11 December 2009

News, Views and Music Issue 50 (Top Five): Releases Of The Year 2009/Releases of the 2000s




And so it is with a hint of sadness and a touch of cynicism that we look back at the past year’s releases and delve beneath the hype to see what releases really were worth buying after all the dust and hoo-hah has settled down. It’s not been a vintage year – in fact, very few AAA artists released new music at all (Yusuf and Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian are the year’s only real contenders) – however, 2009 seemed to be something of a milestone year in terms of deluxe re-issues and the fruition of projects that we’ve been promised for much of the past decade (more in Neil Young’s archives). So even though we’ve had very little that’s been ‘new’, as such, there’s been an awful lot of releases this year that I’d have never predicted this time in 2008 (The Beatles finally make good on their promise to replace the awful 1987 CD masters; The Beatles officially sanction their first ‘game’ since the ‘flip your wig’ monstrosity of 1963; A record company actually has the belief in Graham Nash and the patience to sift through all the record company changes to come up with a 3CD best-of; CSN sanction a CD of demo recordings, first mooted way back in 1991; Neil Young finally gets round to releasing the follow-up to 1977’s compilation ‘decade’ with a set that’s been on the schedule sheets since the mid-1980s). Let’s hope for more of the same in 2010!

5) Neil Young “Archives”. We’ve moaned about the price. We’ve moaned about the lack of rarities in quota to songs we own dozens of times over. We’ve moaned about the lack of packaging. We’ve moaned about the fact that Neil’s going to keep adding costly downloads to each set as and when he feels like it. We’ve moaned about the fact that the box set only covers the years up to 1972. And we’ve moaned that this set has been so long in coming that practically all of Neil’s fans have gone and got the stuff on bootleg already. But the dozen or so rarities on this set really are interesting for the most part – Neil’s earliest recordings dating way back to 1963 when he was with The Squires (they sound a pretty nifty band too, more than able to give The Shadows a run for their money); an exhilarating unreleased song ‘Everybody’s Alone’ which sets the template for much of the ‘doom trilogy’ to follow in its wake, the ridiculously rare single-only ‘War Song’ that makes it onto CD for the first time and sounds like Ohio’s baby brother and an exquisite first take of ‘Birds’ from 1969, that gorgeous song of fragility and loss from ‘After The Goldrush’. It’s not what fans had hoped for and the release of all the semi-interesting concert recordings as CDs in their own right was truly a bad move, but for this handful of goodies alone the set is worth an entry on our list.  

4) Jefferson Starship ‘Five Original Classics’ (see the above news section). I’m not too clear when this set did make it out on CD but it seems to be this year so it’s going on our list. This nicely packaged set might not have many rarities but it has been produced with a lot of care and a straightforward CD pressing of these first five Starship albums is more than overdue. ‘Dragonfly’ is the first and best – an exhilarating ride through angry Kantner political rants, soaring Grace Slick explorations of love and loss, a fine cameo song from Marty Balin and a couple of decent songs from the under-used David Freiberg. Almost every song is a gem and  we haven’t a band this together on a Jefferson release since Bathing At Baxters. The other albums are a lot patchier (make that an awful lot patchier for the pretty ordinary ‘Earth’) but are also well worth hearing – especially the 3rd and 5th albums which – to the best of my knowledge – have never made it to CD before. Now if only 2010 could see the release of the next three Starship albums I could die a happy man...

3) Graham Nash ‘Reflections’. It seems so long ago when this set came out in February that I’m quite amazed I’m talking about this long-awaited set in the right year. But I am and so let me fill you in on this long-awaited follow-up to Rhino’s equally excellent David Crosby set ‘Voyage’. There are less rarities from the classic era to be found – and spreading them throughout the set doesn’t work quite as well as with Voyage’s ‘bonus’ disc of rarities – but there are oodles of gems in this collection. Highlights include alternate – and better – mixes of such superb songs as Better Days, Military madness, Another Sleep Song, Cathedral and especially Cold Rain, a handful of unreleased songs including two gems in concert favourite ‘Magical Child’ and the superlative 1986 song ‘Lonely Man’ plus some of Graham’s rarer and hard-to-find later material. It would have been nice to have hear more rarities (there are plenty more in the can, especially from the 1970s) and we’ve q few quibbles with the running order of even the best known songs, but this is still an impressive set and the packaging is glorious, chock-a-block full of Graham’s own pictures of himself, friends and family. We reserve the right to add Stephen Stills’ ‘Manassas Pieces’ to this list by the way – hopefully it’ll be under the tree gathering pine needles and record needled this year...

2) The Beatles ‘The Beatles’ (Mono/Stereo Box Set). Not for the first time, the sheer extent of the coverage and publicity for the Beatles’ latest re-awakening for another generation has split the music collectors down the middle. Much mooted this set delivers on all the key points (excellent sound, nice packaging and an attention to detail that usually passes Apple by these days) even if you have to admit that critics of the set have their fair points too (no bonus tracks or rarities, a high retail price albeit not as bad as the old CD sets and the bonus documentary(s)was a bit of a damp squib after being screened the day before the sets were released). By and large, though, they finally got a Beatles set right – no fancy extras that don’t quite work, no gimmicks to tie the thing to this time (‘Beatles Rock band’ is a separate enterprise and rather a good one I hear) and no teasing the public by releasing the CDs one by one. At long last Apple/EMI have excelled by concentrating on the one single aspect of The Beatles’ legacy that’s guaranteed to last: the songs.  You can sell your unwanted copy of ‘Beatles Love’ now the real thing is here at last!...   

1) Yusuf aka Cat Stevens ‘Roadsinger’. ...But the best release of the year by contrast came out quietly, with just the one radio and one TV appearance to plug it. Yusuf’s second album since his retirement easily beats the first and finally lives up to the hype we were given for that set ‘An Other Cup’ a few years ago, full of the quiet warm thoughtful ballads that Cat used to excel at, with a sensitive modern production that actually works (you wouldn’t believe how many AAA albums have been scuppered by force-feeding musicians ‘modern trends’ this past decade or maybe 2 or 3). Cat’s voice sounds like it always did and his message is more or less intact. If only every ‘comeback’ album could live up to this one, which doesn’t put a foot wrong anywhere... Highlights include the long awaited (by me, anyway!) Sun/C79 follow-up ‘Everytime I Dream’, the masterpiece in epic miniature ‘In This Glass World’ and the slow and soothing ‘Dream On’. Excellent stuff.

And for those who haven’t noticed, 2009 also sees the end of yet another decade. Again, it’s not been a vintage one by any means but it has at least seen the continuation of the 1990’s interest in all things 60s and has seen the release of some archive sets that we never would have dreamed of even a few years ago. There has been lots of good music around too – and no we don’t mean The Spice Girls or any of their modern interchangeable boy or girl bands either – talent doesn’t fade overnight, it just gets a bit rusty and there have been plenty of AAA albums well worth digging out in the past 10 years. Here’s our run-down of our favourite 10:

10) Brian Wilson ‘Gettin’ In Over My Head’ (2004). This album suffered from being released hot on the heels of the surprise issue of our beloved ‘Smile’. Compared to that masterpiece of a milestone any album would suffer, but this album (whose title seemed only too apt given its frustratingly unfinished state) – like every Brian Wilson solo – contains its fair share of jewels that glitter so brightly and wonderfully that suddenly I can forgive everything. ‘Soul Searchin’ is a delightful archive song featuring brother Carl on lead and finally finished by Brian several years after being abandoned; ‘You’ve Touched Me’ is the most genuinely happy we’ve heard Brian Wilson sound since parts of Pet Sounds and a delight to hear; the title track is one of the most gorgeous orchestral epics of Brian’s complete back catalogue; and ‘Rainbow Eyes’ is a valiant attempt at welding the complex middle period Beach Boys sound with the fun primitivism of the eras either side of it. You won’t want the rest (even the long awaited duet with Macca on ‘A Friend Like You’ is a big let down) but when this album is good it’s very very good indeed.

9) Neil Young ‘Prairie Wind’ (2005). Neil’s been on a downward curve for some time now – at least since 1995’s ‘Mirrrball’, some would argue longer – and his last two albums have rather ruined the idea that this album represented something of an upward momentum. But ‘Prairie Wind’ is a special album recorded in trying circumstances: first the death of Neil’s father, famous Canadian sports journalist Ben Young and then Neil’s own near-brush with death after suffering a brain aneurysm mean this album is even more introspective and mellow than normal. But the lyrics are easily the best of Neil’s 1990/00s output, full of outpourings of grief for all the things he never got to say to the dearly departed, fragmented memories of a childhood when the past 6 odd decades seemed unimagineable and an eerie presence breezing though the whole thing, from the pull on the artist’s paint brush in the first track to the dying embers of Neil wondering aloud what God put him on earth to do in the last. Like many a thematic Neil Young album you desperately need something different to come in and shake up the tempos/instrumentation/ ideas, but as an ongoing concept suite this is Neil’s best in a very long time. Highlights include the scary epic ‘No Wonder’ and the gentle ballad of goodbye ‘Falling Off The Face Of The Earth’.

8) Paul McCartney aka The Fireman and Youth ‘Electric Arguments’ (2008). We covered this one in detail last year (its in ‘news and views 13a if you want to go look for it). Suffice to say it still sits as the best McCartney release of the decade (beating most of his albums by some margin, although 2001’s ‘Driving Rain’ was ‘bubbling under’ for this list too), fragmented, elliptical, curious and compelling in a way we haven’t seen since 1980’s McCartney II. Adopting a persona and a new way of working (making up songs on the spot after choosing a tempo, key or snatch of lyric to work on) really brought out the best in Macca, freeing him of his commitments as an ex-Beatles and giving him the freedom to experiment and use his fabulous hard-working sub-conscious for a change. Not every track works but then you’d expect that from an album this experimental and open – the remarkable thing is just how much of this album works as well as it does. Highlights include the buoyant ‘Dance Til’ We’re High’, the White Album-ish ‘Travelling Light’ and the fascinating, impenetrable ‘Lifelong Passion’ and ‘Is This Love?’ which sounds like Macca working out his recent problems with Heather Mills and turning his fears into art. Just like old times.

7) George Harrison ‘Brainwashed’ (2002). Perhaps the saddest album on this list is this posthumous farewell from our dear old friend George, who left this album in a ‘nearly’ finished state after dying of throat cancer in 2001 and left his son Dha ni and his friend Jeff Lynne to complete for him. What’s sad isn’t that this is an album that actively tears at your heart strings (well, not till the moving title track and it’s Eastern coda anyway), but that it represents such a grand return to form after the over-produced misery that was ‘Cloud Nine’. Again, not every track works and George’s barbed tongue stings more than it needs to throughout (not to mention Jools Holland’s truly diabolical playing) , but the gems such as the exquisite song of helplessness ‘Stuck Inside A Cloud’ and the rallying cry of a title track are among the best things that George Harrison had ever done. No wonder we miss him so much.

6) Oasis ‘Heathen Chemistry’ (2002). Back when Oasis were a going concern, not just a musical fight between two siblings, ‘Heathen Chemistry’ was the return to form of the decade. Well, sort of – personally I never thought this album’s two predecessors were as bad as everybody said – but suddenly in 2002 the tide had turned and Oasis were, briefly, fashionable again. Having a barnstorming effortless rocker like ‘Hindu Times’ and a spine-tingling production masterpiece like ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ certainly helped, but it was this album’s quieter songs that helped give the band such a needed turn-around in fortunes. Noel’s ‘Little By Little’ is one of his career best songs, chilling in its attempts at forced confidence and sudden bursts of self-provoked anger and hopelessness and Liam’s ‘Born On A Different Cloud’ may well be his best song, a scary study of the outsiders in life and the sacrifices that cost them dearly as a result. Best of all, however, Oasis sounded like a band again and only one song (a rather drippy instrumental) truly disappointed on the whole LP. Good times.

5) Yusuf ‘Roadsinger’ (2009). As discussed above (and in news and views no 31), the former Cat Stevens’ return to form did everything its predecessor ‘An Other Cup’ had promised to deliver and failed. Abandoning the need to get his religious conversion across successfully, this is a welcome journey through the struggles of life in the modern world, full of warmth and quiet strength that makes even depressing credit crunch-inspired songs as ‘The Rain’ sound hopeful. Cat’s casting of himself as the ‘roadsinger’, a modern day minstrel who travels around in a camper van to visit places of tyranny and offer the support that governments don’t allow, is also a good concept, tying several of these songs together. Mainly, though, its the joy of hearing Cat going back to writing acoustic songs again that makes this album a gem. Against all the odds there isn’t a single song I dislike on this album – see above for the highlights – with the only negative point being the frustratingly short half-hour running time.

4) Belle and Sebastian ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ (2003). B and S were on a downward slope this decade after the highs of the mid and late 1990s, but both this album and its predecessor (2001’s ‘Fold Your Hands, Child’) still contain so many little nuggets of greatness that they more than deserve a place in the top reaches of this list. This album caused some controversy at the time by uniting the wilfully amateurish and gorgeously messy B and S sound with Buggles producer and bombastic production specialist Trevor Horn (now back working with ‘regular’ musicians like Robbie Williams). The two actually sound like soulmates at times here, with such eccentric ideas as a ping-ponging ball bouncing between speakers to segue songs and sudden switches in tempo that take B and S out of their familiar territory and back again before they get lost. Highlights include some fabulous Stuart Murdoch wordplay and such moving tales as ‘Lord Anthony’ (school bully victim) and time-delayed lover (‘She Wants Me’, one of a number of songs revealed recently to be ‘about’ Murdoch and fellow band member Isobel Campbell who left the band a couple of years ago). Some of the production gets in the way of a good song and the two semi-hit singles were a bit of a sell-out its true (the simplest songs in the B and S canon), but the rest more than makes up for it.

3) Stephen Stills ‘Just Roll Tape’. This one seems like a bit of a cheat: a half-hour reel of songs recorded by Stills in demo form after a 1968 session working with Judy Collins. But we CSN fans honestly didn’t know of its existence until this CD’s shock release in 2007 – the tape was kept by the engineer who worked on the session and had been forgotten about for years until its discovery. We’ve said it before on this site and we’ll say it again: in the years 1968-72, Stills was on the most majestic form of any musician on this entire list. His productive rate in this period was ridiculous (one CSN album, one CSNY album, one Buffalo Springfield album, one Super Session, two solo albums and two more with Manassas) and they’re practically all masterpieces. Alarmingly, this CD revealed that most of those magical songs were already written by 1968 along with a handful more that had never been heard of since, plus some early versions of songs that won’t be finished for a good few years yet. Even more alarmingly, they already sound almost perfect here – no need for CSN vocals or anything – and the unreleased songs show every bit as much promise as the ones that got left in the can. As a reminder of why CSN mattered, some 30 years after their last ‘definitive’ release, this release was a glorious present and one that remains of the best and most mesmerising of Stills’ canon. The highlight: a messy but nevertheless glorious first attempt at  the classic CSN song Suite: Judy Blue Eyes which to my ears has never sounded better.

2) Ray Davies ‘Other People’s Lives’ (2006). What a decade for the elder Kink. Left without a record contract for more than a decade, with time spent writing an ‘unauthorised autobiography’ (how I love that gag!) that was decidedly weird to say the least, watching his former house get ripped apart by New Orleans floods, suffering the shock of seeing younger brother Dave suffer a stroke and shot in the leg by a mugger, here’s betting that Ray won’t want to remember too much about the noughties. But the music, what little of it we’ve heard, hasd been fabulous: this return to form is the most consistent Kinks-related release since, blooming heck what the hell, the 60s and passes over the all too similar Kinks album sound for a fascinating melee of styles, each one handled with deft skill and dexterity. Things Are Gonna Change and All She Wrote are among the angriest songs of Ray’s back catalogue, After The Fall, Next Door Neighbour and the breath-taking Lonesome Train among the sweetest. The lyrics too are tremendously clever little vignettes of ordinary life (as the title implies, we get lots of insights into ‘the little people’ which is something we haven’t really heard from Ray since ‘Arthur’) but they’re also tremendously revealing: we learn more about Ray from this album than possibly any other since ‘Face To Face’. Highlights include the exquisite ‘Lonesome Train’ with its take on sudden death/runaways (the subject matter is left deliciously vague), the curt response to a goodbye note in ‘All She Wrote’, the progressing desperation of ‘Things Are Gonna Change’ and the hopelessness of ‘Over My Head’, a track similar to Brian Wilson’s epic in more ways than just the title. Only the practical joker ‘Stand Up Comic’ palls after a few playing but even that track took guts to deliver and shows a keen eye for modern life.

1) Brian Wilson ‘Smile’ (2004). The best album of all, however – possibly of all time – remains the album that we never ever ever ever ever thought we’d actually get to hear. You can read the full story in album review 101 but in brief it was abandoned in 1966, caused a nervous breakdown from which Brian’s only been begun to recover from in the past decade and caused the few of us in the know to fall over in hysterics every time we read that ‘Smile’ was abandoned because ‘Sgt Peppers’ came out and beat it so easily (the worst Beatles record up against the Beach Boys best? It’s no contest, even with ‘A Day In The Life’ on the album). Every few seconds brings something new, everything new perfectly fits, everything fits but gives us suprises, the surprises make us cry and they make us smile. Music was born to be written like this – gorgeous little nuggets of emotion doubled up with Van Dyke Park’s clever multi-layered lyrics pegging first American History then childhood then the four elements down into succinct pools of wonder. Even 37 years late the world hadn’t yet caught up with this album and I curse the fact that lack of support and frustrating circumstances drove away Brian’s confidence just when he should have had it the most. Smile is a brave, bold, daring attempt at something new that’s as magical, musical, moving and marvellous as any album ever made. Highlight: all of it. I mean, come on, what’s the weakest track here? ‘Good Vibrations’?! Gee, perhaps this hasn’t been quite such a bad decade after all...   

          
 
A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY  Entries 2008-2019
1) Chronic Fatigue songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html

2) Songs For The Face Of Bo
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html

3) Credit Crunch Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html

4) Songs For The Autumn
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html

5) National Wombat Week
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html

6) AAA Box Sets
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html

7) Virus Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html

8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html

9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

11) Political Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html

12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html

13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html

14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html

15) AAA Existential Questions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html

16) Releases Of The Year 2008
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html

17) Top AAA Xmas Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html

18) Notable AAA Gigs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html

19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html

20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html

21) Hollies B sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html

22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html

23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html

24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html

25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html

26) AAA Autobiographies
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html

27) Rolling Stones B-sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html

28) Beatles B-Sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html

29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html

30) Kinks B-Sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html

31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way'
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html

32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html

33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html

34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

35) Brightest Album Covers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

36) Biggest Recorded Arguments
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html

37) Songs About Superheroes
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html

38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html

39) AAA Woodtsock Moments
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html

40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html

41) Music Segues
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html

42) AAA Foreign Language Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html

43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html

44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election?
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html

45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html

46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html

47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html

48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html

49) Songs About Trains
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html

50) Songs about Winter
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html

51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html

52) The Worst Five Groups Ever!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html

53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html

54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html

55) Random Recent Purchases (#1)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html

56) AAA Party Political Slogans
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html

57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday'
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html

58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html

59) AAA Artists In Song
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html

60) Songs About Dogs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html

61) Sunshiney Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html

62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html

63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html

64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html

65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html

66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html

67) Songs To Tweet To
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html

68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html

69) John Lennon Musical Tributes
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html

70) Songs For Halloween
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html

71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html

72) Purely Instrumental Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html

73) AAA Utopias

74) AAA Imaginary Bands
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html

75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html

76) Top Releases of 2010
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html

77) Songs About Snow
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html

78) Predictions For 2011
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html

79) AAA Fugitives

80) AAA Home Towns
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html

81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html

82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html

83) Strange Censorship Decisions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html

84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html

85) Random Recent Purchases (#2)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html

86) Top AAA Music Videos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html

87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html

88) AAA Documentaries
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html

89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html

90) Strangest AAA Album Covers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html

91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html

92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html

93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html

94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html

95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html

96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html


97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html

98) Top Songs About Sports
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html

99) AAA Conversations With God
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html

100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html

101) Unexpected AAA Cameos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html

102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html

103) AAA Court Cases
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html

104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html

105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html

106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html

107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html

108) Classic Debut Releases
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html

109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html

110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html

111) Part #2
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html

112) Part #3
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html

113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html

114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html

115) AAA Instrumental Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html

116) Musical Tarot
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html

117) Christmas Carols
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html

118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html

119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html

120) Top 20 Guitarists #1
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html

121) #2
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html

122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html

123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html

124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes

125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html

126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html

127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html

128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html

129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html

130) Lyric Competition (Questions)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html

131) Top Crooning Classics
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html

132) Funeral Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html

133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html

134) Random Recent Purchases (#3)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html

135) Lyric Competition (Answers)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html

136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html

137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html

138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html

139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html

140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html

141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html

142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html

What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...

This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...

This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...

Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...

There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...

This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...

Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...

What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...

‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...

In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...

Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...

154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...

Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...

Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...

Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...

159) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160

160) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161

161) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162

162) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163

163) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164

164) AAA Songs About Islands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165

165) The AAA Review Of The Year 2012 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html



166) The Best AAA Concerts I Attended
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html

167) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html



168) The First 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html


171) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172

172) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html 








180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-





185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html



188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html


190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html



193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html







200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html


202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html















217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html




221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html

222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html

223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html

224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html

225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html

228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html

229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html

230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html

231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html

232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html

233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html

234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html

235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html

236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html

237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html

238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html

239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html

240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html

241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html 

242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html 

243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles  plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html

244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html

245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html

246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html

247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html

248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html

249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html


251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html

252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown  https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html


254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html

255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html

256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html



257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html

258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html

259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html