Roughly 283 days of listening later (we went to Europe for 5 weeks and things got a little off-track for a while) we finally reach the last five albums for the year. For some time, as the list of available albums shrunk smaller and smaller we have both been reserving two or three favourites for the final push...
We'll post a couple more blogs about our favourites of the year (and least favourites) in the next day or two, but in the meantime, here's the final five...
Album 1027/1031
Wilco - Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot (2001)
All lyrics written by Jeff Tweedy; all music composed by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett except where noted.
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" | Tweedy | 6:57 |
| 2. | "Kamera" | 3:29 | |
| 3. | "Radio Cure" | 5:08 | |
| 4. | "War on War" | 3:47 | |
| 5. | "Jesus, Etc." | 3:50 | |
| 6. | "Ashes of American Flags" | 4:43 | |
| 7. | "Heavy Metal Drummer" | Tweedy | 3:08 |
| 8. | "I'm the Man Who Loves You" | 3:55 | |
| 9. | "Pot Kettle Black" | 4:00 | |
| 10. | "Poor Places" | 5:15 | |
| 11. | "Reservations" | Tweedy | 7:22 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Hotel_Foxtrot
Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! One of my favourite albums of the Noughties. Wilco were known as a roots, country, Americana band until this slice of experimental rock. It so messed with their record company's heads that they refused to release it. Eventually Wilco bought it out and took it to their next label - where it of course became their biggest selling album. Fans of Radiohead will enjoy.
Máire's verdict: Enjoyable but I’ve never been as big a fan as Golf.
Album 1028/1031
Roxy Music - Roxy Music (1972)
- US release
| Side one | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Re-Make/Re-Model" | 5:14 |
| 2. | "Ladytron" | 4:26 |
| 3. | "If There Is Something" | 6:34 |
| 4. | "Virginia Plain" | 2:58 |
| 5. | "2HB" | 4:30 |
| Side two | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 6. | "The Bob (Medley)" | 5:48 |
| 7. | "Chance Meeting" | 3:08 |
| 8. | "Would You Believe?" | 3:53 |
| 9. | "Sea Breezes" | 7:03 |
| 10. | "Bitters End" | 2:03 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxy_Music_(album)
Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! I have been obsessed with Roxy Music ever since my Dad played me 'Virginia Plain' in about 1986. This is not their best album, but it still has plenty of weirdness to recommend it. I genuinely think that most of the British musicians I love from the late 70s and 80s were inspired and influenced by seeing these guys on Top of the Pops and having their horizons broadened.
Máire's verdict: I haven’t listened to this album for a very long time. There are a couple of crackers (‘Virginia Plain’ in particular) but there are also a couple that I struggle with (‘The Bob’ and ‘Sea Breezes’).
Album 1029/1031
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
All lyrics written by Roger Waters.
| Side one | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Lead vocals | Length |
| 1. | "Speak to Me" | Nick Mason | instrumental | 1:30 |
| 2. | "Breathe" (listed as "Breathe in the Air" on the original LP label) | David Gilmour | 2:43 | |
| 3. | "On the Run" |
| instrumental | 3:30 |
| 4. | "Time" (containing "Breathe (Reprise)") |
| Gilmour with Richard Wright | 6:53 |
| 5. | "The Great Gig in the Sky" |
| Clare Torry | 4:15 |
| Side two | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Lead vocals | Length |
| 1. | "Money" | Waters | Gilmour | 6:30 |
| 2. | "Us and Them" |
| Gilmour | 7:51 |
| 3. | "Any Colour You Like" |
| instrumental | 3:24 |
| 4. | "Brain Damage" | Waters | Roger Waters | 3:50 |
| 5. | "Eclipse" | Waters | Waters | 2:03 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon
Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! Entire books have been written about this album. I think 'Wish You Were Here' just shades it for me in terms of favourite Floyd album, due to the pathos of the title track, but this is an all time classic.
Máire's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! One of my all time favourite albums. A work of pure genius.
Album 1030/1031
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois" | 2:08 |
| 2. | "The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'" | 2:14 |
| 3. | "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" (Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream) | 6:45 |
| 4. | "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." | 3:19 |
| 5. | "Jacksonville" | 5:24 |
| 6. | "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons" | 0:47 |
| 7. | "Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" | 3:03 |
| 8. | "One Last 'Whoo-Hoo!' for the Pullman!!" | 0:06 |
| 9. | "Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!" | 6:04 |
| 10. | "Casimir Pulaski Day" | 5:53 |
| 11. | "To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament" | 1:40 |
| 12. | "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" | 6:17 |
| 13. | "Prairie Fire That Wanders About" (Peoria) | 2:11 |
| 14. | "A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze" | 0:19 |
| 15. | "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" | 5:23 |
| 16. | "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!" | 5:09 |
| 17. | "Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell" | 0:40 |
| 18. | "In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth" | 0:35 |
| 19. | "The Seer's Tower" | 3:53 |
| 20. | "The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders" (Part I: The Great Frontier – Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now) | 7:02 |
| 21. | "Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few" | 0:46 |
| 22. | "Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run" | 4:21 |
| Total length: | 73:59 | |
Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! Seeing Sufjan at the Auckland Civic Theatre in 2016 was one of my all-time musical highlights. Extraordinarily delicate and beautiful folk-rock and the best song ever about a serial killer 'John Wayne Gacy, Jr.'. I wish he'd get on and make the other 48 albums he promised*.
Máire's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! A truly wonderful album.
* When this came out Sufjan joked that he was aiming to release an album for every one of the 50 US states. When "Michigan' followed 'Illinois' some people took him seriously, but so far those have been the only two state-named albums.
Album 1031/1031
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1983)
All tracks written by Gordon Gano, except where noted.
| Side one | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Blister in the Sun" | 2:25 |
| 2. | "Kiss Off" | 2:56 |
| 3. | "Please Do Not Go" | 4:15 |
| 4. | "Add It Up" | 4:44 |
| 5. | "Confessions" | 5:32 |
| Side two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 6. | "Prove My Love" | 2:39 | |
| 7. | "Promise" | 2:49 | |
| 8. | "To the Kill" | 4:01 | |
| 9. | "Gone Daddy Gone" | Gano, Willie Dixon | 3:06 |
| 10. | "Good Feeling" | 3:52 | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Femmes_(album)
Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! Máire chose this as the final album and it deserves its place. Genuinely mould-breaking, this record was a rite of passage for many teenagers around the world (I expect it still is). About 30 years after first discovering it, there has rarely been a three month period when this has not been put on. Gordon Gano wrote most of these songs as an 18 year old High School student and they positively drip with teenage angst (the source code of so much great rock music). We sang 'Add It Up' at a recent karaoke night - TWICE. We could have sung the whole album, without needing the words, a sure sign of the greatest albums.
Máire's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! What an album to finish the challenge on! Absolutely love it and sang along to every single track (sorry Golf)!
