The albums thread - 2014

deletebeepbeepbeep · Nov 24, 2014

Nice to see the Frankie Cosmos album so far up your list, I gave it a few listens earlier on in the year and meant to get back to it. I also share your views on the Real Estate album, the first track Had to Hear would probably be in my top 10 tracks of the year a great indie pop song.

hans kraay fan club · Nov 24, 2014

By coincidence just clicked on this thread, and have the Frankie Cosmos one in my ear-phones right now, after forcing myself to make a chance from a constant loop this morning of Saint Saviour and Marissa Nadler.

So much great stuff about.

And [MENTION=12101]Mellotron[/MENTION] - this will sound horribly condescending, but your views on REM may well be an age thing. They really were a fantastic band in their earliest days, and I loved them dearly. Their morph from alt/indie guitar band to middle of the road stadium rockers, has been, for me personally, one of the most depressing music stories of the last two decades.

tinycowboy · Nov 24, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
And Mellotron - this will sound horribly condescending, but your views on REM may well be an age thing. They really were a fantastic band in their earliest days, and I loved them dearly. Their morph from alt/indie guitar band to middle of the road stadium rockers, has been, for me personally, one of the most depressing music stories of the last two decades.

Agreed - I could listen to Murmur and Chronic Town every day. They have a kind of warmer Twin Peaks quality - something strange going on in the sunshine of America. Love the chiming guitars, obscure lyrics and great tunes. When they lost the obscurity and the mystique, they lost everything.

Herr Tubthumper · Nov 24, 2014

tinycowboy said:
Agreed - I could listen to Murmur and Chronic Town every day. They have a kind of warmer Twin Peaks quality - something strange going on in the sunshine of America. Love the chiming guitars, obscure lyrics and great tunes. When they lost the obscurity and the mystique, they lost everything.

How do you and Hans rate Green? Did they still have 'it' at this point?

tinycowboy · Nov 24, 2014

Herr Tubthumper said:
How do you and Hans rate Green? Did they still have 'it' at this point?

I can't stand it - the first album of theirs that I really couldn't live with. Horrid, embarrassing. Didn't mind the one after that so much, although Losing My Religion makes me cringe. I think the correlation between use of the mandolin and quality of song is inversely proportional.

Ludensian Gull · Nov 24, 2014

Wouldn't know how to describe these but here's my top 10
1.Temples - Sun Structures
2.Broncho - Just Enough Hip To Be Woman
3.Jenny Lewis - Voyager
4.The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
5.Luke Sital-Singh - The Fire inside
6.The Smittens - Love Record Breaker
7.Holly Johnson - Europa
8. Augustines - Augustines
9.Neneh Cherry- Blank Project
10.Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems

tinycowboy · Nov 24, 2014

Ludensian Gull said:
Wouldn't know how to describe these but here's my top 10:
6.The Smittens - Love Record Breaker

Interesting choice. Catnip for fans of The Magnetic Fields, quite Xmassy in a certain kind of way.

Buzzer · Nov 24, 2014

tinycowboy said:
5. The Voyager - Jenny Lewis. Quality pop/rock. This is really AOR/MOR, but, when you get to a certain age, this kind of thing is totally acceptable. This is a superior product, lyrically interesting, with classy bursts of punchy shiny guitar and great, great tunes. Nice.

Glad you said that. I found both Sinead O'Connor and Claudia Brucken's solo albums very MOR but I'm warming to both of them esp. Sinead's. There's a fair few songs that I'd love to know the story behind them.

Mr Icicle Boots · Nov 24, 2014

tinycowboy said:
Agreed - I could listen to Murmur and Chronic Town every day. They have a kind of warmer Twin Peaks quality - something strange going on in the sunshine of America. Love the chiming guitars, obscure lyrics and great tunes. When they lost the obscurity and the mystique, they lost everything.

Tend to agree, although for me i lean towards Reckoning/ Fables Of The Reconstruction. Apart from the odd honarable mention i think they lost 'it' for me post Document.

hans kraay fan club · Nov 24, 2014

tinycowboy said:
Agreed - I could listen to Murmur and Chronic Town every day. They have a kind of warmer Twin Peaks quality - something strange going on in the sunshine of America. Love the chiming guitars, obscure lyrics and great tunes. When they lost the obscurity and the mystique, they lost everything.

Herr Tubthumper said:
How do you and Hans rate Green? Did they still have 'it' at this point?

tinycowboy said:
I can't stand it - the first album of theirs that I really couldn't live with. Horrid, embarrassing. Didn't mind the one after that so much, although Losing My Religion makes me cringe. I think the correlation between use of the mandolin and quality of song is inversely proportional.

Mr Icicle Boots said:
Tend to agree, although for me i lean towards Reckoning/ Fables Of The Reconstruction. Apart from the odd honarable mention i think they lost 'it' for me post Document.

Fables and Murmur for me - and (although not strictly an album - Dead Letter Office). I do still actually quite like Green though, even though it was clearly in hindsight, the beginning of the end. There's still enough of @tiny's Twin Peaks qualities in there to keep it interesting - World Leader Pretend and The Wrong Child, in particular.

Then Stipe woke up one morning, and thought "Hey, I Know! Let's get Kate Pierson on board, and do something really fun!", and it was all downhill fast from there.

Mr Icicle Boots · Nov 24, 2014

The top 5 definitely represent my favourite 2014 albums but the other 15 are all interchangeable:

1. Timbre Timbre 'Hot Dreams' - this is a magnificent album, cinematic almost and with a definite David Lynch feel to it. Imagine Roy Orbison or Lloyd Cole singing Elvis Costello lyrics to Goldfrapp's first album - and they're Canadian. It's about the nearest a description as I can give you, I'm afraid. This album just shines.

2. Eels 'Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everitt' - I await every Eels album with eager anticipation but his prolific nature of late meant that this album came up on me rather unexpectedly but ever since getting it (the deluxe version is a must-have to fully appreciate its breadth and beauty) I've not got the album off repeat. At work, at home, everywhere it's become a constant companion. He's as laconic as ever but the humour is still there by the bucketload, just alongside the shovelfuls of self-deprecation. The man has so little ego that it's impossible not to fall in love with him. I genuinely want to be his friend. He's lovely.

Great call for Mr. Oliver Everitt. Like you i think the man can do no wrong and i sang the praises of his latest album a while back. As for Timbre Timbre? News to me but Lloyd Cole singing Elvis Costello via Goldfrapp?!? I'm in. You gotta love this forum

Mellotron · Nov 24, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
By coincidence just clicked on this thread, and have the Frankie Cosmos one in my ear-phones right now, after forcing myself to make a chance from a constant loop this morning of Saint Saviour and Marissa Nadler.

So much great stuff about.

And [MENTION=12101]Mellotron[/MENTION] - this will sound horribly condescending, but your views on REM may well be an age thing. They really were a fantastic band in their earliest days, and I loved them dearly. Their morph from alt/indie guitar band to middle of the road stadium rockers, has been, for me personally, one of the most depressing music stories of the last two decades.

I don't feel condescended, but suitably enlightened. Genuinely interesting to get the wider perspective, thanks.

Buzzer · Nov 25, 2014

I need to listen to Frankie Cosmos. I'm intrigued.

Two more 'Best Of' lists for you

First is Mojo Magazine who have:

1. Beck - 'Morning Phase'
2. War On Drugs - 'Lost In The Dream'
3. Sleaford Mods - 'Divide and Exit'

The rest of their top 50 is here: http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/303-mojos-top-50-albums-of-2014/

And American Songwriters:

1. Sturgill Simpson - 'Metamodern Sounds in Country Music'
2. War On Drugs - 'Lost in the Dream'
3. Strands Of Oak - 'Heal'

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2014/11/american-songwriters-top-50-albums-2014/5/

Both lists are a bit more mainstream than Rough Trade or Piccadilly Records but there's still some corking choices in there.

tinycowboy · Nov 25, 2014

Buzzer said:
I need to listen to Frankie Cosmos. I'm intrigued.

I played it whilst making dinner last night. My wife kept saying "I don't like this one" and "this one's boring". Impinged on my enjoyment a little. One of the songs was only about 57 seconds long anyway. She let the last two songs pass without comment.

Buzzer · Nov 25, 2014

A candidate for music video of the year. Acollective name-drop loads of classic album covers.

Mr Icicle Boots · Nov 25, 2014

Having now listened to, and purchased the aformentioned Timber Timbre's ' Hot Dreams' i wholeheartedly agree; it's fab! As mentioned it's quite difficult to liken it to anything else. In addition to the Lloyd Cole/ Elvis Costello Goldfrap mash up i'll thrown in a bit of Nick Cave, Tindersticks, Jim Reeves (No really!) and 50's B Movie soundtracks. Confused? Just go listen. There's another previous 4 albums to get my teeth into after i get to grips with this one!
Not strictly a new album but Bootstraps have now signed to Harvest and have re-mixed/ remastered their, hard to get hold of, brilliant debut 'Bootstraps'. If you missed it the first time (2012?) it's worth a serious listen. Recommended.

BRIGHT ON Q · Nov 26, 2014

Anyone into prog rock then have a listen to Pendragons new album Men who climb mountains.superb group who have been going a long time now and have released some great music.

spring hall convert · Nov 27, 2014

The Norman Records list is always a good one. They had Austerity Dogs by Sleaford Mods as no.1 last year and that worked out pretty well.

Plenty of stuff I haven't heard, the stuff that I have heard is great though.

https://www.normanrecords.com/features/top-fifty-2014.php

Machiavelli · Nov 27, 2014

spring hall convert said:
The Norman Records list is always a good one. They had Austerity Dogs by Sleaford Mods as no.1 last year and that worked out pretty well.

Plenty of stuff I haven't heard, the stuff that I have heard is great though.

https://www.normanrecords.com/features/top-fifty-2014.php

Yup. They've got some good stuff in there. Will do mine at some point, but am too busy at the moment

spring hall convert · Nov 27, 2014

Machiavelli said:
Yup. They've got some good stuff in there. Will do mine at some point, but am too busy at the moment

Expect mine in February some time!

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