I have a classic iPod I started to fill in 2013 and complete in 2016. On it, I have every album I have bought this Century. When I think of my favourite albums of the Noughties, I’d come up with, say, Kid A, Untrue, The Lyre Of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues, In The Heart Of The Moon, Everything Must Go, Medúlla, Haha Sound, The Covers Record, De Stijl.
Looking at my play numbers, it’s a different story. Bowie and Walter Becker have been on heavy rotation, so Everything Must Go is up there but, otherwise, most frequently played, in reverse order, are:
10. Dangerdoom – The Mouse And The Mask
9. Thea Gilmore – Loft Music
8. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
7. Radiohead – Amnesiac
6. Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter
5. Prince Fatty – Survival Of The Fattest
4. Kathryn Williams – Little Black Numbers
3. King Midas Sound – Waiting For You
2. Shelby Lynne – Just A Little Lovin’
1.Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Clearly, there is a discrepancy between what I think I like and what I actually choose to play.
It made me wonder, which Noughtie albums does The Afterword still listen to in the Teenies?
Yo La Tengo – You Can Have It All
Rigid Digit says
Aliens – Astronomy For Dogs (2006) remains a favourite and gets at least a couple of purposeful plays regularly.
Madness – Liberty Of Norton Folgate is a “stone cold classic”
The first Duckworth Lewis Method is always a joyous listen
Recently been re-listening to The Fratellis – they were pretty good.
And it will soon be time for a White Stripes re-visit
The one album I remember everyone going batty about (“everyone” is not quite true, but a lot of people did) was Elbow’s Seldom Seen Kid – yes, it is a good album, but not the “classic in waiting” I remember
Ron Cucumber says
Agree, I do like that Aliens album too. Good to hear the Beta Band getting a bit of love lately too, with The Three EPs getting a re-issue. It’s just led me to start digging into the Lone Pigeon back catalogue.
davebigpicture says
Norton Folgate, as mentioned below, is ace. Took me a long time to get into it though. I tried with Elbow but I never quite got it.
fentonsteve says
Sugar & Spice is the second best non-single Madness album track, shortly behind Bed & Breakfast Man.
Sewer Robot says
Norton Folgate is chock-full of delights, but in terms of a play-through, I find I’m not always in the humour for the ten minute title track..
Tiggerlion says
That’s the one that puts me off buying it. I’ll have to reconsider.
Rigid Digit says
On The Town should be on that list too
(as should Blue Skinned Beast from Rise & Fall)
Sewer Robot says
Hip! Hip!
paulwright says
Well according to my playlist:
Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
Alright Still – Lily Allen
I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass – Yo La Tengo
One more Drifter in the Snow – Aimee Mann (I suspect mainly because it gets played around Christmas)
More Adventurous – Rilo Kiley (one of my favourite ever albums, played I would have guessed every month, but most of it not for a year)
Seventh Tree – Goldfrapp
Given that my self declared preference is for white boys with guitars, this is a bit of a surprise to me.
Tiggerlion says
I think of Seventh Tree as a great album but I’ve hardly played it.
Rilo Kiley are bubbling under my top ten most played just behind The Cardigans. 😀
Tiggerlion says
Just played Seventh Tree again. Bloody hell, it’s brilliant. As bright and breezy as a fresh Spring day at the seaside. I’ll definitely be playing it again.
Paul Wad says
It is indeed a great album (my second favourite of theirs after Head First, which they seem to have disowned for some reason, but I think it’s brill), and it also has a fab sleeve, reminiscent of a 1970s Laurel Canyon type record. I’ve not bought into the vinyl revival, because I sold my collection off 25 years ago, which would be worth a fortune now, especially the Beatles rarities, in fact I wish I still had them, but then again I used the money I made to rapidly amass a great CD collection and I prefer CDs and I’ve rambled off point again…
Another reason for not buying into the vinyl revival, is that I’m not prepared to take out the second mortgage I’d need to pay for them. They’re right expensive. Also, the major spinal cord surgery I had 15 years ago has left me unable to feel my hands and therefore quite clumsy, so I’d have them scratched in no time, and then it would remind me why I changed to CDs in the first place.
But all this rambling off point was to say that despite all the above, I bet that cover looks fantastic on a vinyl album, particularly if they textured the sleeve and, let’s face it, a big draw for the vinyl revival is how much nicer a vinyl album sleeve is next to a CD case. There, I got there in the end. It’s since I tweaked the timing of my pain medication. I turn into Spud off Trainspotting for a little spell in the late afternoon!
Tiggerlion says
Alison Goldfrapp looks better, the larger the image.
Tales Of Us is my current favourite both music and coverwise. The photo reminds me of a picture of Debbie Harry, moody, in a single spotlight. Supernature takes a lot of beating, too, in both senses, especially with the peacock tail. Goldfrapp have such a wide variety of styles. Superb act.
MC Escher says
Do those stats reflect that you have listened to the whole album? I’m not an itunes user so I don’t know if there is an automatically-generated stat for that on there. I ask because I listen to loads of tracks from the 00’s but I can’t be arsed to generate the SQL in MediaMonkey to show “all tracks played per album ID” query that would show it. That and I lost my play counts the last time my hard disk went ‘pffft’.
Tiggerlion says
Yes. But you can contribute any way you like.
paulwright says
No question more Afterword than that…
Mike_H says
I do hope that you realise (for future reference when your current hard disc also goes “pffft”, as it eventually will) that there are Media Monkey scripts to be had that will point your MM library at the new source disc without losing your play counts etc.
I don’t tend to play the same albums regularly, even ones I really like, so play counts tend to be low on just about everything in my digitised collection.
Mostly, once I’ve played any new acquisitions, I tend to revert to my usual pattern. I play a randomised selection of tracks from the backlog of albums that I’ve collected over the years but never actually played. Currently 20,023 tracks have never been played.
An added complication is that I now tend to mainly play full albums via my recently-acquired Raspberry Pi setup, using a software called Volumio which doesn’t do play counts or any of that fancy stuff.
The main Noughties albums that I do tend to return to are my Scandi-Jazz ones, where you get their weird mix of electronic jazz, hip-hop, trip-hop, glitchy stuff, world music and noise.
Tiggerlion says
On your suggestion, I’ve created a zero play playlist. Turns out, it is packed with fantastic music. I may never need to buy any new music again. 😉
Mike_H says
I’ve just been looking at zero-play Word coverdisc tracks.
There are a few.
Harold Holt says
A good while back I loaded up my work phone with Word and Mojo discs I’d never listened to, and would sit for a long time with it on shuffle. I did find a lot of great stuff that way. Haven’t found the time lately…
retropath2 says
And a lot of shite, I fear. These best of the new compilations from the comics, any of them, are pretty slim pickings, designed to cover as wide a demographic as is possible from the mags budget. I have recently ripped the tracks I like from a year or few of various from Uncut/Word/Songlines/Rock’n’Reel, finding 20-25% salvageable. Good salvage tho’, but my choices won’t be yours, nor yours mine.
Mike_H says
25% is a better hit rate than I often get with cover discs. You get the very occasional one (usually the themed ones for me) that comes close to 100% but you often get “This Month’s New Releases” ones from Mojo or Uncut that pretty much stink the place out. C’est la vie.
Harold Holt says
Agreed, but that’s not far off the strike rate for a lot of albums I’ve bought.
Paul Wad says
Well, I’m still stuck into this project of ranking all my albums for each year (finished 1970 with Tim Buckley’s Starsailor last night), so I tend to mainly listen to whichever year I’m doing, with any new albums from this year or any of the years I have already completed taking precedence.
I have completed two noughties years – 2003 (The Jayhawks’ Rainy Day Music in 1st place, The Finger’s We Are Fuck You/Punk’s Dead Let’s Fuck in 128th) and 2007 (Burial’s Untrue in 1st, David Sylvian’s When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima in 120th).
When I’m out and about or in the kitchen/shower I usually listen to what I want, but this tends to be new music from this year. Although I do give fairly regular listens to a few noughties albums:
Binary Star’s Masters Of The Universe
Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein
Non-Prophets’ Hope
Brother Ali’s Shadows On The Sun
Little Brother’s The Listening
Blue Scholars’ Blue Scholars
Guy Chambers & Sophie Hunters’ The Isis Project
Actually, I’m going to stop there, because when I think about it there are quite a few. I’ve bought/downloaded a stupid amount of new (to me) music over the past few years, so there are loads I listen to from all decades, but as the bulk of it is hip-hop, post-rock and now drum & bass the noughties feature heavily, and I listen to a lot of music. In a typical week 25-30 albums for the project plus whatever else I listen to. And right now I’m about to start a new year. I’ve recently downloaded some great post-punk stuff, so I’m going to do 1979. I’ve already ranked 38 albums, with 42 to listen to (these are the albums I either don’t know well enough to rank them without giving them another listen, new albums and ones I just want to listen to again), The randomiser has chosen number 13, which is Human League’s Reproduction, which fit into the latter of the three aforementioned categories.
Who said I was wasting my (medical) retirement! Actually, I do sometimes leave albums until a certain time of the day, when the style of the album will benefit from me recently having had my pain medication. There are certainly a few from my 1979 list that will sound better after some mild opiates!
Tiggerlion says
Off the top of me head, my top twenty from 1979:
Fear Of Music
I Am
Metal Box
Forces Of Victory
The Undertones
Tusk
Live At The Counter Eurovision 79
Setting Sons
We Are Family
Risqué
154
Off The Wall
Drums And Wires
Manifesto
Squeezing Out Sparks
Lodger
That’s Entertainment!
London Calling
Eat To The Beat
Bop ‘Til You Drop
Paul Wad says
Yep, nearly all of those are on my list, either ranked already or waiting to be listened to again. The only one that I’m not really bothered about there is Bop Til You Drop. I’ve not listened to it much though, so maybe I should give it another spin. I’m currently making the most of being alone in the house by playing the 5:1 mix of Drums and Wires loud enough to completely drown out my tinnitus. I can’t see anything knocking The Wall or Unknown Pleasures from my top 2 though. The Wall is one of my very favourite albums and I really like the bootleg version, The Final Cut Of The Wall, which someone on here recommended a while back. And the music snob in me is really quite irked that even the people who only buy one album per year now know Comfortably Numb, which has long been my favourite Pink Floyd track.
Tiggerlion says
Ach! I forgot Unknown Pleasures. I wish I could forget The Wall.
Paul Wad says
Away with you, it’s brill!
Paul Wad says
Of course, what I’m doing now is looking up the 2 or 3 of your list that I don’t recognise, just in case I’m missing out on something. The first one I looked up was Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was a favourite of my ex-wife. She also liked the jazz-hop records that I mentioned further down, that I only got into a couple of years ago. So it seems that amongst other things I should/shouldn’t have done during our brief marriage, maybe I should have paid a little more attention to her record collection and not presume that it was all going to be rubbish just because of her love of Take That.
Tiggerlion says
Quite right. She sounds like a keeper. 😉
colrow26 says
dear Paul, you are a man after my own heart!! in 2008 I started the same exercise and have now successfully ranked/listed my favourite albums from 1963 to current year. it did take years and i occasionally go back and listen to an album and re-rank it. i also pick my favourite track from each album and create a playlist for each year…..yeah I am a bit obsessive!!
Anyway back to the initial question…..heres a list of my fave and still listened to albums of the 00’s
Batchelor No2 – Aimee Mann
Figure 8 – Elliott Smith
Heliocenric – Paul Weller
Is This It? – The Strokes
Free No Angels – Ash
And No More Shall We Part – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Surf – Roddy Frame
Lost In Space – Aimee Mann
When I Was Cruel – Elvis Costello
Music In A Foreign Language – Lloyd Cole
Dear Catastrophe Waitress – Belle & Sebastian
Baby Im Bored – Evan Dando
The Delivery man – Elvis Costello
From A Basement On A hill – Elliott Smith
You Are The Quarry – Morrissey
As Is Now – Paul Weller
Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple
The Forgotten Arm – Aimee Mann
Whatever People Say… – Arctic Monkeys
River In Reverse – Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
The Lemonheads
Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys
New Moon – Elliott Smith
Thirst For Romance – Cherry Ghost
@#%&*! SMILERS – Aimee Mann
The Last Temptation of Chris – Chris Difford
Momofuku – Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Slow Attack – Brett Anderson
Lets Change The world With Music – Prefab Sprout
Kingdom of Rust – Doves
Thirty bangerz as der kids say 🙂
Paul Wad says
So glad to hear it’s not just me with the daft ideas then! Mine stemmed from a couple of years ago on here where we did our top 30 albums of the year. I got carried away and ranked all the ones I had. It appealed to the OCD in me, so I decided to do it for every year. Initially I thought about just doing a top 50 or something, but as I’d need to go through them to choose the 50 I thought I may as well do the lot.
I’m right enjoying doing it though, as it is making me listen to a lot of stuff that I otherwise would have just let gather dust. It’s also making it easy for deciding which albums to remove from iPods. The only downside is that I’m not doing much repeat listening, apart from albums from the current year, but it’s keeping music fresh. There are so many albums I never need to hear again, because I played them so often when I first got them and in subsequent years. So it’s pretty much a new way of consuming music. It is interesting to see how low down I am placing albums that I thought were ace when I bought them. Indie guitar bands post 1996 are really suffering, as I can’t see why I got excited about some of them in the first place.
I have around 2,200 albums left to rank, so at a rate of about 25 per week I’m looking at a couple of years yet. I did get it down below 2000 at one point, but a combination of bringing in new stuff (I have never bought as much new music as I have over the past 2-3 years, and a load of stuff that is way out of what would have been my comfort zone 5 years ago) and going through all the years choosing any albums I want to relisten to has set me back a few months. I’m not anticipating any more large influxes now though, so I should start making proper inroads soon.
Thing is, I’m also trying to get through the thousands of books, comics and magazines I’ve hoarded over the years too, as well as hundreds of Blu Rays, box sets and DVD commentaries, so I’m constantly watching, reading or listening to something. Gives me something to fill my days with now I’m not working any more!
Martin Hairnet says
I just had a quick scan of my shelves to see what records/cds I even own from that period, let alone still play regularly. It’s slim pickings but I proffer:
The Durutti Column – Keep Breathing (2006) – possibly, probably my favourite DC record, so still gets regular plays.
Marconi Union – Distance (2005) – was this their first album? I have quite a few of theirs, but none match the atmosphere of this one.
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002).
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter (2009)
Matthew Halsall – Sending My Love (2008)
Tiggerlion says
Not a fan of Coldplay but I am very much of Matthew Halsall. I think of him as a Teenie artist, Fletcher Moss Park being his best by some distance.
Moose the Mooche says
Quite a few.
Stephen Duffy’s Keep Going, Alice Smith’s For Lovers Dreamers and Me, Paul Simon’s Surprise, The Beta Band’s Hot Shots II, Heathen (surprise surprise), Brett Anderson’s Slow Attack, all Hawley and Super Furries… I even have a soft spot for the first Hard-Fi album, even if it was quite silly and totally overexposed at the time on adverts etc…. and the Beasties splendidly retro Five Boroughs.
In other news there seemed to be a lot of albums that were alleged to be life-changing and most decidedly weren’t and never will be – I’m looking at you LCD Soundsystem, Panda Bear, Arcade Fire (make it stop!) Animal Collective and, as someone else said, the Elbow.
The power of rock journalism wasn’t just reduced by the demise of print media – it was reduced by their addiction to recommending records that were clever but not actually very enjoyable.
Tiggerlion says
I’m gobsmacked you didn’t include Reality!
A sister thread to the number one one is when did you last buy a music rag/mag? My answer would be Word in the Noughties.
Arthur Cowslip says
Good question. I’ve definitely bought Mojo at least… oooh…. twice since then.
retropath2 says
Since Word shuffled off (and before) I am still a Mojo/Uncut/R2R fella. Thats £12.50 a month, roughly, bastards.
bigstevie says
Have you thought about ‘Readly’ doc? I don’t think R2R is there though. One sub lets you put it on multiple devices. I get all my music mags, plus many others, and me other half gets all the celeb stuff, soduku puzzles etc. etc. £7.99 a month.
fatima Xberg says
But can you frame the album review pictures?
retropath2 says
Thought about it. Now I have signed up, 99p a month introductory offer.
Moose the Mooche says
I actually don’t listen to Reality all the way through that much, though Disco King does get a walloping.
I decided that Toy was cheating… though it was recorded in 2000 I didn’t hear the full version until it leaked in 2010.
Of course he did give us three incredible live sets in the noughties, all of which get regular airings chez nous… the BBC and Glastonbury in 2000 and the Reality Tour.
Tiggerlion says
I enjoy Reality very much. I even like the cover.
Gary says
I think the only noughties album that I still listen to very regularly is Mishka’s Above The Bones.
Tiggerlion says
I’ve just clicked on this. It’s rather lovely and laid back. I think I’ll go for a lie down.
Gary says
I recommend a hammock. Under a palm tree.
minibreakfast says
I’ve been hoovering up CDs in the chazzas and at the boots like they’re going out of fashion (which they are!) including plenty of noughties stuff I missed out on for whatever reason. My newest fave is Madlib’s Shades of Blue from 2003, which I probably wouldn’t have appreciated at the time, even if I’d heard of it.
To answer the OP, ones I loved then and still play now include the first two Strokes albums, Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm, and We Started Nothing by the Ting Tings. I replaced my knackered CD of the latter this year with a shiny new red vinyl version, I love it that much. The noughties were groaning with great debuts, weren’t they?
Paul Wad says
Shades Of Blue is brill isn’t it. Along similar lines, if you don’t already have them, Guru’s Jazzmatazz series are fab and slightly less fab, but still extremely good, are Digible Planets’ Reachin’ and US3’s Hand On The Torch. I really like the jazz influenced hip hop albums from the early 90s, like Showbiz & AG’s Runaway Slave. I like these albums much more than the original music that they are sampling.
Ron Cucumber says
Me too, I only stumbled across Shades of Blue recently – love a bit of jazz and hiphop. And Paul Wad is spot on with Jazzmatazz (vol 1 especially). Try also DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo – Ki-Oku, DJ Krush & Ronnie Jordan’s Bad Brothers, and the first Mo’Wax Headz compilation.
Paul Wad says
Ah, DJ Krush. Until a week ago I’d never heard of him, but I came across a ’50 best trip hop’ article and ended up downloading a couple of his albums (but not the ones you mentioned). His album from this year, Cosmic Yard, is already one of my favourites. Will seek out the two you recommended.
The first Mo’Wax compilation – are you referring to Headz? Will seek that out too.
Ron Cucumber says
Yep, Headz. There’s various other tracks through the Mo’Wax back catalogue that hit the jazz-hop-spot too. And there’s As One – Planetary Folklore – more of a modern take on jazz and beats. Try also DJ Cam – Underground Vibes.
Not heard any of Cosmic Yard – I will investigate further!
Ron Cucumber says
…oh, and also try Miles Davis’ Doo-Bop!
Paul Wad says
Thanks for the recommendation. I have a bit of a problem with jazz. I haven’t really dug that deep, but I have all the jazz albums that somebody who knows nothing about jazz would have, like Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme. I really like Chet Baker, but he’s probably the only one. I just haven’t really clicked with the others. I had Bitches Brew on the other day and my wife asked me if I was actually enjoying it and I had to be honest and say not really. But Doo-Bop is great.
I will persevere with them though, as it took me years to get into The Fall and Tom Waits, until it all made sense a year or two ago and now I’m a firm fan.
minibreakfast says
Cheers chaps, have just ordered a used Jazzmatazz Vol.1 for 97p!
paulwright says
One of very few CDs the GLW and I had in common. And so recommended.
Ron Cucumber says
Vol 2 is worth a look too – more sprawling and a mixed bag, but some gems in there. Saw them live around this time – great show. RIP Guru!
Paul Wad says
Yes, Vol.2 is good but it isn’t as good as Vol.1. I do like Vol.3 though, the Street Soul one. Guru’s one of my favourite rappers. I adore Gang Starr. I’d say that Code Of The Streets is my favourite rap track.
Tiggerlion says
You’ve just cost me money, mini. I’ve decided to fork out for Shades Of Blue.
tkdmart says
Mew – Frengers & And The Glass Handed Kites
Tiggerlion says
This is new to me but a Danish Dinosaur Jr. doesn’t exactly appeal.
tkdmart says
Go on. Give them a punt
Tiggerlion says
I’ll try Spotify once I’ve struggled through Low’s latest.
Blue Boy says
Listened to the Low once so far – blimey, pretty hardcore isn’t it?
Tiggerlion says
I’ve given up. Sorry.
Twang says
Not many. The 00s Chilli Peppers albums still get a spin and the country stuff I bought, but what little pop I’ve forgotten I own note.
Tiggerlion says
Oh dear.
Kylie’ Body Language was 2003.
Leicester Bangs says
Loads and loads. I’ll spare us the list I just typed out, apart from it ended with the best one: Aerial
Tiggerlion says
Come on! This is meant to be a list thread, after all.
Leicester Bangs says
Well, for me the noughties was dominated by post-rock, post-metal, and various fuzz-related sub-genres, and I still listen to albums by Mogwai, Godspeed, Aereogramme, Secret Machines, Earth, Boris, Explosions in the Sky, Shalabi Effect, Salaryman, Silver Mt Zion, Celtic Frost, I Like Trains, Grails, Neurosis, Isis, Engineers, Mono, Om, Sleep, Cult of Luna, Old Man Gloom, Hope of the States, Bardo Pond, We Fell To Earth and Electric Wizard.
But also: Portishead’s Third — what an album (and their curation of ATP in 2008 is *the* musical event for that period in my world – — Will I Dream During The Process? by Yagya, several great Radiohead albums, Ricardo Villalobos at his peak, Xtrmntr by the Scream, brilliant drum & bass from Moving Fusion (listening to that album now, in fact), Bad Company and Matrix, minimal electronica from Murcof, Monolake, Alva Noto, Arovane, Burial, The Caretaker, Emptyset, Studio, Minilogue, Claro Intelecto, the first Actress album. I even like and still play the Bauhaus reformation album, Go Away in White.
Funny, though, there were loads of bands I thought I was really into at the time that I can hardly bear now: Fountains of Wayne, British Sea Power, Brakes, Eels, Delgados, Sleepy Jackson, The Shins, TV on the Radio, I Am Kloot…
Tiggerlion says
Very little of that reaches my ears these days despite the fact I own some. However, you are quite right about Portishead and XTRMNTR gets a welcome blast now and then.
Twang says
Most of those I’ve never heard of but I do still like The Shins. Are The Decemberists noughties? Really like them.
Malc says
They certainly are, and The Crane Wife (2006) is still one of my all-time favourites. I’d also include Fountains of Wayne’s Welcome Interstate Managers (2003) in that list.
ip33 says
Can’t believe the no one has mentioned (Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the) Illinoise. It usually gets a spin once a month.
Tiggerlion says
I find Sufjan is much better in theory than in practice. That might explain the lack of response to your suggestion.
duco01 says
A big thumbs-up from me for “(Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the) Illinoise” … but not so much for the albums of outtakes from the same sessions that came out afterwards.
I kept thinking “Oh great – it’s a new Sufjan album!”, only to discover that he’d simply released a whole lot more Illinoise offcuts that had been lying about on the studio floor.
SteveT says
That Yo La Tengo album is their best and what introduced me to them.
The Dark was the night compilation still gets frequent plays – excellent and unusual collaborations.
Lucinda Williams Essence
Bruce Springsteen The Rising
Eels Blinking Lights
Tiggerlion says
Dark Was The Night is brilliant. Not a duff track on it!
Yo La Tengo are one of those bands who never make a bad record but never make a truly great one either, always destined to score four stars in the glossies. However, after a while And Then Nothing seeps into your very soul. It’s so damn hummable, not singalongable, just hummable. Once I’ve listened to it, those tunes are stuck in my head. Besides, the hushed vocals mean I can’t actually make out the words.
salwarpe says
‘And Then Nothing…’ – I’ve got that (lol).
One of my absolute favourite albums, it all kinds of seeps into one, and is a great album for drifting away to, particularly the final 17 minute track which never outstays its welcome. But it’s ‘Tears Are In Your Eyes’ which is the most affecting. It really rides though a sadness jag with me, allowing me to feel the pain with a musical hand to hold.
Tiggerlion says
It is indeed beautifully warm and intimate, like the perfect kind of family.
Blue Boy says
Here’s a few all of which I’ve played in recent months, and most of which came out in that decade but betray tastes formed much earlier….
Tracey Thorn Out of the Woods
Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate In the Heart of the Moon
Bob Dylan Love and Theft
Lucinda Williams Essence and World Without Tears
Bill Frisell The Intercontinentals
Richard Hawley Coles Corner
Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler All the Roadrunning
Bjork Verspertine
I’m sure there are many more if I gave it more thought.
Tiggerlion says
In The Heart Of The Moon is absolutely exquisite. I should listen to it more often.
Arthur Cowslip says
La Roux, Avalanches, Kate Bush and occasionally White Stripes. Actually not much really.
Tiggerlion says
You are a lovely man, Cowslip, one of the true gentlemen on the blog. Go on a White Stripes binge. I dare you!
bungliemutt says
Loads and loads. Listening to Ryan Adams’ Cold Roses as I type this.
Sewer Robot says
Yes, quite a few here too – despite how much Spotify has skewed my listening towards new stuff over old.
Grace Jones’ Hurricane (tbf, I was late picking up on that one and am on catch up listens), Elliott Smith’s Figure 8, Ed Harcourt’s From Every Sphere, The Magic Numbers’ debut and Cee Lo Green Is The Soul Machine have all recently (and regularly) received the start-to-finish treatment and Cannibal O plus the X is only ever briefly off the stereo..
davebigpicture says
The Magic Numbers debut is still ace. Shame they never matched it.
kalamo says
The second one gets a thumbs up from me.
Tiggerlion says
Hurricane and Soul Machine are both fantastic albums.
attackdog says
Scanning the CD shelves I realise there are very few of that period and fewer that are memorable. What did strike me is that for the entire period my collection of ‘The Word’ CD’s far outnumber retail purchases.
Has there ever been a Word CD best of list? This is important. It’s a list.
davebigpicture says
The Word CDs introduced me to Willie Nile. Streets of New York still gets a spin as does Ben Folds’ Songs For Silverman and St Etienne’s Tales From Turnpike House.
SteveT says
Ditto for me with Willie Nile.
Tiggerlion says
And me.
retropath2 says
I don’t look at years anymore. Of course I do, as I become alerted, but once I have something it is just there. Does that make sense, I care not if 1935 or 2018, but, yes, I am pleased if something good is both good and new.
Tiggerlion says
…eh?
atcf says
Not as many as I expected once I’d put my mind to it:
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
Richard Hawley – any of several
The Innocence Mission – Befriended
Brendan Benson – Lapalco
The Killers – Hot Fuss
The Mummers – Tale to Tell
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
The Libertines – Up the Bracket
Stephen Duffy – Keep Going
I’m sure I’ll remember one or two later which still get the odd spin but it’s pretty slim pickings for a whole decade. I can think of one or two artists I played a lot at the time but haven’t listened to in years.
fentonsteve says
The Mummers were ace. Such a shame what happened after.
The Good Doctor says
Oh there’s Loads – I’ll go from A to D –
All of Autechre’s 00s stuff
Bark Psychosis – Codename Dustsucker
Belong – October Language
Broadcast – Ha Ha Sound/Tender Buttons
Captain – This is Hazelville
CloudDead – Ten
Deepchord – The Coldest Season
Deerhunter – Cryptograms
The Delays – Faded Seaside Glamour/You See Colours
Demdike Stare – Symbiosis
Dopplereffekt – Calabi You Space
Dutch Uncles – S/T
That’ll do there’s loads more from ‘E’ onwards
Tiggerlion says
Seems like we are split 50/50 between those with loads and those with only a few.
duco01 says
Here are 30 albums from the 2005-2009 period that I still listen to and love:
The Go-Betweens – “Oceans Apart”
Ry Cooder – “Chávez Ravine”
Harold Budd – “Avalon Sutra/As Long As I Can Hold My Breath”
Paul Motian, Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano – “I Have the Room Above Her”
Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabate – “In the Heart of the Moon”
Kate Bush – “Aerial”
Mark Mulcahy – “In Pursuit of Your Happiness”
“Songs from Before” – Max Richter
”Savane” – Ali Farka Toure
”Le Voyage de Sahar” – Anouar Brahem
“Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” – Neko Case
“We Shall Overcome” – Bruce Springsteen & the Seger Sessions Band
“Time Being” – Ron Sexsmith
“Fire in the Hole” – Sara Isaksson & Rebecka Törnqvist
Calvin Cameron – “Wareika Hill Sounds”
John Surman – “The Spaces in Between”
The Stars of the Lid – “…And Their Refinement of the Decline”
Jan Lundgren – “Magnum Mysterium”
Lars Danielsson & Leszek Możdżer – “Pasodoble”
Knut Rössler & Johanes Vogt – “Between the Times”
Joe Jackson – “Rain”
John Surman & Howard Moody – “Rain on the Window”
Fleet Foxes – “Fleet Foxes”
Jóhann Jóhannsson – “Fordlandia”
Ballaké Sissoko, Driss El Maloumi & Rajéry – “Projet 3Ma”
The Dowland Project feat. John Potter and John Surman – “Romaria”
Ketil Bjørnstad – “Devotions”
Jan Lundgren, Richard Galliano & Paolo Fresu – “Mare Nostrum”
Toumani Diabaté – “The Mandé Variations”
Nat Birchall – “Akhenaten”
Loudon Wainwright III – “High, Wide & Handsome”
The Unthanks – “Here’s the Tender Coming”
Madness – “The Liberty of Norton Folgate”
Nancy Wallace – “Old Stories”
Carolina says
Thanks, duco, a lot to look into there which I haven’t heard before. I’ve started with Nancy Wallace, as a) I could be sure it was in English and b) my best friend aged 7 was called Nancy. Old Stories sounded great from clips on ITunes, so it has been duly purchased!
Tiggerlion says
Lots for me too.
Delighted to see Fire In The Hole in there.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
This thread might explain why the AfterWord Pub isn’t as busy as it used to be.
“I’ll have a pint of Harvey’s, please”
“Coming right up, sir or madam. Whilst I pour can I just ask what albums from the noughties you still listen to today?”
“Er, not sure I can remember what albums I bought in the noughties…. one of Ryan Adams’ perhaps?”
“Oh, good choice sir. Can I just ask how many times you have played that in the last year?”
“Just remembered I need to see a man about a dog. Keep the change”
Tigger wipes the bar down with a rather greasy-looking cloth and looks around at the empty room
Tiggerlion says
58 comments ain’t too shabby and duco has given us a lovely list to explore. Perhaps, the pub isn’t as empty as during your last thread?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Oooh, that hurt. My half-joking point was that most people, certainly including me, even those with a reasonably keen interest in popular music could not list more than half a dozen records released in the noughties without resorting to Wikipedia. Then of course I go that one and that one and that one and
Mike_H says
Yes I think I see what you’re getting at.
I have a decent number of those in Duco’s fine list, now that I see it. Of those that I’ve got, I wouldn’t part with a single one, but I’d struggle to remember the last time I played any of them. None of them are “regulars”.
retropath2 says
Which is the understandable version of my “eh” invoking post from the bar steward. Mind you, if the Apidistra truly does serve Harvey’s, I’m in heaven. Wonderful w/e in Sussex sampling that fine brew. Also went to a concert but none* of you would know that, judging by the tumbleweed.
* I know, I know except Mr, on this occasion, and the Harvey’s reference, Rightness.
bungliemutt says
I can list dozens from the Noughties that I play all the time, but didn’t want to turn this into a list thread and clear the bar.
Tiggerlion says
But, it is a list thread!!!!
Go for it
bungliemutt says
Well, okay, but just remember you encouraged me…..
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker / Gold / Cold Roses / Jacksonville City Nights
Nels Andrews – Sunday Shoes / Off Track Betting
Avett Brothers – The Gleam / Emotionalism / I And Love And You
Jackson Browne – The Naked Ride Home
Peter Bruntnell – Ends Of The Earth / Ghost In A Spitfire / Peter and the Murder of Crows
Lindsey Buckingham – Gift Of Screws / Seeds We Sow
Calexico – Feast Of Wire / Convict Pool / Garden Ruin / Carried To Dust
Laura Cantrell – Not The Tremblin’ Kind / When the Roses Bloom Again
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Between Here and Gone / The Calling
Caitlin Cary – When You Weren’t Looking / I’m Staying Out
Neko Case – Blacklisted / The Tigers Have Spoken / Middle Cyclone
Rosanne Cash – Rules Of Travel / Black Cadillac / The List
Neal Casal – Return In Kind / No Wish to Reminisce
Kasey Chambers – Barricades and Brickwalls / Wayward Angel / Rattlin’ Bones
Slaid Cleaves – Broke Down / Wishbones / Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away
Clem Snide – End Of Love
Shawn Colvin – These Four Walls
Cowboy Junkies – Open / One Soul Now / At The End of Paths Taken
Cracker – Forever / Greenland
Rodney Crowell – The Houston Kid / Fate’s Right Hand / The Outsider / Sex & Gasoline
The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love
Deer Tick – War Elephant
Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera / Dirty South / Decoration Day
Duke & The King – Nothing Gold Can Stay
Steve Earle – Jerusalem
Kathleen Edwards – Back To Me / Asking For Flowers
Felice Brothers – Tonight At The Arizona / The Felice Brothers
Bryan Ferry – Frantic / Dylanesque
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes / Sun Giant
Fleetwood Mac – Say You Will
Jeffrey Foucault – Ghost Repeater
Eliza Gilkyson – Lost and Found / Paradise Hotel / Beautiful World
Thea Gilmore – Avalanche / Loftmusic / Harpo’s Ghost / Liejacker / Strange Communion
Great Lake Swimmers – Ongiara / Lost Channels
Patty Griffin – 1000 Kisses / Impossible Dream / Children Running Through
Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl
Hem – Rabbitsongs / Eveningland
John Hiatt – Same Old Man
Iron & Wine – Woman King / The Shepherd’s Dog
Chris Isaak – Mr Lucky
Jason Isbell – Sirens of the Ditch
The Jayhawks – Rainy Day Music
Lucy Kaplansky – The Red Thread
Mark Knopfler – Sailing To Philadelphia / Kill To Get Crimson
Lambchop – Nixon / Is a Woman
Ray Lamontagne – Trouble / Till The Sun Turns Black
k.d. lang – Hymns of the 49th Parallel
The Low Anthem – Oh My God Charlie Darwin
Nick Lowe – At My Age / Quiet Please
Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
Paul McCartney – Chaos and Creation in the Backyard / Memory Almost Full
James McMurtry – Childish Things
Aimee Mann – Lost In Space / The Forgotten Arm
John Mellencamp – Freedom’s Road
Natalie Merchant – Motherland
Tift Merritt – Tambourine
Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
Allison Moorer – The Duel / Mockingbird / Crows
Mudcrutch – Mudcrutch
Nadine – Lit Up From the Inside
Graham Nash – Songs For Survivors
Israel Nash Gripka – New York Town
Stevie Nicks – Trouble In Shangri-La
Tim O’Reagan – Tim O’Reagan
Oh Susanna – Sleepy Little Sailor / Oh Susanna
Gretchen Peters – Halcyon / Burnt Toast and Offerings
Tom Petty – Highway Companion
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – The Last DJ
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
Chuck Prophet – Age Of Miracles / Soap and Water / Let Freedom Ring
Radiohead – In Rainbows
REM – Accelerate
Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight
Josh Rouse – 1972 / Nashville
Justin Rutledge – The Devil On a Bench in Stanley Park / Man Descending
The Sadies – New Seasons
Paul Simon – Surprise
Darden Smith – Sunflower
Son Volt – American Central Dust
Bruce Springsteen – The Rising / Devils & Dust / Magic
Mavis Staples – We’ll Never Turn Back
Nigel Stonier – English Ghosts / Brimstone and Blue
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter – Reckless Burning / Oh My Girl
Laura Veirs – Carbon Glacier / Year Of Meteors / Saltbreakers
Gina Villalobos – Rock ‘n’ Roll Pony / Miles Away
Waco Brothers – Freedom and Weep
The Walkabouts – Acetylene
Gillian Welch – Time The Revelator / Soul Journey
Paul Weller – As Is Now
Whiskeytown – Pneumonia
Willard Grant Conspiracy – Everything’s Fine / Regard the End
Lucinda Williams – Essence / West
Neil Young – Greendale / Chrome Dreams II
Warren Zevon – My Ride’s Here / The Wind
Tiggerlion says
*drools*
Tiggerlion says
Red Dirt Girl and Van Lear Rose were much played at the time but I’ve not felt the urge recently.
On the other hand, Under The Blacklight will get a play tonight.
Carl says
Thank you @bungliemutt, you’ve saved me posting a long list. Much of mine coincides with yours (though Chrome Dreams II, other than Ordinary People is a stretch).
Kudos and a doffed hat, Sir.
I’d add to yours –
Catie Curtis – My Shirt Looks Good on You
Dixie Chicks – Taking The Long Way
Kathleen Edwards – Failer
Steve Earle – Transcendental Blues, & Just An American Boy
Stacey Earle – Dancin’ With Them That Brung Me
Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart – S&M Communion Bread
Chris Knight – A Pretty Good Guy, The Jealous Kind & Enough Rope
Gary Louris – Vagabonds
Anne McCue – Roll & Koala Motel
Sarah McLachlan – Afterglow
Eileen Rose – Long Shot Novena & At Our Tables
fentonsteve says
I knew I wasn’t the only Eileen Rose fan on here. And I knew it would be you. And Skirky is, too, thinking about it.
Kid Dynamite says
I had Shine Like It Does on the list I started last night!
Carl says
A cap also doffed in your general direction.
fentonsteve says
Eileen’s lovely, too, and a regular visitor to Fenton Towers B&B For Passing Minstrels (aka my spare room). Although visits are becoming less frequent since her move to Nashville.
Paul Wad says
For a time in the late 90s or early 00s she seemed to be the support act to everybody I saw at the Borderline. She had a couple of Del Amitri in her band one time.
fentonsteve says
Yes, she also had a weekly headline residency at the Borderline for a month or so. A couple of the Dels started up a recording studio in Kent and Eileen recorded her debut album there.
bungliemutt says
Yes – accidentally missed out Failer and forgot about both those Anne McCue albums. Top stuff.
dai says
What are the noughties? 2000-2009?
If so various Radiohead, Manics, Sexsmith, Dylan, Springsteen, Bowie, Young, Earle, McCartney, Bush etc. i.e. the stuff I normally listen to from most decades, don’t listen to The Stones’ A Bigger Bang too much, but it is half a good album.
Tiggerlion says
That’s right for the Noughties.
I bought a few Radiohead, the Bush ones, Sexsmith, Dylan & The Stones but don’t actually listen to any of them.
dai says
Love and Theft is a near masterpiece
Tiggerlion says
Oh I agree. I’m glad it exists and I’m delighted it’s on my shelf. it can just stay there a while longer yet.
johnw says
Well there were two great power pop albums from Fountains Of Wayne that still get played very often in my house and MP3 player. Welcome Interstate Managers & Traffic and Weather are nailed on classics and I play their double odds and sods album once every couple of months.
Obviously the three Sparks album from that decade still get a lot of play too.
I must admit that there are other albums that I caned in the early days of my ipod that hardly get a look in these days although individual tracks get put on Sonos playlists.
Tiggerlion says
I like the epithet ‘obviously’ for Sparks. I confess I’ve only ever listened to their first.
johnw says
The answer is ALWAYS Sparks!
….and I’m impressed that you’ve heard one of their more obscure albums. Most people would have only heard ‘Kimono My House’ or ‘No1 In Heaven’. Although ‘obviously’ everyone should listen to all of them.
Pessoa says
Broadcast, Tender Buttons,
Deerhoof, Offend Maggie
Fiery Furnaces, Gallowsbird’s Bark
Ghostbox label (esp. Advisory Circle, Mind How You Go and Focus Group, Hey let Loose Your Love)
Imitation Electric Piano, Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It ‘Til It Bleeds
LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Portishead, Third
Sleater-Kinney, One Beat, The Woods
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born
Tiggerlion says
Lot’s of good stuff there. I much prefer LCD Sounsystem (CD2, natch) to Sound Of Silver. Much more fun and a lot more cowbell.
Tony Japanese says
I was 14 in the year 2000, so the Noughties were really my first decade of purchasing music. There are many albums from those ten years I still enjoy listening listening to. I leave the choice of music that I hear up to the iPod Gods however.
Deviant808 says
OK then, you wanted a list 🙂
Here’re a few that still get played a reasonable amount
Idlewild – “100 Broken Windows”
David Holmes – “Bow Down To The Exit Sign”
Kristin Hersh – “Sunny Border Blue”
Trembling Blue Stars – “Broken By Whispers”
The Streets – “Original Pirate Material”
Interpol – “Turn On The Bright Lights”
Ladytron – “Light And Magic”
Pretty Girls Make Graves – “The New Romance”
Cranes – “Particles and Waves”
The Dears – “No Cities Left”
McLusky – “The Difference Between Me And You Is That I’m Not On Fire”
Editors – “The Back Room”
Howling Bells – “Howling Bells”
The Long Blondes – “Someone To Drive You Home”
Husky Rescue – “Ghost Is Not Real”
Grinderman – “Grinderman”
Benga – “Diary Of An Afro Warrior”
The Twilight Sad – “Forget The Night Ahead”
Burial – “Untrue”
School of Seven Bells – “Alpinism”
Tiggerlion says
Of those, there are three I’m going to listen to right now: David Holmes, Burial and Grinderman, three completely different albums, I’d say but, wow, aren’t they all brilliant!
Deviant808 says
Definitely. I think I’ll give the David Holmes one a listen myself tonight too now I think about it!
SteveT says
Love David Holmes. That Henry McCullough track he did is fantastic.
Deviant808 says
What’s even more exciting (and AW traditional) than a List Thread?
A Playlist Thread of course 🙂
So if anyone’s curious about the stuff I listed (which I’ve just noticed is – coincidentally – a nice round number at twenty albums) then you might want to give this a listen (which – also coincidentally – clocks in at roundabout 90 minutes, or the length of an old school C90, being the Weapon Of Choice for the discerning compilation tape compiler).
Tiggerlion says
Brilliant work. Just spent a morning revelling in this.
Deviant808 says
Aw shucks, thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
Lemonhope says
The Acorn – Glory Hope Mountain
Aimee Mann – Lost in Space
Alex Cuba Band – Humo De Tabaco
Alexi Murdoch – Time Without Consequence
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Avett Brothers – Emotionalism
The Beauty Room – The Beauty Room
Bebel Gilberto – Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto – Tanto Tempo
The Bees – Sunshine Hit Me
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man – Out Of Season
BicRunga – Beautiful Collision
Bic Runga – Birds
The Blue Nile – High
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Burial – Untrue
Cat Power – The Greatest
The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
Coldplay – Parachutes
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood To The Head
Damien Rice – O
Danny George Wilson – The Famous Mad Mile
David Kitt – Square 1
David Mead – Indiana
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Eels – Daisies of The Galaxy
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Emiliana Torrini – Fisherman’s Woman
Emiliana Torrini – Me And Armini
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
The Go-Betweens – Bright Yellow Bright Orange
The Go-Betweens – The Friends of Rachel Worth
The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart
Grand Drive – See the Morning In
Hobotalk – Beauty In Madness
Husky Rescue – Country Falls
Husky Rescue – Ghost Is Not Real
The Jayhawks – Rainy Day Music
Joan As Police Woman – Real Life
Jon Allen – Dead Mans Suit
Josh Ritter – The Animal Years
Josh Rouse – Nashville
Josh Rouse – Subtitulo
Josh Rouse – Under Cold Blue Stars
Josh Rouse – 1972
Kate Bush – Aerial
Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
Midlake – The Trials Of Van Occupanther
The National – Boxer
Neil Halstead – Oh! Mighty Engine
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up
Phosphorescent – Pride
PJ Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
The Quantic Soul Orchestra – Tropidelico
Rickie Lee Jones – It’s Like This
Ron Sexsmith – Cobblestone Runway
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
Ryan Adams – Gold
Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
Shelby Lynne – I Am Shelby Lynne
Sigur Rós – Takk…
Wilco – A Ghost Is Born
The XX – XX
1 Giant Leap – 1 Giant Leap
1 Giant Leap – What About Me?
Tiggerlion says
When I think of Shelby Lynne, I Am is immediately in my mind, an utterly flawless album but it’s the heartbreakingly beautiful Just A Little Lovin’ I play. Pretty frequently as well, judging by the scores, close to once a month.
SteveT says
@Lemonhope I thought I had all the Grand Drive albums but I don’t have that one and now checking on the Amazon site there is another one I am not familiar with. On the basis that I have already gone over my cd budget this month I will have to rectify that next month.
Thanks a lot!!
Deviant808 says
Consecutive posts with references to Husky Rescue! That has to be a first 🙂
Lemonhope says
Ooh, yeah!
Carl says
The problem with selecting I Am Shelby Lynne is that it was released in 1999 and doesn’t qualify.
Unless there is flexibility in what constitutes the first decade of this century.
Moose the Mooche says
No. It doesn’t start until 1/1/1.
So away with your Kids A and your Wasp Stars.
retropath2 says
I am Shelby was released in 2000. (In the U.S., 8/12 after the U.K. April 1999 release date. I went on what it said on my gracenotes when I ripped it onto the comp.
I would suggest the decade started on OO.OO 1/1/00 and ended more of less 00.00 31/12/2009. That is certainly a decade but I guess it falls into all the gubbins about hitting 59 and being in the first year of your 7th decade.
Lemonhope says
All music guide says January 25th 2000 [my iTunes has it as 2000 also] – good enough for me
Lodestone of Wrongness says
“Pint of Harvey’s, please”
“Certainly sir or madam. Sorry about all this noise”
“What’s going on, who are all these people?”
“It’s the Trainspotters/List Makers’ AGM, they’ll be here for days”
“Just remembered I need to see a man about a dog. Keep the change”
Tiggerlion says
That’s two pints already, two dogs to discuss and two tips. I’m not doing badly at all, thank you very much. At this rate, I’ll be sharing a hamper with you, Lodesy.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
You deserve it. Not sure ’bout the rest of these weirdos in here mind. Still, they look happy enough ticking all those boxes, counting all those scores. I’ll just have one more pint then I’m going home to catch up on Vanity Fair
moseleymoles says
Thinking about where we were in 1999, MP3’s were associated with dodgy sharing sites like Napster, Limewire and lots with RU in the title. So the CD shelves of the 90s were a pretty good record of the stuff you bought. By 2009 itunes was 6 years old, Myspace had been and gone, Pandora had peaked, emusic was ploughing its furrow, Youtube was well established…and Spotify was a year old.
So no suprise that people’s CD shelves had less inches on them than preceeding decades.
Tiggerlion says
Good point. That’s why I referred to the iPod. I expect most people have material from the Noughties on MP3. I continued to buy CDs, the vinyl revival hadn’t yet happened.
Martin Hairnet says
(In the interest of hamper assistance) I forgot to mention Eno’s Another Day on Earth from 2004. This is way above average Eno. The opener ‘This’ is a great list song, and is regularly incorporated into joke conversations chez Hairnet, while ‘How Many Worlds’ is majestic, and one of my favourite Eno vocal songs.
Tiggerlion says
Brian Eno has been such a big part of my listening life since Roxy Music and No Pussyfooting, I take him for granted. He’s always been there.
At the time, 2004, he declared it had been 25 years since he did a ‘song’ album. What, I ask you, was Nerve Net in 1992, a mere 12 years before? It irked me.
Still does. A bit. Obvs.
Martin Hairnet says
90s Eno is a bit of a blind spot for me. I still think Wrong Way Up his collaboration with John Cale, from 1990, is one of the best things he’s ever done, but after that I began to lose track (I just had to go and check to see if I had Nerve Net – I do, and listening now), and play very little of his output from that period.
Tiggerlion says
The 2014 reissue of Nerve Net includes a bonus disc of the previously unreleased My Squelchy Life. It’s well worth seeking out. I’m also very fond of Neroli. As Eno says, it rewards attention but is not so strict as to demand it.
Martin Hairnet says
Yes, that’s the one I’ve got. I spotted an opportunity to plug my 90s Eno gap when those reissues came out. So I bought Nerve Net and The Drop. But I haven’t really listened to them much. I think I found Nerve Net harsh and aggressive sounding on first listen, and didn’t give it enough time. Last night it still sounded pretty brutal – it’s not an album looking to make friends easily – but it’s very diverse and I need to give it more listens.
I may have to investigate Neroli now too.
Tiggerlion says
Neroli is the polar opposite.
My Squelchy Life is less challenging than Nerve Net, I think you’ll find.
Martin Hairnet says
Listening to My Squelchy Life again yesterday, I discovered that the track ‘Under’ from Another Day on Earth, dates back to this 1991 period. It’s a curious album – My Squelchy Life. It’s very unpolished by Eno’s standards, and allows a peek inside his too cool for school persona. Some of the vocals sound like he could be ad-libbing in his dressing gown, and suggest work in progress. It punctures the myth a bit, but I admire him for releasing it.
He gives the impression of someone who is very comfortable in their own skin, but people are weird, so who knows.
Tiggerlion says
I think it’s great. He’s having fun, almost as much as he did on his first two solo albums (Bayby’s on fiiier!!!)
Martin Hairnet says
That’s a good point. Those first two solo albums were very playful. Later on his vocal music developed a very formal, mannered tone. He usually sounds morose, and it’s all very controlled. He always works within his vocal limits and doesn’t try anything fancy. You get the sense that Eno is very self-aware about quality control. That’s one of his great strengths, I think. He’s a great editor.
Moose the Mooche says
I love his vocals. I think he’s actually quite an influential vocalist if you listen to punk and post-punk.
Bless my soul!
Moose the Mooche says
“Unpolished” is interesting. I remember Eno saying he liked records to sound messy and unfinished – he was talking about 1.Outside at the time – but this can be applied to his production (or whatever he calls it) jobs rather than his own music.
Martin Hairnet says
Yes, I think certain aspects of his production style can be messy. That’s partly why bands go to Eno as producer in the first place. But don’t they also go for his ambient gloss? Eno’s production on The Unforgettable Fire seemed to give U2 an added maturity, which contributed hugely to their evolution and appeal as a band. But maybe polished/unpolished is the wrong way of describing his magical musical fairy dust. He certainly adds something.
Tiggerlion says
Oh. I always blamed Daniel Lanois for the polish. Visconti for the Bowie albums.
Martin Hairnet says
He learned a lot from his German friends in the Cluster/Harmonia years. I think he combines that disregard for convention with a fine eye for detail.
Wah-Wah by James is a great record. Possibly their best. Eno produces, and he conjures a ragged, woozy landscape, that is somehow also clean, repetitive and mesmerising.
Tiggerlion says
I just love the man. He’s always interesting, at the very least. His production work is such a big part of my listening life. I have loads of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, David Bowie, probably close to a hundred CDs but I bet Eno’s moniker is on even more, in one guise or another.
Mike_H says
My Squelchy Life was indeed work in progress. Just Eno trying things out in between other projects.
It was never intended for release but it leaked out and became a fairly in-demand bootleg. After a few years of it being “in the wild” he decided to officially release it as a companion disc to a reissue of Nerve Net, with no tidying up or alteration.
attackdog says
Most of the above, to me, reads like a list I would expect to see on Quietus. But inspired to be objective, I own approximately 10 of the albums listed above – plus a few more. Whatever happened to Liz Wright?
This is not to say my noughties purchases were restricted, it’s just that The Word led me to further purchases into the past.
Tiggerlion says
Last year, she teamed up with Joe Henry & his crew for Grace. It’s mighty fine Southern Soul. Here’s Barley, the lead song.
duco01 says
Joe Henry – of course! Very much a man of the noughties.
“Civilians” (2007) is one of his three finest albums – along with Invisible Hour (2014) and Thrum (2017)
attackdog says
That’s a very big dress Liz(z) is wearing. Thank you both for the heads up. Sounds great.
Sewer Robot says
“Hamper assistance”? That little paradox has my head spinning!
To answer the question implied in the OP, a quick look at my shelves throws up
The Streets – Original Pirate Material
Missy Elliott – Miss E .. So Addictive
Primal Scream – XTRMN(8)TR
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Ash – Intergalactic Sonic 7”s
OutKast – Speakerboxx/The Love Below
as albums I mostly still rate but, although I played them lots back then, I would hardly ever pick out for a spin now…
(*although just typing out the words has me itching to play the Ash album for the first time in yonkeroos)
Tiggerlion says
I’m getting in the mood for Love Below.
Moose the Mooche says
Aren’t we all.
Hurrrrrr
Tiggerlion says
You took your time!
Moose the Mooche says
Delayed gratification? You’re welcome, shugah!
Gary says
I forgot the two best albums of the noughties: Blemish and Manafon by David Sylvian. Incredible works of art.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Nice to see you here Gary my son: my shout, the usual is it? Yeah, my day has been really nice. Down to the Etang for lunch where this restaurant in an oyster farm sells nothing else but, you guessed it, oysters! Washed down by a couple of bottles of Picpoul, heaven! Then a Skype with birthday grandson, eight years old would you believe. Sorry, didn’t catch that – too much bloody noise, who are these people? I’m going to complain to The Landlord, looks like he lets any riff-raff in these days, thank god the jukebox is broken. Anyways, then we watched
Gary says
I’m not your son. Although I am fully aware of the various factors what have contributed to this confusion.
Captain Haddock says
The three greatest albums of the Noughties:
The Sophtware Slump – Grandaddy
Fearless – Taylor Swift
Heartbreaker – Ryan Adams
Tiggerlion says
Marvellous!
Martin Hairnet says
I listened to The Sophtware Slump a lot when it came out. Seemed a good companion to The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips, and Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs, although both those were released before the noughties, I think.
Tiggerlion says
All this way and no-one has mentioned Raising Sand. At the time, I thought it pure bliss. Once you delete Please Read The Letter, it still is.
Freddy Steady says
Eh? Eh!!
Please read the letter is ace!
Oh Tiggs.
Tiggerlion says
Drags on a bit, I find. The only original on the album, too.
retropath2 says
You still want a fecking list, do ya’?
OK, 2000 –> 2009 still loved…
Broken AND It’s Not How Far You Fall etc/Soulsavers
Song Up In Her Head/Sarah Jarosz
The Truth/Ruthie Foster
The List/Rosanne Cash
The Way I See It/Raphael Saadiq
Wintermusik/Nils Frahm
My One and Only Thrill AND Worrisome Heart/Melody Gardot
Tokyo/Marconi Union
Lushlife/Lushlife
Let the Truth Be Told/Laura Izibor
Arc Light/Lau
Haymaker/The Gourds
Changing Horses/Ben Kweller
Howl On/Bap Kennedy
Pilgrim Road AND Regard the End/Willard Grant Conspiracy
Consoler of the Lonely/Raconteurs
Skylon/Ott : Listened today, in the the car, a selection picked for a long journey
Ana Hina/Natacha Atlas
Sunday at Devil Dirt AND Keep Me in Mind Sweetheart/Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Stramash/Colin Steele
Nina de Fuego/Buika
Stay Strong/Blair Douglas
Mr Love & Justice/Billy Bragg
Mano Suave/Yasmin Levy
Terra Firma/Wolfstone
Up Front/Teddy Thompson
What Men Deserve to Lose/Peatbog Faeries
Boxer/The National
Prodigal Son/Martin Simpson
Gambler’s Ballet/Kila
Fairest Floo’er/Karine Polwart
Culidh/Julie Fowlis
Breakfast in Bed AND Pretty Little Stranger/Joan Osborne
Mnemosyne/Jan Garbarek & the Hilliard Ensemble
Songs From the Road/David Ford
Dylanesque/Bryan Ferry
Octomento/Blowzabella
These Four Walls/Shawn Colvin
My Secret is My Silence/Roddy Woomble
Till the Sun Turns Black/Ray LaMontagne
Wired/Michael McGoldrick
The Eighteenth Day of May
Heart of America/Donnie Munro
West of the West/Dave Alvin
The Greatest/Cat Power
Bombay Dub Orchestra
Throw Down Your Arms AND Sean-Nos Nua/Sinead O’Connor
Mercy Now/Mary Gauthier
Life in Slow Motion/David Gray
A Singsong & a Scrap AND WYSIWIG/Chumbawamba
Relations AND Old Low Light/Kathryn Williams
Adam’s Apple/John Wesley Harding
Holy Love/James Grant
Greatest Palace Music/Bonnie Prince Billy
Look/Beth Nielson Chapman
There Will Be a Light/Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama
The Duel/Allison Moorer
The Wind/Warren Zevon
Post to wire/Richmond Fontaine
Failer/Kathleen Edwards
Sweet England/Jim Moray
Soul Journey/Gillian Welch
Don’t Give Up on Me/Solomon Burke
Untitled/Sigur Ros
18/Moby
Accelerator/Future Sound of London
Daybreaker/Beth Orton
Out of Season/Beth Orton & Rustin Man
Sea Change/Beck
Tanto Tempo/Bebel Gilberto
Far Away Trains Passing By/Ulrich Schnauss
Rules For Jokers/Thea Gilmore
Solar Shears/Shooglenifty
Reveal/R.E.M.
Sleepy Little Sailor/O Susanna
Get Ready/New Order
Essence/Lucinda Williams
Little Lights/Kate Rusby
Creatures of Light & Darkness AND Night Lilies AND Defending Ancient Springs/Jackie Leven
All That You Can’t Leave Behind/U2
I Am Shelby Lynne
Saint Low
Sailing to Philadelphia/Mark Knopfler
The Captain/Kasey Chambers
Unity/John Tams
13/Dandy Warhols
Igizeh/Banco de Gaia
That took bloody ages, but to my mind and the ears of reason, effectively the thesis of the learned gentleman is blown out the water. (And, wow, wasn’t 2009 a good year!)
Mike_H says
Not a lot of those were in my personal Noughties shopping basket, but of the few that I have I was oddly surprised they were there. They seemed older, somehow, but weren’t.
Those Jim Moray, Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble (hardly been played since bought), Warren Zevon, Solomon Burke, Sigur Ros (not been played for ages), Beth Gibbons (not Orton) & Rustin Man, Bebel Gilberto and Shelby Lynne albums all now seem from so long ago.
thecheshirecat says
Oooh, That is like a recommended reading list. Afterworders take note.
Still listen to loads of the noughties but, unsurprisingly it is mainly folk : the aforementioned Lau, The Imagined Village, the Martin Simpson return to form. Medulla and Aerial sit very high up in the pantheon for any decade.
Tiggerlion says
Very nice. I still listen to those Melody Gardot albums, Worrisome more, but not in my top ten played. Buika just missed out too.Same goes for Elvis Costello, mentioned higher up, The Delivery Man attracting the most plays.
I loved Solomon Burke’s and Beck’s at the time but I haven’t gone back to them in a long while. Sigur Rós blow my mind so I can’t go there too often, either.
I’m going to listen to Aerial again. It never grabbed me before.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I really shouldn’t have that sixth pint of Harvey’s but Gary rejecting his father was, as the rest of the pub noticed, shocking. I apologise for all those rants about the place turning into a refuge for Asperger’s and OCD and I really, really shouldn’t have punched Retro 2 (but you know how it is about lists, there’s always one too many). The barman was very polite, a role model for us all, and the offer to go round his when the hamper arrives was indeed a noble gesture. Stuffing a packet of cheese & onion crisps up his self-satisfed hooter was to put it mildly very rude and going round tearing all those bloody lists into tiny pieces was futile at best, shameful at worst.
In the light of another perfect Languedoc dawn I will ponder how to make up for all the mayhem and violence. Howsabout a thread on “List Your Best List”? Laters
retropath2 says
We’ve done that……
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Of course we have
Martin Hairnet says
A list of Liszt. We haven’t had that.
Moose the Mooche says
A list of Brahms more bleedin like.
Martin Hairnet says
I’d put Brahms on the B list.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Behind Bri?
Martin Hairnet says
Brahms wasn’t a tall man (1.70m, give or take an inch), so in the AW group photo, Bri would be standing behind Brahms.
Moose the Mooche says
Big fuckoff beard too. Stick a black Rory Gallagher t-shirt on him and he’s just another Afterworder
Tiggerlion says
The purpose of the thread, Lodesy, was to broaden our/my listening horizons and shift time a bit further on from the sixties and 1971. As a result, I have been or am about to listen to Aliens, Rilo Kiley, Cannibal Ox, Elvis Costello, Matthew Halsall, Super Furry Animals, Madlib, Mew, Portishead, Primal Scream, Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate, Cee Lo Green, Willie Nile, The Killers, Autechre, The Unthanks, Kate Bush, David Holmes, Burial, Grinderman, Sigur Rós, Eno, Lizz Wright, Outkast, Melody Gardot and Beck.
That’s quite a list of great artists, largely non-chart botherers, and many of them I doubt I would have paid much attention to if not for The Afterword.
Thank you, everyone.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Just having a bit of fun, Tiggs. Thanks for your list from the lists though. Sorry ’bout the crisps incident
Tiggerlion says
You contribution is vital. An argumentative, sozzled participant speaking at the top of his voice stops the place descending into boredom. Besides, I managed to dodge the crisps, seeing as I was sober at the time.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I liked it when Bri and his Band stepped onto the stage, though. It gets a bit hazy after that
Moose the Mooche says
Not so much list as listing.
chiz says
Worst AC/DC cover ever
Paul Wad says
Although when Tahir started getting argumentative* I tended to avoid the site for a while.
*On average, every 2.3 posts
bungliemutt says
Fear not, he flounced during the Afterword Survey thread. A victim of the Long Hot Summer Flounce of 2018.
Moose the Mooche says
Hot Flounce… the album the Killers SHOULD have made.
fatima Xberg says
Another list – I still listen to these:
2001
R.E.M. | Reveal
Kante | Zweilicht
Rachid Taha | Made In Medina
Element Of Crime | Romantik
Björk | Vespertine
2002
The Nitwits | Neon Golden
Shania Twain | Up!
Bruce Springsteen | The Rising
Cassandra Wilson | Belly Of The Sun
The Residents | Demons Dance Alone
2003
Calexico | Feast Of Wire
Neil Young | Greendale
Henk Hofstede | Het Draagbare Huis
The Jayhawks | Rainy Day Music
Blumfeld | Jenseits von Jedem
2004
Phish | Undermind
Blackfield
They Might Be Giants | Venue Songs
Amadou & Mariam | Dimanche à Bamako
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter | Oh My Girl
2005
Nits | Les Nuits
Françoise Hardy | Tant de belle choses
Porcupine Tree | Deadwing
Tocotronic | Pure Vernunft darf niemals siegen
Brian Eno | Another Day On Earth
2006
Celtic Frost | Monotheist
Bob Dylan | Modern Times
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint | The River In Reverse
The Church | Uninvited Like The Clouds
Max Richter | The Blue Notebooks
2007
Mavis Staples & Ry Cooder | We’ll Never Turn Back
Tuning | Good Arrows
Roland Heinrich | Common Verse
Glenn Mercer | Wheels In Motion
Robert Plant & Alison Kraus | Raising Sand
2008
Paul Weller | 22 Dreams
Get Well Soon | Rest Now Weary Head
Judas Priest | Nostradamus
No-Man | Schoolyard Ghosts
Death Cab For Cutie | Narrow Stairs
2009
U2 | No Line On The Horizon
Madness | The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Richard Hawley | Truelove’s Gutter
Demis Roussos | Demis
Atom | Liedgut
2010
Feufollet | En Couleurs
Triptykon | Eparistas Daimones
The Jolly Boys | Great Expectations
Natasha Atlas | Mounqualiba
Tinariwen | Imidiwan
Tiggerlion says
Now, that’s a proper list. Lots for me to get my teeth into. It made me think, Good God! Never Turn Back was more than ten years ago! And, how do you put that vertical line in between artist and album title? These are so beautifully organised, I’m guessing you have a playlist.
duco01 says
A huge thumbs-up for Max Richter’s “The Blue Notebooks”. Great album.
fatima Xberg says
Feckin’ auto-correct: “Neon Golden” is of course by The Notwist:
fentonsteve says
That is indeed a great album, and one I’m going to listen to this evening.
Rigid Digit says
Brian Eno – Another Day On Earth
Thanks for the reminder – I had forgotten about that one. Just off to spend the evening re-enjoying it
Kid Dynamite says
oooh, a double helping of Tom G Warrior!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
“Pint of Harvey’s, please. It’s still going on then?”
“I told you last night sir or madam, you’re barred”
“But I know Gary, he’s my
davebigpicture says
Grandson?
chiz says
“We don’t want your sort at the Complier & Rankers, mate. There’s no place here for your entertaining discourse. See that sign? Strictly No Musing On The Byways. Now start a list or fuck off.”
Tiggerlion says
Oi! This is my thread and Lodestone is most welcome. I’ve enjoyed his carping from his bar stool. He isn’t barred no matter what his relationship with Gary is. Consenting adults behind closed doors…
😃
Moose the Mooche says
I have to say, when Lodey speaks, the word “stool” comes readily to mind.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Fuck off Northern Numpty with all your snappy smart-arse one- liners. Some of us construct complicated one-act plays involving a multicast of four dimensional players and you sit in the cesspit commonly known as Hull and….yes, I’ve forgotten my point but one thing is for sure – Gary has a bigger
Tiggerlion says
House?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Wrong answer. Gary lives in a yurt in the hills above Sienna surrounded by eager young virgins all waiting to receive his
Gary says
Actually, I live in a trullo in the hills above Monopoli, surrounded by eager young virgins all waiting to receive my
bungliemutt says
fatherly advice?
minibreakfast says
Oh gawd, have I missed the bingo again?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I won a chicken and a lovely pair of
Mike_H says
Coconuts?
Moose the Mooche says
Oh Lodey, I’m not your daddy
minibreakfast says
There’s a meat raffle as well?
Darn it, I was in the loo again.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I forgot.. out here not allowed to win cash at Lotto (Bingo) so every Thursday you can spot villagers carrying home an unplucked chicken or, star prize, five kilos of Toulouse sausage. Talking of Toulouse sausage, have you seen the size of Gary’s
Moose the Mooche says
cow
Lodestone of Wrongness says
See that Chiz! We all know he is HP’s favourite but he don’t half talk some sense. I like him even better than
Tiggerlion says
Tom Waits?
Moose the Mooche says
…for no man
Mike_H says
‘s Land Of A Thousand Dances
With Wolves.
Moose the Mooche says
…and leopards are trying to kill the sheep and the shepherds.
Tiggerlion says
..busy building a Bush Empire
Tiggerlion says
Please yourselves.
Dave Ross says
All the way through and no Landfill Indie. Every now and then I will delve into some…….
Pigeon Detectives
Fratellis
Hard Fi
Razorlight
Franz Ferdinand
Foo Fighters
Green day
The Kooks
Biffy Clyro
Where’s the door, I’m leaving…..
Dave Ross says
Sorry, just popped back in to say I forgot the best of the lot…… Maximo Park
Tiggerlion says
Tell me. Have those LPs aged well? I’m not so sure they have. How about The Rapture? That was noughties, wasn’t it? And no-one, but no-one has mentioned Oasis. I still listen to Blur’s Think tank, my favourite of theirs.
fatima Xberg says
Not especially Landfill Indie, but I was listening to “Dig Out Your Soul” from The Oasis last weekend and it’s quite good. Noel clearly wasn’t concerned about anything by then and it’s all the better for it.
Dave Ross says
I definitely feel Franz Ferdinand and Maximo Park have and I missed Editors out of the list. Foos and Green Day hold memories of gigs with my boys. “American Idiot” seems strangely current. I’m a sucker for the Fratellis debut as with Razorlight (I know….). Genuine go to from that era is “Hopes and Fears” by Keane and Even the first Kaiser Chiefs gets anew occasional listen. Pigeon Detectives maybe not so much. “Let’s dance to Joy Division and celebrate the irony” mmmmmmm. ….
Tiggerlion says
I’ll fish out Franz Ferdinand, then. Maximo Park is a bit of a stretch for me.
Moose the Mooche says
The second Franz album is tremendous, miles better than the first. Anybody remember the mass drumming version of The Fallen that they did on Later? Great stuff, lads.
First two British Sea Power albums, while I’m on Radio 4-fancying indie bands.
Oh… and the first Cooper Temple Clause album, which is as subtle as tap-dancing elephant.
Tiggerlion says
Franz Ferdinand’s step up in sound quality and sheer power in just a year was amazing.
Was never taken by the other two bands. Sorry.
Moose the Mooche says
Give See This Through And Leave another go. I’m playing it now – it’s immense, a big fuckoff ROCK album with a nice bit of menace.
BSP you probably will never like if you’ve tried them once and didn’t.
Tiggerlion says
Ok. Cooper Temple Clause debut it is.
Moose the Mooche says
Huzzah!
Tiggerlion says
I have a cold coming on but my sinuses are now a lot clearer thank you.
Moose the Mooche says
I mentioned Hard-Fi. It’s okay, it was only like a week ago.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I’m wasted and wounded and I can’t find my way home thanks to all these bloody lists but c’mon everyone – there’s a double hamper awaiting The Mighty Tiggs. As I wonder how much more rosé Auntie Jenny From North Wales can drink I’ll leave it to the rest of you to take our boy home. Howsabout somebody suggests “Ten Best Excuses Why Mini Said No To Your Polite Question – Fancy A Quick
Moose the Mooche says
Tijuana?
minibreakfast says
“Tiju, Tiju, Tiju, Tijuana dance…”
Morrison says
After an enjoyable evening amongst piles of CDs looking at the small print on the back:
Marian McPartland – Twilight World
Cyrus Chestnut – Spirit
Pat Metheny – One quiet night
Terence Blanchard – A Tale of god’s will
Cassandra Wilson – Belly of the sun
Ron Isley meets Burt Bacharach
Donnie – The Colored section
Trina Broussard – Same Girl
Marcin Wasilewski Trio – January
Enrico Rava – Easy Living
Bill Charlap – Stardust
John Taylor – Rosslyn
Susannah Abbuehl – Compass
Kenny Barron – Live at Bradleys
Charlie Haden – Land of the sun
Shelby Lynne – Just a little lovin’
Jill Scott – Who is…
India Arie – Acoustic soul
Kem – Kemistry
Lizz Wright – Salt
Kindred – Surrender to Love
N’Dambi – Tunin’ Up
Rene Marie – Vertigo
Eliane Elias – Dreamer
Diana Krall – The Look of Love
Danilo Perez/Claus Ogerman – Across the Crystal Sea
Robert Glasper – In my element
Laura Nyro – Angel in the dark/Loom’s desire
Kurt Elling – Man in the air
John Pizzarelli – Bossa Nova
Mark Murphy – Once to every heart
Shirley Horn – May the music never end
Roy Hargrove – Earfood
Bobby Watson – Quiet as it’s kept
Branford Marsalis – Eternal
duco01 says
Oh yes, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio’s “January” is a very nice record. Good call.
As you may have seen, the Trio released a live album on ECM last Friday, cunningly entitled “Live”. I’ve got it on order and am looking forward to it. They’re a very reliable outfit, I think.
retropath2 says
I remember buying the above mentioned Jill Scott and India Irie records for a then wife one Xmas, thinking that, if she liked soul she would like them and thus me more. I don’t believe she ever listened to ’em. But they remain on my shelves, cropping up pleasantly on random from time to time. And the same why I had Raphael Saadiq and Laura Izibor in my list. So the marriage wasn’t all bad.
Lizz Wright I came to later via her cover of NY’s Old Man https://youtu.be/nYfFlvQtkb0
Morrison says
Picked up a copy from the ever-excellent David’s record shop in Letchworth at the weekend. It’s a really good album – stretched out versions of stuff from his “Spark of Life” album – shame he never seems to tour in the UK.
Mike_H says
Often seem to get Jill Scott and Lizz Wright mixed up in my head. Both fine singers and songwriters. The funk band who play monthly gigs at my favourite pub do a good version of Jill Scott’s “Golden”
Terence Blanchard is an amazing musician. “A Tale Of God’s Will” is a monster album. His “Jazz In Film” is sadly just outside this thread’s remit (1999) but is another fine one. Then of course there’s his “Malcolm X Jazz Suite” and movie soundtrack, his “Clockers” soundtrack and his earlier duet albums with Donald Harrison.
Morrison says
Agreed re.Terence Blanchard – very underestimated and I’m sure there was a live thing on Sky Arts recently covering his film music – and “A Tale…” is one of the great film scores. Seems to be Spike Lee’s favourite for his films – the new “Blackkklansman” soundtrack is another excellent Blanchard soundtrack and is on YouTube.
From “A Tale…” – top track Ashe…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Ah, someone else who gets Jill and Lizz mixed up. I play them both quite regularly but to be honest I mostly feel worthy (and temporarily intellectual?) afterwards rather than joyful.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Ring the bells, rejoice! Double-hamper time. I’ve always said what this site needs is more List Threads as well as some more
Moose the Mooche says
Cowbell
chiz says
Still less popular with the viewers than the Pink Floyd thread (28 comments) though
Tiggerlion says
The reviews sometimes gain traction across the whole internet. Wasn’t there a Bargepole review of a Uriah Heep album that got 3 comments and nearly 10,000 views?
Harold Holt says
To the OP – Loads, although my sweet spot is still 90s. But for noughties, in vaguely descending order of frequency…
XTC “Wasp Star”
Grant Lee Philips “Nineteeneighties”,
The Hold Steady, “Separation Sunday” and “Boys and Girls In America”
Aimee Mann, “Bachelor No.2”
various Neil Finn and Finn Brothers output,
The Tragically Hip “In Violet Light”,
(The) Odds, “Cheerleader”
I notice a pretty even split between Aus, US, Can, UK, with a slight lean to US-alt.
Tiggerlion says
I think I’ll give The Hold Steady a spin. They are a band very much of their time is my current opinion. I’ll have to check that’s accurate.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
A band my American chums revere with a devotion normally associated this side of The Atlantic with The Faces or Kylie. I saw them live once in Charlotte and was bowled over. Back home tried listening to whatever record was out then and, nah
Harold Holt says
The albums do vary a lot in likeability, which is why I was very specific about those two which suit my tastes end to end…all their other albums have at least 2 tracks on my 5-star-faves playlist, but otherwise, not so much.
Declan says
Function of getting old: the 1968 thread was easier than the Noughties one 😉 . Anyway, do you still? Absolutely, some good stuff then. Mainstream first. White Stripes, Strokes, Beth Gibbons, Calexico, Joanna Newsom, Lambchop, Nouvelle Vague, Unthanks, Isaksen/Tornquist, Plant/Kraus, late-period Portishead + Massive Attack + Radiohead + Wilco + Steely Dan.
Then there were Medeski/Martin/Wood, EST, Brad Mehldau, Ali Farka Toure, Vieux Farka Toure, older jazzbos like Vernon Reid, Bill Frisell, Charlie Hunter and younger ones coming of age, like Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Ross Hammond, Tomas Fujiwara (these ones are really blossoming now at 40-ish). Also regular product from the great John Zorn, Kronos Quartet, Cassandra Wilson, and the Cowboy Junkies. Special mention for ECM records too.
Tiggerlion says
Ah Brad Mehldau. Consistently brilliant, yet churlish mags can only bring themselves to give him four stars.
Mike_H says
Yes. I like Brad.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Brad as in Pitt? I’d like a pint of Harvey’s and a packet of cheese & onion, please. Bit quiet in here tonight, anyone fancy some bingo?
Moose the Mooche says
Two fat persons, click click click!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Fat? I think you’ll find compared to John L I am svelte, some might even say
Moose the Mooche says
…if they’ve got their teef in
duco01 says
Ah, John Zorn. Of course.
Always difficult to choose favourites by the Man with the Unfeasibly Large Discography, but if you twist my arm, I’ll go for “Alhambra Love Songs” (2009) and the Dreamers’ album “O’o” (2009).
Mike_H says
Electric Masada “At The Mountains Of Madness”, or “50th Birthday Celebrations Vol. 4”
Bar Kokhba “The Circle Maker 2: Zevulun”, or “50th Birthday Celebrations Vol. 11”. (violin, cello, electric guitar, string bass, percussion, drumkit – Zorn conducting).
A few good bootlegs too.
Bar Kokhba “Live: Summer Jazz Days, Warsaw 1999”
John Zorn’s Dreamers/Electric Masada (with Mike Patton, Jesse Harris & Sofia Rei) – “Zorn@60: North Sea Jazz Festival 2013”. Two sets, one a song project with Patton, Harris & Rei and then an instrumental Dreamers set.
Declan says
Putting it very mildly there, Duco. Need to check those out. Concur with Mike on the 50/4. A mention too for various things (like Nova Express) from the vibes quartet with Kenny Wolleson, on which Zorn doesn’t actually play, such icy beauty!, even swings occasionally. Also the Book of Angels series ends with part 32 (!!) with the inimitable Mary Halvorson on guitar, let’s mention her again, no Zorn this time either. But he’s the enabler, or something, with flashcards or whatever. Incredible artist.
@duco01 @mike_h
Kid Dynamite says
well, you did ask….I’ve divided them into genres for ease of ignoring
Rock
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots – Flaming Lips
The ’59 Sound – The Gaslight Anthem
Left & Leaving – The Weakerthans
Boxer – The National
Dig Lazarus Dig – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
100 Broken Windows – Idlewild
All Is Dream – Mercury Rev
Boys & Girls In America – The Hold Steady
Kids In Philly – Marah
Today Is A Good Day and Carnival – New Model Army
Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol
Leaves Turn Inside You – Unwound
My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go – Aereogramme
Cease To Begin – Band Of Horses
Our Earthly Pleasures – Maximo Park
The Argument – Fugazi
Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The world – Yellow Moon Band
Saturnalia – The Gutter Twins
Zeroes & Ones – Eleventh Dream Day
The Lost Riots – Hope Of The States
She Loves You – The Twilight Singers
Mclusky Do Dallas – Mclusky
Now Here Is Nowhere – Secret Machines
Not Enough Night – Kubichek
Shake The Sheets – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Let’s Stay Friends – Les Savy Fav
s/t – Voice Of The Seven Thunders
Murray Street – Sonic Youth
I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass – Yo La Tengo
Post-Rock
Offshore – Early Day Miners
One Time For All Time – 65daysofstatic
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place and Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever – Explosions In The Sky
Lift Your Skinny Fists… and Yanqui UXO – Godspeed You Black Emperor
May Your Heart Be The Map – Epic 45
All Is Violent, All Is Bright and Far From Refuge – God Is An Astronaut
Hymn To The Immortal Wind – Mono
systems/layers – Rachel’s
And The Battle Is Won – UpCdownC
Enjoy Eternal Bliss – Yndi Halda
Dance / Electronica
West Coast – Studio
Since I Left You – Avalanches (and the semidodgy companion When I Met You)
BCD2 – Basic Channel
Cirque and Shenzou – Biosphere
The Campfire Headphase – Boards Of Canada
Burial – Burial
From Here We Go Sublime – The Field
Staying In – Diskjokke
Rounds – Four Tet
Underwater Dancehall – Pinch
Memories Of The Future – Kode9 & The Spaceape
s/t – Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
Steingarten – Pole
Sakura – Susumu Yokota
Last Resort – Trentemoller
Americana-ish stuff
Winnemucca and Post To Wire – Richmond Fontaine
Shine Like It Does – Eileen Rose
Feast Of Wire and Garden Ruin – Calexico
Blue Horse – The Be Good Tanyas
Time (The Revelator) – Gillian Welch
Vagabond Lullabies – Po’ Girl
Ghosts Of The Great Highway – Sun Kil Moon
Hip Hop
Be – Common
The Ecstatic – Mos Def
Deltron 3030 – s/t
Metal(ish)
The Mantle – Agalloch
Amesouers – Amesouers
Oceanic – Isis
Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell and 2003 s/t – Killing Joke
Blackwater Park – Opeth
The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw – Pelican
should probably have listened to more hip hop in those years.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Wow, the depth of pop music…take out the Americana list and I have played precisely four of those records.
Harold Holt says
Include the Americana list and I’m on three…
Kid Dynamite says
They’re all good, gents! Pick one at random and give it a whirl.
Tiggerlion says
Those heady days of Dubstep, when it was new, exciting and damn brilliant with Burial, Pinch, Kode9 & Four Tet on heavy rotation in my house (not all Dubstep but you know what I mean).
That Epic45 album is beautiful. It’s an album The Word rated in their top ten of the year but no-one else seemed to notice it. It’s a good reason to thank them. I wouldn’t have heard it otherwise.
Martin Hairnet says
I think it was Rob Fitzpatrick who was the main cheerleader of that Epic45 record. I bought it and liked it, and delved a bit into the July Skies back catalogue. But I don’t really listen to those records any more, and am not convinced they were all that great. I liked the concept of this gauzy English nostalgia – a kind of modern take on Delius and classical impressionism perhaps – but it was all too wispy for its own good and ultimately I found the music didn’t match the ambition.
Tiggerlion says
But that particular album is preserved in aspic. In the Noughties, it took me back to my childhood in the Sixties. It doesn’t seem to belong to any kind of era or genre. It is itself. One man’s wispy is another’s dreamy, something to wallow in. It’s an album that needs its moment, perhaps evening before dusk when summer is on the cusp of autumn, when the busy thoughts of the day need quietening down before bed. A day like today.
I didn’t delve into any others. I just saw it as an album unlike any other. Yes, I can see what you mean about 17th century English pastoral music but I didn’t make that connection at the time. I will this evening when I play it again.
Martin Hairnet says
I completely empathise with your description and feelings about the album. I listened to it a lot around the time of my mother’s death, hoping it would ‘put me there’. There were brief glimpses of magic, but I felt it needed better musical ideas to go with the sound effects and atmosphere. Perhaps I had too high expectations. I’m looking forward to giving it another spin tonight, with fresh ears. I know I will find things there that move me.
Tiggerlion says
You’ve given me greater insight. I’ll be listening with fresh ears too. Thank you.
Kid Dynamite says
this is exactly right, not least because it took me back to my childhood in the Eighties! It’s a record for hazy summer afternoons, but one with a touch of melancholia, a sense that this will be ending soon. It captures, say, the second to last week of the summer holiday, when the endless afternoon is stretching in front of you, but you’re also beginning to realise that the return to school is looming.
Paul Wad says
Another album that I’ve always liked that gave me the same feeling was Roger Eno & (the lovely!) Kate St. John’s The Familiar. It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d usually have bought, but I’m a big fan of The Dream Academy so bought it for that reason. It’s one of my favourite albums. I’ve bought other Roger Eno albums and he can be a bit hit and miss. I prefer the purely instrumental ones, so The Familiar is the only one with vocals that I like.
Tiggerlion says
Poor Roger is often overlooked. He is an actual musician, unlike his brother, a very sensitive one too.
Kid Dynamite says
Yes, dubstep in those days was tremendously exciting. I also almost added the albums by Distance and Plastician to the list, but in all honesty I haven’t listened to them for quite a long time. Kode9’s 9 Samurai and Pinch’s Qawaali on the other hand get played all the time round here. Marvellous stuff.
Leicester Bangs says
I have a really vivid memory of wandering around Tescos listening to Mary Anne Hobbs’s Dubstep Warz from the night before and being totally being blown away, thinking it was the first properly ‘new’ thing that had come along in so long. She ended with Qawaali that night. Shame it so quickly devolved into brostep and neuro, but I was looking online the other day and there seem to be a few people doing, like, ‘old skool’ dubstep.
Paul Wad says
Now come on. I’ve long thought that some of these musical genres are made up (melodic death metal?!), but as far as I remember from my A&E nursing days neuro was where we took the head injuries.
Leicester Bangs says
Neurofunk. It’s a sub-genre of drum & bass that sort of took over where techstep left off, adding elements of brostep in for good measure. Check out this little beauty, and make sure you stick around for the drop at 1.27.
Moose the Mooche says
They’ve changed since Paul Rodgers left!
Paul Wad says
I bought the epic45 one on the back of the review in Word. It’s one of those albums like Eg and Alice’s 24 Years of Hunger and East Village’s Drop Out that are brilliant, but seem to have passed most people by. I’ve lost count of the people I’ve recommended them to.
Freddy Steady says
@paul-wad
I ve got that East Village album. Really really liked the singles but couldn’t get into the album…a bit dull I thought. Maybe I should re-visit.
Don’t know epic 45 at all or the Eg and Alice album.
Martin Hairnet says
With 242 comments already, I think the triple hamper is most definitely on. I wonder if it will be three single hampers, or whether you get a completely new design and contents, whose quality is commensurate with the three hundred comment mark?
Anyway, I digress. No mention yet of The Leisure Society’s The Sleeper, or Kate Rusby’s Underneath the Stars.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
See I’d have said Underneath The Stars was nineties. A record I return to time after time
Paul Wad says
You see what we’re doing here? We’re eking a list out of you an album at a time.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I know that… if only I had such a thing as a physical record/cd then I could look up the date of release. I can’t remember what I did last week nevermind recalling when Moffou was released
Moose the Mooche says
No mention of The Fall in this thread. As my Long Day’s Journey Into Fall has only made it as far as Bend Sinister (which sounds like a Fall album for people who think they don’t like The Fall), does anybody have anything to say about the 00s output of the Industrial Estate Hitmakers?
Tiggerlion says
Imperial Wax Solvent was a hit. After a fashion. A rare top forty album for the Mighty. I still play that & Fall Heads Roll. The latter is rockabilly as played by Can, which is a fair description of a few Fall albums.
Moose the Mooche says
Rockabilly? Well I never. Next you’ll be telling me that MES shouts the lyrics rather than crooning like Crosby.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
As the man who knows all that needs to be known about The Fall , I can state with magisterial authority that everything they recorded in the noughties is shite – actually I could have missed out three words there
Moose the Mooche says
Ha! Like I was asking you!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
See my review, porky. Other opinions are available and, of course, Wrong
Moose the Mooche says
Reviews of old rereleased records? BOOOORING!
duco01 says
Rockabilly? Next thing you’ll be telling me that the Fall covered a Gene Vincent song! Oh … hang on a minute…
moseleymoles says
There’s a Fall review coming up ere long, an inessential compilation, but an excuse to go to all points MES.
Moose the Mooche says
The new extended 40,000 Fall Fans compo perchance? Goody!
GCU Grey Area says
The first Imagined Village album (2007).
Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree (2008).
The first two Gotan Project LPs – La Revancha del Tango (2001) and Lunatico (2006).
I play all of those regularly – probably once or twice a month. They’re all records I like to work to.
Tiggerlion says
Of course! I play La Revancha del Tango all the time (honest!). Tango has always been sexy but Gotan make it sound more sexy than it looks.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Oh bloody hell, Revancha is a noughties album? Just looked at my (imaginary) play count and I have listened to it 17, 238 times since release. It helps that my one true love likes it too. There’s been many a night when we turn the lights down low
GCU Grey Area says
Hounslow?
Hainault.
Moose the Mooche says
Well, that’s my sinuses cleared.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Ragweed, the curse of my life right now
Moose the Mooche says
Leave Jethro Tull ALOOOOOONE!
GCU Grey Area says
Just noticed another I play a fair bit; Shrift – Lost in a Moment (2006).
Bought off the back of a Word magazine cover disc.
Slightly woozy, breathy, summery-seaside electronica.
Oh, and The Mummers – Tale To Tell (2008). Especially Lorca and the Orange Tree.
Tiggerlion says
Shrift? Is that the album with a tiger on it? I did buy it. Haven’t heard it for years and it’s not on my iPod. I have some digging to do.
GCU Grey Area says
Yes, the plastic tiger climbing up the mountain.
Lemonhope says
Good call
Leicester Bangs says
For way too long I thought that ‘the Mummers’ was a nickname for Mumford and Sons.
Moose the Mooche says
Dude, it’s people who are really into roll-on deodorant.
Mike_H says
The Mummers – Wonderland
Neela says
I still find Bon Iver’s first rather beautiful. Also, Iron Maiden’s progtastic A Matter Of Life And Death.
Rigid Digit says
Iron Maiden – Matter Of Life An Death is a good shout.
Also consider the two albums that bookended the decade – A Brave New World and The Final Frontier.
Both very, very fine albums (and deserving of the “progtastic” tag too)
Neela says
I think they’ve been on a roll since Bruce and Adrian returned. Matter Of and Book Of Souls are both in my top four of theirs (see also Piece Of Mind – a pun, a pun, my kingdom for a pun – and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son). Add their debut for my top five.
Rigid Digit says
I am very much a V1.0 type of IM bloke.
Number Of The Beast was/is/probably always will be the album of choice.
Seventh Son is definitely one of their best, but Final Frontier and especially Book Of Souls sit high in that list
davebigpicture says
A pedant writes: Number of the Beast would have been V2.0 Shirley?
Rigid Digit says
A pedant replies: V3.0 really
(I should’ve thought this through)
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I think it was Gary Sobers’ 365 (?) So c’mon everyone, another couple of crisp drives through cover and we’ll be there
Paul Wad says
A while back I decided to compile a list of my favourite 250 albums. I’ve just totted them up per decade, from the 60s onwards, and it was interesting seeing the results in light of this thread. The amount rose every decade from the 60s to the 90s, before dropping way down in the 00s to by far the lowest amount and then back up again in the 10s. It sort of reinforces what I think @Tiggerlion was hinting at in his original post. From my list the best times seem to be 1967/68, 1985/86 and 1989-1993, whilst the only post-1961 years to draw a blank were 1974 and 2005.
Well, I found it interesting anyway, but I can see how it will have limited interest to anybody else!
Tiggerlion says
I guess my point was that if you go back, you’ll find you enjoy a lot more than you think you will. This thread has reintroduced me to some old friends but also to a whole bunch of others I’d previously pretty much ignored.
I’ve had a great week exploring the nooks and crannies in my collection, thank you very much.
minibreakfast says
Just listening to Gomez’s debut, Bring It On (cassette, Saturday, 20p!) and they’re nothing like I expected. In a good way.
(This is why I like chazza-ing; I can’t think of any other circumstance under which I’d think “Ooh I know, let’s investigate Gomez”. Certainly not with Spotify anyway.)
Tiggerlion says
Now there’s an album that needs a reappraisal. It was praised to the hilt by critics on release. The first few listens were, as you say, unexpectedly interesting. Then, on listen four, poof, it had all gone. It seemed the was nothing there.
Mike_H says
Hmmm.
3 Gomez albums in my collection. “Bring It On”, “In Our Gun” and “Liquid Skin”. All are CD-R copies acquired from an old friend I’ve now lost touch with. All have been played at some point in the last few years but I can’t remember a single note of any of them.
Stuck in my memory is that there was another Gomez album “Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline”.
The general feel of Gomez’ music is scuzzy stoner funk-rock, IIRC. Maybe I’ll play some later.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Mini – but doesn’t chazza-ing restrict your choices down to pure luck eg if Gomez wasn’t staring out at you on a wet day in Suffolk you would never have played it? The joy (and the weakness) of streaming services is that when for instance somebody on here mentions Jimmy Booboo and The Booboos seminal first release I can immediately listen in and think “That Tigger is a mighty strange guy”
minibreakfast says
Oh I do that too. Please don’t think this is the only source of music for me. Sometimes I even buy new CDs as well!
minibreakfast says
Maybe you need to give them the full six, Tigger.
Tiggerlion says
Over time, I have. I’ll take a chill pill and listen again tonight.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
You’ve listened to Jimmy Booboo and The Booboos six times? You’re the man!
davebigpicture says
Saw the bloke from Gomez do a few acoustic numbers with Chris Difford & Michelle Stodart a couple of years ago and expected him to be the weak link but he was surprisingly good. I’m pretty sure he said Gomez are still going.
Lemonhope says
They are indeed still going – they were recently on RadMac talking about their 20th anniversary shows
Lemonhope says
20th Anniversary edition of ‘Bring It On’
4 discs – FOUR DISCS!!! = 3.5 too many
Moose the Mooche says
There was a great post about this album in the old, old place by (I think) Archie V., where he said something like “Any five people who share a house and smoke weed would eventually make this record”
I think it was The Great NME Mis-Selling Scandal of the 1990s.
KDH says
Late to the party as usual:
Aimee Mann – Bachelor No.2
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
Annie – Anniemal
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever They Say I Am / Favourite Worst Nightmare
The Bees – Free The Bees
Belle & Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child… / Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Bitty McLean – On Bond Street
Burial – Untrue
Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head / Viva La Vida
The Feeling – 12 Stops And Home
The Fireman – Electric Arguments
The Futureheads – The Futureheads (2004)
A Girl Called Eddy – A Girl Called Eddy
Hard-Fi – Stars Of CCTV
Janet Jackson – All For You
Johnny Cash – American IV: The Man Comes Around
Justin Timberlake – Futuresex/Lovesounds
Kanye West – Late Registration / Graduation / 808s & Hearbreak
Kate Bush – Aerial
Killing Joke – Killing Joke (2003)
Kylie Minogue – Fever
The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
Lily Allen – Alright, Still
Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor
Mark Ronson – Version
The Mummers – Tale To Tell
Nerina Pallot – The Graduate
Oasis – Don’t Believe The Truth
Paul Weller – 22 Dreams
Portishead – Third
Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen Deluxe Acoustic Re-recordings
Radiohead – Kid A / Amnesiac / In Rainbows
Richard Hawley – Richard Hawley (2001) / Late Night Final / Cole’s Corner / Lady’s Bridge / Truelove’s Gutter
Sigur Ros – Takk
Spiritualized – Let It Come Down
The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (2008)
Will Young – Friday’s Child
Wu-Tang Clan – The W
Tiggerlion says
I’m grateful for the A Girl Called Eddy reminder, no matter how late to the party you are.