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Best New-To-You Albums 2015

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I didn’t have much to contribute to the Best Album Poll 2015 thread, since the vast majority of my purchases last year weren’t new releases. I get the feeling this was also the case for several Afternerds and Afterbirds, so let’s have another listy thread of your fave new-to-you records of 2015; those back catalogue, second hand and re-issued albums that you discovered through the year. Do an ordered top ten if you like, or list as many or few as you want.

My faves follow in the comments, in no particular order after no.1. Most were boot sale LPs costing a quid.

4

Comments

  1. 1) Bob Dylan – Complete Album Collection: It’d be unfair to include individual Dylan albums as they’ll fill most, if not all of my top ten, so I’m going to have the entire BobBox as the best purchase and most satisfying musical discovery of the year.

    2) World Party – Goodbye Jumbo: Awesomeness squared.

    3) Pink Floyd- Obscured By Clouds (did I mention before that this was 50p? Fifty pee!).

    4) Bob Marley & the Wailers – Live! Amazeballs.

    5) Ride – Meltdown: A thrilling live bootleg LP.

    6) Rod Stewart & Steampacket – Self titled: Not a lot of Rod, but a corker of a record.

    7) Art Garfunkel – Angel Clare: Sublime.

    8) A-ha – Hunting High and Low/Scoundrel Days/Stay On These Roads: I used to mock my little sister’s A-ha posters when we shared a bedroom, but having grabbed their first three albums at boot sales during the year I feel a bit silly now. They wuz ace.

    9) Steel Pulse- Handsworth Revolution.

    10) Stranglers – No More Heroes.

    11) Van Morrison – His Band and the Street Choir: CD reissue, 8 quid very well spent.

    12) Van Morrison – St. Dominic’s Preview.

    I could go on but my top ten is already a twelve, so I’ll stop there. Over to you!

    • Jumbo is quite seriously one of my ten or fifteen favourite albums ever. I got it 25 years ago this month*, and it proved to my then-young ears to be a gateway to all kinds of rockaboogie delights.

      (*yes it is creepy that I know that)

    • I agree with The Moocher, `Goodbye Jumbo` is a fabulous album. Karl Wallinger is a genius. I just wonder how The Waterboys would have turned out if Mike Scott and Karl would have been able to get on with each other.

      This is a brilliant thread, I vowed to cut back on my purchase of musical product, ha, I ended up buying more then I`ve ever done. I have discovered far to many new musical loves to list or remember without going through them all. However the stand out for me must be Miles Davis, I can`t say that I am a jazz lover but some of his work is astonishing, I must also give a mention to Sun Ra another dude from another planet.

      Music, thank er, creation for ears!

  3. Hi Mini, if you like Goodbye Jumbo I would strongly urge you to seek out the World Party boxset Arkeology. It is ace and has loads of rarities including some tasteful covers.

    One of my best purchases of old last year was the Georgie Flame and the Blue Flames box set.

    Also James Laid and Wah Wah set with bonus discs of rarities. Wasn’t familiar with Wah Wah and had absolutely no idea how great it was. Both of these purchases would have figured in my top 10 were we not voting for 2015 new releases.

    Re Bob Dylan boxset – it is fab isn’t it? Everyone talks about the classic releases but Infidels has a song called Don’t fall apart on me tonight which is just exquisite.

  4. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. I’d never heard it before last year. Checked it out before going to see King Crimson’s Edinburgh gig and became mildly obsessed. It is entirely remarkable.

  5. There weren’t even that many of those for me – four 2015 albums and the rest was mostly me revisiting/resuscitating stuff that’s old to me, let alone anyone else.

    Three discoveries stand out though:

    Graham Parker – Squeezing Out Sparks. (I’d never properly listened to GP before. Very glad to have finally done so)
    Barry Adamson – Oedipus Schmoedipus. (This dude almost can’t put a foot wrong)
    Al Stewart – Modern Times. (Have proceeded through the great man’s 60s-70s ouevre over the last 18 months and have found him very underrated)

    The fact that two out of these three albums have vaguely rude titles is a complete coincidence.

  6. My favourite 4 discoveries in 2015 were:

    Hal – Hal
    Released in 2005, but not heard until the opening track “What A Lovely Dance” was posted on a Music Website that I spend too much time on. Bright, summery sound (think Beach Boys, Surf Music with added Nilsson, Beatles, Monkees and 1970s West Coast).
    Perfect guitar pop? Very probably (and only £1.59 on the Tax Dodgers website)

    Outlaws – Green Grass & High Tides (Best Of)
    Fancy a bit of Countrified Southern Boogie? Lynyrd Skynyrd may well be your first thought. But wait … you can do a lot worse than delving into this lot. Including one of the best versions of “Riders In The Sky”, and with a guitar solo on the title track to match the enormity and magnificence of the accepted market leader “Freebird”.

    The Strypes – Snapshot
    A new-ish band to me who offer hope to this curmudgeon that there are still great new bands doing the rounds
    Think Dr Feelgood mixed with equal parts early-Jam, and The Strypes will fill that gap. From start to finish, this is a relentless assault of revved up RnB – whats not to like? I just wish I’d not been so circumspect when I first became aware of their existence.

    The Lambrettas – Beat Boys In The Jet Age
    I only really knew 3 Lambrettas tracks (“Poison Ivy”, “Go Steady” and “Cortina”) – pleasant enough, but never considered the band to have much more about them. Oh, I was very wrong. The strength of this album shows that the band should be included with The Chords, Secret Affair and The Purple Hearts as being at the forefront of the Mod Revival. May be a bit Mod-by-Numbers, but with added touch of Ska and strong songs delivered with energy and passion, this album lifts above many of it’s contemporaries from the period.

    yes, I copied this from my blog – why write two versions of the same story

      • I never understood why the Outlaws weren’t massive, bridging the gap between early Eagles and Skynyrd with skill and aplomb, what with several guitars and several vocalists to spar with each other.

        I note that the names of their guitarists often crop up in those odd tribute LPs which have a cast of all your yesterdays stars playing prog standards, so you get Keith Emerson, usually, always Dweezil Zappa and, for it is one, Hughie Thomasson, thrashing out a tawdry version of Heart of the Sunrise. I don’t know anyone who has any of these odd cut’n’paste works but they seem to be maybe more a US phenomenon.

        • This sort of nonsense;

          “A 2CD set with 30 songs lasting over 2 hours of Prog and
          Rock’s biggest stars reconstructing Pink Floyd s epic
          masterpieces.
          The influence of Pink Floyd upon modern rock music
          simply cannot be overestimated. Pink Floyd have inspired
          a diverse group of artists and we now bring you the best of
          their versions of classic Pink Floyd songs with such artists
          as:
          Adrian Belew (King Crimson), Alan White(Yes),
          Billy Sherwood (Yes), Keith Emerson(ELP), Vinyl Clarita,
          Controlled Bleeding, Alien Sex Fiend, John Wotton(Asia),
          Steve Lukather(Toto), Tommy Shaw (Styx), Dweezil Zappa,
          Tony Kaye (Yes),Jim Ladd(Klos 95.5), Psychic TV, Tommy
          Shaw, Ian Anderson(Metro Toll), Gary Green(Gentle
          Giant),Robby Krieger (The Doors), Geoff Downs (Asia/The
          Bugles), Din, Marco Mendoza, Steve Howe (Yes/Asia),
          Tony Levin(King Crimson),Chris Squire(Yes), Glenn Hughes
          (Deep Purple), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Nik Turner,
          PLUS MANY MORE”
          Eek and indeed eek

  7. My favourite four discoveries in 2015:
    – how amazingly good live band is The Prodigy. Knew about them of course, but apart of Firestarter didn’t hear much else. Had a chance to see a concert in Germany and was duly blown away.
    – rediscovering how great Joe Boyd’s Hannibal records label was back in the 80’s and 90’s. Richard Thompson (Hand of kindness), Trio Bulgarka, Songhai, Pata Negra, June Tabor, Defunkt…
    – DJ Food’s blog, always a good read, very Afterword
    – turning 50 and not feeling 50 by any stretch of the imagination

  8. Best, by miles, is From Sacred to Secular – A Soul Awakening. 8 CD box set tracing the history of soul from gospel onwards. A superb collection. I thought Take Me To The River was a great collection. Back To The River was disappointing . This just knocks the socks off both.
    If you haven’t got it – buy it!

  9. Nice thread Mini. Here we go:

    Allman Brothers Band live at A&R Studios, New York 26th August 1971.
    Beatles – Revolver. Finally got around to getting it. A band with potential.
    The B-52’s – Planet Claire.
    Bette Midler – The Divine Miss M. Tour de force of an album.
    ZZ Top – Tres Hombres.
    Delaney & Bonnie – Home. I think it’s their debut (before they had any Friends).

    I’d also like to give a mention to my favourite Bigozine2 download of last year –
    Steve Earle & The Dukes live at Electric Lady Studios NYC (2015) which contains some great between-song banter as well as great music.

  10. Charles Mingus: Complete Albums 1957 – 63. Two MP3 downloads at 6 dollars each with 18 albums or so. Favourites so far are Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Ah Um and East Coasting. There’s some seriously brilliant music here that I was completely unaware of.

    Duke Ellington: Masterpieces 1926 – 49. 4 CD box set bought for about 12 pounds or so from Amazon.

    Deutsche Grammophon: The Originals (50 CD Box Set). There has surely never been a better time to explore classical music on CD. I have two of the Decca box sets, one of the RCA Living Stereo ones and this one.

    Millie Jackson: Exploring the back catalogue with eMusic. It Hurts so Good and Caught Up are the favourites so far.

  11. Plenty of new took me back to playing some of their old….

    Sufjan Stevens is a God – there I’ve said it, although to be fair, he does take the odd day off.
    Joanna Newsom is a Lady God and ditto.

    I’ve recently re-discovered pub rock…Ducks De-luxe anyone ?

    The Doggerel Bank LP Silver Faces is genius, as is everything by Pete Atkin – EVERYTHING !

    I’m reading the Marlon James book abt the shooting of Robert Morley – surely some mistake – and have re-immersed myself in all matter of Mighty Diamond / Heptones type activity.
    I’m not sure if the Nogkids are too keen on my scuttling about the place demanding to know ” Which lickle bwoy has teefed the rass’clat remote ? “

  12. Too numerous to mention. I bought thousands of LPs during 2015 for very little pennies, thanks to dipping my toe into the world of general auctions. I also do regular grand tours of charity shops from as far as Grange-Over-Sands to Bristol. I rarely have time to play them but copy the odd track to my Soundcloud account. My resolution for 2016 is to have LP playing sessions more often, especially the older soundtracks and Sinatra recordings I have saved for a rainy day.

    My biggest excitement is finding autographed LPs – Burl Ives, Nana Mouskouri, Peters & Lee, Ken Goodwin, etc. The best has to be this LP found in December with a signed inner sleeve. A greatly underrated artist.
    https://flic.kr/p/CMbXum

  13. I have ‘found” lots of goodies this year, resulting in subsequent dosh to vendor if not royalties. Faves, often prompted here, have included:
    Fish Rising/Steve Hillage
    69 Love Songs/Magnetic Fields
    Nobody’s Fool/Dan Penn
    The Sound of/McAlmont & Butler
    Broadway & 52nd/US3
    Hanky Panky/The The
    Jurassic Shift/Ozric Tentacles
    Partners/Flaco Jiminez
    20 Jazz-HFunk Greats/Throbbing Gristle
    777/System 7

  14. I have ‘found” lots of goodies this year, resulting in subsequent dosh to vendor if not royalties. Faves, often prompted here, have included:
    Fish Rising/Steve Hillage
    69 Love Songs/Magnetic Fields
    Nobody’s Fool/Dan Penn
    The Sound of/McAlmont & Butler
    Broadway & 52nd/US3
    Hanky Panky/The The
    Jurassic Shift/Ozric Tentacles
    Partners/Flaco Jiminez
    20 Jazz-HFunk Greats/Throbbing Gristle
    777/System 7
    All new to my ears

  15. God, so late to this. Probably about half of my listening in 2015 was back catalogue…so many gaps, ugh.

    Anyway, main highlights:

    1. Van Morrison: already gone on (and on) about this but I especially enjoyed ‘The Essential…’ and, like @minibreakfast, ‘His Band and the Street Choir’. Will look into The Band more soon. Several AW-ers pointed me in the right direction with recommendations and playlists, so thank you.

    2. XTC- ‘Oranges and Lemons’. Again discussed at length but it lead me to ‘Fossil Fuel’ and onwards.

    3. Tangerine Dream: ‘Phaedra’

    4. Camel: ‘The Snow Goose’.

    Re: the last two; my knowledge of Prog is basic at best but I really enjoyed these and will look for more.

    I love Ulrich Schauss- so why have I not made this connection before?

    2016- the year of Prog! Er…

  16. Secondhand vinyl new to me and enjoyed:

    JJ Cale – Naturally. Cool, laid back, perfect.

    Simple Minds – Sons and Fascination. Bit tougher sounding than New Gold Dream. Like it.

    Bob Dylan – Hard Rain. Better than expected. A pleasingly loose band.

    Emmylous Harris – Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town

    Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life. More songs I already knew than I realised.

  17. Been listening to the Velvet Underground Matrix tapes – I knew some of this from Live 1969, but the sound clarity seems better and there are loads of good performances. There even what could be jokes from Lou. Perhaps they were one of the others. Or he lost his sense of humour in 1970.

    And Ed Sheeran X – well it was 99p. And jolly good too.

    The Bunnymen’s first 5 albums. They were all songs to know and love, but oddly I realised I didn’t actually own any of them. Strange how gothy they sound in retrospect.

    Idlewild – pretty much all of them. They were joint headliners at Bingley, with SFA, so I thought I should top up the two or three eps I had with the albums. Wish I had done it first time round.

  18. I buy hardly anything from Amazon or ebay these days, but I can’t do anything about my addiction to charity shops, market stalls and record fairs. Hence I am always CD rich but time poor.

    These are some of my favourite non 2015 releases I got last year, mostly compilations, but I like compilations best:

    Oliver Nelson – The Blues and the Abstract Truth
    The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club
    Sexteto Café – Salsa Pa Ti
    The Best Of Black Jazz Records
    Soul Jazz Loves Strata East
    Jukebox Mambo Vol. 2
    The Ensemble Of Latin Music Legends _ Mambo Show ( an album I had been after for ages, it is usually £100+ but got it for £14 so was very pleased).
    The Essential Little Richard
    Out Of Many One
    Mestre Cupijo e Seu Ritmo – Siria

  19. Extremely, idiosyncratically Alias-y and excellent.

    I’m now listening to the Oliver Nelson on Spotify. Perfect for a late Friday evening.

    Jazz fans! Give it a listen.

  20. Picked this up last year in a pound box somewhere but it’s been a constant musical companion – particularly in the wee small hours of the morning. Morgana King is best known as Mama Corleone in the Godfather but she was also a fine singer – albeit definitely an acquired taste – with over 20 or so albums from the early 60s.

    “It’s a quiet thing” is her late night masterpiece – similar in pace to classics like “Frank Sinatra meets Alberto Carlos Jobim” with a subtle bossa undertow and genius syrupy string arrangements. And then there’s the voice – quivering and unnaturally highly pitched – but it’s one of those records with its own “mood” that becomes slightly unsettling yet comforting at the same time. Happy to say that no one I’ve played it to likes it – but I’m a big fan of these kind of albums and this is a belter.

  22. Loads of Blue Note CDs from Fopp for £3.

    Also, having chanced upon ‘Lumpy Gravy’ in a Charity Shop, finally tip-toed very gingerly through Zappa’s (not-ruined-by-the-man-himself-in-the-dire-1980s) 60s releases.
    Still don’t fully trust the current ‘Uncle Meat’ or ‘Cruisin” issues to part with wedge, though.

  23. This just in: Christine Perfect’s (later McVie) solo album, pre- Mac and post-Shack, tho’ her version of I’d rather go blind, with them, is included, sticking a little strangely out. A mere 45 years old it is a belter, a mix of blues and related covers and the first few of her own recognisable style of self-written songs. Here it is on the youtube.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-asknyxtc

  24. Couple that spring to mind

    Running on Empty – Jackson Browne. The title track seemed to be everywhere when it came out but I only had so much pocket money so I probably bought a Queen or ELO LP instead.

    Duck Rock – Malcolm McLaren. Reading a passing blog and was intrigued by the rave review. The singles are unquestionably ace and the rest are pretty good too. Lovely sounding too courtesy of Trevor Horn.

    And finally got hold of a copy of Don’t Stand Me Down for normal money.

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