Seven is the magic number – to round up the favourites from 2023 I’ve put them in groups of seven. Think of each one as a playlist for a long train journey or a day at the office. Every Magnificent Seven has ist own atmosphere, mood or approach, and although they seem wildly different, they complement each other perfectly. Random play sometimes is a good option. The one in bold from each pack currently stands out as the most enjoyed and, sometimes, most played. But these things change, of course…
N E W M U S I C
||||||||||||| »Somewhere in the distance, as if at the end of a long tunnel, monks are chanting. A bell rings, but it’s barely audible. It might not even be there at all.« |||||||||||||
Tinariwen • Amatssou
Lana Del Rey • Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd?
Altin Gün • Ask
Steven Wilson • The Harmony Codex
Dhani Harrison • Innerstanding
Yo La Tengo • This Stupid World
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids • Afro Futuristic Dreams
||||||||||||| »A disembodied, echoing voice intones an introduction: »So, shall we practise a little meditation together?« To which the only answer is, »Oh, go on then.«« |||||||||||||
Rodrigo & Gabriela • In Between Thoughts… A New World
Element Of Crime • Morgens um vier
Edgar Broughton • Break The Door
Dot Allison • Consciousology
Paul Simon • Seven Psalms
Songs Of Seduction, Fertility And Ritual Slaughter
Courtney Pine • Spirituality
||||||||||||| »Music starts, but it’s not like regular, earthly music. It instead sounds like Venus-In-Furs-era Velvet Underground playing an early Black Sabbath riff, but in the desert. At night.« |||||||||||||
Acid Arab • 3
Evangeline Playboys • Tribute To Austin Pitre
Bob Dylan • Shadow Kingdom
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives • Altitude
Willie Nelson • I Don’t Know A Thing About Love: The Songs Of Harlan Howard
Smoke Fairies • Carried In Sand
Lankum • False Lankum
||||||||||||| »There’s some wah-wah, and some more wah-wah, and some flute, and everything teeters on the cusp of collapse.« |||||||||||||
Shakti • This Moment
I Am A Pilgrim: Doc Watson At 100
Richard Kersten & Marcus Ghoreischian • Sippin’ Lemonade In The Sunshine
Penguin Café • Rain Before Seven
Public Service Broadcasting • This New Noise
Nick Beggs • Lost & Found
Anoushka Shankar • Chapter 1: Forever For Now
||||||||||||| »A guitar solo seems to go on for days, and, somewhere, lifting the song into the what-the-fuck-o-sphere, a lone voice howls and soars.« |||||||||||||
Goat • Medicine
Moonlight Benjamin • Wayo
The Rolling Stones • Hackney Diamonds
Alice Cooper • Road
Ozric Tentacles • Lotus Unfolding
Witch • Zango
Gov’t Mule • Peace… Like A River
||||||||||||| »Taking a hazy-edged template and twisting it into more mellifluous shapes, the soundtrack to the burning of a wicker man at the end of the universe.« |||||||||||||
Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles: Your Mother Should Know
Dengue Fever • Ting Mong
Fatoumata Diawara • London KO
The Coral • Sea Of Mirrors (and that companion album, too)
Madness • Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie
Hochzeitskapelle & Japanese Friends • The Orchestra In The Sky
African Head Charge • A Trip To Bolgatanga
||||||||||||| »Quite frankly, it’s bonkers. And it’s also rather beautiful.« |||||||||||||
R E I S S U E S
||||||||||||| Live Rituals & Music Infernos |||||||||||||
Joao Gilberto • Relicário: Live Sao Paulo 1998 (3 CD)
Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens • Music Inferno: The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-1989 (2 CD)
Soul’d Out: The Complete Wattstax Collection (12 CD)
Hawkwind • Space Ritual: 50th Anniversary Edition (10 CD/BR)
Genesis • BBC Broadcasts (5 CD)
James Booker • Behind The Iron Curtain …plus (5 CD)
Bob Dylan • The Complete Budokan 1978 (4 CDs)
||||||||||||| Deadwings Over The Highlands |||||||||||||
Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub • Boaphrenia: 30th Anniversary Edition) (4 CD/10“)
Prince & The New Power Generation • Diamonds & Pearls (7 CD/BR)
Wishbone Ash • Argus (3 CD/2 LP/Single/DVD)
Bob Dylan • The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments (5 CD)
Thin Lizzy • Vagabonds Of The Western World (3 CD/BR)
Frank Zappa • Overnite Sensation (4 CD/BR)
Porcupine Tree • Deadwing (Deluxe Edition) (3CD/BR)
||||||||||||| Wet Sounds From An Asylum |||||||||||||
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach • The Songs Of Costello & Bacharach (4 CD/2 LP)
Joni Mitchell • Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (5 CD)
Bryan Ferry • Mamouna (3 CD)
David Sylvian • Samadhisound 2003-2014: Do You Know Me Now? (10 CD)
Richard Wright • Wet Dream
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals • The 1970s Dub Album Collection (4 CD)
Pat Patterson • Most Requested Country Songs (LP)
||||||||||||| Colours In Your Drink |||||||||||||
Frank Zappa • Funky Nothingness (3 CD)
Maleem Mahmoud Gania • Colours Of The Night
Cliff Richard & The Shadows • Dynamite!
Voodoo Dolls • Poison In Your Drink 1983-1986
The Moody Blues • To Our Children’s Children’s Children (4 CD)
Magma • Une Histoire de Mekanik (7 LP)
Ali Farka Touré • Voyageur
C O M P I L A T I O N S
||||||||||||| Various Species Of Musicians Gathered Together With A Tune |||||||||||||
The Complete Obscure Records Collection (10 CD)
Destination Desert: Oriental Rock’n’Roll Treasures
MOJO Us And Them: A Pink Floyd Companion
Young Limbs Rise Again: The Story Of The Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985 (5 CD)
The Memphis Blues Box: Original Recordings First Released On 78s & 45s 1914-1969 (20 CD)
Intrigue: Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979-1989 (4 CD)
The Deutsche Gramophon Avantgarde Series (21 CD)
I love the descriptors, Fatima: two of them sum up the kind of band I’d like to join…
The quotes are all from Fraser Lewry album reviews…
Well, well…
Terrific.
Glad to see the big Budokan set in there. And Edgar? Wow.
Few more things to investigate there, and pleased to see Alicew Cooper Road album highlighted – initially I was a tad disappointed by it, but is getting better with each listen. Maybe not Classic Coop, but always worth a listen.
(although, I’d argue that Hackney Diamonds deserves the “pick” over it, but hey … these are your choices)
Really interesting list, as yours is every year.
I’m really enjoying Brad Mehldau’s take on The Beatles (a live ritual?). My favourite is Baby’s In Black. But, Life On Mars? jars on me. It’s not a great version and it’s not as though there aren’t plenty of other Beatles songs to have a go at.
I too wonder at Mr Mehldau’s decision to shove Life On Mars onto the end of that otherwise superb album. Most peculiar.
I really enjoyed both form and content.
Nice lists Fatima, I have at least one album from every section.
What a magnificently personal way of presenting your favourites!
The descriptions of each Magnificent Seven are so suggestive and evocative. And your taste is so broad that it’s all very inclusive.
It’s going to take me all week to look through it all. A task I look forward to! Thanks!
Here’s a taste of the wonderful Hochzeitskapelle:
The members of German post-rock band The Notwist always played in their parents’ traditional Bavarian brass band on weekends, at weddings, funerals and village parties. For this double album they’ve taken members of that Wedding Band to Japan to collaborate with musicians of the Japanese psych-folk scene. The Orchestra In The Sky indeed.
A lot to explore there Fatima! Interesting that one of the few women around these parts is a Zappa fan.
What a fascinating and eclectic set of choices, Fatima!
That 20CD Memphis Blues Box on Bear Family looks like an … incredible release.
Great selections and a delight to see Edgar Broughton in there.A real genius.
I knew it was too early to post the list – the postman just brought me the Mott The Hoople box set and the 17-disc Rachid Taha megabox. Pedants will notice that both were released in 2023…