Before the results are released, here’s a quick summary of the last six years’ results (with thanks to Lodestone Of Wrongness, whose post from last year I have shamelessly cannibalised.
2018 642 albums nominated – winner Ry Cooder: Prodigal Son
2019 563 albums nominated – winner Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars
2020 531 albums nominated – winner Bob Dylan: Rough & Rowdy Ways
2021 565 albums nominated – winner Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raise The Roof
2022 556 albums nominated – winner Half Man Half Biscuit: The Voltarol Years
2023 574 albums nominated – winner ??????
And, as seems to be traditional, I will start with all those entrants that received one solitary point by being the number 20 choice of one voter. These are:
Nat Birchall – Songs Of The Ancestors
Galen & Paul – Can We Do Tomorrow another Day?
Waco Brothers – The Me That God Forgot
Young Moon – Triggered By Sunsets
Apollo Junction – Here We Are
Josh Ritter – Spectral Lines
Earth Room – Earth Room
Madder Rose – No One Gets Hurt Ever
The Church – The Hypnogogue
Edgar Jones – Reflection Of A Soul Dimension
Kate Davis – Fish Bowl
Matt Berry – Simplicity
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Australian Carnage
Roger Waters – Dark Side Of The Moon Redux
BJ The Chicago Kid – Gravy
My first draft had ‘Walk Around The Moon’ by The Dave Matthews Band at no. 20. I was tempted briefly to leave it there just so DMB would get a mention on the results thread and annoy everybody else, but Peter Gabriel released his album with the reult that DMB were pushed out of the twenty. There’s always next year…
Now for the first part of the top 100.
Tied in joint 99th place, with 33 points, are:
Emma Rawicz – Chroma
Jim Bob – Thanks For Reaching Out
Wreckless Eric – Leisureland
Baxter Dury – I Thought I Was Better Than You
Hiss Golden Messenger – Jump For Joy
33 – that is quite a lot of points to end up in 98th place!
BTW, thanks for doing this Paul
My apologies, I intended to include (as previous years) those entries that were one voters number one choice, but got no other votes. These are:
James Brandon Lewis- For Mahalia, With Love
The Order Of The 12 – Lore Of The Land
Tessa Violet – My God
Novelty Island – Wallsend Weekend Television
Meg Baird – Furling
Matt Elliott – The End Of Days
Laurent Garnier – 33 Tours Et Puis S’en Vont
Babe, Terror – Technojoyg
Ren – Sick Boy
Ellie Walker & The Folly – Sink Or Swim
Advancing towards the Top 50 we have:
97= (34 points)
Fire! Orchestra – Echoes
Ron Sexmith – The Vivian Line
96 (35 points)
Julie Byrne – Greater wings
94= (36 points)
Altin Gun – Ask
Gaz Coombes – Turn The Car Around
90= (37 points)
Mike Nock – Hearing
Ben De La Cour – Sweet Anhedonia
London Brew – London Brew
Neil Young – Before and After
89 (37.5 points)
The Mary Wallopers – Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll
85= (38 points)
The 3 Clubmen – The 3 Clubmen ep)
Bonny Doon – Let There Be Music
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid Worls
The Bathers – Sirenesque
84 (38.5 points)
The Handsome Family – Hollow
82= (39 points)
Anhoni & The Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
79= (40 points)
Jessie ware – That! Feels Good
Van Der Graaf Generator – Bath forum Concert
PJ Moore & Co – When A Good Day Comes
78 (40.5 points)
Third Mind – Third Mind 2
76= (41 points)
Lori McKenna – 1988
Eddie Chacon – Sundown
72= (42 points)
BC Camplight – The Last Rotation Of Earth
Gabriels – Angels & Queens
Dexy’s Midnight Runners -The Feminine Divine
Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel
70= (43 points)
Pretenders – Relentless
Marty Stuart – Altitude
Onwards and upwards:
69 (43.5 points)
JIM – Love Makes Magic
68 (44 points)
Ian Hunter – Defiance part 1
67 (44.5 points)
Jonathan Wilson – Eat The Worm
66 (45.5 points)
Kassi Valazza – Knows Nothing
64= (47 points)
Four Tet – Live At Alexandra Palace May 2023
Thomas Walsh – The Rest Is History
62= (48 points)
Robert Forster – The Candle And The Flame
Chris Stapleton – Higher
58= (49 points)
Yusef Dayes – Black Classical Music
Susanne Sundfor – Blomi
OMD – Bauhaus Staircase
House Of All – House Of All
57 (51.5 points)
CVC -Get Real
56 (52 points)
The National – Laugh Track
54= (53 points)
Rhiannon Giddens – You’re The One
LYR – The Ultraviolet Age
53 (54 points)
Big Big Train – Ingenious Devices
51= (56 points)
Romy – Mid Air
Rufus Wainwright – Folkocracy
Top 50 coming up…….
Okay, into the Top 50:
48= (58 points)
The Lemon Twigs – Everything Harmony
Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View
Sparklehorse – Bird Machine
47 (60 points)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12
46 (62 points)
Bennett Wilson Poole – I saw a Star Behind your Eyes, Don’t Let It Die Away
44= (63 points)
Hamish Hawk – Angel Numbers
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Council Skies
43 (63.5 points)
Oxn – Cyrm
40= (65 points)
Das Koolies – DK.001
Slowdive – Everything Is Alive
Olivia Rodrigo – Guts
38= (66 points)
Sigur Ros – Atta
Lucinda Williams – Stories From A Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart
37 (67 points)
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan – The Nation’s Most Central Point
36 (69 points)
PJ Harvey – Inside The Old Year Dying
35 (70 points)
Madness – Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie
34 (70.5 points)
The Lilac Time – Dance Until The Stars Come Down
33 (71 points)
Allison Russell – The Returner
32 (72.5 points)
Rose City Band – Garden Party
30= (75 points)
The Necks – Travel
The Clientele – I Am Not There
So numbers 29 to 10:
28= (76 points)
John Cale – Mercy
Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
27 (78 points)
Lloyd Cole – On Pain
26 (81 points)
Margo Cilker – Valley Of Heart’s Delight
25 (82 points)
Shirley Collins – Archangel Hill
24 (95 points)
Lisa O’Neill – All Of This Is Chance
23 (97 points)
Public Service Broadcasting – This New Noise
22 (97.5 points)
King Creosote – I DES
21 (103.5 points)
The Coral – Sea Of Mirrors
20 (104 points)
Steven wilson – The Harmony Codex
19 (106.5 points)
Israel Nash – Ozarker
18 (108 points)
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
17 (117 points)
Everything But The Girl – Fuse
16 (130 points)
Teenage Fanclub – Nothing Lasts Forever
14= (136 points)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shazhad Ismaily – Love In Exile
The Bational – The First Two Pages Of Frankenstein
13 (140 points)
Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds
12 (155 points)
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
11 (158 points)
Boygenius – The Record
Top ten coming up…
Bated breath….
Yes! This is making work bearable today thank you Paul
The Bational. Holy Caped crusaders!
Oops – soz!
And so this year’s biggest Afterword hitters are:
10 (165 points)
Jenny Lewis – Joy’All
9 (166 points)
Blur – The Ballad Of Darren
8 (175 points)
Lankum – False Lankum
7 (179.5 points)
Paul Simon – 7 Psalms
6 (183.5 points)
Natalie Merchant – Keep Your Courage
5 (196.5 points)
Peter Gabriel – I/O
4 (204.5 points)
Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom
3 (210 points)
Lana Del Ray – Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard?
2 (212 points)
Wilco – Cousin
And the number 1 Afterword album for 2023 is…….
By some distance, with 257.5 points, the winner:
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes
Here’s my favourite track, but the album is a beauty.
Is this a joke? That is truly terrible.
In all 80 people voted for their favourites and I was pretty blown away by the range and variety of music selected. It has given me plenty to look up and look into.
Thanks for playing y’all.
Thanks for doing this. Was hoping Wilco may sneak it. But I will be seeing them and Jason Isbell at the same festival in June (Solid Sound Festival)!
Hard for me to consider Shadow Kingdom as a really new album, but I don’t make these vital decisions.
Thanks a lot Paul for your time and effort; I know how difficult, fun and tiring these polls can be.
I am busy now catching up with several recently purchased cds and using Tidal for many others.
For my own perverse reasons, I was keen to know how the top ten would differ if we had 5 points for our first choice down to 1 point for our fifth choice. This less precise method throws up a couple of differences:
1 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes 41 points
2 Wilco – Cousin 26
3 Natalie Merchant – Keep your courage 25
4 Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom 24
5 Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex 22
5 Blur – The Ballad Of Darren 22
7 Lankum – False Lankum 21
8 Lana Del Rey – Do You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard 20
8 Peter Gabriel – i/o 20
10 boygenius – The Record 18
Why?
I agree about Shadow Kingdom – but my view is coloured not so much by the question of whether it counts or not, but more because I don’t actually like it that much. It would be well down my ranking of Dylan live (or pretending to be live) albums.
I agree about Shadow Kingdom too as it happens, but the general feeling seemed to be that it belonged. It was in the lead for a while and I was secretly glad that the votes for it tailed off.
How dare you! You should be taking a totally neutral stance on this @Paul-Hewston
Seriously good work Paul, I hope my collating of the poll for favourite song is as successful
to which I have been giving much thought, believe me.
Top notch work, Paul (says one who knows how time-consuming keeping the spreadsheet is)!!
…with which sentiment, I would like to associate myself….
Many thanks for all your efforts, @Paul-Hewston!!
Just a thought – some might think us lot inhabit the cutting edge of popular music (and the range of our Top 100 is certainly remarkably diverse) but the last six winners, with perhaps the exception
of HMHB, are not exactly unknown weirdos , are they?
I would say that there’s a confirmation bias perhaps in awarding your 1st place being influenced from other ‘best of year’ polls. In fact the JI is one of our less mainstream winners. Everyone feels more adventurous awarding that coveted one point.
I was thinking something similar – that 5 of the last 6 mark average AWers out as exactly the sort of people who bought Uncut in the long, dreary period in which it was edited by the man who keeps writing ‘look who I bumped into at the pub’ books – with a diet of constant Americana and the same five people rotated on the cover (most of whom were Neil Young).
Wilco are poster boys for Uncut style Americana, even though they are way more diverse than that most of the time, but e.g. Lana del Rey and Peter Gabriel certainly are not. Not sure Isbell fits completely into that category either.
And Isbell (nor Wilco) is hardly mainstream, doubt in the real world many have heard of him/them @henpetsgi
@Colin-H: some of us are doomed (or blessed) to be outliers, even on The Afterword – speaking as one of the two souls who awarded maximum points to a VdGG album…🙂
Brilliant! I’m an outlier. I will walk taller today with my head held up proudly. Now, where’s that Flying Teapot badge my sister bought me for Christmas?
Just a thought though: I won’t be explaining any of this to my lovely, but civilian, wife who thinks John Lennon might have been in The Beatles but is not too sure about who else. Where would I start? The Afterword (eh?). The annual polls of best new and re-releases (why?). VdGG (who they?). The chord sequence at the end of Man-erg which brought tears of joy to my eyes when I heard it in the first time in years (what are you on about?). You see my point!
Lastly, many thanks to @paul-hewston for doing this and making the results and voting patterns themselves an interesting read.
Huzzah! It’s great being an outlier in this cosy nest of conformity! (Just my little joke, of course…I know we’re all as edgy as…a thing with lots of edges).
I bought those Allan Jones books too @colin-h….soon became very bored with the same old schtick
I showed my list to a friend. Not a massive music kind of guy, but plays the guitar for what that’s worth. I don’t know what he plays mind.
Anyway, he said he had never heard of anyone on my list. After a bit of persuading, he acknowledged Bob Dylan. That was it.
Why should it be a left field choice just for the sake of it. Whilst I would welcome another HMHB type best off, Jason Isbell is the people’s choice, so be it.
HMHB may not be a mainstream choice but they are a predictable, conservative choice for this place.
For me, that was completely out of left field (as was Ry Cooder) But not sure what we need to do, vote for stuff we don’t like?
Those two acts are well loved by many here though. Just making a point. We should vote for what we like of course but it demonstrates a conservatism. And these acts we pick are all getting older as we get older. Not surprising really.
Yep
The Voltarol Years is HMHB’s 15th album, so they’re hardly new kids on the block. I hadn’t even taken my O-level exams when their debut came out.
Absolutely top job, Paul – thanks for doing it.
13 of mine made the list, and I am delighted to have nominated one of the one-pointers. If I was going to urge fellow Afterworders to give one of my missing 7 a go, it would be Corrine Bailey Ray which for the most part is nothing like what you might expect from her previous work. And given the preponderance of American folk/country/singer-songwriter stuff on the list, I suspect many here might enjoy Jess Williamson.
As others have said it’s a pretty safe kind of a list, at least in the higher reaches, but there is an incredible amount of variety in there too. I guess the biggest blind spots remain contemporary black music, and current pop, but no change there. And, as ever, there is loads there to catch up. I had completely missed that Jenny Lewis had a new record out, for example. And I haven’t heard the top 2, or the Peter Gabriel – so should put that right.
Yes, I like the Jess Williamson album, but not quite enough for my 20, so I was pleased to see it on another’s list. Agree too that I’d expect it to go down well on the AW jukebox.
I’m normally to the side of the distribution, but even so was surprised to see 12 of my top 18 receive not one single vote from anyone else..
I don’t buy many new cds these days, mostly older stuff. For this reason, I don’t enter my list. I enjoy looking at the results as there’s always lots to investigate. I have 7 of these, and 2 in the top 10, Weathervanes being my favourite too. Thanks for doing this Paul!
Not a single point for Van Morrison’s Skiffle album, and not a single point for Joe Jackson’s Max Champion album. Strange, as I like both very much.
I voted for Van and I think one other did as well, but not enough votes to trouble the hot one hundred.
Thanks! I just assumed it was the complete list rather than the top 100.
New year resolution- pay more attention.
Joe Jackson was number 13 on my list – should’ve got some points (8 points?) , but not enough to break into the 100
I think Joe might have done better if MC was out a bit earlier. I like it but don’t know it well enough to assign points. It’s a grower though…
You can’t complain about acts not getting votes if you didn’t even vote for them yourself!
I don’t think that I did complain.
Anyway, I will complain if I want to.
Who put you in charge?
I am not in charge, you mentioned no points for 2 albums you like but you didn’t vote for them yourself. It puzzled me that’s all.
Only me who liked last year’s Iggy Pop album then? I thought it WAS a return to form.
Morrison’s fabulous list, right at the death, robbed Tyshawn Sorey of a single vote twenty pointer 🙁
Van voted? Guess I know what his top 3 were 😉
Many thanks, Paul. Diligent work.
I am The Afterword personified. I have seven of the top ten – five in my list and two in my ‘also ran’ mentions.
Interesting…I have none of the top 10, and only two out of the top 20…
I have 5 of the top 10 but really disappointed that Baxter Dury only featured in 98th place – possibly as the result of my voting him second. His album is much better than it’s position.
I have the Weathervanes album and although it is good it is nowhere near his best album and I am surprised it has taken pole position.
I had Baxter on my twenty also but somewhere in the second half if I remember correctly…interesting album.
Just flagging for the Baxter Dury fans that yer chap appeared on an eponymous Fred Again track a couple of years back. Just in case the delights of “Baxter (These Are My Friends)” might have passed you by.
Let’s dance again shall we?
I own 4 of the Top 20, but only 1 of the Top 10 – quite pleased that my tastes aren’t completely mainstream, but just feel I should explore more
(which is what I thought when the lists were being posted, but this time I will go and explore)
Thanks all for voting and introducing new stuff, and plaudits to Mr H for pulling it all together
Thanks for all your hard work on this list Paul.
I am one of the Shameful Silent Ones who did not submit a list. Impossible. I haven’t bought any new albums this year. But I greatly enjoy hearing about and then listening to other people’s discoveries. I’m like a vulture or other Carry on bird that lurks near the waterhole, hoping for a tasty nibble once the big cats have had a feast.
@Sewer Robot made a Spotify playlist including all the nominees and ti is superb.
I’m currently listening to it and the Alister Spence Trio caught my ear. Wonderful!
Googled. Alister is an Aussie based in Sydney.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alister_Spence
Hang on! That bass player looks very familiar. It’s Lloyd Swinton from the Necks: a household name here in Spånga and Bagarmossen!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Swanton
The AW 2023 Top Twenty are excellent. But what I really enjoy exploring is the exotic flora and fauna near the bottom of the list.
That Joe Jackson LP is champion, for example. What a wonderfully eccentric project.
I usually suggest shuffling the playlist for maximum fun, but this year that’s essential because it opens with all of Bingo’s choices. If you opt for the methodical start-at-the-beginning approach you are liable to be swearing off music and donating your ears to the victims of hatchet fights within minutes..
I do enjoy a good shuffle @Sewer Robot.
And with 308 tracks to choose between, there are going to be a lot of interesting discoveries in the weeks to come.
I’m a little curious as to which musical genres are best represented. How popular are jazz, bluegrass, Early Music, folk etc?
And what about record labels? Did any make a strong showing?
For example, I know that DuCool had several ECM tracks on his longlist but did any ECM releases make it into the Hot Hundred?
These are the kind of questions I will ponder as I vigorously shuffle away in the days to come.
Admittedly 15 minutes of Four Tet live is not exactly easing the listener in but after that Bingo’s list has some belting stuff. Of those I didn’t know, Zach Bryan and Lil Yachty certainly sound worth further exploration.
I started the playlist on the way into work today. 14 tracks down; only 294 to go….
I’ve only heard it second-hand via the Offsprings, but Lil Yachty is alright. Not one I’d reach for, but I wouldn’t turn it off if it came on the radio.
I have also been served some of that lately
Bloody hell – thought I was making good progress – am at track 38 and enjoying @pencilsqueezer‘s guidance through the world of contemporary jazz and ambient stuff, and what do I find? 308 has become 356. Sisyphus ain’t got nothing on this baby.
(It’s great stuff, though – surprisingly few so far where I have wanted to hit the ‘next track’ button early. Many thanks @Sewer-Robot)
Lana seems to have got lost in a tunnel in LA.
Wow! Well spotted. Fixed. 😳
Good choice of song.
They’re all track 6 except where the album has fewer than six..
Ah, I wondered what the system is Rather shortchanges Lankum….
Yes, when I started doing this some years back (*checks* 2017 yikes!) my idea was it would be a collaborative list with AWers picking recommended songs from albums with which they were familiar where I was not. But no-one took up the invitation, so now I just pick a different track number each year. If I know the album or the track is named “interlude”, “skit” etc I will pick another. I’d be delighted to sub in whichever different Lankum song you (or a committee of your peers chosen by a fair system such as trial by combat) might suggest as a better representative..
As usual, most of my votes ended up in the bin marked “stuff nobody voted for apart from Locust”, but I’m happy that Wilco got runner up position at least.
Personally I can’t stand Jason Isbell’s music (or indeed the rest of the Top Ten, or most of the other entries as well…sorry) but that’s not the point, and it’s a fascinating read.
The best part is always reading the individual lists of course, but good job Paul for doing the numbers!
Ta, @paul-hewston , old fruit, admirable work even if “we” are so much more mainstream than we all hope. Mind you, I had already gone off Isbell before this result, which pretty much sums up all the post HMHB winners. Thank the Lord Lankum didn’t win, as I still like ‘em.
I really don’t think we are all that mainstream. Very few people had a large proportion of the top 20, and I think 80 people nominating 574 albums between us shows that the range of selections is pretty wide. The list of individual albums only chosen by one person would be very long indeed. And Weathervanes scored 257.5, an average of under 3.5 per voter. What all that means I can’t really decide, but I think we are a pretty diverse and open-minded bunch. I like that – it’s why I keep coming back.
I’m happy to share the spreadsheet with anyone who wants a look by the way, and am happy to be pulled up on any errors.
Might be rose-tinted specs – but I seem to remember Word magazine being fairly “diverse and open-minded” in its coverage (at least when compared with Uncut’s fairly solid Americana and Mojo’s tendency toward classic rock).
Nicely put together @Paul-Hewston, a good job indeed.
Excellent work Paul. Thank you.
Definitely a few more albums to try over the next couple of weeks – it’s a good job January is usually lean for new releases (although I just saw Ryan Adam’s just released 5 new albums on New Years Day)
Ooh where did you see about the Ryan Adam’s albums? I’ve just looked and can’t find them.
They are on Qobuz and also Apple Music (so I presume they are on other streaming services). They are…
– Star Sign
– Heatwave
– 1985
– Sword & Stone
– Prisoners (Live)
Not listened to them all yet, but Star Sign is (so far) very good
1985 is 34 mins long & has 29 songs on it. It is also rather great, I Don’t Want To Know & Sleep It Off are my current favourites. Not given the other 4(!) a go yet but will get to it them this week
Thanks – will check them out. No mention of them on his website. I guess it might be a while before physical copies materialise.
He’s a wonder – 5 albums same day ….
Thanks for all the hard work, Paul. Many things to reconsider, and my number one album ended up languishing at 85 (” It’s not you, it’s me” etc.)
Thanks for doing this Paul. Top effort!
Great work Hewie, the skew at the top towards mainstream can hardly be surprising can it? This is not the Quietus thank God!
What bands get most discussion here – Beatles, Stones, Floyd, Dylan, Van ….
@Junior-Wells – “Hewie” – FFS this is an English site. Let us be dignified and not f*ck around with people’s names as if they’re in the Australian cricket team
Onya Wellsie…
We call him Paulie. He’s a richt basturd, especially after a wee session. I once saw him nut …
If he’s English the correct form of address should be “Old Hewsters”.
…ignoring your thankfully unfinished revelation Lodey. The internet is a dangerous place.
Moosey! A guid new year, m’boy!
Thanks bwana. Been out of action – got Covid for the first time. Mrs Moose got (and still has) the Super deluxe edition, natch. Bit of a quiet Chrimble…
Yoiks! Hope you’re recovering well – and best wishes to Mrs Mooche (as if she didn’t have enough to put up with…).
Yeah I’m okay thanks. Mrs M would probably say she’d like a lot more to put up with (woah TMI dude)
You mean like people referring to me as Junes?
Well that’s just dashed bad form, Wellsers.
Indeed Moocho’
Moocho Mungo just pawn in game of life.
Coulda been worse. I could add ay to every sentence.
Who are you, The Fonz?
I have 6 in the top 100 including 3 in the top 10. I love that our taste is so widespread and I have now loads of albums to check out now . Well done Paul a monumental effort I doff my cap to you Sir 👍
7 in the top 100, two in top ten for me. I’m so glad I took the easier (and inferior) option of Reissues and Historical. You must have been squirrelled away in a cupboard for days, Paul. Great work and thank you.
Hmm, I own 21 in the 97-21 range,
2 in the 20- 11 bundle
7 in the 10-1 mob
I didn’t vote for all of them, in fact of the 7 I own in the top 10 I only voted for 2.
Just 5 charting selections for me. None of them in the top twenty.
Highest was The Necks – Travel. It came in 30th with 75 points, of which 8 were mine.
At #58, Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music got 12 of his 49 points from me.
At #90, London Brew got 19 of their 37 points from me.
At #97, Fire! Orchestra got 20 of the points for their Echoes album from me.
And scraping in at #99, Emma Rawicz got 13 of Chroma’s 33 points from me.
As Bobo Stenson Trio’s Sphere didn’t appear in the one-point-only list above, I assume someone else had it somewhere in their list.
In case anyone is interested, a few number-related stats :
.
Scored purely by numbers choosing an album (discounting rank):
9th equal – chosen by 12
boygenius – Record
Lankum – False Lankum
8th – chosen by 13
Paul Simon – Seven Psalms
5th equal – chosen by 14
Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom
The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds
Wilco – Cousin
3rd equal – chosen by 15
Natalie Merchant – Keep Your Courage
Peter Gabriel – I/O
1st equal – chosen by 16
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes
Lana Del Ray – Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard?
.
Albums selected in common below top 10:
number of albums (chosen by how many AWers)
3 (11), 4 (10), 1 (9), 2 (8), 8 (7), 6 (6), 5 (5), 28 (4), 39 (3), 70 (2), 394 (1)
.
By numbers selecting their favourite album:
2
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily – Love in Exile
Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex
Teenage Fanclub – Nothing Lasts Forever
Van der Graaf Generator – The Bath Forum Concert
3
boygenius – The Record
Lana Del Ray – Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard?
4
Natalie Merchant – Keep Your Courage
Wilco – Cousin
5
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes
I’m pleased/impressed that Natalie Merchant has been so popular here.
Keep Your Courage has only appeared in one other end of year chart that I’ve seen, (Folk Alley). Ignored everywhere else.
Which is a shame because with this album and her recent tour she appears to be an artist who is reaching new heights.
14 out of 20 so reasonably in tune. Almost all of my did not make it’s were electronic = James Holden, Yotto, Henry Saiz, Chemical Brothers, Lauren Garnier (my album of the year)
Here are all the votes: