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The Baron Reminded Me

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Tis that time of year when the AfterWord Hive starts to buzz with thoughts of which gnarled OAP is going to win “AW Album of 22” poll.
I shall be spending December entombed in Château Wrongness whilst my knee new doth protest loudly and no doubt painfully. I am therefore more than happy to take up the reins of stewardship once more but also equally happy if some other mug fancies having a go.
Let me know in the coming week or so and all being well voting opens 1st December.
In the meantime here’s something to remind us all of the sheer joy and beauty of Pop, Pop Music.

1

Comments

    • Got my staples out this morning, that’s a handsome looking scar.
      Am I right, Moose, in thinking you don’t enter the End of Year Poll? I’d go so far as to say your music knowledge is encyclopedic so do you disdain such trifles?

      • I do not disdain any trifle.* Serious answer: I’m not able to contribute because it’s about ten years since I listened to more than about three albums from the current year. I’ve got a To-Do list with about 400 albums on it. I’ll be in a position to give you my favourite albums of 2022 in about 2044, is that any good?

        *as you can see from my spherical appearance

  3. I think I read somewhere that 6,500 migrant workers have died so far as a direct result of the construction work for this poll, so I’ve decided to boycott it.

    • Like me and the World Cup (“No way I’m watching that; oh hold on, Brazil v Uruguay) I know you will do your usual with this poll (“I nominate Hxcclk by Osthehistle as my Record of the Year, I give it twenty”)

  4. Excellent. I like looking for the album that manages to appeal to the broadest range and sneak into the top ten. Last year it was Coral Island by The Coral. I’m hopeful Tears For Fears Tipping Point will make many individual top fives this year. It will of course be my number one out of the 4 new albums I’ve listened to this year

    • I have yet to hear it, but you’ve convinced me. Out of curiosity, what should I put in second, third and fourth place*?

      *If I don’t boycott it, which I will, cos of my opposition to slave labour and human rights and stuff.

      • Ooh. I think you’ll love it. Lots of little nods back to the three 80s albums. Roland’s whole God look deserves a vote if nothing else. Magnificent.

        2/ Taylor Swift – Midnights
        3/ Del Amitri – Fatal Mistakes Outtakes and B Sides
        4/ The Weeknd- Dawn FM
        5/ I did listen to Bruce Murders Soul Classics so it should get a mention…

        I didn’t choose Lodey to host it. I’m just here to contribute to the event. I am wearing rainbow pants as we speak. ( Behave Bungle)

        • That’s exactly the same as my top 5! Except I’m going to put Horace Andy’s ‘Midnight Scorchers’ at number two. But apart from that and Hollie Cook’s ‘Happy Hour’ probably going at number three (cos I’ve never heard of Del Amitri) I think we’re very much on the same wavelength here. Though I’ve just noticed you’ve put The Weeknd where I’ll put Harry Styles. And I’m not very keen on the Bruce Springsteen one. But Tears for Fears at number one is a great choice. I’m even going to listen to it!

  5. I’ve listened to quite a few new albums this year. More than last year. I’ll contribute a list for you all to laugh at.
    I’ll be surprised if more than a couple of mine feature in the final 50 though, cos I don’t really do Pop, Rock Elder Statespersons or Americana these days.

  6. Mojo arrived last week with their top 75 albums of the year. A quick scan told me that I did not actually own any of them, or had knowingly heard them….or, frankly, had heard of most of the artists. I’m getting too old for Mojo, so there’s no hope really….

    • That’s where I am too.
      Guess I better listen to the new Taylor Swift so that I can pretend to be down with the kids.

      My itunes playlist tells me I only own 5 albums from this year, and 2 of them are by the same artists.
      So, just to help I shall probably be doing a Top 5 rather than 10 or 20. That is obviously to help with the scoring and not because I am out of touch.

    • Uncut have done theirs too. Not that much crossover, partly cause there’s a lot of new about, JPF/PFJ-style differences and, I think, not a lot truly stop-you-in-your-tracks outstanding full LPs this year.
      Looking forward to shouting at my phone and wishing you a delightful recovery and many years of new knee enjoyment Lodest✨r

    • Same for me with Unwashed. They mostly sounded deadly dull, so I won’t waste any energy on a FOMO…so there.

      To save everyone’s time, just give the award to Taylor now.

    • I think, for the first time in many a year, they’ve got a Top 10 I mostly agree with.
      Still not convinced by Arctic Monkeys though – maybe I’m missing something.
      And I think this is the first year ever that I agree with their Number 1 choice

  7. Because I am very very old and probably senile, I don’t actually know who Sam Fender is, nor much less care, but two things strike me watching the clip above. One, that the young kids who are in the audience probably think that their idol is the best thing since sliced bread, and that he reflects a pinnacle of where pop music is at, which is great for them but rather sad; and two, that I’m glad I was young when it really was all new and exciting, and was done much better than the pale imitations that time inevitably produces now.

    I’m sorry to say that I’ve only purchased one of the Uncut 50 best albums of the year this year (an all-time low), and that I have never heard of 17 of them, so my contribution to the yearly poll will be fairly predictable. With that in mind I feel that a young slip of a lad like yourself Lodes is absolutely the best person to curate it.

    PS – I am not, nor ever have been, Deramdaze.

    PPS – Hope the knee improves soon.

    • Why is it “sad” that the Ally Pally is crammed full of young people singing along and having the time of their lives? Are they having a better or worse time as when I was in a similar sized venue watching The Who a hundred years ago? No way of telling, then was then now is now. Is Sam Fender as good as Bruce Springsteen? I doubt it but he sure is a whole lot better than the majority of so-called classic rock artistes.
      I’ll never get the same euphoric rush as I did as a teenager going to my first live concerts but that doesn’t stop this old man from getting much, much pleasure at videos like this. No pale imitation here.
      Cheers for the knee-best-wishes but it looks like The Baron is your man for the poll.(No idea what I’ll do now in December, probably cry)

      • Sad, because today’s kids will never have the privilege that we had of being there when it was genuinely new and original, but I’m all too acutely aware that this is an old man’s perspective, and I know there is much good stuff around today if you’re minded to seek it out.

  8. I always enjoy these pre-thread threads. And, I expect there will be a post-thread thread to look forward to as well.

    Good luck with the knee. However, I suspect you should be a bit more active than you suggest you intend to be. You need to get that hinge movement going, Shirley?

    Have fun.

  9. Huzzah! Don’t care who does it, but thanks to all those who willingly volunteer and are prepared to deal with the usual fall-out over voting systems, scoring, and whether some old live album recorded years ago but never previously released is eligible or not.

  11. Well, I’m going to have another moan about my IT again (pt. 231), having lost my extensive cataloguing when a beer incident in my backpack corrupted my MacBook, aka fucked it. Calloo, callay, it now works again, having been rebuilt, but which wiped my meticulous filing. I haven’t lost that much, maybe a couple of hundred of recent tracks, yet to have been burned, many of which were/are/will be re-accessible by cloud or Bandcamp. But the majority of my music is now, again, purely in hard copy, aka shelved of CDs, without me simply able to see those that were released in any particular year. Until I re-download them onto my laptop. Which will take, let’s say, a little time. Like years. Hey ho. Lucky I didn’t bin ’em, but I suspect I will cheat for the vinyl and find files “elsewhere”.
    So my list will be more guess remembrances that precision honed guarantees. Which, given my list is often the only appearance of said musician(s) in the poll, seems a shame.

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