2018 – Ry Cooder
2019 – Bruce Springsteen
The AW Poll – as always at the cutting edge, finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the mad, crazy world of Pop, Pop Music!!
Do you think there’s the smallest of chances that the 2020 Winner will also be an actual OAP?? Let’s see shall we…?
Pause for a long glass of cold water – shouldn’t have had that last glass of MacAllan
531 albums nominated.
As ever let’s start with those who gathered but one solitary point from one solitary person.
Alex Rex
Brigid Dawson and The Mothers Network
Catholic Action
Chubby & The Gang
Cowboy Junkies
Grant Lee Philips
Jerry Joseph
Joshua Burnell
Ka
Michael Wollny
Once And Future Band
RJD2
Tarni Neilson
Let’s hear from RJD2, shall we?
I’ve just checked and the vote for Ka wasn’t from me, so somebody else clearly has good taste, cos he’s ace!
That’s Tami Neilson, dude. Even though I was the one person who voted for RJD2, I think you should have opted for this:
Just got my new glasses – take some time to bed in. Apologies to Tami..
And next those albums who received the maximum 20 points but only one person voted for each.
Beautiful Fear – Waltz Of The Moonshine Blind
Ben Lukas Boysen- Mirage
Cheer Accident -Chicago XX
Frank Zappa And The Mothers – The Mothers 1970
Johanna Warren – Chaotic Good
Katie Pruitt – Expectations
Left Outsides- Are You Sure I Was There?
Matt Elliot – Farewell To All We Know
Pat Metheny – From This Place
Polly Scattergood – In This Moment
Steve Kilbey -Eleven Women
Various – Blue Note Re:Imagined
Venus Furs -Venus Furs
Yello – Point
Take it away, Steve
The taste makers you mean.
Who voted for Steve Kilbey, Lodes? Was it HP? My copy has just arrived from Australia. Only one play so far but don’t think it’s going to make my Top 5.
Twas indeed Mr Sauce
I thought that was an oldie. Good job!
Thanks for your hard work, Sir Lodestone.
Here’s Katie Pruitt for you. I’m sure someone else here will like her.
Indeed, there is someone here who likes her.
That’s the first thing I have ever heard by Katie Pruitt. Shame I didn’t hear her earlier in the year, because if that’s the standard, she might well have made my 20.
Nice tune. Wouldn’t be out of place on Rumours!
4 albums tied for 98th spot
Gretchen Peters -The Night You Wrote That Song
Levellers – Peace
Porridge Radio -Every Bad
Vox Clemantis – Cyrillus Kreek: The Suspended Harp Of Babel
And another four share 94th place
Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler – In Memory Of My Feelings
Diana Krall – This Dream Of You
Emily Barker -A Dark Murmuration Of Words
Thelonious Monk -Palo Alto (Alive)
Porridge Radio – never heard of them before. But this weekend I bought the year-end issues of some German music magazines and their album made the Top 5 in several mags. (Yes, alongside Bob Dylan, Sault and Taylor Swift.)
This world is out of control.
93 The Waterboys – Good Luck, Seeker
91=
Badly Drawn Boy – Banana Skin Shoes
Shelby Lynne – Shelby Lynne
88=
BC Camplight – Shortly After Takeoff
Ben Watt Storm – Damage
HC McEntire – Eno Axis
A multitude gather at 82=
Flaming Lips- American Head
Adriann Lenker – Songs And Instrumentals
I Like Trains – Kompromat
Kansas Smitty’s – Things Happened Here
Oumou Sangare – Acoustic
Third Mind – The Third Mind
Shouldn’t that be ‘The Ben Watt Storm’?
I deliberately missed off all “The’s” on my original spreadsheet so as to keep track of band names.
Just to keep the mood going at this point:
Hahaha!
80=
The Avalanches -We Will Always Love You
Nadia Reid – Out Of My Province
77=
Jayhawks – XOXO
Max Richter – Voices
Pet Shop Boys – Hotspot
75=
A Certain Ratio – Loco
Andrew Wasylyk – Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation
Dyble Longdon – Between A Breath And A Breath
74
Son Little – aloha
71=
Haim – Women In Music Pt111
Jonathan Wilson – Dixie Blur
Nat Birchall – Mysticism Of Sound
68=
Jim White – Misfit’s Jubilee
Kevin Morby – Sundowner
Laura Viers – My Echo
67 Marc Almond – Chaos And A Dancing Star
66 This Is The Kit – Off On On
63=
Melody Gardot – Sunset In The Blue
Roisin Murphy – Roisin Machine
62 EOB – Earth
61 Taylor Swift – Evermore
60 Gwenifer Raymond -Strange Lights Over The Mountains
My number one finished 67th?!? Harrumph!
I think only me and thee voted for it.
Mmm, only blokes from Barnsley vote for the gay icon. That’s a stereotype smashed!
I feel your pain…my number one finished 60th…
Mine is at 82… 🙁
58=
Julian Cope – Self Civil War
Margo Price – That’s How Rumours Get Started
57 Jeff Parker – Suite For Max Brown
54=
Baxter Dury – Night Chancers
Bill Fay – Countless Branches
Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
52=
Fantastic Negrito – Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?
Sam Lee – Old Wow
And 4 locked in at No. 48
Andy Bell – The View From Halfway Down
Dave Alvin – From An Old Guitar: Rare And Unreleased Recordings
Field Music – Making A New World
Matt Berringer – Serpentine Prison
See youse tomorrow…
Keep it up Lodes, appreciate your work!
It’s tomorrow already. Get out of bed and do some work. No wonder your country is in such a state. Cuh.
Fascinating. So many artists I have never heard of.
That said, I listened to A G*** C***** E*** last night and loved it. Bacharach meets Steely Dan meets Chrissie Hynde and that’s just the first 4 tracks.
Touch of Laura Nyro in there too.
I give up. What is A G*** C***** E*** ? Apart from a chord sequence?
All will be revealed. Some might think it’s Album of The Year (at the very least, more people gave it 20 points than any other 2020 offering)
@H-P-Saucecraft I’m sure you’re not alone in wondering that.
(Spoiler alert here for any reader who wishes to be kept in the dark)
It’s a reference to a (rather splendid) album that came out back in June. Musically it involves Mr. Tashian from Silver Seas fame, and the female voice is one Erin Moran, and there’s a cast of thousands as well. I didn’t vote in this survey, but if I had it would have been at least on my short list. I think you’d like it actually.
Thank ‘ee. Some nice person from the Eel Market is shovelling it over the fence as we speak.
I’m with you HP. Fuck knows.
The votes are in, and this is truly excellent. Thanks to Foxy for turning me onto it, man.
Nice work Lodes,despite that appalling attempt to manipulate the vote at the final hurdle.
Wasn’t me sir, was Gary
Well, this is getting exciting isn’t it?
I said…
*gazes out of window*
47 Psychedelic Furs – Made Of Rain
It’s very tight in these mid-table positions. Couple more votes and you could have moved up 5 more places
44=
Blue Rose Code – With Healings Of The Deepest Kind
JARV IS – Beyond The Pale
Pretenders – Hate For Sale
42=
Cornershop – England Is A Garden
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter
41 Lucinda Williams – Good Souls, Better Angels
40 Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
Off to the beach to walk a dog now… laters.
No rush. Really. Any time before the end of the year will do. Later, if you like.
Back now – bloody hell it was freezing down there! We live in the South of bloody France…
May I enquire as to the dog’s name?
A four and a half hour walk! What kind of dog have you got?
Not our dog but a friend’s wolfhound called Fynn. Set him loose in the sand dunes and maybe see him three hours later.
Two of my top choices tied at number. 42. It’s an outrage I tell you. But, don’t shoot the messenger. Yet. Enjoying your work thus far Lodes.
38=
Brandy Clark – Your Life Is A Record
Nick Cave -Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace
37 It’s Immaterial – House For Sale
A trio at 34 =
Drive By Truckers – The Unravelling
Khruangbin – Mordechi
Sufjan Stevens – Ascension
33 Bright Eyes – Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was
32 Dawes – Good Luck With Whatever
30=
Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface
Working Men’s Club – Working Men’s Club
Off to gather some wood for the fire… laters
You can cut the tension with a limp lettuce leaf.
I’m sure Nick Cave would have been placed higher if you hadn’t recounted that tale of how brusque and beastly he was to you in that Brighton cafe.
He did pen a song apologising though called – “Sorry ’bout that dude, having a bad hair day”.
Oh, come on, I’ve listened to some of these and they’re rubbish. How can they be above Moses Boyd? I think your vote counting machines are corrupt and we need someone to take them away and examine them.
Hanging chads!
Chuffed at No 37 for the Itsy’s.
The “Itsy’s”? Worst nickname ever
It’s Immaterial @dai
Ha
That was bagsied by It’s a Beautiful Day, anyway.
A good showing, particularly as it isn’t available via streaming. It continues to grow on me (and I loved it already).
Here’s a joke for you:
A vicar, a priest and a rabbit walk into a blood bank.
The rabbit says “I think I might be a type O.”
Ignoring Gary I proudly present
29 Doves – The Universal Want
and then 3 together at 26=
Frazey Ford – U Kin B The Sun
Paul Weller – On Sunset
Rose City Band – Summerlong
Frankly, you lot should be ashamed that this is about 22 places lower than it should be
25 Jeff Tweedy – Love Is The King
A pair of unlikely bedfellows at 23=
Kathleen Edwards – Total Freedom
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
I respectfully submit that this is in its rightful place at
22 Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Just failing to break into the “coveted” (fact check there, Gary) Top Twenty
21 Matthew Halsall – Salute To The Sun
Now excuse me whilst I deal with all these pesky phone calls from disappointed artists and their agents
I will pop over to Quitters later (once the snow ploughs have cleared the latest dump) and let Kathleen know she made 23, am sure she will be overjoyed.
As for Jeff T we need to have more weighting for certain posters votes like me. Our own sort of Electoral College
Agreed and carried
With a physical release later this year you can vote for it again at the end of 2021 if you like.
I plan to and I am California (should be Illinois in this case)
I too am hoping for a physical release some time this year.
Hurrr
That would be a wasted journey.
I believe Kathleen has fairly recently moved to Montreal.
Has she? Well, Montreal is a much more interesting city than Ottawa, only 2 hrs away, but they speak a funny language there. Wouldn’t be completely wasted though as I would get a damn fine cup of coffee there, assuming they are still open for take out.
Only reason I ain’t voted for it is because it hasn’t been released yet. I am sure it may be worthy of my attention when I vote for 2021 in December.
It is released on download and is on Spotify etc. My vinyl should arrive this month. Shame vote will be split over 2 years as it is a fine album and I am pretty confident there will be another one in 2021, either Wilco or solo.
Because we are not ancient narrow-minded stuck-in-the-muds (need a fact check here please, Gary) I think these days we call “released on download” as “released” ?
A new Wilco would be excellent
Fingernails being gnawed, hair (what’s left of it) being pulled out we move swiftly on
20 Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
19 Steve Earle And The Dukes – Ghosts Of West Virginia (slow start but the old guy kept on keeping on)
18 Nubya Garcia – Source (only seen her on a tiny Desk concert. Was most impressed, must investigate)
First of two Top Twenty entries for
17 Sault – Untitled (Rise)
16 Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Dirt And The Stars (me thought this was one of her lesser efforts but I’m probably Wrong)
Released it seems only Yesterday (see what I did there?) but a strong showing nonetheless
15 Paul McCartney – McCartney III
It’s three in a bed time for 12=
Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman
Dua Lipa Future – Nostalgia
Fiona Apple -Fetch The Boltcutters
And a late surge takes this to number
11 Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Reunions
To show what a broad-minded chap I am I attach here a clip of my favourite track off Ms Apple’s album
I’m surprised to see Isbell and Apple not in the top 10. Part of the reason that I didn’t vote was that nothing really impressed me that much this year, but I probably heard more albums than usual including these two. They have their moments (even if neither struck me as worth disturbing my lethargy to give the nod to).
Genuinely surprised to see Lodes’ favourite album of the year placed so lowly. Are you sure you’ve counted ALL the votes for Fetch the Boltcutters?
She wasn’t doing too well then there was a suspicious late surge of votes all at once.
Maybe mail in votes are delayed? Anyway 12 is way too high for it.
I agree. The levels of approval across the internet for it completely defeat me – I had a listen (admittedly not the recommended 6 times) and I’m afraid I decided pretty swiftly that it had been phoned in from somewhere or other on the Cape Of Angsty People, and set it aside under ‘no further listens required’, thangyewverymuch.
That was a short clip Lodes
I think it says everything about that album
I get the feeling he’s not keen. I’d love to hear more of his thoughts. If only he weren’t so reticent. What I’ve read so far has been so witty and insightful.
Sarcasm, sir, is…usually pretty funny
All this dissing of the Afteword’s 12th album of 2020? Obviously, I’m not the only one who thinks it’s bloody marvellous!
All pussy-whipped, cowering, woke men say they think Fiona Apple is “bloody marvellous” so their Old Ladies will toss them a bedtime treat. I don’t mean you, Tig.
Fetch the bolt cutters!
You are quite correct, it’s chock full o’ tunes is Future Nostalgia.
About ten of us voted for it I think, the vast majority of whom placed it first or second. Truly a record you either love or hate.
Indeed. Makes other records seem rather slight and trivial.
Is it too late to change my votes, Lodes? I forget what they were and would like to have another go.
Is that it for today? I’m busy for the rest of the week….
Right. Hold everything. Lodey – I know this will mean a hell of a lot of work for you – all this effort for nothing, I understand that, how you must feel – but I’ve just listened to Everything But The Girl Called Eddy And The Hotrods album “I’ve Been Around The Block A Couple Of Times” and it now stands proudly in my Number Two slot. This will tilt the very axis of the poll you have laboured so hard and ultimately futilely (is that a word? futilely? doesn’t look right) to establish, or whatever the verb is. I’m sure nobody will mind waiting a month or two longer. Or longer. Lose your neighbour’s dog again in the dunes (which we all know means “spying on nudist activity”). Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
First of all, apologies to one and all for not publishing the Top 10 last night. I fell asleep.
Secondly, HP – of course I can’t allow you to change your vote. That way lies bedlam and chaos. You will realise the consequences of your failure to vote for AGCE anon.
“Sorry – I fell asleep”. Surely the most late middle aged excuse ever.
… and the most popular Afterword t-shirt ever (only in XXXL).
And the winner is… Yello,! for, ‘Point’.
Yello are a duo from Switzerland in France who, despite being very old have pulled off one of the most amazing sounding records of the year despite their ageing years in lockdown over Germany. Judith Chalmers couldn’t be more excited to give the boys their Christmas money this year. Don’t spend it all in one go, boys!
Only one person voted for Yello.
Get out! I demand a recount! You’ll be hearing from my lawyers, Guiliana, Wood and the other nut bar.
Right then, fasten your safety belts – we’re going in!
A second Top Twenty entry for the mysterious collective:
10 Sault – Untitled (Black Is)
Next a very splendid record indeed
9 Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
I’m not a FF Fan but this is, for me at least, surprisingly good
8 Fleet Foxes – Shore
Who knew these boys were still going? Until recently, not me. I read, like fine wine, they age well. Will give it a go soon (possibly)
7 Sparks – A Steady Drip Drip
Another one that has passed me by. I must, I must, pay more attention in class
6 Chuck Prophet – The Land That Time Forgot
A late surge from the LM Fan Club it seems
5 Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
The Top 4 were miles ahead of the rest so a separate post for them. Laters… Skyping with grandson now
When you said you weren’t a FF fan I was briefly insulted!
Doesn’t it just seem a matter of moments since I started this thread? Oh…..
Well the next position just goes to show that the majority of youse have cloth ears. History will judge you all harshly.
4. Taylor Swift – Folklore
And right here is where The Artist Formerly Known As Burt hangs his head in shame. Instead of wittering on and on and on about “Fings ain’t what they used to be” and “Frank Zappa is not really dead” he should have been listening to Been Around. His votes would have taken AGCE into a clear, unaccompanied second place. Instead – a tie. Ladies (fact check here please, Gary) & Gentlemen – a tie for second place!!
2=
A Girl Called Eddy – Been Around
Bruce Springsteen – Letter To You
And so the Winner of The Afterword Album of the Year 2020 Poll , and who could have predicted it?, the third 92 year-old white man in a row to claim the coveted (fact check here please, Gary) Glitterball Trophy is:
Fanfare of Trumpets… at least I think that’s trumpets…
1 Bob Dylan – Rough And Rowdy Ways
ps anybody who is sad enough to want the full spreadsheet, please PM me.
Happy New Year!!
Gary Glitterball Trophy?
Fanfare of Strumpets?
A marvelous endevour all round and my hearty gratitude to all those who participated in collating my vote. I still have a great deal of fact checking to do, but nontheless I think the poll can already be considered an unqualified success in some ways, apart from the results.
Is the 2021 poll open yet?
FFS – now I’m going to be forced to listen the Bob again to see if it was me or everyone else who was right about it
How did Rachel Newton’s To The Awe not win this poll? This is VOTE-RIGGING on a MASSIVE scale. A lot of people are saying that. Many many people
In all seriosity, top work on the compiling Lodey. Good man yerself
Bravo Lodestar! Thoroughly enjoyed your curatorship of what has become, for better or worse, an annual list. You should of done the Oscars, you’d be brill. I’m off up the Eel Market for the Chuck Prophet, but the rest looks like shite.
Unusally, several of my picks made the top 20. Unusually some of the choices here are records you can sing and dance along to, rather than just stroke your beard to. Kudos.
A splendid effort Lodey and thanks for keeping us entertained.
In any other year I would have voted for both Waxahatchee and Chuck Prophet but there was no room for them this time round.
Cripes, I got 8 in the top 20, but thought I ought to listen to a couple more that fellow AWers have raved about. A G*** C***** E***? Oh dear me no, but do I like both of the Taylor Swift albums released this year although I’m struggling to get Alanis Morissette out of my head…..
Thanks for a great piece of work Lodes.
8 in the top 20? I had seven confined to the Void…ie, in the 431 NOT in the top 100.
Well done, Mr Wrongness – one of the highlights of the Festive season…
Thanks for doing this Lodey. I wouldn’t even know how to begin collating this stuff – it’s a tremendous effort.
The right result too. Rough And Rowdy is a monumental record. It’s up there with Forever Changes and Astral Weeks as albums that are hard to take in at at first but repay repeated listening. The other comparison I’d make is to a television series – it reminds me of Twin Peaks somehow. It is packed with cryptic clues, quirky characters, humour, gravitas and attention to detail. It’s a different kind of Dylan record to any other – different kinds of songs, new voice and the bugger has honed the songs to perfection.
A word about Letter To You – the CD sounds like shit but the vinyl sounds really good.
Excellent work. Am currently consulting with my lawyers however about a legal challenge to the results. Bruce won by a landslide as many voted for Dylan without hearing the album in full. FACT!
@Lodestone-of-Wrongness you have worked like a dog on this but could you publish the total vote counts of top 5 or top 10?
As long as you promise not to go over the numbers with a fine-toothed comb!
381 Bob
303 AGCE
303 Bruce
279 Taylor
163 Laura
161 Chuck
147 Sparks
145 Fleet Foxes
144 Waxahatchee
142 Sault
Cheers!
Pleased to see those numbers as, between voting and the deadline, Folklore went up in my estimation, but – having the Eric Morecambe-style philosophy that my top 20 is “all the right albums, but not necessarily in the right order” -I didn’t re-submit. So an Eddy/Bruce type situation involving Taylor would have left me red-faced..
Wait!
With five top placings, two seconds and one 9th, Fiona Apple should score 149?
5 X 20
1 X 19
1 x 11
1 X 6
136 says Gary and that is 12th equal place
And if I, by that I mean Gary, has got it Wrong then tough… The Results are final, The People (and by People I mean a bunch of sad old codgers) have spoken (and by spoken I mean mumbled)
Excellent work.
Looking at the thread, I think you ignored Tweedy’s vote for Fiona at his number two.
Never liked Jeff Tweedy… and anyways he took all his votes back. He thought he was voting on a real site.
@Tiggerlion thought Jeff Tweedy is a contributor here? Ah bless.
He’s too busy listening to obscure but highly meaningful jazz-type stuff 6 times in a row. And bless his leather driving gloves, he is A Prince Amongst Commoners. Long may he reign.
Who’s Jeff Tweedy?
Is that the kind of thing Locust likes?
Tweedy is God.
(But I won’t vote for his album until I get the physical album, because I’m old)
Best band in the world
Tweedy is the best band in the world?
Quite possibly
No “Tweedy” only made one album. Am talking about Wilco. Jeff Tweedy is singer, songwriter and “owner” of Wilco. But he has made a few solo albums too, his latest coming in at 26 I believe this year despite lacking a physical release (coming later this month). Finest rock, folk, alt country songwriter around. suggest you investigate if you really are unaware.
Start with the dazzling Beatle/Beach Boys-esque Summerteeth. The line-up has changed since then and the current one (together for 16 years) are an absolutely sensational live band. I’ve seen them 20 times.
In that case, his vote should definitely count, pushing Fiona well into the top ten.
Actually “his votes” were
a) Choices from the whole band
b) In alphabetical order
and c) @Lodestone-of-Wrongness missed off half of them.
Here is the full list for anybody interested:
(the Ohmme album is pretty good)
Nicole Atkins Italian Ice
Fiona Apple Fetch the Bolt Cutters
William Basinski Lamentations
Bill Callahan Gold Record
Neil Cowley Building Blocks Pt. 1, 2, 3
Deerhoof Future Teenage Cave Artists
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Fleet Foxes Shore
Bill Frisell Valentine
Freddie Gibbs Alfredo
Molly Joyce Breaking and Entering
Roland Kayn A Pan-Air Music
Will Kimbrough Spring Break
Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders
Ingrid Laubrock Dreamt Twice,
Twice Dreamt
Le Ren Morning and Melancholia
Mary Halvorson?s Code Girl
Artlessly Falling
Megan Thee Stallion Good News
Katie Melua Album No. 8
Ron Miles Rainbow Sign
Miyamoto is Black Enough Burn / Build
Napalm Death Throes of Joy in
the Jaws of Defeatism
Agnes Obel Myopia
Ohmme Fantasize Your Ghost
Jim O’Rourke Steamroom 47-51
Jeff Parker Suite For Max Brown
Verneri Pohjola The Dead Don’t Dream
Rainsticks October Onwards
Run The Jewels RTJ4
John Scofield Swallow Tales
Eric Slick Wiseacre
Bartees Strange Live Forever
Thundercat It is What It Is
We Jazz Records We Jazz Records 7″
Jonathan Wilson Dixie Blur
Great work Lodes, thank you for doing this. Pleased to see four of my choices in the Top 5. The only one I didnt go for is Bruce. I love Bruce, and Western Stars is magnificent, but to these ears Letter To You sounds like Springsteen and the E Street Band by numbers; its OK but there’s nothinng he hasn’t done better elsewhere. Maybe I should take @Artery‘s advice and listen to the vinyl.
A Girl Called Eddy is a great example of The Afterword hive mind of recommendations paying off. I haven’t seen it listed in any other end of the year lists, and it didn’t even get that many reviews so far as I can see, but a review from @niallb and a few recommendations on here took several of us to it. If I am honest I loved it at first but it was starting to slightly pall by the end of the year, which is why it only crept onto the end of my list – but still a lovely sounding record.
@dai‘s wrong about Rough and Rowdy Ways. Easily the record I have listened to the most this year, and one whch somehow felt completely right and oddly comforting in this shitstorm of a year.
Fiona Apple was robbed, obvs….
I love Dylan and I voted for it. I just think it is pretty patchy, some good stuff but I think it is mainly being voted for because he is 80 and put out an album of new material after a long pause. Some of the lyrics are pretty banal, but because it is Dylan they are over analysed and taken to be profound. Lacking in tunes too.
Bruce’s album is full of great big meaningful songs and the band are on fire. Just better songwriting all round in my opinion, I am not necessarily correct and did change my opinion on that record after several listens @Blue-Boy
‘I am not necessarily correct’. Should be the prefacing comment on just about every post here. I will keep working at the Bruce – to be fair, it’s probably only just had the regulation six listens.
I have been listening this afternoon to five records which all made my list – Nadia Reid, Courtney Marie Andrews, Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Rob Vincent, and they are all very lovely things indeed. I think it has been a good year.
Fynn is an unusual name for a dog. There is a theory that says dogs are better at recognising two-syllable names.
The rather weird Frenchies (that’s what we call them cos we are Brits) next door got the dog from a Rescue Centre. I have never fully understood why they named it after a Star Wars character but they did. As usual, I smile and mumble something in Franglais along the lines of ” You dog is lovely rather like what you is – would you like a glass of wine or maybe a piece of my buttock?”
You mean they don’t speak English? Have you reported them?
For a start the neighbours are both named Michou. Then they speak the local patois, a mixture of French, Catalan and Outer Mongolian. There may well have been misunderstandings in the past.
I am promised to their daughter whose name I’ve never quite caught and my dear wife is apparently Official Photographer for every family birthday – and boy are there a lot of family birthdays.
Eddy wuz robbed of course. It is the only ‘new’ album I purchased in 2020 and it remains a belter.
For most of the last year I’ve wallowed around in the back catalogues of Joni, John Martyn and The Dan/Fagen boots.
I’ve mentioned these guys before (and continue to wallow in them) but if AGCE floats your boat, you really should be checking out the album Musically Adrift by Samuel Purdey.
On it!
Job well done Lodey, I think In forgot to vote.
Tell “In” he’s a bad boy
Can’t feckin’ spell either.
Good work Lodey, even if most of my 20 ended up in the relegation zone. The Boss will be well pleased to finish in second place with, by his standards, a pretty mediocre album.
I can’t remember whether it’s Ry Cooder’s turn to win this year, or Richard Thompson’s…
Thank you Mr Lodestone – little Wrongness here.
As the Chuck Prophet advocate (remember when we volunteered for an artist a century ago?), I’m pleased to see my man in the Top 10, albeit with something below his best (only No 6 in my list as he is in the final chart).
“remember when we volunteered for an artist” – Is that where we all nominated ourselves to be the official cheerleader/expert on a particular act? That was great fun – I was particularly pleased to find myself as the official self-appointed Beatles man on the blog. Although I felt a little underqualified for the role, so had acute imposter syndrome!
Yes, that’s what I was thinking of.
You think Arthur is an imposter too? Perhaps, he should have nominated himself to be Elvis Costello’s cheerleader.
I hold my hands up to the use of lax syntax.
I should probably be exiled to the Mojo forum, if it still exists.
Cripes, I’ve been rumbled!
Great work Lodey and once again the AW covers bases ignored the rest of the ‘best of’ lists. It was all going so well until Bobster and Brucie arrived to spoil the party. Am I really going to have to listen to those albums again to see what I’m missing?
My number 1 came in at 40. 3 other nominations make the list, including one in the Top 10.
I also own one of the Top 10 which did not make my list – I think my AW Membership may be safe for another year.
Now to see what all the fuss was about and a couple of “how did I miss this” moments.
First rectification: Bruce Springsteen – put it in the basket and click Buy Now (you fool!)
Seven of mine placed.
10 – SAULT – Untitled (Black Is). My #2
18 – Nubya Garcia – Source. My #4
21 – Matthew Halsall – Salute To The Sun. My #15
42 – Moses Boyd – Dark Matter. My #8
57 – Jeff Parker – Suite For Max Brown. My #5
75 – Andrew Wasylyk – Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation. My #11
82 – Kansas Smitty’s – Things Happened Here. My #7
Special mention for my #1 which, it seems, I was the only person to vote for.
Various Artists – Blue Note Re:Imagined.
Only cos I haven’t listened to it yet: it arrived after Christmas.
It was my number 39
I don’t think my selection was counted.
It wasn’t.
But your 5 other choices including the awful Dua Lipa were
Thanks (and thanks for doing all the work, of course) – but I couldn’t see any of them mentioned above.
Only the top 100 are listed above, and a couple of least voted for categories.
Thanks for the clarification, Locust!
A lot of my choices are also in that awkward 531 – 100 gap… 😀
They are among the ones I am digging into now. Alice Boman, for example, was one of my new discoveries – thanks to you and one other listing her album,
That’s wonderful! If you like Alice, perhaps you’d enjoy some Adrianne Lenker as well? 🙂
Alice hit me on first listen with the quality and individuality of her voice and music – like the reaction I get with Kirsty McGee. On first listen, I found Adrianne more conventional – nothing so striking to connect with. Perfectly listenable fare – but would probably take me longer to connect with – to find something to draw me in. This was true of many of the singer songwriters in the list I have heard so far. I think duco01 made a similar comment in his own end of year review.
Ah well, everybody hears and receives music differently, and for me Adrianne’s music is instant love everytime I hear something new (solo or Big Thief). Like hearing a lullaby agaqin for the first time since it used to comfort me to sleep safely when I was an infant, or hearing the rain against a window in the dark. 🙂
If it’s any consolation, I am listening to the Alice Boman album now, and I think it is superb. On beds of numbed bass and rhythm, her clear voice sings out plaintively yet confidently, wrapped in harmonious chords of melody.
Beautifully-put, Locust. I think when you’ve found a singing voice that chimes in your ears, every new song is a journey accompanied by a friendly, welcoming guide, a vehicle that is familiar as you travel down new roads.
Thanks for the great work LOW
AGCE would have been on my list if I’d heard it earlier.
And Macca III also if I hadn’t jumped in early to vote.
Still, it’s all always interesting
Brilliant work, Lodey. Thanks a lot!
Now comes the interesting bit: browsing through all the nominations and discovering favourites, old and new.
A big boy did this and ran away…
Tell Big Boy John he done good. 👍
…cos “Lodestone’s” playlists always have a bit of Sufjan Stevens 😉
As mentioned before Ascension is not half bad.
FatDad – can you do the same for Amazon Music?
I would happily do a playlist in another medium, for example, YouTube. I know nothing about Amazon Music.
I presume it would cost me to join and I have no interest in having another streaming service.
But Variations on the Lodestone List would definitely be worth exploring.
Twas tongue in cheek. I use Amazon Music because I have Prime. I can still use Spotify of course, as long as I don’t mind the adverts.
Good work!
Spotify and Netflix each cost me about 10 quid a month.
Our family make considerable use of both of them , so I feel I am getting very good value for money.
There have been very albums on this year’s Lodestone List that are missing from Spotify
Dua Lipa and Ms Apple are missing I see. They were on Spotify last I looked or is their absence intended to spare Lodestone’s delicate sensibilities?
Dunno about Dua Lipa. Listened to something of hers recommended once. It was terrible rubbish. Not doing that again in a hurry.
Wasn’t passing judgement just observing the omission despite being voted for by a fair few of those who participated. I know there are those who consider her record rubbish, that’s not really of any interest to me. Perhaps KFD’s big boy’s list is a work in progress.
Such micro niggles aside, as the geezer who does the full playlist, there is definitely an overall trend over the years, which is that there is a wee group that consistently likes noisy, bleepsy sounds, a slightly bigger group which very much favours jazz, a rather large group whose taste strongly leans to folk and country and, pleasingly, the rump whose ears are open to all sorts and whose selections are only limited by what they have had the time to cock an ear to.
Incidentally, this year’s playlist is much shorter than previous years, with a lot of names coming up over and over..
Did anyone else predict the top places with the same spooky accuracy as me?
I’ll tell you what I’m thinking, H.P.. The reason that experts advise giving dogs two-syllable names is so that they can distinguish between their name and basic one-syllable commands like “sit”, “stay” and “heel”. However, this logic doesn’t necessarily apply with regard to non-English languages, where the basic commands are often more than one syllable. Perhaps it’s for this reason that foreign dogs often have one-syllable names, like Flynn and Mike?
Several things give HPs post away as Fake. One, the date. Two, how could Taylor be 3rd when two are tied for second place. Three, he’s lying.
I think, Gary, you are into something. Take Fynn to the beach and shout “Stay, stay, stay” and then watch him run all the way to Barcelona.
Lodestone – everybody knows – me, you, Gary, your local nudist community and the gendarmes – that there is no dog called “Fynn”, and you are doing your credibility no favours by your continued insistence that you were “taking him for a walk.”
Right then, I’ll post a photie of me and Fynn on the sands. (I should point out that my resemblance to George Clooney is uncanny and, yes, our beach bar really is named “Miami Hilton” and when I said Fynn was a wolfhound what I meant was poodle)
Gigantic effort. Not many in the upper echelon I liked, even fewer I loved.
Dylan, overplayed it before the vinly arrived then a love affair rekindled. So many clever lines – learning all those standards really got him back on track. A worthy winner.
Good to see a comedy record at no 1. After the last year we all need a laugh and Bobby has come up trumps. Looking forward to the Grumbleweeds topping the chart in December.
Shhh! The Emperor’s new clothes are worn-out rags!
The Zim is in the altogether..
*puts thumb to nose and wiggles fingers*
Like Trump, ya lost the vote.
I’d like to change my vote to put Baxter Dury’s excellent The Night Chancers at number one please. Sorry for my lateness. Salwarpe’s fault.
You say fault, I say valuable and inspiring guidance. Let’s not quibble over words.