We’ve had Mojo’s list of the best of 2016.
Frowns have been frowned and scorn has been poured.
Now we can do it all over again to Uncut.
I’ve only just got in from the supermarket with my copy, so I haven’t looked at their lists (75 best albums, 30 best reissues plus ratings for books and films.
On the cover CD, which I’ll be playing right after I hit Submit, we have:
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
Hiss Golden Messenger – Heart Like a Levee
Eleanor Friedberger – Cathy With the Curly Hair
Drive-By Truckers – Filthy and Fried
Ryley Walker – A Choir Apart
Sturgill Simpson – Call to Arms
Margo Price – Hands of Time
Bon Iver – 33 “God”
Teenage Fanclub – Hold On
Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me
Wilco – We Aren’t the World (Safety Girl)
Shirley Collins – Pretty Polly
Thee Oh Sees – Plastic Plant
Cate Le Bon – I Was Born on the Wrong Day
75 Dollar Bill – Beni Said
Top 25
01. David Bowie – Blackstar
02. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
03. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
04. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
05. Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
06. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project
07. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
08. ANOHNI – Hopelessness
09. Teenage Fanclub – Here
10. Beyoncé – Lemonade
11. Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits
12. Brian Eno – The Ship
13. Drive-By Truckers – American Band
14. Bon Iver – 22, A Million
15. Wilco – Schmilco
16. Hiss Golden Messenger – Heart Like a Levee
17. Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex
18. Solange – A Seat at the Table
19. Lambchop – FLOTUS
20. Angel Olsen – My Woman
21. William Tyler – Modern Country
22. The Avalanches – Wildflower
23. Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
24. Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger
25. Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression
I have 25 of their top 75 and their list more closely represents my own tastes which is odd because on balance I prefer Mojo as a magazine. The CD is good though and I will be seeking out the 75 Dollar Bill album.
In my opinion, Uncut are giving Mojo a real run for their money these days. Mojo is a much stodgier proposition altogether.
With ups and downs on both publications.
The 75 Dollar Bill album “WOOD/METAL/PLASTIC/PATTERN/RHYTHM/ROCK” does indeed sound rather good.
I think it’s a pity that it’s not available on CD. It’s only available as a download, a cassette(!), or as a vinyl LP which becomes prohibitively expensive when one factors in the excessive US postal charges.
Also on Spotify, if you want to give it a listen.
Can’t remember whose recommendation but I got $75 as download (almost unknown for me) and love it desert drone Moriconne!
I have 3 of the top 4 either in my hands or pre-ordered (Cohen vinyl), want to buy PJ (on vinyl at reasonable price) and also have Schmilco. That would be 5 of top 15 which is likely my best effort in at least a decade.
I own ten of those, but only three of them will be contenders for my own Top 25. On the other hand, those three will probably be in the Top 10.
9 of the 25 above, but 1 is the worst nonsense I have heard in years, as @lodestone-of-wrongness well know, and another is not a patch on their/his last years top record contender. Can you guess which 2 I refer to?
“another is not a patch on their/his last years top record contender. ”
Is that one Paul Simon, retro?
Paul Simon didn’t release anything last year.
Might it be Ryley Walker, then?
If any of you fuckers vote for Bon Bloody Iver in Tiggs poll then that’s it, I’m off. I’m guessing re your No2 disappointment retro but for me Sturgill’s effort was one of the biggest let downs of the year.
Bon says…. “Meeeep whooop wowwwl”…. What’s that Bon? Someone’s trapped down the old mineshaft? etc
And just to say – Margo Price’s record is, despite all the good things that surround her story, unlistenable.
Whew, that’s actually a relief to hear, i.e. it must be great!
I tried three times ( I know, three less than the First Law of Tigger) and the furthest I got was Track 4. It’s Cliche Country….
Yet you adored the Cyndi Lauper country album? I give up (again)!
Must have been drunk (again) to say I liked Cyndi Lauper. Actually, it’s a lot better than Margo…
I actually prefer the latest Ryley Walker to Primrose Green. No, I meant Hiss Golden Messenger, whose new on is OK but a distressing step into mainstream territory after the marvel of Bad Debt (which I now see was 2014)
Question: Is the valedictory Len as good as they say or a nod to his legacy? I confess I haven’t kept up, after the relative not that goodness of Dear Heather and Old Ideas.
And, as you mention it, the penultimate Paul Simon I liked, but not enough to shell out for another, even if he looked a dear on Jools Holland. Am I wrong. (Not to buy it?)
Back to this year, just found another high scoring dud, Kevin Morby’s Singing Saw. A bit Leonard Dylany, if you catch my, the Dylan being John Wesley Harding style. Couple of OK songs, albeit with shockingly poor lyrics, ahead of it all becoming derivative criticnip. Mind you, I never feel so bad about buying crap on e-music as it is both cheap and easily disposed of.
Glaring omission from their top 75 in my opinion is Michael Kiwanuka’s Love and Hate which came in at no 2 in Mojo’s list.
I agree and it would be second in my list – behind Paul Simon in case you ask.
Well I’m an Uncut subscriber and I think they’ve got it very wrong this year. I understand that whatever it’s quality (and I’m making no comment on it) and despite all the reviews through the year only being a single star (that’s humour by the way!) Bowie was always going to top most lists this year. The rest of the list has some glaring omissions. I think this is the first time my favourite of the year hasn’t made the list, anywhere. The cover mount is a mish mash, there are some things I like (and already have) but I skipped to the end of at least 3 of the other tracks that were simply annoying. I’ll carry on subscribing because I think they get it right most of the time and Mojo & Q are available as free downloads from the library so I get them anyway.
What is your favourite of the year?
Simple: – Emotions & Math by Margaret Glaspy
That was her debut, wasn’t it? Maybe her next one will make the lists! Some of my favourites, eg Anna Tivel, Dori Freeman weren’t there either but then they weren’t even reviewed in Uncut or Mojo so I can’t be surprised.
Bon Iver…. I don’t get it. Does he sing like that for a bet? It just sounds daft,
The NME list is also out. They may be a bit of a joke these days, but there’s some good stuff in there, so here’s the top 10.
1. The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It
2. Kanye West – The Life Of Pablo
3. Christine And The Queens – Chaleur Humaine
4. Skepta – Konnichiwa
5. Kaytranada – 99.9%
6. David Bowie – Blackstar
7. Diiv – Is The Is Are
8. Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression
9. Chance The Rapper – Colouring Book
10. Frank Ocean – Blond
I really can’t understand how that 1975 album is getting good reviews (Drowned In Sound, who I’m normally pretty in synch with, love it too) as it sounds terrible to me.
There’re some other good things further down (White Lung particularly) that I’ve not seen mentioned anywhere else yet. There’s also some unutterable drivel in the shape of Bastille and Blossoms.
Bit surprised Pixies didn’t appear somewhere, but then again I’m also quite surprised how much I like that after being so disappointed with “Indie Cindy”.
Who chose these? Does the NME have actual writers? I thought it was just assembled by a bunch of logarithms.
I’m glad Eleanor got a mention – my votes are still for Meilyr and Haley and Marissa – am I really the only forgotten boy to love Beverly?
Just listened. An Up from me for Beverly. I do like her voice and the song.
and an up for your good taste 🙂
So summary is if list contains albums I like then it is a good one, if it doesn’t then it is a bad one?
Can be applied to all lists ever.
Of course. There are no absolutes. In my opinion. And what do I know? It’s good to be reminded of things you might have missed. It’s also quite interesting to look back and see (say) 20 year old equivalents and whether reputations have lasted.
Ah, you’ve come to the right place – I keep records of all the album of the year “poll of polls”, and 1996’s top 10 (based on Q, Mojo & NME’s lists) is:
1) REM – New Adventures in Hi-Fi
2) Suede – Coming Up
3) Beck – Odelay
4) Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go
5) DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
6) Fugees – The Score
7) Underworld – Second Toughest In The Infants
8) Screaming Trees – Dust
9) Ben Folds Five – s/t
10) Kula Shaker – K
I can see Fugees & Kula Shaker raising a few eyebrows 20 years on, or am I wrong…?
interesting list – I still listen to the first three, actively avoid No 4 and all their pompous sixth form drivel…and as for the rest – remind me (no hurry)
K has sort of held up quite well, having survived the kicking it traditionally has received in the interim The band are touring the album over the next few months. Could be worth a punt.
It’s very easy to be seduced by these lists. I remember buying The War on Drugs ‘Lost in the Dream’ a couple of years back as it was ubiquitous in all of the end of year compilations.
I even convinced myself I liked it for about 5 minutes. I played it recently and thought it was just dull.
I did that too after reading those lists, and when I played it found only one track I vaguely enjoyed. I put it on ebay after Christmas to try and get my money back. It did sell too, probably to someone similarly taken in.
“the best quite good album for a bit” to coin a phrase.