The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / Uncut’s Top 75 albums of 2023

Uncut’s Top 75 albums of 2023

by 73 Comments

My subs copy of Uncut has dropped onto the doormat. It is only the second week of November and publication deadlines mean it must have been written in October. Anyhow, here’s the top 75 albums of the first 10 months of the year.

Full list in comments, copied and pasted from https://www.brooklynvegan.com/uncuts-top-75-albums-of-2023/

0

Comments

  1. Uncut’s Top 75 Albums of 2023

    75. Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble – Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble III
    74. Jim Ghedi And Toby Hay – Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay
    73. Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly
    72. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
    71. Steve Gunn & David Moore – Let the Moon Be a Planet
    70. Animal Collective – Isn’t It Now?
    69. Alabaster DePlume – Come With Fierce Grace
    68. Sleaford Mods – UK GRIM
    67. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You
    66. Jim O’Rourke – Hands That Bind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    65. Dot Allison – Consciousology
    64. Osees – Intercepted Message
    63. Meg Baird – Furling
    62. Deer Tick – Emotional Contracts
    61. Fatoumata Diawara – London Ko
    60. Setting – Shone a Rainbow Light On
    59. Sparks – The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
    58. Mary Lattimore – Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
    57. Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
    55. Pretenders – Relentless
    54. Ryuichi Sakamoto – 12
    53. Tinariwen – Amatssou
    52. Dexys – The Feminine Divine
    51. London Brew – London Brew
    50. Craven Faults – Standers
    49. Margo Price – Strays
    48. Allison Russell – The Returner
    47. Cian Nugent – She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
    46. Modern Nature – No Fixed Point In Space
    45. Feist – Multitudes
    44. Everything But the Girl – Fuse
    43. Blake Mills – Jelly Road
    42. BC Camplight – The Last Rotation of Earth
    41. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – V
    40. Israel Nash – Ozarker
    39. Califone – villagers
    38. ANOHNI and the Johnsons – My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross
    37. Eddie Chacon – Sundown
    36. Billy Valentine – Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth
    35. Teenage Fanclub – Nothing Lasts Forever
    34. Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel
    33. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile
    32. jaimie branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
    31. Baaba Maal – Being
    30. Wednesday – Rat Saw God
    29. Depeche Mode – Memento Mori
    28. Sarabeth Tucek – Joan Of All
    27. Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View
    26. boygenius – the record
    25. Kassi Valazza – Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing
    24. Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame
    23. Sam Burton – Dear Departed
    22. Shirley Collins – Archangel Hill
    21. The Necks – Travel
    20. Hiss Golden Messenger – Jump For Joy
    19. The Coral – Sea Of Mirrors
    18. The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds
    17. Lisa O’Neill – All Of This Is Chance
    16. The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore
    15. Margo Cilker – Valley Of Heart’s Delight
    14. Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows
    13. Blur – The Ballad of Darren
    12. Slowdive – everything is alive
    11. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes
    10. John Cale – Mercy
    9. Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings
    8. The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein
    7. Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My
    6. Lana Del Rey – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
    5. Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
    4. PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying
    3. Wilco – Cousin
    2. Paul Simon – Seven Psalms
    1. Lankum – False Lankum

      • Uncut’s primary focus is Americana, with a sideline in Indie Jangle and white-person Folk. R&B, Jazz, Reggae etc. might as well not exist, for all the attention they are given.

          • Matthew Halsall – “An Ever Changing View” at #27
            Jaimie Branch – “Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die” at #32
            London Brew – “London Brew” at #51, to be fair.

            Yussef Dayes – “Black Classical Music”,
            Emma Rawicz – “Chroma”,
            Zoe Rahman – “Colour Of Sound”,
            Buster Williams – “Unalome”,
            Tenderlonious – “You Know I Care”,
            Rymden & Norwegian Radio Orchestra – “Rymden + KORK” – ,
            Greg Foat & Gigi Masin – “Dolphin”
            Brad Mehldau – “Your Mother Should Know”
            All unmentioned.

  3. I’ve heard 18 of those and some will certainly be in my festive 20, but definitely not in that order. Fascinated that the Simon is so high – I really wanted to love it but I just found it underwhelming.

  5. I’ve heard and own 16. I felt similar to Blue Boy about the Paul Simon. Saw Lankum on the Mercury Music Prize show and thought it’s not for me. I can’t believe it’s end of year charts time already.

  6. I have heard maybe 20 and, of those, don’t much like more than about 5. It really reads like a list that was written based on PR, hype and their own reviews, with they too influenced by the same two factors. Some are decidedly weak and disappointing. And God help anyone releasing an album autumn onward. There are several that would be dead certs for their top 10, yet are nowhere.A good example might be Cyrm by Øxn, an offshoot of Lankum, so trendy as fuck with the media. It is also rather good, and, for me, is better than Lankum. Plus I’d have thought the new King Creosote, I DES, would be a shoo-in here, but only came out at the beginning of the month.

      • Arf! I have been, but she falls into my self-imposed boycott, having had me buy sufficient, i.e. up to Chemtrails, for me to consider herself lazily expectant of my support. (Annoyingly, that also includes Margo Cilker, whose last album I thought too good to be bettered, which I will now have to seek out.)
        Margo Price I bought based on the reviews of Unshod and Meh-o, having enjoyed her songs on various tribute albums, and found it very lack lustre, give or take a song or two. I too struggled with boygenius, despite your own recommendation, @pencilsqueezer, I am afraid. it’s OK, but I think I only like one of the trio.
        Nice to see Slowdive and Teenage Fanclub in the list, but I would have reversed their placings.

        • Picky bugger so you are. I shall now table the obvious question which of the trio gets the thumbs aloft? If you pick the wrong one then I hope it goes without saying that you risk being cast into the outer darkness. No pressure. *cracks knuckles*

  9. Good to see Shirley Collins so high! I only bought a couple of new albums this year and that was one.

    I tired of the Lankum album fairly quickly. I really admire them and Radie Peat has a phenomenal voice, but I think they went a touch too dark and noisy on this one.

  10. I own a whopping 2 of these, Stones and Pretenders. Both great albums although wish the Pretenders was mixed / recorded better. Saw them in concert recently at Barrowlands, they were excellent. Chrissie Hynde’s voice is as good as ever and the guitarist is brilliant.

  11. Own 4, heard 6. But they seem to have forgotten Wrecless Eric.
    I’ll be checking the Mojo list later, I bet they’ve forgotten it too.
    (cue many many others noticing Uncut have failed to include, their own favorite)

  13. Sufjan Stevens at a mere 72 is madness.

    I can go with Lankum at number 1 or thereabouts though.

    Haven’t “got” any. Not bought a CD in ages. Tidal streaming only really now.

  15. Bought 13, heard 13.
    For what it’s worth, I think this is a pretty good list, although I’m surprised there’s no place for the Mitski album on it.
    With any luck, it’ll lead more people to check out some of the lesser known records in the lower reaches of the chart, such as the Steve Gunn & David Moore, which is really nice.

    Remember, Afterworders, you’ll be able to read pithy, concise reviews of some of these albums in about 6 weeks time, when I run down the chart that I like to think of as the highlight of the pre-Christmas period. Yes, I’m talking about the duco01 Top 50 Favourite New Albums of 2023.
    I consider it the very finest of all the end-of-year album lists. But then I would, wouldn’t I?

  16. I own 13 which is lower than I would expect to own.
    A couple of comments – contrary to popular opinion I don’t think Paul Simon’s Seven psalms is anywhere near as good as people say. I felt somewhat let down – there are no tunes for starters
    The list misses off both Baxter Dury and Natalie Merchant which is inexcusable and will be rectified when I compile my own later.

    • Last year @andyourbirdcansing aka Baron H seemed to be hankering after curating the AW Album of the Year poll but Gary beat him to it.
      If he doesn’t fancy taking over for 2023, anybody else like to step up to the plate?
      If not, I’m happy to dust off the spreadsheet, presumably starting proceedings 1st December?

    • Did you like Folkocracy, then, @max-the-dog? It certainly has some stellar moments, with a good single disc in it, but he stretches patience with some of it….. (Job done, says Rufus!)
      I have to say I enjoy playing his Arthur McBride to folkie friends. They smile as it starts, a full Paul Brady faithful, ahead of going Keith Jarrett on pcp bonkers.
      In fact….

      • Yes, @retropath2 there are two or three tracks that maybe out stay their welcome but overall it’s one of my top five of the year (I think) I love the cheeky re-interpretation of his own song (Going to a town) as a ‘folk classic ‘

          • Sorry I missed him live in Dublin – couldn’t get tickets for love nor money.
            Two more omissions – as @SteveT noted above no Baxter Dury ( a very interesting album) and no sign of Jenny Lewis. I suppose it wouldn’t be a proper list if there weren’t things we disagreed with…

  18. I have heard just one and that’s because I bought it:- Allison Russell’s The Returner. I wonder what I’ve been doing all year? Also I didn’t know Corrine Bailey Rae had an album out. Nobody tells me anything.

  19. I own 3, and those are the only ones I’ve heard (ver Mode, Stones, and Lankum, since you ask).

    It is clear that I am far removed from what is hip, trendy, and, erm, happening. If more proof were needed, my own top albums of 2023 will undoubtedly never be mentioned in Uncut (or many other places outside the mighty German goth scene, sadly):
    Diary of Dreams – Melancholin
    Blutengel – Un:Sterblich
    Mono Inc – Ravenblack

  21. I own five, and have heard a few more. I greatly admire the PeeJ album, and think it would be fantastic for an occasional impromptu listen when in the mood, but it’s not one I’d reach for on a regular basis. Love The National album, and the surprise follow-up is just as good. Lana’s album is pretty good, but on reflection not right up there with her best. The boygenius and (non-featured) Mitski albums are sublime. But alas, no mention of the rather ace albums by Gracie Abrams and Olivia Rodrigo…and a distinct lack of the joyous, frothy side of pop, as provided this year by infectious offerings from Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Alison Goldfrapp, Jessie Ware and the indefatigable Kylie. Though I guess having fun and frivolity isn’t part of the remit of a ‘serious music’ mag such as Unwashed.

  22. I own five on that list – but have only listened to three of them! 😀
    OK, one is yet unlistened to because it only arrived this week, and I haven’t had the time or inclination to give it a spin yet (Sufjan – which first arrived a month ago, but instead of a real CD it contained a transparent plastic disc; presumably the core of what a CD is made from).
    The other one is Paul Simon, and I do confess that since finding out that the one-track CD wasn’t a mistake, it has annoyed me so much that I don’t feel like playing it at all. That and hearing the beginning of that one track…which is sensationally dull and ugly.

    Quite a few artists on that list that I would have bought automatically a few years ago, but have grown tired of. Also quite a few artists not on that list, that will appear on mine…

    • @Locust agree with you re Paul Simon and it saddens me that I feel like that because he is perhaps my favourite artist or certainly in top three.
      The one track format is bad enough but I just found it meandering and joyless. Doubt I will listen to I again.,Put it in the pile with songs from the Capeman.

  24. Every Lana album is worthy of investigation, a great run of albums. Some rise a little higher. This one is more low key and subtle but none the worse for it, actually it reveals itself to offer a great deal.

  25. Out of their top ten I like the Julie Byrne the most. Tim Hecker’s latest No Highs should have made the list but it’s all a matter of preferences and entirely subjective. Tim Hecker wouldn’t align to many folks tastes I guess. I dig it though nevertheless.

    • I’ve got the Sparks album, that’s it.

      How do you find the time to listen to stuff? Haven’t you got tea to make, chores to do, inertia and silence to enjoy, bass lines to work out…

  27. I have heard 16 of those but there are a lot of my favourites not recognised, most notably CMAT, Hannah Diamond, Romy, Avalon Emerson, the Lilac Time and Bixiga 70. Was glad to be reminded that Cian Nugent and Sarabeth Tuck had albums out this year, though.

    • Being notified of albums you might have missed is the best thing about these lists.
      And, on the subject of unlikely accolades, where is the AW on Tracy Chapman winning song of the year at the Country Music awards (for Fast Car!) and The Beatles, Stones and my boy William Shatner all being nominated for Grammys..?

  28. This is such a predictable Uncut list. The Simon album in reality is not great and certainly not by his standards. Wilco and The National would be in there if they simply farted in tune for 35 minutes (actually that would be rather impressive).
    My best albums of the year – Ben Folds and Steven Wilson – not on the list so I’m feeling grumpy (also because It’s raining and I have to take the dogs out)

    • It’s a characteristically conservative list, but then anything else would feel a little disingenuous. I agree about the Wilco and National albums; those were probably shoo-ins for this before they were even pressed.

      I share the mystification of others above that Mitski doesn’t feature. Her album is quite brilliant and I’d have thought she’d be catnip for Uncut.

Leave a Reply