I dropped the ball on updating this with each 10 lol but anyway here’s the final rundown… a really great year I think, and I enjoyed listening to 90% of these a second time this year as I clarified this list order. I’ve tried to write something about each, but it’s the end of January now and I just have to post it so apologies for the gaps, maybe I’ll fill them at some point

1. Varieté – Marc Almond
     By far my favourite of this year, this is a real album with seriously deep and important things to say on almost every track.
2. Evelyn Evelyn – Evelyn Evelyn
     I think it was only last year that I finally got into the Dresden Dolls, a band I really should have been into at the time they were most active but just unfortunately passed me by completely. I’d been following Amanda Palmer via Neil Gaiman on Twitter and loved her personality, and when this ultra-high-concept project was announced, I pretty much knew it would be ranking high on my 2010 list… so no surprises here. It’s even more extraordinary than expected, such a haunting, hilarious, sad, strange story, the kind that leads me to genuinely believe it ought to be Henry Selick’s next stop-motion project (seriously, it would work; but it would not be for kids…). This one just pushed all the right buttons for me.
3. Lustre – Ed Harcourt
     Probably wouldn’t have listened to this were it not for having seen him at the McGarrigle/Wainwright Christmas show at the end of ’09, but this is seriously great intelligent pop, and it grew on me even more on a second listen.
4. Withershins – Smoosh
     The thing to write about this at the time of writing is, click on the link above and download it for free! I think they’re crazy to do this but, hey, it’s their decision I knew this would be one of my faves of the year, and I haven’t yet listened to it a second time but from the way it made me feel that first time I think it might turn out to be my favourite Smoosh album ever.
5. Volume 2 – She & Him
     I loved She & Him’s first album but not as much as I really wanted to. This one has the same basic thing going for it as that one did, of course – it’s Zooey Deschanel singing, what further excuse do you need? – but also strips away just about everything that made the first record even close to lacking. This one’s an absolute joy.
6. Write About Love – Belle and Sebastian
     I wasn’t sure the first time, but “I Didn’t See It Coming” sure wedged itself in. I’ve listened to it 3 times now, and boy is it growing on me. Will definitely be in the rotation for years to come.
7. Pacific 231 – Raphael
     Like Smoosh, I guess, I’m really quite the sucker for Raphael and I just knew I would not only like but love this. I say this every time but it bears repeating, Raphael is a musical god, and if you haven’t listened to me in the past, listen to me this time… you have to hear this guy’s music. You don’t need to understand French to understand how incredible this guy is at putting an album together.
8. I’m the Rain – Sophie Zelmani
     I knew I would love this one before I even listened to it and wasn’t let down. Zelmani is just one of those people who I will always be eager to hear from, and I recommend to anyone that you seek out her work. It’s not quite up there with her last, 2008’s “The Ocean and Me”, but it’s pretty darn close.
9. Praise and Blame – Tom Jones
     I haven’t listened to a lot of Tom Jones other than the obvious, the overplayed likes of It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Delilah, etc. It’s always been evident that he has a killer voice, that’s actually if anything improved with age, but aside from the regurgitating the old hits it never seemed anyone, least of all him, knew what to do with it. This album belongs in that special category like Neil Diamond’s 12 Songs, Johnny Cash’s American series, and to bring it closer to home I’d say Shirley Bassey’s The Performance from last year. It’s a real album, and showcases his vocals superbly.
10. Dream Attic – Richard Thompson
      There are albums below this right now that I’m sure in the long run I’ll listen to more and end up higher up, but I just had an immediate visceral reaction to this similar to the one I had to Tim Finn’s Imaginary World in 2006. I usually frown on “live albums” a little but this is all new work and it sounds terrific.
11. Recovery – Eminem
    
12. Sweet & Wild – Jewel
      I said last year of her album Lullaby that after a series of albums that really only had one good song each, it felt like Jewel was starting over. This one continues the trend. There is one song that I loved infinitely more than the others on this, and that’s “What You Are“… but as a whole it is absolutely wonderful too.
13. National Ransom – Elvis Costello
    
14. The Family Jewels – Marina & the Diamonds
      Like I said at the start, don’t get me wrong about this being down at the bottom. I actually kinda liked this one more than I expected, and for some reason I kinda like the idea of Marina & the Diamonds too. It’s incredibly samey but that’s unlikely to bother the target current mainstream audience, and I’d wish success on Marina much more readily than similar, dumber, uglier (in ideas, not appearance) outfits.
15. Laws of Illusion – Sarah Mclachlan
16. Christmas with the Puppini Sisters – The Puppini Sisters
17. Nobody’s Daughter – Hole
      I’ve been a strange fan of Courtney Love and Hole for, seems like, a while now. I remember reading her biography by Poppy Z. Brite (more for Brite’s input than anything, it must be said) and listening to the earlier Hole stuff in tandem with my first time listening to Nirvana stuff, in the late nineties when I was finally starting to listen to non-movie/musical stuff lol. And I always kinda liked her for some reason. I didn’t know what to expect from this, but it seemed to me to be all the good stuff. I feel like this is one of my “weird” statements but I’m gonna say it: I feel like Courtney has one of those voices like Bob Dylan’s, that has always been in a state of becoming what its owner wants it to be… and I think, like Dylan’s, it’s only now on her most recent record that it might finally be getting there (I didn’t like Dylan’s latest, but damn did he sound gloriously rough). Some people will hate the sound of this girl’s voice, but I somehow can’t resist the real human quality to it. That and some of the songs are pretty darn good too.
18. My Best Friend is You – Kate Nash
      I’ll admit, I really loved Kate Nash’s debut. To me at the time it was honestly better than what everyone was calling the all-too-similar Lily Allen’s first. Now they’ve both got their second out, I will say Lily just marginally beats Kate, but this album certainly came as a surprise. There are some really odd tracks on here, almost Yoko Ono-ish in places, and some spectacularly hilarious lyrics. I really got a kick out of it.
19. All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu – Rufus Wainwright
      I’ve said many times, I’m not a great Rufus Wainwright fan… I hate most of his other fans far too much. There are vast corners of the world where you can spit and hit a hundred people who have no idea who the guy is still, and that, I agree, is wrong; but when it comes to those who love him… they just tend to love him far too much for my taste. Lately he has been doing the opera thing, which hasn’t helped at all because the thing that turned me on to him is how incredible he is in the dying pop genre. This being a pure piano album, I didn’t let myself get too excited about it. All I can say is, there is a lot here that blew my mind… this guy is clearly a genius and I will listen to it more than a few more times and enjoy the shear complexity of some of his compositions. But it’s not my kind of thing at all. I really hope his next will be just some serious pop to show the Gagas, Biebers and talent show products exactly how it’s done.
20. Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree – Diana Vickers
    
21. The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
      I intend to listen to this one again after watching their live Youtube concert and this immense interactive music video because I think this album will grow on me. I felt the first time it wasn’t anywhere close to Neon Bible (but what is?) but catchier than Funeral. The more I’ve heard of it in snippets in the meantime, the more I really want to listen to the whole thing again.
22. Hawk – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
    
23. Fight or Flight – Emily Osment
    
24. The Union – Elton John & Leon Russell
    
25. Funstyle – Liz Phair
    I read a lot about people’s adverse reactions to this one and it turned out to be almost exactly what I expected – Katy Rose’s “Candy Eyed” but even wilder. I’ve only listened to some of Liz Phair’s earlier work so I guess the shift wasn’t so jarring for me. I really kinda loved this one.
26. Back to Scratch – Charlotte Church
    
27. Speak Now – Taylor Swift
    
28. Progress – Take That
    
29. No Space for Air – Julie Atherton
    
30. Joy to the World – Pink Martini
    
31. Endlessly – Duffy
    
32. Dreams – Neil Diamond
      My first thought on this one was just that the idea of a covers album from Neil Diamond was disappointing. 12 Songs was such a come back for him, though he really seemed to get a huge audience again with the followup, Home Before Dark, which for me seemed just a pale clone of 12…, and the next thing we knew he was just back to performing his old hits again, and now back to singing other people’s songs? But I can’t argue with the song selections here – they’re many of them faves of mine, and his versions are very pleasant to listen to. But I would really prefer more original work.
33. Hang Cool Teddy Bear – Meat Loaf
      Let’s face it Bat Out of Hell III, at the very least, should not have had that title. It had some great moments on it, for sure, but was too full of songs which other artists have made their own since they were first written (even the MTV Wuthering Heights movie versions of the two that appear on that album are frankly better…). This is something else though. It’s huge, original, fun, and towards the end pretty damn emotional too. I look forward to listening to it again.
34. Have One On Me – Joanna Newsom
       I wasn’t keen on Newsom’s last celebrated effort “Ys” though I tried my best with it. I only really got excited to listen to this one when Peter Serafinowicz of all people tweeted that the first (of three, count ‘em) CDs sounded like early Kate Bush. He wasn’t wrong. I kind of got tired of it by the end of the exhaustive 2 and a half hours, Newsom has certainly done a Tori Amos here, dumping far too much into the package that could have been excised to make something much closer to perfection, but I know I’m fairly alone in having that sort of objection. What I liked here is great.
35. Plastic Beach – Gorillaz
      This is one of those albums that comes along every so often and I simply can’t not put it at the top of the list, even though I know I’m gonna need to listen to it many more times to make that powerful a judgment. I think this album may be genius… I started out almost hating it but I held out because Damon Albarn tends to know what he’s doing… somewhere something clicked, and by the end, my mind was a little blown. I can’t wait to listen to this one again and forego that initial “WTF is this?”-ness, lol. (update: OK, I don’t know how this album got all the way down here… I’m hoping I can rekindle the feeling that precedes these parentheses… but honestly, second and third listens did nowhere near as much for me… don’t know what to say…)
36. Y Not – Ringo Starr
      With respect to George Harrison and John Lennon, who have their reasons for not releasing music anymore, I found myself as I listened to this album thinking Ringo might just be becoming my favourite Beatle. He most emphatically does not produce songs with profound meaning and import, but he does with startlingly increased regularity, pop out these near irresistible bursts of fun. And I don’t listen to a lot of “fun” music, but for what I need, I would take Ringo’s cheese over the more popular sleaze any day. Having said that, the duet with Paul McCartney on this one is an unexpected beauty.
37. American VI: Ain’t No Grave – Johnny Cash
      My one problem with this one is its length: barely breaking 30 minutes, they could really have combined this with the previous volume on one CD and it’s not like the tracks weren’t there. It is great, however, to still have “new” tracks from this man, and all of these live up to the rest in the “American” series.
38. Sparks Fly – Miranda Cosgrove
      I love that there’s not only a new Miley album out this year but also from her Hannah Montana co-star Emily Osment, this from iCarly and, it seems even her onscreen sidekick Jennette McCurdy is getting in on the music thing too. I love the teen pop albums… when they work. And yeh, they haven’t had a great success rate in a while. Miranda’s effort is fun though, it matches her onscreen personae well with tracks like “Disgusting” (“It’s disgusting that I love you…”) … like, even though it’s the usual teenage heartache or romance stuff it has this slightly off and strange attitude that adds just a little something. Not great, but why would you expect great from the one School of Rock kid who didn’t play any music in the movie lol?
39. Lights – Ellie Goulding
      There’s always a couple of albums like this on my list by the end of the year which I frankly can’t think of much to say about except that I liked. I just read that Rachel Stevens has a new album due out this year, as does Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and those two are much more my kind of this kind of pop, but this was better than expected from an artist who made all those hollow “sound of 2010” lists before anybody had even heard a peep out of the new material etc. I really like Starry-Eyed.
40. The Shadow of an Empire – Fionn Regan
      Another I have little to say about. I bought Regan’s last after his Mercury nomination (I think I sought out all the nominees that year because I was stuck for something to listen to) and quite liked it. And I quite liked this one. Nothing to really shout about though.
41. Can’t Be Tamed – Miley Cyrus
      
42. Le Noise – Neil Young
    
43. A Year Without Rain – Selena Gomez and The Scene
    
44. Red Velvet Car – Heart
    
45. Scream – Ozzy Osbourne
      I kinda love Ozzy’s solo stuff, it’s as close to really loving hard rock/metal as I’ll ever get because like some of Meat Loaf’s stuff it actually retains a sense of melody and structure etc. This isn’t terrific but I liked it enough.
46. Close-Up Vol. 2 – Suzanne Vega
    
47. Close-Up Vol. 1 – Suzanne Vega
      The Close-Up volumes by Suzanne Vega for me are a lot like Neil Diamond’s covers… they’re lovely, but I’d much prefer more original material. They don’t really add to the originals or do much different either, like for example Carly Simon’s “Never Been Gone” covers did last year.
48. Talking to You Talking to Me – The Watson Twins
      Here’s another group I’ll likely never have a bad word for, though they’re yet to create anything outside of the Jenny Lewis project “Rabbit Fur Coat” that really bears multiple listenage. I think I liked this album much more than their last, “Fire Songs”, something kinda clicks almost exactly halfway and it becomes very interesting indeed, so I’ll probably give it at least a second chance to see if I was merely warming up to them again for that first half.
49. Head First – Goldfrapp
      Yikes, I thought I’d written my mini-review of this one already here lol, and I really don’t remember much of it at all. As I recall, I’d been led to expect Goldfrapp’s purest pop album to date, and I wasn’t impressed. My fave of theirs so far I think (and they’re not exactly a group I follow) was Seventh Tree, and nothing on this made me as happy as, say, Happiness or anything. It didn’t piss me off or anything though, which is something.
50. Swanlights – Antony and the Johnsons
      All I can really say of this one is, even on a second listen Antony’s voice didn’t break my heart as it usually does. It’s still lovely to listen to, but I just couldn’t find anything to really hang on to.
51. The House – Katie Melua
      This was way down the bottom of the list at the last update and I said it was awful apart from “The Flood”. I’ve gotta say, a second listen really changed that opinion. This is still very noodly and forgettable but it’s definitely growing on me. I don’t think it’ll ever live up as a whole to the sheer genius of “The Flood” though.
52. Almost Alice – Various Artists
      I’ve still not seen the Tim Burton Alice movie, I will soon though just for completism. I really have next to no interest in his “vision”. But for some reason I convinced myself that if anything good came out of that movie, it might be this soundtrack album. Last year’s “Nightmare Revisited” – a rerecording/revisiting of songs from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by a similarly eclectic bunch of artists – was one of my faves of the year. This one seems to start well, but pretty quickly I got tired of the same references to the text repeated over and over.
53. Hannah Montana Forever – Miley Cyrus
      I still haven’t watched the episodes that these songs come from but I look forward to them. There’s even less good on this than previous releases but I can listen to Hannah Montana for hours. “Wherever I Go” is certainly the highlight here, I can see myself in tears wherever they use that in the end.
54. Michael – Michael Jackson
      The apprenhension/excitement divide darn near tore me apart over this one. It’s almost beyond ranking really, because though none of the tracks on this really slayed me (on a second listen some came close though), I’m glad these posthumous releases are happening. I’m certain that at some point there’ll be something to really treasure comes up.
55. Christmas in New York – Various Artists
      Julie Atherton promoted this up the wazoo on Twitter and I really thought I’d enjoy it, being as I love her, I love Christmas, I love showtunes, and I think I love New York. I’d heard some of the songs on it before too. But of the songs I’d heard, I can certainly think of versions I dig a hundred times more, and just overall this just didn’t work for me. It’s pleasant enough though.
56. Songs for the New Depression – Loudon Wainwright III
    
57. Born Free – Kid Rock
      Listened ‘cos of the song he sang at “Rally for Sanity”, “Care”, and I was disappointed to find that it’s a very different arrangement on the album. The rest is decent enough but just not for me, and not as good as I remember Rock n Roll Jesus being.
58. Anthems – Kerry Ellis
      A good third of this is pretty much her “Wicked in Rock” collaboration with Brian May which I think I may have shared my feelings on elsewhere (just ghastly). I was kind of okay with this as an easy listen until I heard Julie Atherton’s album (above) later in the year. The contrast speaks for itself.
59. A Curious Thing – Amy MacDonald
      This one had an uphill struggle with me to even hope to exceed the glory that was MacDonald’s debut and almost immediately I fell into disappointment as I listened. There are moments on this where it’s cringingly evident they are trying to recreate the flow of “This is the Life” but they fail every time. By the time it gets to her solemnly strumming Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” on the hidden track at the end I was done. She has a nice voice and energy that makes this still worth a listen over many worse things that won’t even get a look-in on this list, but I hope the next will be something actually new like the first.
60. Aphrodite – Kylie Minogue
      Listened to ‘cos I adored her last, X… but I kinda knew this wasn’t for me the moment she started instructing her audiences how to behave during her TV performances of “All the Lovers” etc. This is for people who value the screamy, shouty fan experience more than the music.
61. Strip Me – Natasha Bedingfield
    
62. A Christmas Cornucopia – Annie Lennox
      Just hilariously earnest.
63. Small Craft on a Milk Sea – Brian Eno
      I’m not really sure why I decided to listen to this one… I don’t really like abstract anything. Parts of this literally sound like they were made using Eno’s iPhone app Bloom, though, which is why I place it this low. There’s barely anything there.
64. Merry Christmas II You – Mariah Carey
      If there are as many, I generally try to listen to at least 4 new Christmas albums each year, and this one seemed like the lesser evil over the Glee (which I hate about as equally) Christmas album as my 4th choice… I really should have reconsidered. This is the worst example of Mariahohiahiaaah’s vocal noodling ever and frequently sounds like it’s been on a shelf since the early 90s. The new version of “All I Want for Christmas” is almost passable… but really why bother? The original is the only thing of this lady’s that you need in your Christmas library.

I’ve been terrible keeping this site up to date this year, and even worse at keeping on top of new things. I usually aim to have 100 albums and a 100 movies on my end of year lists but this year both top out at 50. I’ve been doing a lot of other things: on the music side, that has involved listening to the first 400 albums on this list (the remaining 100 I intend to listen to before my birthday in February). Not sure what it says about the year in general, but I don’t feel like I missed much (final note: okay it’s late and I already snoozed, there’s a few here I haven’t commented on but I will fill in eventually if I remember … I just wanna post this now).

1. It’s Not Me, It’s You – Lily Allen
   Even after Lily’s minor breakdown on Twitter (a bizarre almost antiquated rant against music piracy yawn ending with her saying, “I’m a neo-luddite, goodbye,” what?), this remains my favourite album of the year at the time of writing. I never wanted to like Lily Allen but her first album quickly grew on me. Still, when Kate Nash came out with a similar sound, I quickly changed loyalties. Lily would have to do more to get me back, but I knew I’d be there to listen. This album just amazed me over and over. She may have lost it since, but here she more than matures.
2. Dirty King – The Cliks
   I got to listen to two new Cliks albums this year after discovering them 2 years ago before a Shelly Poole gig and with their second album “Snakehouse”. Their debut album (available here now for a great price) is just that and nothing compared to “Snakehouse”; this, their third, continues that sound and style but it’s a sound and style worth continuing in my opinion. They have a brand new lineup now including Dresden Dolls’ Brian Viglione on the drums, so I imagine their next might be even better.
3. Sainthood – Tegan & Sara
   These guys had been recommended to me many times before based on my love of the newer (and admittedly similar) band “Smoosh” but I’d never quite got round to them. I listened to a couple of their older albums earlier in the year but neither struck me as quite so fantastic as this Eighties-tastic production. Pure fun.
4. The Pursuit – Jamie Cullum
   I would never have thought anything by Cullum would even make it into my lists at all let alone so high, but then, over the last couple of years he gave us those incredible title songs from Gran Torino and Grace is Gone and I started to pay attention. More of this than I thought on the first listen are actually very cleverly re-interpreted standards and covers rather than originals, as revealed on a great track-by-track commentary you can get with the album, but it’s still one of the most inventive, fun, and moving albums I have heard this year.
5. The Performance – Shirley Bassey
   Perhaps the most surprising entry this high on my list … I just adored this album and recommend it no matter where your musical interests lie. Bassey has always had a great voice but as far as I’ve been aware it’s usually been confined to movie songs and your usual covers and standards type collections that “divas” such as her release on a regular basis. This is a real album with original songs written especially for Bassey by a wild range of songwriters and many of them tell a very personal side of her story. Absolutely beautiful.
6. Roadsinger – Yusuf
   I got way too excited about Yusuf’s last album “An Other Cup” and as a result was ultimately way too disappointed, even if I tried my best not to let it show. It had too many covers, not enough originals, and then I kept discovering as I listened to more of his back catalogue that even some of those “originals” weren’t original, lol. This one is something else. It took a couple of listens but this, though closer to, say, “Back to Earth” than the great days of “Teaser and the Firecat” or “Catch Bull at Four”, is still way closer to the Cat Stevens we know than “An Other Cup” was. There are still nods to his past, like the piano opening from “Sitting” that opens “Be What You Must”, and the whole thing just gels so much better as a whole than his last attempt to rekindle the fire.
7. Bare Bones – Madeleine Peyroux
8. The Crying Light – Antony & the Johnsons
   I get the feeling just about anything Antony & the Johnsons release from now on will make it into my end of year top 10, ‘cos the guy just has to open his mouth and I go weak and start to cry. That these albums are moving goes without saying… this one has a bunch of really catchy rhythms on it too.
9. Midwinter Graces – Tori Amos
   The best of this year’s pretty impressive collection of Christmas albums which also included efforts from Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond (see, er, below…) This is the kind of tight album I thought Tori had given up making, and quite honestly my favourite of hers perhaps since going way back to Strange Little Girls in 2001
10. Never Been Gone – Carly Simon
    The list gets a little muddy from this point on, and I wish I had the time to listen to all of these over again, but this was a late discovery and another great surprise. There’s a lot of covers on this album too, but over Carly Simon’s own songs, and in almost every case they are quite astonishingly different. I didn’t think I’d ever love hearing Simon sing “Let the River Run” or “You’re So Vain” so differently to the originals, but I’m almost inclined to say these might be the only versions I listen to from now on. There’s just something about this album that left a huge smile on my face, and I’ve never been a great fan of hers… repeat listens will be had for sure.
11. Sans Fusil, Ni Souli, A Paris – Martha Wainwright
    What can I say but I love Piaf, I love the Wainwrights, I love French, I love Paris lol.
12. Lullaby – Jewel
    The best thing to come out of Fisher Price and Jewel Kilcher in over 10 years Really, in my opinion Jewel has always been one of those singers who has just one great song per album, and her last one didn’t even have that if my memory serves. With this album she goes the way Lisa Loeb did last year, and I hope more artists catch on to it, by doing a children’s album. It’s possibly her most beautiful work yet – certainly since Spirit at least. I truly thought this singer was over and done when I heard Jessica Lombard’s album last year, but there are moments on this CD where I felt like Jewel is maybe only just getting started.
13. My One and Only Thrill – Melody Gardot
    Gotta be honest and I only really remember the first track from this one ‘cos it was a while ago … can’t wait to listen to it again though, I’m pretty sure I’ll still love it.
14. Relapse – Eminem
    Listening to all his entries on the Rolling Stone list mentioned above over the course of the year reminded me just how much I love this guy’s work and this is no exception. It’s frighteningly intense and “We Made You” is too catchy.
15. Guilty Pleasure – Ashley Tisdale
16. Yes – Pet Shop Boys
17. The Graduate – Nerina Pallot
18. Reality Killed the Video Star – Robbie Williams
    Everybody called this Williams’ “comeback” and it annoyed me somewhat. I care little about his going off the rails etc, and I also really liked his last album, only 3 years ago, Rudebox. I remember saying of that album, that it left me with the impression of a guy who was pretty much batsh*t crazy but that that fact was good news where the music was concerned. Luckily, though he’s “clean” now, plenty of that craziness remains here.
19. Back to Tennessee – Billy Ray Cyrus
    Yep, sue me, but my love of Miley’s stuff spread via her duets with her father to this, his latest album. Hard to say much about it but that I almost enjoyed it as much as anything Miley has done.
20. Get Lucky – Mark Knopfler
21. The Bachelor – Patrick Wolf
22. Together Through Life – Bob Dylan
    Nothing compared to Modern Times, but it’s still Dylan. Further listens might improve it.
23. The Liberty of Norton Folgate – Madness
24. God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl
    This one almost passed me by – it’s a collection of mostly older songs by Belle & Sebastian sung by different female singers including Asya from Smoosh and as such, I really wish I could speak more enthusiastically about it. Again, further listens might be better, but in most of the songs’ cases I’d much prefer the original, and I barely even noticed Asya. Love the idea of it though. addendum: Okay, there are in fact only 2 older songs by B&S on this, it seemed like more at the time! Also I had forgotten that it’s the soundtrack to an upcoming movie by Murdoch… so definitely I will give this another chance some time.
25. IRM – Charlotte Gainsbourg
    Plenty on this to like but it just isn’t up there with 5:55 (though that would be pretty darn hard, it has to be said), and frankly for uniqueness value in my book at least on a first listen not even as much a keeper as Lemon Incest.
26. Story of a Heart – Benny Andersson Band
27. Kiss and Tell – Selena Gomez & The Scene
    This had one of the best album covers of the year but it just wasn’t quite cheesy enough as I wanted and expected. Can’t blame the girl for wanting to do something a bit more ambitious than Waverly Place though, and I’ll listen to anything else she does in the future.
28. Humbug – Arctic Monkeys
29. Terra Incognita – Juliette Lewis
30. Breakthrough – Colbie Caillat
31. Cherry Cherry Christmas – Neil Diamond
    This is not bad at all – there’s really almost no such thing as bad when it comes to Christmas albums, and the title track in particular is way, way better than by rights it should be considering the concept (he works in the titles of just about all his best-known songs to a Christmas song) – but I am not sure I like Diamond slipping into this corny version of himself again, that’s all. It won’t prevent me including it in the rotation every year hence, though.
32. Battle Studies – John Mayer
33. Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen
34. Grace / Wastelands – Peter Doherty
35. My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura
    I find it hard to get into these guys ‘cos I wish their more pleasing (to me) counterparts Belle & Sebastian would be so prolific with almost an album a year released, lol. I remember very little of this really grabbing me but it was just as pleasant a listen as anything else I’ve heard from them. addendum: Another booboo I guess, these guys haven’t been so prolific at all! It just felt like they were, I guess LOL.
36. Years of Refusal – Morrissey
    Must be said, this would probably be higher had he not cancelled the Paris concert I was going to see (not that it really spoiled my trip there at all) – I still love “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” but the rest, though it will likely grow on me just as “Ringleader of the Tormentors” (which I was initially just as “meh” about) did, for now is nowhere close to my favourite work from the guy.
37. Further Complications – Jarvis Cocker
    I didn’t like this as much as his first album, nor indeed as much as that interim song “Running the World”, but I definitely like how this guy makes music. This will likely rise too on further listens. I just wanna like him too much.
38. High Wide and Lonesome: The Charlie Poole Project – Loudon Wainwright III
39. Abnormally Attracted to Sin – Tori Amos
    Tori needs to start making albums again but I get the feeling that ain’t happening. Like American Doll Posse this is more a collection of new songs that work on a track by track basis but don’t make any sense of a whole, at least not on a first listen. It might grow on me, but even on that so-so track by track basis not one of the songs really struck me as her best.
40. Ellipse – Imogen Heap
    What can I say, I’m sorry this is so low but I just couldn’t get into it. After so much of her own hype (that frankly drove me almost angry in the end but serves me right I guess for following her on Twitter lol), it just wasn’t all that. I felt no advancement on her first album, just a continuation of the same sound with less immediately memorable songs, and still nothing approaching that original side project Frou Frou that introduced me to her. Even though it’s technically better than most stuff released this year, I just found it really boring considering the obvious talent’s obviously huge amount of time and effort spent on it. The worst of it is that it almost made me want to reconsider her solo debut too, which I did think at the time was pretty stunning.
41. Come to Life – Natalie Imbruglia
42. Between My Head and the Sky – Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
43. Christmas in the Heart – Bob Dylan
44. Hot August Night NYC – Neil Diamond
    I generally don’t include live CDs in my album lists but bearing the “Hot August Night” moniker definitely stands for something, as the first Hot August Night was one of the best live albums ever recorded. While this is a decent enough listen with all the Diamond favourites, it has none of the energy that should be there on a Hot August Night release. The audience is loud and frenzied enough, but it really just annoyed me more than anything (they’re even worse to watch if you get the video version). Diamond seems perilously close to slipping back into the awful phony 80s version of himself after the comeback of 12 Songs, I think that’s what really worries me with stuff like this and the Christmas album and the less than inspiring “Home Before Dark” last year. Keep it stripped down!
45. The Boy Who Knew Too Much – MIKA
46. Back from the Dead – Spinal Tap
    I’ve only myself to blame for expecting – I don’t know what I was expecting but it was too much lol – from this, I mean really, what could it have been? There’s little new here but newer, slicker recordings of the songs from the movie. It’s enjoyable enough but not a keeper at all when the movie and original soundtrack are so readily accessible instead.
47. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane – Elvis Costello
    With a title like that I thought maybe another Momofuko was in order with the old Costello I love on it but, no such luck. This is still as skillful as anything he has done but I just personally don’t get into his more adventurous work. Just me, really.
48. No Line on the Horizon – U2
    It must be said that this wasn’t placed so low on my list with as much ease as I once would have done, because I have to admit to finally warming (just a little) to this band, again thanks to their many entries on the Rolling Stone list mentioned above. This is not remotely close to any of that stuff, though. For the past 10 years this band have been exactly the waste of time and widespead enthusiasm that I suspected
49. Fork in the Road – Neil Young
    I definitely want to listen to this one again because, like Jarvis Cocker, I just want to love this guy too much. I saw a documentary “Don’t Be Denied” since listening to this that made me feel that pretty much anything Neil Young does is probably more worthwhile than “better” stuff by most other artists, so I will probably find something to find even in this loud mess of an album.
50. Journal for Plague Lovers – Manic Street Preachers
    I don’t think this was necessarily bad … I just can’t remember it and imagine it’s that last one I’m likely to listen to again in the future at all.

I kinda lost track of this whole thing towards the end, lol, but I got to 100 as I always try to … I’m gonna strip all the “NEW” tags out and accept that I can’t write something about everything for once, hehe … I rejigged the top spots quite a bit these past few days listening to a few of my faves over again. The ones at the top are just those ones that I see myself listening to over and over again in the future. As has become the norm this decade, I’ve gotta say, infinitely better year for music than it was for movies.

1. 15 Minutes Ago – Jessica Lombard
   Not many people will have heard of this girl; I don’t even know quite how I first came to know of her. But from listening to a few of her quite stripped down (production-wise) songs on MySpace, my heart leapt when I found this album on iTunes. It’s wonderfully produced, the words reach right inside you, and her voice is just astonishing. Think Jewel only, 12 years old (somewhere along the line I’d changed that to 15 in my head – I’m even more amazed having just read that again on CDBaby …) Final note: It just gets better every time I listen to it, either as a whole or track by track … this girl simply amazes me.
2. Je sais que la terre est plate – Raphaël
   Of course, I knew I’d love this one, the guy is a musical god as far as I’m concerned. His sound is slightly different yet again, though perhaps not as stark as the switch between albums 1, 2 and 3 … here, he finally gets use of the full Bowie band and the production skills of Tony Visconti but his is the voice that shines through. I adore “Adieu Haiti”, “Sixieme Etage” (continuing his flair for appeasing those of us whose French isn’t exactly top notch with a catchy series of “oh-oh“s ) and “Tess”. Like Caravane it’s short at 35 minutes, but it feels much much longer and I could listen to it twice over in one sitting anyway. Final note: The guy is just a god.
3. Music of the Spheres – Mike Oldfield
   The first few bars had me hmming over its overwhelming similarity to Tubular Bells which I list among the greatest albums ever made, and I’m sure there are negative reviews out there to that effect. But though that similarity can’t be denied, the feelings this filled and left me with are completely different from Bells … it’s the most reverential work of art I’ve seen, heard, or witnessed in years. It’s music to bow down to almost. I don’t think I even want to hear anything better this year.
4. The Ocean and Me – Sophie Zelmani
   It seems mad to me still putting this above Music of the Spheres but it also seems absolutely right. I’ve listened to it 4 times now trying to figure out just what it is that makes it the best album I’ve heard this year and what makes it so different from Sophie’s other albums, but I’m still stumped. I just get lost in it. There’s this massive theme I’ve started to notice in my life this year of water and the ocean and stuff too, I don’t know if that has anything to do with it lol. Anyway – “Wind Took My Sail” and “Love” are stunning tracks. Final note: I decided the other 3 are just marginally better than this one, but it’s still an amazing album.
5. Nightmare Revisited – Various Artists
   Holy Shit The artist list for this really didn’t impress me so much as the basic idea of it on which basis I still knew I’d love it … but damn … this is probably the greatest concept album since War of the Worlds. Normally I’m picky about changes when I believe the original is perfect as is, but aside from a couple of instrumentals that go on a little too long, this thing is simply flawless. I love how the “Closing” track by Danny Elfman makes this a kind of “checking in on” Jack and co., but it’s Sally’s Song by Amy Lee that really blew me away most of all. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t make this the centrepiece of my Halloween last week. Oh well, there are still a good number of tracks here that will get plenty of playtime in December
6. Join With Us – The Feeling
   So close to pipping the Oldfield album, this was. It peters out at the end with a bunch of tracks that could easily be removed and render it a practically perfect 45 minuter. But no matter – the greatnesses here are huge … like Supertramp and ELO plus a little bit more, it just leaves you with a smile on your face.
7. Volume One – She and Him
   Zooey Deschanel sings. Seriously do you need any other reason to listen? Okay … because it’s LOVELY. Okay? I love it anyway
8. Camp Lisa – Lisa Loeb
   First off, I haven’t posted my review of it yet … but f*k* Camp Rock LOL … anything even approaching positive comments I had for that movie vanished entirely on listening to this gem. Secondly, forget Vanessa Hudgens or the B-52s’ albums as the most fun you’ll have listening to music in 2008. Lisa Loeb … I think I Loeb You hehe. This had me laughing, crying, everything, and it really takes a lot to make me feel so much over the whole camp thing.
9. Safe Trip Home – Dido
   
10. I Know You’re Married, But I’ve Got Feelings Too – Martha Wainwright
    I liked her first album but I’ve kinda stuck on listening only to the first track in iTunes ever since … this one has a much greater chance of having total regular rotation. It sounds so much like her mother and aunt the McGarrigle sisters in places it’s uncanny, I’m not sure if this is deliberate or that she’s just naturally grown into the family shoes (her first album really wasn’t so recognisable). “So Many Friends” is my fave so far.
11. Off With Their Heads – Kaiser Chiefs
    Well, dang, I feel dirty. My pithy soundbite here was to be aside from the lunatic cheering on one of the bonus tracks for Mark Ronson playing the tambourine, plus my general aversion to this band on the whole, it would be a fool who didn’t recognise this as one of the best albums of the year. Now I just found out Mr. Ronson actually produced the thing. I’ve gotta say … I’m pleasantly shocked.
12. Day After Tomorrow – Joan Baez
    Really beautiful, and more importantly, a real album … there seems to be a lot of singin’ about Mary toward the end as I recall but I can’t wait to listen again. This just put a huge smile on my face and left me practically unaware of the concept of stress.
13. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today – David Byrne and Brian Eno
    Hmm … I gotta admit, I can’t remember why I liked this one so much – that’s what happens when I put off posting here for so long I guess, lol – but I know that I loved it, I’ll certainly find the time to revisit it before December comes.
14. Acid Tongue – Jenny Lewis
    Like the Watson Twins’ and Paul Weller albums – this girl is just 100% reliability, she knows how to put an album together. “Godspeed” is wonderful.
15. Fire Songs – The Watson Twins
    I really liked their work with Jenny Lewis a couple of years ago and this doesn’t disappoint as a follow-up. It’s perhaps not an album I’ll play a lot … but like the Paul Weller album, it’s just one of those records whose quality you just can’t deny.
16. Harps and Angels – Randy Newman
    Addition: I’m moving this up after listening to the live version he did for public radio. This thing has some deceptively complicated tunes on it. […] I kinda sniggered as the album began as I often do snigger at Randy Newman after Family Guy or whatever did the parody of his typical style of song. But it’s a real album that makes me happy, and “Feels Like Home” is the best final track of the year next to Duffy’s “Distant Dreamer”. Edit: Ack, I just discovered that that song is actually an oldie … the good news is that I discovered this because I have the sheet music for it (from the movie Michael, apparently) … whatever, it’s still a beautiful song.
17. A Winter Symphony – Sarah Brightman
    It’s been a great year for Christmas albums and though this isn’t my favourite of the bunch, it’s the one that impressed me the most. Brightman’s voice is beautifully captured and the song selections and variations are amazing.
18. Connie Talbot’s Christmas Album – Connie Talbot
    In short, exactly what I longed for from her first album last year – an all-out cheesy Christmas classic with some surprisingly “proper” tracks included to boot. Her “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is possibly the best I have ever heard, and with “Ave Maria”, she shows that she’s not going to disappear like the gimmick she might first appear to be.
19. 4:13 Dream – The Cure
    
20. Funplex – The B-52s
    The most fun album of the year so far. Like John Waters meets Shampoo or something, and B-52s-ey all the way
21. At Mount Zoomer – Wolf Parade
    (thanks to Cinematically Correct for the recommendation) I liked this – reminded me of Arcade Fire’s first album “Funeral” and as such, I really hope they have the success they need to make the sound they clearly want to be making. It’s certainly more rhythmically interesting than the bulk of what I’ve heard this year, s’just the production quality didn’t seem to be quite there for me.
22. Backwoods Barbie – Dolly Parton
    Her voice is just beautiful – I still haven’t really got onto the major binge of her back catalogue that I’ve been planning ever since I saw The Best Little Whorehouse…, but it’ll be happening soon I’m sure. The title track is cheesily beautiful, “Better Get to Livin’” is awesome, but it’s the cover of “Drive Me Crazy” here that leapt out of the blue and made my day, I’m crazy for it lol.
23. 22 Dreams – Paul Weller
    Not really my cup of tea but I can’t deny it’s an incredible production. I love the allusions to childhood imagery, of course. Definitely will listen to it again.
24. The Age of the Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets
    Someone mentioned Scott Walker in a Newsnight Review of this and I was almost immediately sold, lol, and I wasn’t disappointed. If there’s a reason this doesn’t remain in my top ten till the end of the year, then it’s only that I’m jealous I didn’t come up with it first. Huge.
25. The Seventh Tree – Goldfrapp
    I’m having trouble believing that this album came from the same people who gave the world Supernature, lol. This is just so cute, exactly the kind of candyland pop I adore the most. The lead sounds like Cathy Dennis in places, and the songs like something the Poole sisters of Alisha’s Attic would conjure. I can’t wait to listen to it more.
26. Rockferry – Duffy
    Was very surprised how right the hype was on this one – even the comparison on Newsnight Review to Dusty Springfield which really put me off. It is simply a perfect album.
27. We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things – Jason Mraz
    All I can remember from Mraz’s last album (I haven’t heard the first) is “Wordplay”, but I’m quite sure I liked it all. This definitely struck me as even more catchy, though. His voice is gorgeous, almost girlish at times. I adore “Lucky”, it’s like my life right now
28. I Stand – Idina Menzel
    I’m not sure if I’ll listen to it as much as I’ve found myself listening to “Still I Can’t be Still” (and I hadn’t even heard of “Here”, an album which apparently came between that and this) … but “Gorgeous” and “I Feel Everything” in particular are almost certain to be on my best of year playlists.
29. Smilers – Aimee Mann
    It’s growing on me As with “Forgotten Arm”, I really wasn’t so sure of this on a first listen but the story kind of eats into you and it makes more sense and sticks in the ears more with every listen.
30. Enfants d’hiver – Jane Birkin
    
31. Breakout – Miley Cyrus
    I’ve been growing to love the whole Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus thing all year and this was a great capper to all that. The songs as usual are about 50 / 50, half just about acceptably standard pop and half simply perfect IMHO – “Bottom of the Ocean” in particular caught me at the exact right moment – like literally within hours of when I needed it the most … “This is it. Let go. Breathe …”
32. Sweet Bells – Kate Rusby
    
33. I Don’t Wanna Go to School – The Naked Brothers Band
    hehe. I loved their song/s on the iCarly soundtrack but I couldn’t have imagined the grin I had on my face listening them for an album’s worth. Such a beautifully clear lead vocal and a good two-thirds of instantly memorable songs. “I’ll Do Anything” is my fave so far, almost certain to go on the end of year playlist.
34. The Circus – Take That
    
35. Happy Smiles – t.A.T.u.
    
36. Identified – Vanessa Hudgens
    So well produced and supercatchy. Reminds me of the Rachel Stevens / Holly Valance / Dannii Minogue type Poole / Dennis composed albums we don’t seem to have had in a long while. Actually thinking now maybe this deserves “most fun album” over the B-52s. I’m not sure, they’re both electric
37. Momofuku – Elvis Costello and the Imposters
    Finally! I think I got so tired of being disappointed with Elvis Costello releases that I’ve probably deliberately missed the last handful – but this is the Elvis Costello that I love and this, too, will likely only grow on me as the year goes on.
38. My Paper Made Men – Amy Studt
    I feared initially that this would be a lot like the first album – I’d shout from the hills how I loved it but in the long run the playcount has really only settled on three songs, “Ladder in Your Tights”, “Misfit” and “Just a Little Girl” (two of which happened to be from a Poole pen – edit ooh and “Under the Thumb”! of course, which is also a Karen Poole song lol … so not a bad album at all in fact …). On a first listen this is definitely more fun in its first half, but that’s not to say that on a second, third, and fourth listen since I didn’t let it run all the way through. “Nice Boys” is a song I object to on a personal level but if they don’t release it to conquer the charts while the sun is shining then they’re crazy (whoever “they” are lol). It’s Shampoo-tastic lol.
39. Forth – The Verve
    Very nice sound. I can’t wait to listen to this one again, it came in a night of major catching up but it was certainly one of the best of the bunch.
40. A Mad and Faithful Telling – Devotchka
    It’s a couple of weeks since I listened to this so the memory’s not so great but I remember it was fairly catchy while I thought it’d be annoying, Devotchka being tied in my brain to Little Miss Sunshine still, though I quickly remind myself the music was one of the few things I liked about that movie.
41. Bittersweet World – Ashlee Simpson
    It’s Ashlee, you probably know what to expect. On a first listen none of these songs really stand out to me as awesome, not even in the sense that “I Am Me” or “L.O.V.E” or “Autobiography” have become fixtures on my most-listened-to tracks in iTunes. But I’ll listen to it over and over ‘cos I have a very angry teenage girl in me sometimes lol.
42. To Be Loved – Joan As Police Woman
    I think I liked this more than her first album, but I’ve only listened to each of them once so I can’t really stand by my opinion. She was a lot of fun when I saw her live supporting Rufus Wainwright. Her studio work seems pretty stoic by comparison. This is almost certainly too low for now, hopefully I’ll get a chance to listen again before the year is out.
43. Liverpool 8 – Ringo Starr
    Not as good as “Choose Love”, but it’s as competently done as you’d expect from an ex-Beatle working with Dave Stewart.
44. Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield
    I had to think about whether this was original enough to count as a new album ‘cos it’s kind of a mishmash of b-side-y songs and parts of Nb after that album failed to set the US aflame or something. I decided yes, there are enough original songs here – the Nb songs are always worth hearing again. And frankly, for “Freckles” alone it’s worth it.
45. Home Before Dark – Neil Diamond
    I just saw a short concert on BBC interactive with some songs from this and already I’ve started to think again about my kneejerk reaction to the album, it’s possible it’ll really click with me one day and I think it’s “One More Bite of the Apple” and “Slow it Down” that hold the key. For now, I’ve gotta say, it does feel a little passionless and a bit too much like someone trying to use the perfect “12 Songs” too much as a template instead of trying something original again.
46. What A Night! A Christmas Album – Harry Connick, Jr.
    
47. Ode to J. Smith – Travis
    I was really surprised to see Travis release a new album so soon following their perfect last, and I pretty much knew right away that it couldn’t live up to the promise shown there. This has the potential to grow on me though, and I’ll certainly give it the chance.
48. Let It Go – Will Young
    Dang again … I can’t remember this one much but I know there was at least one song on it that really grabbed me. That and I’m always pleasantly surprised by this guy.
49. Alas I Cannot Swim – Laura Marling
    It’ll need another listen, ‘cos I wasn’t quite in the mood for it at the time … certainly interesting and of course, girl voices are the best
50. Viva La Vida – Coldplay
    The already overplayed title single is of course irresistible – I wanna jump around just about every time I hear it. But like all their best standalone songs, the album just feels lost around it. It’s rarely anything but “nice”. It’s possible it’ll grow on me, and certainly worth it for Viva … but it’s far from great.
51. Everything is Borrowed – The Streets
    It opens amazingly with the title track but quickly becomes way too scattered in ideas. I found it odd how the other night on Newsnight Review they were all having issues with Mike Skinner’s voice as some kind of barrier to the gold that lay “beneath” it … I absolutely adore his voice and he burrowed his way into my heart again within seconds of the first track starting. It may grow on me with future listens – I think it’s certainly better than The Hardest Way … but not a patch on A Grand Don’t Come for Free.
52. Chinese Democracy – Guns ‘N Roses
    
53. Perfect Symmetry – Keane
    
54. Funhouse – Pink
    
55. Perfectly Clear – Jewel
    For some reason I was led to believe this wasn’t so good and I came to it with particularly low expectations. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it … I don’t know … she’s in the shadow of Jessica Lombard now, I think – but she’s still Jewel
56. That Lucky Old Sun – Brian Wilson
    Now here’s a voice I do have a problem with. I really cringed when I heard Brian Wilson had a new album coming out. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Beach Boys … Pet Sounds is one of the greatest albums ever and all that … but Brian Wilson’s voice is just not the same these days. His christmas album a few years back was just gutwrenchingly embarrassing. Now I’m not saying this is as bad as that … musically, in fact, it’s pretty stunning and it really gels as an album in the very nitpicky way I get about what albums “should” be … but his voice … it just sounds so wooden and strained. He has to be given kudos for trying … but it just really pulls me away from what could’ve been a perfect album with another voice.
57. Adam & Joe’s Song Wars Volume One – Adam & Joe
    lol – I had to debate with myself whether this counted as an album … and yes, why not? I hadn’t realised till only recently that Adam & Joe were doing their 6 Music show so this served as a nice catchup to the podcast. I didn’t laugh as much as expected, some of their stuff is just really really unfunny … but when I did laugh, it was big laughs. The radio show or podcast is well worth checking out.
58. Divinidyll Tour – Vanessa Paradis
    This is one of those CDs I have to have a little argument with myself over including as I try to stick to Albums (with a capital A) for this list … but the Vanessa live CDs have always been among the best and genuinely worth purchasing with the versions of songs on them often getting more play time in my iTunes. This is no exception. While it starts with some of the songs and styles that made me less than excited for Divinidyll the album (another that really could never live up to the one that came before it, Bliss), almost making me relieved I didn’t haul myself across Europe to see her in June, eventually I found myself feeling pretty jealous of the audience. When she sings Varvara Pavlovna – a song I haven’t heard in years since my record must’ve gone in an eBay or similar purge – I almost felt like I was with them. Much more embracing than the album.
59. A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas – Kristen Chenoweth
    
60. Down to Earth – Jem
    hehe, I feel like I’m on a loop. I wanna say, here’s another that could never live up to its predecessor. But I gotta admit, I’ve really only listened to one track from “Totally Woken” like over and over so I can’t say that for certain. This is definitely the kind of music I like, and another listen might open it up to me more … but nothing really grabbed me the first time, and some of it I found kinda embarassing, really.
61. Melody – Sharleen Spiteri
    Of course, I wanted to like this just because of it’s title (and, I might add, the way the title appears on the cover, hehe) – but it’s never much more than catchy. I can’t wait to hear more from her though, ‘cos it’s cool that she made something so different from the Texas stuff and managed to pull off the “old” sound without sounding as godawful corny and fake as Mark Ronson and co … though that said, I’d still sooner recommend “She and Him”.
62. Death Magnetic – Metallica
    Clearly, not my kind of music. But I’ve been pretty big on the Guitar Hero stuff lately and it does leave you with a slightly increased appreciation for this kind of stuff. It didn’t hurt me like once upon a time I’d have thought it would – let’s leave it at that, lol.
63. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust – Sigur Rós
    The beat might be faster but I honestly still found this mostly as dreary a dirge as anything they’ve produced. As I do with Jack Johnson I feel there’s a time and a place for Sigur Rós and for me it was the end of Vanilla Sky (which makes me hmmm … maybe the reason so many people like these guys is they constantly remind them of Tom Cruise plummeting to his death LOL). I’ll admit to getting a few goosebumps on whatever track it is the orchestra totally soars … but while some people I’m sure find this blissfully relaxing, I just get more irritated each time the lead opens his mouth.
64. iCarly: Songs from and Inspired by the Hit TV Series – Various
    It’s a compilation, I usually don’t allow those – but it’s a good compilation, the dialogue snippets are hilarious and even the non-Miranda songs are surprisingly enjoyable (I could definitely get into The Naked Brothers). The Miranda songs turn out to be all covers, but they show her voice improving vastly since recording the theme song (which features here in an extended version). I really hope she gets to do a full solo album some time.
65. The Informer – Jools Holland
    
66. Jennifer Hudson – Jennifer Hudson
    
67. Some People Have Real Problems – Sia
    
68. Radio:ACTIVE – McFly
    McFly have really grown on me this year, to the point where, when they did their live thing for the London 2012 party a few weeks back, I actually started to agree with those who had proclaimed them “the new Beatles” a few years ago. The album isn’t much special, but it’s amazing how they’ve turned me around from utter hate lol.
69. The Block – New Kids on the Block
    
70. The Slip – Nine Inch Nails
    Less scary-noisy than last year’s Year Zero and, weirdly enough, I liked it more than the much more ethereal and ambient Ghosts. One of my favourite songs of theirs, and the one that really introduced me to them in Natural Born Killers, is Burn, and this album pretty much stands up to it all over.
71. Flavors of Entanglement – Alanis Morissette
    Mostly meh, but again, it’s the girl voice. Nothing stands out quite as much as Thank You or Ironic or whatever but, big BUT, I absolutely love, love, love “In Praise of the Vulnerable Man”. It’s so corny, but someone kinda had to write it, and that that someone turned out to be Alanis … it’s just perfect.
72. The Cosmos Rocks – Queen + Paul Rodgers
    
73. Arena – Todd Rundgren
    
74. Bring Ya To the Brink – Cyndi Lauper
    It’s dancey which as a rule I hate; but I love when the tunefulness bursts through, and those incidences are frequent enough for me to listen again given the opportunity. Can’t think of a lot more to say than that.
75. Dig Out Your Soul – Oasis
    
76. Third – Portishead
    It takes some adjusting to, but I’m surprised to say that I found some of this pretty lovely. Again, I’ve not a lot more to say. It’s mid-June and I’m just tying up the loose ends, I wouldn’t normally listen to this type of thing.
77. Sunday at Devil Dirt – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
    Since getting into Belle and Sebastian a couple of years ago I’ve been really wanting to listen to Isobel Campbell’s solo stuff – I really hope this is just a bad intro to it. While it’s a really nice album, her voice is pretty much swamped by the Leonard Cohen-ish tones of Lanegan, and I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
78. Little Dreamer – Beth Rowley
    It’s kind of gone out of my head already, but a pleasant enough listen while it lasted. Very well produced and like I’ve said already, girl voices are the best
79. Phoenix – Asia
    About what I expected from this band even though I haven’t yet got around to taking in their back catalogue. They sound exactly like the era they were born in and though I can’t be certain, I’m pretty sure that fans will be pleased.
80. 11 – Bryan Adams
    Meh. Standard Bryan Adams. I love the guy ‘cos he did the Spirit songs but most of his other stuff sounds the same to me. It’s still very catchy though.
81. Accelerate – R.E.M.
    LOUD! This almost gave me a headache lol. It has its moments, but really, it’s just too loud for me. I can’t say the title doesn’t warn, I guess.
82. 19 – Adele
    Standard well-produced female vocals. I’m just a sucker for girls’ voices so this is probably too high already.
83. It Is Time for a Love Revolution – Lenny Kravitz
    Everytime I listen to him I have to remind myself he produced Vanessa Paradis’ wonderful first and only fully English language album, always a good way in. And this album definitely has its moments, particularly “A Long and Sad Goodbye”
84. Lessons to be Learned – Gabriella Cilmi
    Another perfectly listenable girl voice to join the crowd … I’ve literally nothing more to add on that. It was better than I expected.
85. Discipline – Janet Jackson
    I could do without the computer voice stuff, seems like trying way too hard to be cool to me. I seem to recall this had some nice songs on it somewhere, but it’s a while since I listened and it didn’t exactly rock my world or anything.
86. Simple Plan – Simple Plan
    I was sure I’d listened to Simple Plan before and liked them but my itunes library is telling me it’s only been their movie soundtrack presences that have reached my ears till now. It’s a little unintentionally hilarious in its whininess as I think is to be expected from this kind of band … but I don’t know, I kinda liked it.
87. Ghosts – Nine Inch Nails
    Would make a great movie soundtrack … not really iPod material … but it’s a lot healthier than the deafening “Year Zero”.
88. Sleep Through the Static – Jack Johnson
    Meh. Nothing wrong with it … but I think I said in my review of the movie, there’s a time and a place for Jack Johnson and for me I think Curious George was it.
89. Black Ice – AC\DC
    
90. Watershed – KD Lang
    Hmm. This really didn’t make much of an impression on me at all. Positioned here with the benefit of the doubt lol, I’ll maybe listen to it again some time.
91. Dig Lazarus Dig! – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
    It’s at the bottom for now but don’t worry, it won’t stay that way. This is as up and down as anything Nick Cave has done – the one thing I don’t understand is why it hasn’t been released under the Grinderman name, since to me it sounded much more like “them” than “regular” Nick Cave lol if that even makes sense.
92. Consolers of the Lonely – Raconteurs
    Fun, but nothing special. I’d happily let a track from it play if it cropped up in iTunes Party Shuffle soe time.
93. A Little Bit Longer – Jonas Brothers
    Probably unfairly low because I listened to it in the same night as The Naked Brothers’ CD … I love all the Disney pop stuff and this was no exception but the beautiful voice of The Naked Brothers just blew it entirely out of my mind. I’ll probably give it another shot some time.
94. A Hundred Million Suns – Snow Patrol
    
95. Jukebox – Cat Power
    I forgot to add this to the list when I listened to it ages ago. I can’t remember a lot about it except, nice voice but completey unremarkable. Meh.
96. Last Night – Moby
    Standard Moby. Which for me isn’t too exciting. It seems to me this guy dropped off the map for a while, and to come back with just exactly the same thing he was doing, seems like a decade ago now, that’s practically become a joke in the meantime, is incredibly lazy. I just can’t listen to the same loop unadorned for more than a handful of repetitions, no matter how amazing a sound it is, I’m sorry.
97. E=MC² – Mariah Carey
    I have no problem with Mariah Carey, matter of fact I’d really love to love her. But there’s really nothing new on this album, and the title too temptingly invites ridicule, especially when she starts talking about “That Casablanca movie” in ways that indicate she (or her writers) has clearly never seen it.
98. Circus – Britney Spears
    
99. Hard Candy – Madonna
    Appalling. (Really, that’s all I have to say.)
100. Anywhere I Lay My Head – Scarlett Johansson
     Seriously, I did not think I’d hear anything this year worse than Madonna … seriously. This starts out like, “crap, did I download a fake again?” – but it progresses to being simply hilarious midway. But by the end, I just felt sorry for her. It’s so bad it made me feel good about my own album, lol. That Bowie was involved is just insult to injury lol.Eeps, I’ve added quite a few since last updating this post so I’m bumping it to the front page even though the top spot hasn’t changed (and I still don’t see it doing so either, for the record) …
101. Seaside Rock – Peter, Bjorn & John
     

Honorable mention must go to some of the “best ofs” which I’m usually not so enamoured of. Janis Ian released a 2-disc set to accompany her autobiography “Society’s Child” which contained the gem of a song, “Ginny, the Flying Girl”. Belle and Sebastian released their “BBC Sessions” – more interesting than mindblowingly fantastic but still worth a listen. But my musical highlight of the year had to be the live music I discovered in Second Life … Kim Seifert and Harmonia Trefoil in particular I have come to regard as very good friends, but there are too many to mention like Keiko Takumura, MichelleD Ecksol, who have really opened my eyes to how much great music there is out there to discover.

Yuck. I can’t apologise enough for being a whole month late with this one, it should’ve come up at the end of June and in my defense the songs have been playing in the pink pod thing on the front page since around about then And it is only a month lol. So before it gets any later, I’m just gonna rush through these things. It’s been an amazing year so far and blah blah blah Sorry if I repeat myself here from my albums post, like I said I’m just getting it out of the way.

1. Fire from 15 Minutes Ago by Jessica Lombard
– I could pick just about anything from this album but this was the last one to really stand out to me in a way I hadn’t heard before. It’s kind of unfair to focus on her age but you kinda can’t help it at the same time, it continues to amaze me that this girl only just entered her teens, and the leap from those first MySpace recordings I heard earlier this year to this album which is among the best produced I’ve heard this year just blows my mind.

2. I Feel Everything from I Stand by Idina Menzel
– It was between this and “Gorgeous”, but, as with the Jessica Lombard song this is the one that most recently resonated with me. I get this song completely ‘cos I feel so much sometimes it’s infuriatingly hard to put into words. And that opening line, “Like a prima ballerina, I tip toe tip toe around you constantly …” … wow. That and Idina rocks of course

3. Without You from Join With Us by The Feeling
– Hmm, now of all the songs whose impact has changed in this list since I made the list, this is the one that actually seems more apt. I love this album so much, but the snare on this track is just something else, I’m convinced I must be like autistic or something ‘cos I get such a kick out of its timing in the chorus lol.

4. So Many Friends from I Know You’re Married But I Have Feelings Too by Martha Wainwright
– McGarrigle-tastic hehe. This track is the definition of kooky to me. “I have lost so many friends I have gained so many memories …” Ugh, I know my playlists usually have some kind of hidden meaning in them, that’s the whole point of it to me; but this is just weird.

5. The Great Beyond from Smilers by Aimee Mann
– “Go Honey Go”. Oh god. I actually haven’t listened to some of these songs since making the list and I’m scared to listen to this one now ‘cos I know it’s gonna make my cry something frightening. I imagine this song being used to phenomenal effect in a movie some day. I’m actually amazed nobody has started working yet on a movie based on Aimee’s last two albums, come to think of it.

6. My Three Sons from Momofuku by Elvis Costello and The Imposters
– I loved this album because it was the Elvis Costello I originally fell in love with before he started to do more alternative projects (nothing against that, I’ve just really missed the old him). This track is ironically the one that least resembles that Elvis on the album but it’s beautiful in its own way. I just love this kind of tenderness I can believe in.

7. She Ran from My Paper Made Men by Amy Studt
– Ba-da-da—bow. I was really worried this album would veer off on a massive tangent from the Poole-and-Dennis-like stuff of the first what with how long it’s taken her to release it, so tracks like this were a pleasant surprise. Again, it’s really an album I could pull anything off for this list.

8. Adieu Haiti from Je Sais Que La Terre Est Plate by Raphaël
– Another album I could just pick anything from, but this one has a whole lot of English in it, hehe, so it just about wins out. Really whenever I mention Raphaël I just end up wanting to say the same thing so I’m just gonna say it: seriously if you’ve never listened to his stuff, give some of it, any of it, a try, even if you don’t speak a word of French; it’s all amazing, and it really doesn’t matter where you start, I honestly think he’s the best musician working today.

9. Lucky from We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz
– Sigh. It was about me and my princess. No more But I’ll stand by it as a wonderful song about how wonderful love can be; about how much more, in fact, there can be in a relationship between a boy and a girl than just plain old love.

10. Freckles from Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
– Oh it’s so freakin’ corny but I crave it constantly and I almost don’t wanna hear from anybody who doesn’t need to be told what this song has to say from time to time. I love it. This also featured on the iCarly compilation which makes it even cuter and cooler

11. Sweet Darlin’ from Volume One by She and Him
– Like I said for the album – it’s Zooey Deschanel singing, what else is there to say?! This is by far the best track on a really fun and honest album.

12. Distant Dreamer from Rockferry by Duffy
– The perfect way to end an album and this playlist (we’ll call the next one a bonus). Seriously as this one played the first time I listened, I had it on my iPod so I couldn’t see where I was on the album. And like the whole song, ‘cos I’d loved the album up to that point, I was just begging it, “please be the last song!!” ‘cos so many albums go on past the point where they should end. And it turns out that it was the last track after all. No song I’ve heard so far this year states my current philosophy better.

13. Amazing Grace (for me Melody) by Kim Seifert
– Okay, unless you listen to it in the pink pod thing you won’t hear this one, lol; though you can hear Kimmee sing “Amazing Grace” just about any day she performs in Second Life since she usually finishes her last set by dedicating it to someone. I’ve become an obsessive nut over her and Harmonia in SL since this performance but still, words can’t express how much it meant to me that she did this; even having looked into the whole SL live music thing and realised that the whole “naming your audience” thing is really just another tool to keep ‘em coming and keep ‘em tipping etc … I don’t care. Kimmee is such a special person and she’s been really nice to me outside her shows too; Harmonia too; and these 3 minutes were where it all began for me.

Final update including the (mostly disappointing, gotta be said, outside of Josh Groban) Christmas albums. Still no sign of Shelly Poole’s new album, but that’s just something to look forward to this year There’s definitely some of these I wanna listen to again and might move up or down but I’m pretty happy with the general look of it. So much good this year, and so many surprises too.

1. Chrome Dreams II – Neil Young
2. This Is The Life – Amy MacDonald
3. Snakehouse – The Cliks
4. The Fragile Army – The Polyphonic Spree
5. Neon Bible – Arcade Fire
6. Magic – Bruce Springsteen
7. Hey Eugene! – Pink Martini
8. Zeitgeist – Smashing Pumpkins
9. X – Kylie Minogue
10. Pocket Symphony – Air
11. The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo – The Puppini Sisters
12. Into the Wild – Eddie Vedder
13. Made of Bricks – Kate Nash
14. Voilà – Belinda Carlisle
15. Beauty and Crime – Suzanne Vega
16. Breathing Room – Jenna von Oy
17. Seastories – Minnie Driver
18. The Boy With No Name – Travis
19. American Doll Posse – Tori Amos
20. The Turn – Alison Moyet
21. Shine – Joni Mitchell
22. Icky Thump – The White Stripes
23. Songs of Mass Destruction – Annie Lennox
24. Year Zero – Nine Inch Nails
25. Shotter’s Nation – Babyshambles
26. The Pirate Queen – Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
27. Brave – Jennifer Lopez
28. Versatile Heart – Linda Thompson
29. Are You Listening? – Dolores O’Riordan
30. Divinidyll – Vanessa Paradis
31. Release the Stars – Rufus Wainwright
32. The Good, the Bad & The Queen – The Good, the Bad & the Queen
33. Life in Cartoon Motion – MIKA
34. The Magic Position – Patrick Wolf
35. Theology – Sinéad O’Connor
36. Nb – Natasha Bedingfield
37. The Best Damn Thing – Avril Lavigne
38. Pictures – Katie Melua
39. Change – Sugababes
40. Family Tree – Nick Drake
41. Keren Ann – Keren Ann
42. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long – Maroon 5
43. New Moon – Elliot Smith
44. Memory Almost Full – Paul McCartney
45. Yours Truly, Angry Mob – Kaiser Chiefs
46. Stardom Road – Marc Almond
47. Noel – Josh Groban
48. Live in Concert 2006 – Barbra Streisand
49. Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired By the Film Knocked Up – Loudon Wainwright III
50. The New Album – LazyTown
51. Awkward Annie – Kate Rusby
52. The End of History – Fionn Regan
53. Raising Sand – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
54. Maths and English – Dizzee Rascal
55. Just Me – Tiffany
56. Long Road Out of Eden – The Eagles
57. In Rainbows – Radiohead
58. Planet Earth – Prince
59. Over the Rainbow – Various Artists
60. Lost Highway – Bon Jovi
61. Not Too Late – Norah Jones
62. Grinderman – Grinderman
63. Blackout – Britney Spears
64. Family – LeAnn Rimes
65. Stay – Simply Red
66. Trip the Light Fantastic – Sophie Ellis-Bextor
67. Disney Channel Holiday – Various Artists
68. Testify – The Simpsons
69. Over the Rainbow – Connie Talbot
70. Don’t Look Away – Kate Voegel
71. Carry On – Chris Cornell
72. Black Rain – Ozzy Osbourne
73. Dignity – Hilary Duff
74. Yes, I’m a Witch – Yoko Ono
75. Music for Lovers – Nancy Wilson
76. Drastic Fantastic – KT Tunstall
77. Dick at Nite – Richard Cheese
78. Lee Mead – Lee Mead
79. Como Ama Una Mujer – Jennifer Lopez
80. Panic Prevention – Jamie T.
81. Light at the End of the World – Erasure
82. D’Elles – Celine Dion
83. Volta – Bjork
84. Twelve – Patti Smith
85. Eat Me, Drink Me – Marilyn Manson
86. Send Away the Tigers – Manic Street Preachers
87. Wild Hope – Mandy Moore
88. Into White – Carly Simon
89. Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys
90. Hand Built by Robots – Newton Faulkner
91. It’s Christmas Of Course – Darlene Love
92. Introducing Joss Stone – Joss Stone
93. This Time – Mel C.
94. Another Side – John Barrowman
95. Sex Change – Trans Am
96. The Mix Up – Beastie Boys
97. Teo and Tea – Jean Michel Jarre
98. Version – Mark Ronson
99. Robyn – Robyn
100. Christmas Song – Mannheim Steamroller

A few days late on this but it’s been playing in the pod thing on the front page since Saturday, minus “Bonnie et Clyde” which I’ll add ASAP. Also it’s iMixed here minus the Vanessa Paradis song.

This was originally a 75-minute playlist like the last one, I always figure if you pass the 45 minute mark you might as well run to full CD length, lol, even if it’ll never see a shiny platter … but I think I found a new way of doing this now. Make the 75-minute playlist, but cut it back to an hour. There’s always something in the way of the flow and in this case it was LazyTown’s “We Will Be Friends”, Enchanted’s “That’s How You Know” and High School Musical 2’s “You Are The Music In Me”. I love all those songs, but they didn’t fit in to the following at all.

I think this is a gorgeous playlist, even if I do say so myself. I guess I said this last year, and I’ll probably say it next year and the year after, but what can I say, I’m so excited by music, and this year was no exception.

1. Once Upon A Time by Air from Pocket Symphony
– Loads of nice tunes on this album, hard to pick just one of them. Kind of like the Charlotte Gainsbourg album they contributed to last year, just, err, without her.

2. Digital Ghost by Tori Amos from American Doll Posse
– I wasn’t sure about this album at the start, it all felt too disjointed, but song by song there isn’t a bad moment and if I weren’t so obsessed with albums being albums (don’t ask me to elaborate on that, ‘cos I’m still figuring it out myself; all I know is, I know when an album works for me lol), this would probably be at the top of the list this year. This one’s been on my mind for months.

3. Sensitized by Kylie Minogue from X
– If you can relate to how excited I was by both this and Belinda Carlisle’s two (one French, one English) versions of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde” this year, I think we’re basically in sync. I more than love this track, it’s more like an addiction.

4. I Lied by Jenna Von Oy from Breathing Room
– This whole album has really grown on me, but I loved this song right from the start. It reminds me a little of Alisha’s Attic, most particularly, “She Ain’t Missin’ You” which I will never forget breaking into a laughter that completely surprised me following a “break-up” (inverted commas ‘cos I’ve kind of smudged that “relationship” out of history). It’s just hilarious, between the L in AnnaSophia’s “possibilities” during “Keep Your Mind Wide Open” and Jenna’s “about … you” here, I’ve been spoiled for cute girl noises this year lol.

5. If the Lights Go Out by Katie Melua from Pictures
– Say what you will about Katie Melua, I’ve laughed at all the gags from Dead Ringers to last week’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks. But she’s put out a lot of instantly catchy and unforgettable songs for just three albums, and this is one of them for me. Can’t get enough of it.

6. Birds by Kate Nash from Made of Bricks
– I’ve told a few people about this song and the best summary I’ve come up with, it’s a chavvy love song, and it’s beautiful. I mean, really seriously beautiful. “Right – Birds can fly so high / and they can shit on your head, yeh? / They can also fly into your eye and make you feel well scared / But when you look at them and you see that they’re beautiful / That’s how I feel about you” (“she said … ‘waaaaaaaaaaaaat?’ lol) Screw the comparisons to Lily Allen … even if they’re right, there’s easily room enough for two of these type of girls.

7. If I Had a Heart by Joni Mitchell from Shine
– The most difficult album of the year, but this one had me at hello, it’s the satisfying gelling of chords on the word “cry”, I love it.

8. Oh Yeah by The Cliks from Snakehouse
– I seem to have a gift of stumbling across some of my favourite artists as support acts. It began with Raphael at a Vanessa Paradis concert – then Iva Fruhlingova at, who knew? a Raphael concert, lol. And now this. I think I might’ve died without ever knowing of these guys if it weren’t for the Shelly Poole gig in September, which we arrived for geekishly early, these guys have a massive following but their time slot had changed, so we were among around 10-20 people to witness their set that night. Every single one of their songs is as good as this one. I only found out later on that Lucas Silveira, the lead singer, is a trans man, which makes the whole discovery even cooler On the night I actually couldn’t figure out for sure what any of them was.

9. Bonnie et Clyde by Belinda Carlisle from Voilà
– I was actually in full swing of rediscovering the wonders of Belinda Carlisle when I found her MySpace page and the news of this album which came out way back in February. The original (as you should’ve gathered from what I wrote about Sensitized) is one of my favourite songs, and pretty much any cover would thrill me slightly. But I love how different this take is.

10. Versatile Heart by Linda Thompson from Versatile Heart
– I’d never heard of Linda Thompson till I heard the relevant Radio Lab podcast (which I’ve been loving this year) which featured a story about her. The album as a whole doesn’t measure up to this title track, but it’s all good, and sometimes, as Bob Dylan is always saying, one song’s all you need.

11. Society by Eddie Vedder from Into the Wild
– I can’t wait to see this movie, and this song, in addition to it being (yes, I’ve noticed) one of the few male singers on the list, let’s just say, I’m interested in my inner workings that made this selection without me even noticing all that.

12. Let’s Start a Band by Amy MacDonald from This Is The Life
– the whole album is astonishing, the way it builds and then peaks and then … simply never stops, it’s exhaustingly wonderful

13. Emmenez Moi by Vanessa Paradis from Divinidylle
– overall, I’ve gotta say, this album was disappointing, but following Bliss was always gonna be hard (I expect the same from Shelly Poole’s followup to “Hard Time…” next year) But I keep listening to this one. It reminds me of the end of a Tarantino movie or something.

14. Section 24 (The Fragile Army) by Polyphonic Spree from The Fragile Army
– another artist I really mightn’t have happened upon were it not for a very specific live performance, in this case on TV on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Just pure energy

15. The Way by Neil Young from Chrome Dreams II
– My favourite track from this album is “Ordinary People” and I just realised now that having cut the list back by 15 minutes, I could now have included it anyway and still fit the list on one disc I don’t much fancy streaming a fifth of a whole album through the pod thing, though, so I’ll leave this really heartbreakingly light track from my favourite album of the year.