Tunes and albums of 2010

It's that time of the year again, where lists are being compiled all over the place. At some point I plan to go through my own personal gig and theatre highlights to see if I've actually achieved anything myself in 2010, but on a less scary/self-obsessed note I strongly believe it's been a good year for music. Every year I compile myself a 'best of' CD with my favourite tunes from the 11 and a bit months that has just flown by, and I have to admit that last year I was slightly disappointed - it was supposed to be my musical highlights of 2009 - a whole year - yet there was the odd filler in there. None of that this year though, it's all solid gold, a delightful mixture of favourite artists still doing the industry proud, sprightly young bands who have made me smile, and established acts whom have previously slipped under my radar. All in all, to fit on an 80 minute CDR for my car, I managed to squeeze 18 songs in, and just for the sake of it here they are:

My favourite songs of 2010 in no particular order:
ED HARCOURT - Haywired
VILLAGERS - Becoming A Jackal
BEN FOLDS & NICK HORNBY - Picture Window
SLOW CLUB - Giving Up On Love
JOHN GRANT - Where Do Dreams Go To Die?
MONO TAXI - Love Shows No Mercy To Fools
THE TRAVIS WALTONS - Millionaire
STORNOWAY - Fuel Up
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN - I Want The World To Stop
FYFE DANGERFIELD - High On The Tide
EMMA POLLOCK - Nine Lives
REVERE - The Escape Artist
BADLY DRAWN BOY - It's What I'm Thinking
CHRIS TT - Words Fail Me
DAVID FORD - Hurricane
ELVIS COSTELLO - A Voice In The Dark
LOCAL NATIVES - Aeroplane
THE DIVINE COMEDY - I Like

Listening back to the CD now, it's been an absolutely awesome year for music. Single of the year? Probably got to be MONO TAXI - Love Shows No Mercy To Fools, great single from a band equally as good live as they are on record.

And whilst I'm at it, might as well work out my top 10 albums of the year, simply because I have a night in this evening ahead of the crazy gig stuff, and all my writing deadlines have been hit so I'm actually a little bored. These are in order, simply because I personally think it's important to have a 'favourite album of the year'. Not sure why that's important, but it is to me.

My top 10 albums of the year, in order:
1. DAVID FORD - Let The Hard Times Roll
2. SLOW CLUB - Yeah So
3. BEN FOLDS & NICK HORNBY - Lonely Avenue
4. VILLAGERS - Becoming A Jackal
5. THE DIVINE COMEDY - Bang Goes The Knighthood
6. ED HARCOURT - Lustre
7. FYFE DANGERFIELD - Fly Yellow Moon
8. JOHN GRANT - Queen Of Denmark
9. STORNOWAY - Beachcombers Windowsill
10.BELLE & SEBASTIAN - Write About Love

In a different world, Elvis Costello - National Ransom, would be in there, but I'm still getting into it, and in about 2 months time I'm likely to be saying it's the greatest thing I've ever heard - but as with a lot of latter day Costello the joy comes from the time you invest in it. The top two in the above list are very tied - I've been playing Slow Club all year, they're a brilliant band that lull you into a false sense of security by fooling you that they are a twee folk band, but lyrically they are both honest and cutting, whilst tracks like 'Sorry About The Doom' are just beautiful. But David Ford pips it for me - the most complete pop/rock album I've heard in years, played with passion, energy and again it's the lyrics which steal the show. It's an album that got me through a tough month a few months back, and not many albums could have done that, this one summed it up perfectly for me whilst also offering fresh optimism at the same time. Saying that, I was obsessed with Fyfe Dangerfield's debut solo album for a long time in the first half of the year, and how many times have I had Ed Harcourt's latest blaring out of my car as I wished I was him? Lots of times. But then again Villagers could easily have topped my list, as it's probably the album I've played most in 2010. Ahhh, maybe having one favourite isn't such a good idea after all...