Albums of the Year 2008

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Another superb set from Nick Cave, here reunited with possibly the best garage band in the world - the Bad Seeds. It’s by turns sinister and blasphemous, poetic and passionate. The controlled chaos that gets more addictive with every play. Life begins at 50, dontcha know.

Key Track: Today’s Lesson

Sum Up: Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll to raise the dead

 

Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Their break-through record, long overdue. I bought this on the back of their fine live performance at Glastonbury in summer 2008. The subsequently awarded Mercury Music Prize was well deserved. Guy Garvey is a warm yet slightly unlikely frontman keeping his Bury accent when he sings. Elbow get my award for the gig of the year too, they played in Leeds last autumn with their string section – a magnificent and convivial night that got me digging out their previous records.

Sum Up: A diverse set of emotional incidents, fragile ballads and epic arrangements

Key Track: Starlings. Opens the album and the current live set.

 

Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

I fear that this band may be soon over, such was the velocity of their rise and the expectations generated this year. Seldom has a band been more hyped and then been more disappointing. Yet their single, I’m Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You is pure pop genius, the kind that arrives rarely in a generation. The other songs on their debut are shallow in comparison, a melange of the B-52’s, the Magnetic Fields, Sparks and, curiously, Tamla Motown, with vocals heavily reminiscent of The Cure’s Robert Smith. The album feels rushed, while employing guitar-god Bernard Butler for production duties adds nothing except an unwelcome glossy sheen. Top all that with a decidedly average live gig. So why does this album make this list? Well, their energetic party pop might not change your world but they’ll make you smile. And for that, be thankful.

Sum Up: Too Much Too Young

Key Track: I’m Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You.

 

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

Listen to those four-part harmonies, intelligent lyrics and terrific tunes with strong melody and counter-melody. There are rich instrumental textures and a high level of musicianship too. Think of a meeting between The Band, Neil Young and the Beach Boys. A record that grows slowly at first but insinuates itself more deeply with every play. Refreshingly different.

Sum Up: Netherlandish Proverbs, Mr Bruegal?

Key Track: White Winter Hymnal

 

Barry Adamson, Back To The Cat

Ex-Bad Seed, Visage and Magazine bassman, Barry Adamson has released eight solo albums often referred to as soundtracks to imaginary films. This is the ninth, with jazz, lounge and soul added to the Lalo Schifrin movieology. It’s a musical version of Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks. Adamson plays most of the instruments and adds cool hipster vocals to these seedy low-life vignettes. Yet another 50 year old too.

Sum Up: Sleazy noir-ish stories from the beaten side of town

Key Track: I Could Love You

 

David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

28 years on from the legendary collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts there's a new album from two rock legends, originally available only as a download. Don’t expect a dazzling compendium of experimental samples and ethnic rhythms this time around. Instead, expect David Byrne’s strongest album since Talking Heads finally called it a day. Byrne provides the lyrics and vocals, Eno does the music and those little Eno-things. Right from the start the music is joyous and strangely redemptive. Talking Heads fans will find much to enjoy here, these songs wouldn’t be out of place on their ’77 or Little Creatures albums. All that’s missing are Chris Franz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. Fat chance of a reunion.

Sum Up: Those Oblique Strategies still work for me, Brian

Key Track: One Fine Day