Now he spent time in Dallas And he told a tall tale Met John & Jackie on the campaign trail And he was there in the room When Oswald was led away Newsreel footage, taken at the scene Oswald and Peel 11/24/63
It's time to fold the tent The empire's no more Tell your majesty it's over John Peel sailed on
And so I conclude the 2010 review with my customary countdown of my favourite albums of the year. The usual provisos apply... including the one about me no longer caring about being seen as remotely cool, so nyah nyah if you don't like Meat Loaf, get over it, you fake hipsters... and the one about me not having heard every single record that was released in 2010 - not even every single one I might actually want to hear, and there being loads of stuff I'm either just getting round to or haven't even bought yet that may well blow some of the albums listed below completely out of the water...
But really, if you need all that spelling out to you... what are you, an idiot?
These were the records that kept me from ploughing into the back of countless Audis throughout the course of 2010...
20. Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now! - Fixing The Charts Volume 1
With no new Art Brut record to big up, Eddie Argos teamed with his girlFREN, Dyan Valdes (of The Blood Arm) for an album of amusing answer songs. It filled the gap till the Brut get back.
19. The Courteeners - Falcon
Difficult second album syndrome plagues the Courteeners - yet that debut really took some beating...
18. Superman Revenge Squad - Dead Crow Blues
A songwriter I seriously learned to love in 2010, though his latest release wasn't quite as marvellous as the previous three. Newbies should start with 'This is my own personal way of dealing with it all' and work their way up. The older records are available for an insanely cheap £3 (inc. P&P) from Ben's website.
17. James - The Night Before / The Morning After
Tim Booth and the gang came back with a bang with two themed mini albums, the first an upbeat Saturday night record, the second a thoughtful and touching comedown. Stand out track of the latter is told from the perspective of Booth's elderly mother, now living out her twilight years in a retirement home. It's a choker.
16. Meat Loaf - Hang Cool, Teddy Bear
Meat Loaf without Jim Steinman is like toast without butter, but as it's unlikely those two will ever kiss and make up, Marvin's latest stab at OTT immortality manages better than most. As you'd expect, he throws in everything it can get its hands on - from Justin Hawkins to Jack Black to the kitchen sink - turning it all up to 11 and praying. One track even features Hugh Laurie on piano. If we can't have Jim Steinman... this is about as good as it gets.
15. The Divine Comedy - Bang Goes The Knighthood
Now officially a national treasure. So treasure him!
This video features Neil and his blow-up doll. A love story for the ages...
14. Thea Gilmore - Murphy's Heart
Still the greatest contemporary British female singer songwriter... still criminally unappreciated.
13. Lloyd Cole - Broken Record
Another national treasure, though he long since deserted us for the States. Growing old gracefully, he even brought a proper band along with him for his latest album... but stopped just short of causing a commotion.
12. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
The best and worst that can be said of this is that it's just another Hold Steady record. Hardly groundbreaking, but it does exactly what it says on the tin.
She said I just can't sympathise with your rock 'n' roll problems...
11. Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn
My second best new musical discovery of 2010 (the first will be revealed tomorrow), Amanda Palmer's debut solo record was one of my top five most listened to discs this year. Unfortunately, it was released in 2008. This is the record she did release this year, a cabaret concept album that tells the story of two Siamese twins, Evelyn and Evelyn, their circus life and tragic romantic demise. It's unlike anything else I heard this year, which is always a good thing.
My second gig of the week - and final gig of the year - was James, a triumphant hometown performance at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday night. It was, as James gigs always are, a memorable event - packed with hits, and highlights from the two albums they released earlier this year (The Night Before and The Morning After). As somebody always remarks at a James gig, you forget how many great singles they've had. Not just the obvious ones like Sit Down, She's A Star and Laid, but stirring and inspirational tracks like Sometimes, Say Something, Come Home and my personal favourite (it brings a tear to my eye if I'm in the right mood) Tomorrow.
For a while though, it looked like I might not make it to this gig at all. All because of the weather... and the weather forecasters.
I'm starting to think weather forecasters should not be trusted. I'm starting to think they haven't a clue what they're talking about. I'm starting to think they should all be taken out in the street and shot.
To be fair, the rest of the country seems to have suffered quite badly in the weekend's snow, while our own little pocket of the Pennines (West Yorkshire and Manchester) appears to have escaped relatively unscathed. The forecasters though, they were determined to sow fear in all our hearts. All last week they were giving out dire warnings that the snow would stop me getting across to Manchester... so I decided to be on the safe side and post the tickets to Dave (who lives on t'other side of the hills) so that at least one of us would be able to go.
The tickets didn't actually arrive till Wednesday (bloody slack promoters!) so on Thursday morning I popped into the Post Office (well, I say 'popped' - what I actually mean is waited half an hour to be served, though not in a queue as our post office doesn't believe in queues anymore, they now operate a rubbish numbered ticket system). Knowing that the Christmas post is unreliable, I chose the Guaranteed Next Day Delivery option...
"That'll be £5, please. Oh, and because of the snow, they've lifted the guarantee."
"Hang on... so what exactly are you charging me £5 for then?"
"Well, they'll try their best to get it there... but if they can't, because of the snow, they won't refund you or pay you any compensation."
"So what's the difference between just sending it First Class for 35p?"
"Oh, that wouldn't be guaranteed at all."
"But this isn't guaranteed at all."
"No, but they'll try their best."
If the tickets didn't arrive Friday, chances are Dave wouldn't be able to go to the gig either. But if I didn't take the risk and it snowed, neither of us would be able to go. So I paid the £5 and crossed my fingers.
On arriving home, I checked the weather forecast again. It had been revised. All mention of Heavy Snow had lifted for our area. If this new forecast was to be believed, the tickets would arrive no problem, wearing sunhats and bikinis. But if this new forecast was to be believed, I needn't have sent them Special Delivery in the first place.
The new forecast was, for once, accurate (minus the sun hats and bikinis). The tickets arrived, I got across the Pennines, the snow stayed away (mostly - though the rest of the country has descended into a new Ice Age) and all was well.
See, I'm not just here to tell you about when things go wrong. Every now and then, they don't. I still had to pay a fiver for absolutely no reason at all... but it could have been worse. It could always be worse.
Went into Cafe Nero today. Ordered my usual black coffee to take out.
"Would you like a biscotti to go with that, sir?"
"Tell you what, call it a fucking bisCUIT and I might."
As mentioned a couple of weeks back, I'm back on the drugs. Specifically caffeine. And for no other reason than because I didn't have enough room in my Top Ten TV Songs for Blur... here's my Coffee Countdown.
Some of the greatest songs ever written take place in the wee small hours of the morning, yet typically they're written from the point of view of a lonely, down-at-heel loser who's only companion is a whiskey glass. Otis bucks that trend by writing a small hours love song. They're just sitting here talking over cigarettes and coffee - with Otis on the stereo.
I'm a big fan of the classic girl-groups - from the Supremes to the Shangri Las... and for a second - just one second - All Saints came closer than most to recapturing and updating that sound. Ultimately they failed, but give them some credit...
Recorded in the original sessions for the Pleased To Meet You Album, this was subsequently relegated to b-side status when Brian Eno stepped on board the good ship James as producer. A shame, because this would have been the best track on the album. Perhaps Tim Booth realised this - he quit the band for 7 seven years after its release.
0
comments
