2010 - Albums Of The Year (20 - 11)

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.



Tomorrow... the Top Ten (d'oh!).

Top Ten Self-Pity Songs (Volume 2)

Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know
He's got his own blog!

By popular demand, I'm back with another pathetic playlist of pity. Many thanks to everyone who suggested songs last time, some of which are included here, others will be featured in the future.

You know the drill by now... this is Radio I Hate Myself & Want To Die FM!

10. Skinny - Failure


"Why have I always been a failure?" asked Skinny in 1998. It must have been doubly galling for them when Moby was such a success.

9. Tom Jones - I (Who Have Nothing)


You know that Cee-Lo Green chart-topper I was raving about? Here's its 1970 predecessor courtesy of the Welsh warbler.

8.Superman Revenge Squad - Pupkin

This homage to Robert DeNiro's King of Comedy deserves a post all its own. I strongly urge you to read the lyrics below, and if they strike a chord, follow the link to Ben Parker's website and give him some money. He has a new record out now.

I've been looking through loads of books of old lyrics that I wrote,
I've been wondering if I have really developed at all,
I used to want to be Billy Corgan now I can't remember what I once saw in those sentimental, over-produced songs he used to sing to me,
I was at home and feeling lonely, he was out there making loads of cash...

Used to want to be a writer
But now I'd take a lighter to those stories
I thought I'd be changing people's lives
I thought I'd have the Booker Prize
Now I realise that they're just lies
People tell themselves because hey don't wanna get a job

What's the point of singing songs you don't believe in
Just 'cos people say they might make you money?
And is Robbie from Eastenders really sexy
Just 'cos people recognise him from the telly?
And if Newsnight Review look at everything you do
And they decide it's crap
Is it really time to pack it in?
And no matter how many times I do this thing
Will I still feel like Rupert Pupkin?

I used to wanna be in Iron Maiden
Now I can't imagine what I'd do
With the money that I'd come into
Just for playing shows and hanging out with Bruce
And spending my spare time with Mötley Crüe
I mean, would I really care
About the people that stare
And point at the spandex clothes that I wear
If it was something I really wanted to do?

What's the point of singing songs you don't believe in
Just 'cos people say they might make you money?
And is Robbie from Eastenders really sexy
Just 'cos people recognise him from the telly?
And if Newsnight Review look at everything you do
And they decide it's crap
Is it really time to pack it in?
And no matter how many times I do this thing
Will I still feel like Rupert Pupkin?

7. Bloodhound Gang - Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me?

Juvenile in the extreme, like The Inbetweeners on record, yet I can't help but sympathise...

6. Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally)


A song that begins with Gilbert being jilted at the altar and ends with the death of both his parents - you can't really blame him for feeling sorry for himself.

See also Nothing Rhymed, a song so monumentally miserable that even Morrissey struggled to make it through to the end when covering it live.

5. Babybird - Unlovable


Speaking of Morrissey... there is, of course, a masterclass in self-pity from The Smiths that goes under the same title as this recent offering from Babybird - you know, it's the one where Moz declares "I wear black on the outside, black is how I feel on the inside". I'd have given my right arm for a T-shirt with that on the front when I was 15 (and it'd only have needed one sleeve).

Babybird's song isn't quite that tragic, but it is a fine example of the quality of work on Stephen Jones's 10th album, Ex-Maniac, released earlier this year. Plus the video was directed by Johnny Deep. Yes, that Johnny Depp.

4. Luxembourg - Single


"I wouldn't wish my life upon anyone else..." sings David Shah on this peerless ode to failing to bother the charts. "I can't spend another summer burning copies of my debut single in my bedroom," he continues, "I can't spend another Sunday crying on the sofa as another opportunity passes me by."

You can download the entire album free from their Last FM page. I'd highly recommend you do that. Now.

3. Nick Drake - Poor Boy

How did I get this far into an appreciation of supreme self-pity without any Nick Drake? Poor, poor Nick Drake - I'll weep for him forever.

2. Ben Folds / Nick Hornby - A Working Day

The opening track to the new Ben Folds / Nick Hornby collaboration. Seriously - Ben Folds and Nick Hornby made a record together. Ben on music and vocals, Nick on lyrics. Until Stephen King and Bruce Springsteen team up, or Morrissey and Douglas Coupland, this is my dream muso-author combo.

Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know
He's got his own blog!

I'm a loser
I'm a poser
Yeah really
It's over
I mean it and I quit
Everything I write is shit

Hey, hey
It's a working day
Hey, hey
It's a working day

Somehow it's reassuring to know that even Ben Folds and Nick Hornby have days like that.

1. Janis Ian - At Seventeen

A song I find almost too painful to listen to. And I'm a boy...

To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
And dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me

Go on world - hurt each other, kill each other, do anything you want!

I just don't care any more.

August Listening

So what am I listening to at the moment? You know you want to know.

First though, for everyone who found themselves staggering under the weight of all that relentless misery last week... This Is A Happy Song by Superman Revenge Squad.



I always found Guillemots a rather frustrating band. They lured me in with classic indie pop singles like Made Up Love Song #43 and Annie, Let's Not Wait then bored my pants off with half-arsed albums full of much beard scratching and muso-noodling. I always felt songwriter Fyfe Dangerfield had great potential... and he's taken a step closer to realising that on his new solo album Fly Yellow Moon.

Earlier this year Fyfe scored an actual Top Ten hit, albeit with a cover of Billy Joel's old cheesefest She's Always A Woman, as featured in some TV ad or other. That's been stapled onto subsequent reissues of the album, but there are far stronger songs here (and songs which fit Fyfe's delicate voice much better - rather than straining to hit some of Billy's notes). When You Walk In The Room, She Needs Me, and this... all good stuff.



Earlier this year, former Delgado Emma Pollock released her second solo album, The Law Of Large Numbers. I remember commenting that certain songs on her previous record (Watch The Fireworks - my 9th favourite album of 2007) reminded me of mid-period Elvis Costello. That's truer than ever here, many of these tracks could fit snugly onto Mighty Like A Rose or Spike... though Emma's got a much sweeter voice (no offence, Declan).



Eddie Argos is back again! Not with Art Brut, not with The Glam Chops, not even with Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now, but with yet another side-project, this one aimed squarely at comics fans... Spoiler Alert! Eddie is a particular fan of DC's old JLI comic book - i.e. The Justice League when they were funny (and worth reading), and the first Spoiler Alert! EP features songs about Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Batman. Available to download for peanuts (you choose how many peanuts) right here.

I used to have this theory that The Divine Comedy got better with each album, in inverse proportion to how many people were buying their records. Much as I still love Neil Hannon, he's tried his best to disprove that theory with Bang Goes The Knighthood. It's a fine record, featuring many good songs, but doesn't quite scale the heights of Victory For The Comic Muse or Absent Friends. It does however feature the first decent song I've heard about the financial crisis...



A recent Radio 2 documentary on Laurel Canyon in the 60s stirred my interest in loads of old hippy songwriters, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Though I'm more familiar with the work of their occasional fourth member Mr. Young, I've been enjoying their mellow greatest hits collection. And boy do I know where Fleet Foxes nicked all their tricks now.



Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer has released an EP of old Radiohead songs played on her magical ukulele. There's a real ukulele resurgence going on at the moment - Louise just bought one, then there's the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain... even Dan's getting in on the act. Radiohead on the ukulele really shouldn't work... and yet, it does. Creep in particular is a work of twisted genius. Download the EP from Amanda's website, Amanda Fucking Palmer dot net.



New Jersey's favourite Bruce-influenced band The Gaslight Anthem are also back with a new record American Slang, and while it's not quite as barnstorming as The '59 Sound it does make me want to go tripping down the boardwalk then sleep on the beach at midnight. They still sound like a tribute band though. A more interesting bunch of Springsteen groupies are Titus Andronicus whose debut The Monitor roars out of Jersey louder and punkier than anything you'll ever hear on E Street. I'm still undecided on whether this is a good thing or not, but they certainly nail their colours to the mast with this song, paying debts not only to the Boss, but to Billy Bragg as well...

"No I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey...
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to die."

Finally, an oldie but... well, an oldie. When I was 14, I thought Dire Straits were pretty cool. Then, like much of the rest of the world, I decided categorically they weren't. Now... many, many years later... I might actually be coming round to cool again. Yes, Mark Knopfler looks like your dad's stupid mate with the Ford Capri, but this is a great song whatever...

June Listening

Where the Indelicates meet Meat Loaf... it's a scary place to live!

Been a while since I did a post on what's filling up my music player at the moment, so here's a quick run-through of some of the tracks that are keeping me from driving off the road on my way to work...



Frank Turner is the best new artist I've discovered this year. Not that he's particularly new, he was originally singer with 'post-hardcore' band Million Dead. I've not heard anything by them, but I guess they were pretty heavy. Around four years ago he went solo, reinventing himself as an angry, lyrically-charged and politicised singer-songwriter, half Billy Bragg, half Springsteen. He's released a number of albums since then, but his most recent, Poetry Of The Deed seems to be the one that's breaking him. It features the semi-hit single The Road, which was enough to convince me to buy the album... and the song above, Try This At Home, which was enough to convince me to buy his entire back catalogue.

Because the only thing that punk-rock should ever really mean
Is not sitting round and waiting for the lights to turn green
And not thinking that you're better 'cause you're stood up on a stage
If you're oh, so fucking different then who cares what you have to say?

'Cause there's no such thing as rockstars there's just people who play music
And some of them are just like us and some of them are dicks
So, quick turn off your stereo; pick up that pen and paper
Yeah, you can do much better than some skinny half-arsed English country singer...

Although I adored the Courteeners debut album, St. Jude, I'd been discouraged from buying the follow-up Falcon after a lacklustre live show at Christmas convinced me their lead singer was a bit of an arse. Still, it's only a fiver now, so I thought I'd give it a go. Glad I did. Liam Fray may have flunked the entrance exam for the Liam Gallagher School Of Humility, but he still writes far better lyrics than those Oasis boys ever managed. A welcome surprise.



My front runner for Album Of The Year continues to show no sign of wilting. Like all classic records, you peel off another layer of intrigue every time you hear it. More diverse in style than their debut, it boasts a lyrical and musical confidence that few other bands have demonstrated in the 21st century, and the fact that it's not been number one on the album chart for the last ten weeks... and it's been all but ignored by the music press... just goes to show. What it shows, I'm not entirely sure, but it's a damning indictment of something.

Because you'll never take enough of those pills
Yeah, you're too clever to be mentally ill
You'll never fashion your damaged soul
Because you're too clever to lose control...

Remember, you can download both albums by the Indelicates here - and choose for yourself exactly how much you want to pay for them. Whatever you decide, it won't be enough.



Normally when I confess my love of classic Meat Loaf, I'm all about praising the Wagnerian genius of Jim Steinman, his songwriter and collaborative loon from the days of Bat Out Of Hell, Dead Ringer et al. Sadly Meat and Stein haven't worked together in getting on for 15 years now, so when I talk about the new album Hang Cool, Teddy Bear - it's all about the Meat.

The truth is, much as I love him, Meat hasn't released a great album since he fell out with Jimbo. And sadly, Hang Cool changes nothing . It's full of overblown nonsense in search of a tune, and I wouldn't recommend it to any but the most diehard Meat fan. That said, as with previous Jimless records, there's usually one or two tracks that make it worthwhile, and this time that's down to lead single Los Angeloser. It's a work of Elvis-In-Vegas camp OTT genius, as is the video. This is music as pure entertainment, and if it doesn't make you at least crack a smile, there's no hope for you, daddy-o!



The laziest slacker in music, Evan Dando, quietly released a new Lemonheads album last year, but it came as no surprise that he couldn't be arsed to write any new songs for it. Instead, he plumped for that time-honoured tradition of lazy slacker songwriters everywhere: the covers album. A fine selection of re-interpretations they are too, including Townes Van Zandt's Waiting Round To Die, Wire's Fragile, Leonard Cohen's Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye and Tim Hardin's How Can We Hang On To A Dream? There are a couple of misfires: a bizarre stab at Dutch electronica (Dirty Robot, featuring Kate Moss on vocals) and Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, which has already been covered by everyone from Clem Snide to Elvis Costello to our cat Murphy. But they're more than made up for by the song above, Layin' Up With Linda, originally recorded by shock punk GG Allin (and if you want to know what I mean by 'shock punk', wikipedia him... but only if you've got a strong stomach). It's one of those songs that hooks in your head on first listen, and it's perfect for the Evan Dando growl.



You know when you start properly listening to an artist and you wonder how you ever survived without them? When's the last time that happened to you? For me, it was a couple of weeks ago when I finally got round to buying the first 3 homemade albums by Superman Revenge Squad (you can order all three here for just £2.50 each + 50p p&p - another bargain). The track above explains exactly why he's making music, and why you should be buying it.



Hoyt Axton is perhaps most famous as Zach Galligan's dad in Gremlins. But long before that he was a successful songwriter, penning hits for Three Dog Night (Joy To The World), John Denver, Steppenwolf, Ringo Starr and others. Probably the most famous track he recorded himself was Della and The Dealer, a song I remember hearing Terry Wogan play regularly before the radio went arrogantly ginger. It's a little nugget of country genius, and I can't get enough of it.