Happy New Year! and top 10 cds
Happy New Year!
And so to my top ten CDs of the decade which has just ended. The ranking of these is more or less random in the sense that if I drew the list up tomorrow the order could change depending upon mood. The exception is the number 1 of which I have not been in any doubt.
As mentioned previously the criteria for selecting these has been that it was new music released since 1 January 2000 which has “stuck” with me for some reason or taken me to somewhere unexpected when listening to it.
At number 10 we have Of Milkmaids and Architects by Martha Tilston (2006). This album is a little gem of thoughtful and playful lyrics set against catchy melodies. This was one of those albums which was an immediate delight when I bought it and which has not faded one bit with the playing of it and it is the playfulness and warmth which sustains it for me I think.
Number 9 is a different kettle of fish all together – In Absentia by Porcupine Tree. This seems to me to be a defining album for them and is why I selected this rather than Deadwing (which is one of my equal elevenths); I enjoy their earlier work but this was a turning point in their evolution as a band when they embraced a harder sound without abandoning their lyricism or gift for melody.
To number 8: Trisector by Van der Graaf Generator the re-emergence of VdGG as a recording and gigging band was a great thing and the gig I saw in 2005 at the ABC in Glasgow was probably the best I’ve ever been to. Present, their album in 2005 was a marker that they still had it, but Trisector is something else again – edgy, complex and difficult but shot through with genius.
Number 7: is tricky – the artist is the late Martyn Bennett but I cannot decide between Glen Lyon or Grit, both of which would be worthy entrants. Bennett took the world of traditional music by the saggy bits of its pants and dragged it round the room a few times before giving it a good kicking. His early death was a tragedy, as is the fact that I am not aware of anyone who has really followed where he led.
Number 6 surprised me a little as I only heard it for the first time a couple of months ago. Brassens, la revolte tranquile by Goun is a collection of versions of songs by George Brassens which diverges radically from the originals in form but gets to their heart in spirit. It was an eye-opener for me in the way the songs are presented and has freed up my imagination in respect of my own approach to Brassens.
And so to the top 5.
Number 5 is Cast a Bell by 1651 which is almost entirely a collection of tunes from Playford’s English Dancing Master (published in 1651) but played much more freely as musical pieces rather than in their usual dance forms. There are elements of traditional music and jazz shot through it but it is a work of master musicians at their peak and never fails to entertain.
At number 4, Trespasser by Chris Wood. This took a while to grow on me but once it gets its a grip on you it doesn’t let go. Again not an easy first listen but worth the effort. Wood has a way with a song which is sometimes described as uncompromising but is more like a complete commitment to the song and a willingness to let the song take its own time to speak on its own terms. There is also a version of John Ball on here which is melodically simple but harmonically extremely complex in a way which suggests a fine musical mind at work. Like Goun above at number 6, hugely influential on how I think about presenting songs.
And so to my top three and at number 3 is another which surprised me when it popped into my consciousness as I compiled this list. The cd is Surreal by Shane Speal. Shane is sometimes grandiosely hailed as the King of the Cigar Box guitar and this cd, short though it is, indicates the worthiness of his ascent to that throne. What marks this out is both his unswerving commitment to homemade music on homemade instruments – primitive art in the proper sense – and also his sheer musicianship which shines through this release.
Number 2: is the self-titled album by The Imagined Village which is as great a leap forward for English music as Martyn Bennett was to Scottish and specifically in its embracing of the multical cultural reality of England. Sheila Chandra’s singing of The Welcome Sailor is magnificent and only topped by a complete re-imagining of Tam Lyn (a Scottish song!) by Benjamin Zephaniah and Eliza Carthy.
Number 1 was never in any doubt from the moment I decided to write this list. And The Tin Pan Bended and the Story Ended is a recording of Dave van Ronk’s last performance recorded shortly after he received his cancer diagnosis. I have always thought that he knew when he was performing that that this would probably be his swansong and it is magnificent – his playing, singing, the song selection and the anecdotes. Had he still been alive this would have been hailed as his masterpiece: as it is it is his epitaph.
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