Thursday, December 21, 2006

2006: TOP TEN ALBUMS

Well everyone else is doing it so let's join in. With some mp3s for evaluation purposes.

Firstly honourable mentions to Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura, Willard Grant Conspiracy, The Mountain Goats, Beirut, James Yorkston and Darren Hayman.

And for the first time I've tried to put my Top Ten in (reverse) order:

10. Keith John Adams 'Pip' [buy]

Listen: 'Inconsequential Thought'


9. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan ' Ballad of the Broken Seas' [buy]



8. Stuart A Staples ' Leaving Songs' [buy]



7. Current 93 'Black Ships in the Sky' [buy]

The texts for this album were started following an intense dream I had that Black Ships had entered our skys in preparation for the arising of the final Cæsar and for the Second Coming of Christ. In subsequent dreams I saw geometric faces , colours, words and shapes falling into my head. They appeared as a multitude of images; they were dreamlike yet vital, manifesting as processions of characters and scenesand dialogues that shifted between being utterly lacking in conventional perspectiveto that of being hyper-dimensional. I commenced writing furiously, and the words of Black Ships Ate The Sky are the recording of this period in my life.

Listen: 'Black Ships Ate The Sky'


6. Cat Power 'The Greatest' [buy]


Listen: 'Could We'


5. Neil Diamond '12 Songs' [buy]

Listen: 'Hell Yeah'


4. Clinic ' Visitations' [buy]

Listen: 'Family' and 'Tusk'


3. Pere Ubu ' Why I Hate Women' [buy]


2. Howe Gelb 'Sno Angel Like You' [buy]

Listen: 'Paradise Here Abouts' and 'Howlin' A Gale'


1. The Broken Family Band 'Balls' [buy]


Listen: 'I See How You Are' and 'Diamonds in the Mine'

The Archivist

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

great choice with Neil Diamond's 12 Songs.The album creeps under your skin and is hard to forget.Unlugging Neil Diamond's sound this way turned pure gold for Rick Rubin.Since Neil has that kind of beautifully rough voice that Johnny Cash did.But still at the top of his game as a songwriter.

The Archivist said...

Can't agree more Anon. And there's a deluxe version due out with bonus CD of demos too.