Albums of the Year 2019

That was a year of some great music with established artists producing new material and plenty of challenging new artists making an impact. It's always a difficult task to narrow it down to just 10 albums but here's my selection of the best of 2019. I've provided a selection of tracks from each of the albums, so please have a listen and let me have your comments and contributions.

1. The National - I Am Easy to Find





2. Bon Iver - i,i





3. Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA





4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen





5. Beirut - Gallipoli





6. Loyle Carner - Not Waving, But Drowning





7. Kate Tempest - The Book of Traps & Lessons





8. Sean O'Hagan - Radum Calls, Radum Calls 





9. Jenny Lewis - On The Line






10.  Elbow - Giants of All Sizes





Bubbling under: Beck- Hyperspace,  Iggy Pop - Free, The Comet is Coming - The Afterlife, The Specials - Encore, John Coltrane - Blue World.

2016’s best albums

2016 has been a very strange year for all kinds of reasons but amidst all the doom and gloom there's at least been some positive creative forces at work, so here's my list of the top 10 albums of the year. I've provided a selection of tracks from each of the albums, so please have a listen/watch and let me have your comments and contributions.

1. Bon Iver - 22. A Million




2.  David Bowie - Blackstar




3. James - Girl At The End Of The World




4.  Richard Ashcroft - These People




5. Angel Olsen - My Woman




6. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool




7. Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression




8. Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You've Come To Expect




9. Nick Cave - Skeleton Tree




10.  Wild Beasts - Boy King

The Top Twenty Albums of 2011

Here's my top twenty albums of 2011. The top album of the year is The Wild Swans - 'The Coldest Winter In A Hundred Years', but the other nineteen are pretty good too.

Look forward to receiving your lists and recommendations.

1. The Wild Swans - The Coldest Winter In A Hundred Years

2. Wild Beasts - Smother

3. John Foxx & the Maths - Interplay

4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

5. The Horrors - Skying

6. Wire - Red Barked Tree

7. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know

8. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead

9. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

10. Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow

11. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

12. The Unthanks - Last

13. Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys

14. TV on the Radio - Nine Types Of Light

15. Metronomy - The English Riviera

16. Battles - Gloss Drop

17. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

18. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

19. P J Harvey - Let England Shake

20. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials

All the albums are available to preview or purchase from the Amazon widget on the right hand panel of this site.