I am on a bit of a roll today (two posts in one day after none for eons)
Anyway, as it is the time of the year for awards and look backs, I wonder if you would permit me to give you my 'Best of 2008' and invite you to do the same....
Here then are my suggested categoires and my 1-2-3. Let's have your choices...
Here then are my suggested categoires and my 1-2-3. Let's have your choices...
BEST GIG OF 2008 ATTENDED
1) The Stranglers - Birmingham Oct
2) The Stranglers - Cardiff Oct
3) Bruce Springsteen - Cardiff
(I saw Strangs 8 times, plus Bruce, Editors, the Pistols and Oasis)
BEST ALBUM OF 2008
1) Glasvegas - Glasvegas. Utterly compelling. The Mary Chain meets Phil Spector meets The Proclaimers. Melodies to die for.
2) Coldplay - Death and All His Friends. I genuinely can't believe I am voting for a Coldplay record - I normally HATE Coldplay. But this happens to be a pretty amazing collection.
3) Hugh Cornwell - Hoover Dam. His best ever solo album. Excellent.
I also liked other 2008 releases by The Gaslight Anthem, The Killers, The Hold Steady Oasis and Keane. I also had the Kings of Leon album for Christmas which sounds pretty funky after a couple of waxings.
BEST FILM of 2008
1 The Dark Knight. I don't normally love superhero flicks but this was outstanding.
2 The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Loved the book - film made my entire family cry.
3 In Bruges. Fantastic black comedy. Includes THE line of the year - 'you can't give horse tranquilizer to a midget'.
I also enjoyed Spanish horror movie The Orphanage, The Other Boleyn Girl (because it was partly filmed around the corner from my house) and The Quantum of Solace because no-one else seemed to get what was actually a pretty smart movie.
BEST TV SHOW of 2008
1 The Wire. See previous post. Outstanding.
2 The Office. (An American Workplace) Possibly, just possibly, better then the Brit version now. Wonderful characterisation.
3 Match Of The Day. My love of football is as big as ever.
PERSON OF 2008
1 Barack Obama
2 Jet Black (aged 70 and still on a rok-it to the moon)
3 Adrian Chiles (I just like the guy and most people here regard him as my doppleganger!)
THE 'WELL I WOULD'....FANTASY LIST
1 Katherine Jenkins. She may be Welsh but that is the only bad thing I can say about her...
2 The woman who plays Carla in Coronation Street. Defines the word 'foxy'
3 Nigella Lawson. OK, a bit predictable for a man of my age but you've got to admit....
MY PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2008
1 Visting Auschwitz - nuff said
2 Interviewing all four Stranglers for their tour programme and seeing the band seven times
3 My daughter doing well in her GCSEs (and yes she would understand being beneath the other two!!)
Right, boys (and gals?) over to you.....
Best of 2008 for me were
ReplyDelete1. Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
The greatest group in the world released this, almost casual album, after their three previous and deliberate masterpieces. It reminds me now of a lovely summer. Ara Batur is the highlight, a Stardust-level kids choir and orchestral blow out, and a lovely song, tenderly sung.
2. Audrey. The Fear and the Longing.
All girl Swedish post-rock group Audrey didn't even release this one over here, which is a shame as some of it is just heartstopping. They sound much more confident than on previous releases, different singers chime in at different points, something always happens in their songs. I think they're wonderful.
3. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie.
Deerhoof release an album a year, they're always great and here they are again.
4. Sloan - Parallel Play.
No match for their previous record, the max-out power pop opus Never Hear The End Of It - where all 30 songs were good, and a good 20 or so were great. This time only Jay Ferguson's songs are up to snuff, but hey ho.
People of 2008
Not Adrian Chiles for starters. I hate that guy. Ever hear him do 606? Christ, he has more contempt for the morons that ring in about 'their' teams than I do. Remember him actually moaning that Tamworth didn't give the BBC a live TV FA Cup upset when he and the crew turned up a year or so ago?
Music-wise, I can't add anything to Mas's selections. What has irritated me this year has been the ever more desperate and pathetic attempts of the music and film industry to persuade us that copying and downloading stuff is a bad thing. They've never got this right since the olden days - from scare tactics (Home taping is killing music) to recent appeals to our social conscience (You wouldn't steal a car...). But "Knock Off Nigel"? Jesus...
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to emusic which is good value I think and has loads of indie and jazz. The new Amazon MP3 service looks OK but the pricing is still too high on the whole. Every now and then I'll download something from iTunes.
ReplyDeleteI did download the MGMT CD from Limewire for nothing, I feel a bit bad about it though, espcially as HMV have it for a fiver. maybe I'll pick ip up when I go to get the new Animal Collective album on Monday.
But yeah, there's enough on the Red Telephone blog (on the homepage here) alone to keep me going for years without ever spending another penny on music.
Yeah, like you I tend to pay for music by current bands I like. But there's so much music available on blogs like Red Telephone (good find Mas) and others that would otherwise be unavailable without free downloads. I've just tried the free trial subscription to emusic, and will probably continue with it. I don't yet use our ipod to play music through the hifi that often, although Arcam make a high-end dock that's supposed to radically improve the sound, so I may invest. I think pro-ject make one too.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Can we add links to blogs on here, or do you have to do it?
I think we can all add links to blogs. Give it a go. Let me know if you have any problems. x
ReplyDelete