2017 in a nutshell

Everything we feared about 2017 didn't quite come true. We thought we might not see the years end. The horrendous foreboding of 2016 shuffled to a close and the threat of impending doom hung over the planet like a massive Circus Tent containing the most terrifying clowns and freaks. Trump, Kim Jung Un, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, all the buffoons blundering along fucking the whole shooting match up.

Pretty much everyone except the most staunch euro-sceptic and/or ignorant racist bellend thinks Brexit is a terrible idea. Organised by a ramshackle group of grey faces with dead eyes and dead hearts and nothing rattling around in their vastly inflated heads. We don't know if in the long run that being out of the EU won't be a good thing but is it worth the misery in the short?

The Grim Reaper kept his scythe to himself for the most part, perhaps waiting to see if he had the whole field of human life to sow. That could be yet to come.

But... BUT.... while there's moonlight and MUSIC and love and romance, let's face the music and dance.

My albums of the year, are as follows:

1) Desperate Journalist - Grow Up

2) Paul Draper - Spooky Action

3) Ghostpoet - Dark Days and Canapés

4) Big Moon - Love in the 4th Dimension

5) Johnny Flynn - Sillion

6) Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

7) Morrissey - Low in High School

8) Marika Hackman - I'm Not Your Man

8) Lost Horizons - Ojala

9) Laura Marling - Sempa Femina 

10) Noel Gallagher - Who Built The Moon

11) Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice

12) Slowdive - Slowdive

13) Unqualified Nurse Band - Trashland

14) Reverend and the Makers - Death of a King

15) The National - Sleep Well Beast

16) The Horrors - V

17) Menace Beach - Lemon Memory 

18) Flo Morrissey & Matthew E White - Gentlewoman, Ruby Man

19) Ryan Adams - Prisoner

20) Alt-J - Relaxer

The anticipation for Paul Draper was fever pitch amongst his merry band of followers and it went far beyond not disappointing. If it had been released to a world where a band like Desperate Journalist didn't exist then it would have been number one but when a record like "Grow Up" possesses 11 flawless songs, it lost out. And then after those two, the shock of finding an album like "Dark Days and Canapés", a record that wouldn't normally enter my radar but didn't leave my turntable for weeks.

Personally, 2017 was a step forward. I saw my name in print for the first time as a freelance writer, in the excellent Loud and Quiet, a proper, old fashioned style music paper, and Louder than War Magazine, the legendary publication started by John Robb. 2018 can only mean things getting better. It's getting exciting.

On that front I'm looking forward to the new Hookworms record, "Negative Space" is an absolute banger, and I don't use that phrase lightly, and the debut from the amazing Shame. They are such an exciting new band, full of piss and vinegar, angry and intelligent, but as rock'n'roll as fuck. Booze, drugs but brilliant tunes. Live they'll be something else entirely.

Live wise, there are gigs already booked in, another Desperate Journalist gig in London in January to make it the 6th time I will have seen them in a rolling twelve months, Hell is for Heroes with A and Vex Red and a two night double salvo of Paul Draper playing Attack of the Grey Lantern in full in February. Then in March the much maligned Morrissey at Brixton Academy. The year will peak early.

A Happy New Year to you all, let's hope we see it through. But if we do all go up in a nuclear apocalypse, please let's make it after March when I'm back from Reykjavik and NYC.

Paul Draper

Paul Draper is my idol. He has been ever since the early knockings of 1997 when I was given a cassette (ask your Mum and Dad kids) by a school friend of three of Mansun’s first four E.P’s, containing Take it easy Chicken, Stripper Vicar, Wide Open Space, Drastic Sturgeon, Moronica, The Edge and more.

Tomorrow I will be in Manchester watching his second ever solo gig, and only his second in fourteen years. Next week I shall be at the Scala in Kings Cross seeing him again and I will definitely be going to at least one of his dates in 2018. I bought 5 copies of his debut solo album, Double White and Double Black Vinyl, 2CD & DVD, CD Digipack and Cassette. I am 36 years old. But I am not alone. In fact, I may even be conservative in my fandom.

People who were teenagers in the 70’s had Bowie, Bolan and Mercury. Androgynous pop chameleons who turned heads and the music world upside down. Come the 90’s we had “lads”. Oasis lads, Blur lads, Britpop lads. I love these too. But they weren’t original. They were The Beatles, Slade, The Stones, The Kinks, The Small Faces, The Smiths, The Stone Roses. What were Mansun?

At that point, February/March 1997, they were a strange mix of The Sex Pistols, Prince, Queen and Bowie. I can’t claim to be a huge fan of any of them. Quite the opposite, with the exception of Queen, and to a lesser degree The Sex Pistols (who doesn’t own Never Mind the B*llocks?), I grew up with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones etc but definitely not the others. Paul and Chad wore Vivienne Westwood and bondage trousers and both had big, coiffured hair and were sexually ambiguous. I was nearly 16 but was not confused. I had a handle on my sexuality but nonetheless, they were beguiling and fascinating. Paul looked incredible and to hear about his perspective on those days, he seems to be almost dismissive of their style, which if anything makes it even better.

Who couldn’t be styled by Paul Smith, wear Fred Perry or Ben Sherman and have a Mod haircut, wear a beany hat and Adidas trainers? In fact, if you watch the Take it easy, Chicken video, there is Paul, baggy everything and the stereotypical hat and trainers. So, he consciously changed the image of the band, and this certainly wouldn’t have been a stylist from Parlophone. People would contrive to be like Liam Gallagher or Damon Albarn or Richard Ashcroft. Mansun were contrived to be like no one else at that time. It wasn’t to look cool. It was to be odd and p*ss people off.

Above all though, the music was amazing. Bizarre, twisted, weird conceptual lyrics. Bond theme like, 80’s synths, Beatle-esque sieges, acoustic elements and essential guitar hooks.

Within a few weeks of playing that tape to death, the fifth E.P “She Makes My Nose Bleed” came out and I followed my instincts and bought both copies of the CD. Probably the most chart friendly song released up to that point, despite the mass appeal of Wide Open Space a few months previous, this was back in the day when you’d see your favourite bands on Top of the Pops (it feels like I’m talking about being a kid in the 70’s) and I even recorded it on VHS (just keep your Dad close at hand kids) and watched scores of times. My hazy recollection now has Paul wearing tartan bondage trousers. I could be wrong.

And only a couple of weeks hence and the album was out. The magnum opus. “Attack of the Grey Lantern”. Me and the same friend who provided the tape rode straight from school to town at 3.15pm, and Our Price. That evening, in the dark back room at my Mum’s (nothing spooky, I just didn’t turn the lights on when the sun set) I was doing some GCSE coursework and played AOTGL on repeat. To this day, the strings of “The Chad who loved me” conjures the memory of being in front of the computer, darkness all around me and then Paul comes in “All comes crashing down, on your desperate icon”. Gives me the chills writing that now.

It’s lived with me ever since. More so than any other album in the past twenty years. It’s terrifying to think it’s that long ago, but it is incredibly fitting that my idol has his debut solo album out and is playing his debut solo shows. I never had a doubt that the record, Spooky Action, would be incredible, and of course it sounds like Mansun. It has AOTGL synths, Six’s off the wall, avant garde style and even Little Kix’s pop with some songs written around this period and for what turned into Kleptomania. Then, it has a whole new perspective with Catherine AD’s co-writes and Jon Barnett’s great drumming, different to Andy Rathbones but no less effective.

For some reason I feel quite emotional about the coming gigs. Not because any of the songs are attached to anything specifically painful or even the opposite but the band, the man, the albums and the songs have been a constant for the past two decades. Everything that I’ve lived through has been soundtracked by his voice, never more than a month or two off duty.

For a reason buried deep into my psyche I didn’t see Mansun again after the rescheduled Guildford Civic gig in January 1999 from the Six tour. Within a few months my A Levels arrived, University, student poverty, post Uni debt in 2002 and then they’d split within the next year.
I was lucky enough to see them four times. The first was a matter of weeks after AOTGL arrived at Reading Alleycat and it remains one, if not the number one gig I’ve ever been to. Dark, moody, he barely spoke but it was the most exciting thing I’d ever seen.

Now, here we are. Following the top 20 success of Spooky Action it looks like it’s going to be marathon rather than a quick sprint. Album number two, more gigs, more amazing music as I creep ever closer to 40.

We know there’s going to be one or two or maybe three Mansun songs in the set, whatever those songs are, you may see me with a tear in my eye or I may have gotten over my nostalgic whimsical moment and just be enjoying the now. Which I will be doing anyway.

It’s just really fucking exciting.

Have a ball everyone!!

2016 - in brief - Annus Horribilis

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun”

Did no one pull John Lennon up on that lyric? Did Yoko not say “Hey, a new one hasn’t begun, you idiot, it’s still December at Christmas, what’s wrong with you. You’ve not been anywhere near as good since you stopped writing with Paul. Now get back in your cage and write better words or no Christmas pudding for you”

No probably not.

Here we are again. Nearly the end of the year and once again the saturation of the music publications Top 200/100/50/10 Albums, Tracks, People, Events, Nail Varnish Colour, Biggest Twat etc etc ad infinitum. Some are definitely worth reading (the ones where I’ve been asked my opinion mostly ha ha), some are so generic and just trot out the obvious names (here’s a hint for those of you who have somehow missed them, it’s Bowie or Beyoncé. EVERY.TIME) and maybe Bowie’s is great but, shock horror, I’m sorry, I’m just not that much of a fan at all I’m afraid.

I started this entry with the same thing I said last year and I’m going to repeat myself again. No matter how hard I try, I still don’t have a clue who half of the bands or artists are in these lists. These aren’t obscure magazines and websites either, these are you more well known sites like DIY, NME, Sterogum, Guardian and so on and so on. I swear I’ve never seen or read a single thing about these performers and yet these aren’t the readers vote a lot of the time. These are the writers and contributors.

 The other thing is that my list includes bands and artists almost completely missing from these lists, with a couple of exceptions (Radiohead). This isn’t unusual in itself, but considering a number of them are due to rave reviews and write ups by these magazines, it’s strange these don’t appear but those aforementioned do.
Anyway, it’s been a bit of an odd year, basically waiting for which great music icon, comedian, actor, writer or thinker would kick the bucket next. There have been some brilliant records, some awful records, some great tracks and some bollocks, but the stench of death and political, social, economic and human disaster has hung heavy over our heads, so much so that it’s tainted almost everything.
For what it’s worth, these records, artists and bands containing genii and lovely people, have made it all a bit more bearable.

Albums of 2016

1) Ultrasound – Real Britannia
2) Evans the Death – Vanilla
3) Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
4) Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial
5) Ryley Walker – Golden Sings that have been Sung
6) We are Scientists – Helter Seltzer
7) Unqualified Nurse  Band – The Debasement Tapes
8) Haley Bonar – Impossible Dream
9) The Anchoress – Confessions of Romance Novelist
10) Jack White – Acoustic Recordings

Songs of 2016

1) The Roundabout – Ryley Walker
2) Blue Remembered Hills – Ultrasound
3) Soul Girl – Ultrasound
4) God’s Gift – Ultrasound
5) Kon-tiki - Ultrasound
6) Burn the Witch – Radiohead
7) The Numbers - Radiohead
8) Feeling my Heart Run Slow – Paul Draper
9) Friends Make the Worst Enemies – Paul Draper
10) Don’t You Wait, It Might Never Come – Paul Draper
11) Hollow –Desperate Journalist
12) Buckle – We are Scientists
13) We Need to Have a Word – We are Scientists
14) Maybe we’ll Drown – Menace Beach
15) Leave, Leave, Leave – M O S E S
16) Give it your worst – False Advertising
17) Suitcase Jimmy – Evans the Death
18) Sweet Heart Deal – Bivouac
19) Citrus – Animal Daydream
20) Terrified – Isaac Gracie
21) Don’t Get Taken – Acid Dad
22) Vincent – Car Seat Headrest
23) Do you still love me – Ryan Adams
24) Give Blood – Menace Beach
25) I’ve been so lost for so long – American Football

(They aren’t in any particular order, they’re all brilliant. I’ve listened to a lot of songs this year and these are the best)

Best E.P’s

1) Paul Draper – EP TWO
2) Paul Draper – EP ONE
3) M O S E S – EP
4) Isaac Gracie – Songs from my bedroom
5) Acid Dad – How to plan a robbery

I’m not going any further than that. There are enough lists out there as it is.

I will just say that whilst those in the know will spot that the Ultrasound record only came out on 2nd December (vinyls pending) I was fortunate enough to interview the lovely Vanessa Wilson, bassist and vocalist extraordinaire back in September and was given a sneaky stream of the album before so I have had the pleasure of it aurally caressing my lugholes for a few months now and it is a bleedin’ masterpiece. I definitely got the impression when talking to Vanessa that this was the album that they always intended to make when recording ‘Everything Picture’ back in the late 90’s. Still a sprawling, gargantuan record but more succinct and immediate. A bite size edition, despite the 20 minute closing song ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ which is really a cyclical medley of songs, with a theme running through it’s core. It’ll be a treat if played live, hopefully if a tour is forthcoming in 2017.

To next year. With any luck, it won’t be greeted like this years string of dead. The good news already is that there are a swath of brilliant new albums scheduled for release.
Album Two for both Menace Beach (Lemon Memory) and Desperate Journalist (Grow Up) are due in the first part of the year, along with Mark Morriss coming off the back of the 20th Anniversary of “Expecting to Fly” by releasing his third solo record of his own work (2015’s The Taste of Mark Morriss being all covers), there’s the sixth album by the stunning Laura Marling (Semper Fermina), Elbow return with album seven (Little Fictions) and Ryan Adams returns post the eponymous album and his take of Taylor Swift’s “1989” with his seven hundredth record (Prisoner). Prolific.

There's also anticipated new albums from Father John Misty, Noel Gallagher, the debut solo record from Liam Gallagher, Temples, Royal Blood and many more that'll get really boring to keep listing and even more to read. Bloody lists.

For those of us who aren't necessarily full of Yuletide joy, have a restful, peaceful break and drink and eat a lot. And listen to fuck loads of music. Definitely all of the above.

As for the rest of you who aren't sick of the sight of a Santa hat, bored of Noddy Holder screaming “It's Christmas” and haven't eaten all the decent Quality Street already, MERRY CHRIMBO!!

As long as Trump doesn’t begin the apocalypse and we aren't cut adrift by the EU without a pot to piss in, 2017 is already shaping up to be ace.

2016 so far

I had to take my time and think about this. Last year I separated the year into quarters mainly because the first three months of 2015 was so good, I felt I couldn't justify only a half yearly comment on what had come so early in the year.

This year, well, without wanting to piss on any bonfires, hasn't lived up to the same dawn of hope and excitement. It helped I had two records pre-ordered from before Christmas last year, and there was nothing with a release date I was anticipating greatly this.

There has been a couple of nice records. Villagers - Where have you been all my life is a pleasant re-working of Conor O'Brien's back catalogue and Nada Surf released their 7th record You know who you are which is distinctly listenable, especially "Cold to see Clear". They just aren't brilliant.

The Anchoress, aka Catherine AD aka Catherine Anne Davies, in conjunction with God-Like Genius Paul Draper of Mansun fame, released Confessions of a Romance Novelist, which is a strong collection of songs, a great vocal performance and beautiful production which gets better with each listen. It just didn't set my pants alight. There was no tingle , no sensation of electricity up the spine.
I may be being unfair. I'm a massive Paul Draper fan girl, and I'm waiting with bated breath for the debut single, One E.P and then L.P Spooky Action. This is the support act, and that is probably doing it an injustice.

That was kind of it for albums in quarter one. What did excite was a handful of E.P's and singles. Issac Gracie is someone to keep an eye on. More soul and heart than James fucking Bay, more talent in his right bollock than Zayn Malik has in his whole body and better song writing than Chris Martin has managed since 2002. Stand alone single, Last Words is stunning and he's followed it up with an E.P, Songs from my bedroom, basically demos which demonstrate a special musician at the cusp of greatness.

There's been a lot of hype across the pond, especially in New York about Acid Dad, who brought out Let's Plan a Robbery E.P, with lead track Don't Get Taken a barnstorming opener.

Back home in London, M O S E S are rippling the surface of the water with a couple of brilliant tracks, Low and Cause you got me.

There was also the protracted release of Anna B Savage's E.P, side A are her first four tracks, appropriately named by roman numeral, I, II, III, IV and then on side B, a live recording from Café Oto.

If any of those can sneak out a long player before the year is out, it could round things off perfectly.

So far, without a shadow of a doubt, the best album I have heard this year, was released last year, and I feel ashamed and frankly ridiculous for not listening to it then. It is a masterpiece. It was the album on everyone that matters lips, and I missed it.

I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty, is a record of such humour, lyrical dexterity, brilliant melody and simplistic songs that it's almost flawless. It's the sound of someone in love who just does not give a shit who knows it, who he tells or how he says it. I'm not going to lie, I draw parallels with the relationship I have with my wife, and our life, our habits, our little strange behaviours and our neighbours.

It is my album of the beginning of 2016 and it came out months before the end of last year.

It seems April had only just started when there came a flurry of announcements. Biffy Clyro debuted Wolves of Winter from their forthcoming new record Ellipsis, Richard Ashcroft is back from hibernation with another solo album, Bears Den have appeared out of nowhere with news of a second long player and We are Scientists have created a brand new genre of music, Helter Seltzer (which is an absolute belter incidentally, but i'll tell you about that in July)..

All this does pale into insignificance a touch when it comes to the Paul Draper releases. In only a few days time I'll be holding his debut single in my grubby mits and come June we'll have an E.P to behold, followed by the album in August. Today Steve Lamacq premiered the lead track Feeling My Heart Run Slow, which was initially debuted back in 2014 at the Mansun Fan Convention, but with the benefit of a year or so of tinkering and a sheen of production technique we get this monster of a tune.

It's been a slow start to the year, it's just about to pick up and explode.

Back to the Vinyl: The 2015 Awards

I don’t know about anybody else, but I find the end of year lists a little bit intimidating.

This year I have tried my upmost to stay in touch with what’s going on, follow the right magazines, blogs and purveyors of all things cool in the music biz, I’ve even been writing about new music for the bastions of brilliantness, When the Gramophone Rings, but it appears I am still vastly out of touch.

There are those who pick up the complete unknown and give it a leg up and crow about their brilliant digital only E.P recorded in their bedrooms, but then are those who do mix it up and have your bigger names with the majors behind them or one of the bigger independent labels but will also include just anything they love.

Without naming names, I was perusing the Top 100 list by a magazine I respect and enjoy the writing and enthusiasm and spirit with which they write, but out of those 100, I could count the number of albums I’d LISTENED to, let alone LOVED on one hand. Ok maybe two hands. Still, 10% is not a good figure. Unless it’s a discount on a record you want to buy.

Considering there have been an array of great records by legends of the game, top bands of the last ten years and some smaller fry making a big noise, you’d think they’d have made a bit of an impact on a Top 100. What you also should take into account is that I wouldn’t exactly say my favourite albums of 2015 are littered with big names but some aren’t getting a look in on these lists. I feel a bit overwhelmed really. Is all this stuff really that good?? Am I really missing out on ninety flippin’ brilliant records??

Firstly, I’ll address a couple of albums that have gone over my head a little that seemed to garner universal praise. Father John Misty’s I Love you Honeybear is generally regarded as a classic this year and I feel I may need to give it more of a chance. The title track didn’t knock me sideways but

it seems as a whole, it’s a knockout record. One to go back to. Kurt Vile I blive I’m goin dwn (or however it’s badly spelt) sounded pretty good when I streamed the first few tracks but again, I wasn’t chomping at the bit to order it. Pretty Pimpin’ is an earworm, so that’s another to investigate further.

I won’t prattle on about my favourite album of the year. I’ve already done that for W/T/G/R and you can read that here: http://whenthegramophonerings.com/2015/12/11/albums-2015-eaves-green-feels-like/

I also won’t flap gum about No.2 and No.3 as I think I have mentioned these two enough over the year.

Instead, I’m going to do a lovely list of records, songs, bands, artists, and other such nonsense that you’d normally find on a voting form from NME or Q or any other major magazine. Because as much as you might protest and moan in comments sections, you all love a list. So you can moan about what’s there and what’s not there.  

So, without further ado…….

Albums of 2015

    1)     Eaves – What Green Feels Like

    2)     Desperate Journalist – Desperate Journalist

    3)     Menace Beach – Rat World

    4)     Wolf Alice – My Love is Cool

    5)     Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

    6)     Guy Garvey – Courting the Squall

    7)     Idlewild  - Everything Ever Written

    8)     Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter

    9)     Noel Gallagher – Chasing Yesterday

    10)  Blur – The Magic Whip

I like the Noel Gallagher record. Fair enough, you may not, but I don’t really care. I’m not sure when it became unacceptable to think that. Why he is so derided but it’s cool to like Carly Rae Jepson or Taylor Swift. For my money, neither are writing/releasing better songs than Noel, but that’s just me.

Next up, Tracks/Songs of the Year. Potentially an inexhaustive list of songs but I’ve tried to whittle them down to 25…

    1)      George Glew – Bury Me

    2)      Desperate Journalist – Heartbeats

    3)      Tree Machines – F*cking Off Today

    4)      Eaves – Pylons

    5)      Wolf Alice – Giant Peach

    6)      Editors – Marching Orders

    7)      The Staves – Black & White

    8)      The 1975 – Love Me

    9)      Anna B Savage – I

    10)   Blur – Lonesome Street

    11)   Ryan Adams – This is where we meet in my mind

    12)   Kassassin Street – To be Young

    13)   Saltwater Sun – Wild

    14)   Desperate Journalist – Perfect Health

    15)   Guy Garvey – Angela’s Eyes

    16)   Idlewild – All things Different

    17)   Noel Gallagher – The Right Stuff

    18)   Embers – The Bitten Tongue

    19)   Tree Machine – Arms Length

    20)   Eaves – Jack Madness

    21)   The Magic Gang – Jasmine

    22)   Ryan Adams and Johnny Depp – No Shadow

    23)   Screaming Peaches – Sad Kid

    24)   The Shanklins – See Through

    25)   Courtney Barnett – Small Poppies

I bet there aren’t many of you out there who know George Glew. “Bury me” is the only thing he released this year, or has ever released. It’s incredible. His howling like he is in pain sends shivers up the spin. Don’t take my word for it. Listen below:

https://soundcloud.com/georgeglew/bury-me-demo

I think last year I only did a list of 5 so you can see how good this year has been.

Quick breakdown with the winners of the big awards as chosen by me:

Best Band: Wolf Alice

New Band: Desperate Journalist

International Band: Tree Machines

Solo (Male): Eaves

International Male: Ryan Adams

Solo (Female): Anna B Savage

International Female: Courtney Barnett

Most Anticipated for 2016: Paul Draper

Best Comeback: Blur

Best Unsigned: Kassassin Street

Live: Johnny Marr

Compilation: Sensible Records RSD Comp

Live Album: Ryan Adams Live at Carnegie Hall

Cover: Mark Morriss – Lucretia (My Reflection)

Well there you have it. So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over…blah blah blah!!

2016 is going to have to go some top that.

But here comes Paul Draper’s solo album!!!

Quarter 3

July and August are odd months for albums. Most bands will have had their records out before the festival season really takes over so it can be a case of slim pickings. Or in some cases you've spent all your money on going to festivals you can't afford any vinyl before September arrives.

In the spirit of this there is a slight deviation from the strict rules of the albums having had to be released between the beginning of July and end of September.

Having said that there have been some cracking stuff put out, some that haven't been of the L.P format and one will sneak into the list but it is a five track E.P.

Alongside this, honourable mentions must be made to some great singles released during this period that have thrown themselves across my radar, mainly due to me writing for 'When the Gramophone Rings' the ace new music website that concentrates on introducing new bands and songs and getting those streamed instantly. Of those I have written about the excellent Shanklins, Communion and Screaming Peaches alongside blog stalwarts Desperate Journalist, Eaves, Tree Machines and Menace Beach, some will be mentioned further later, they have released and made available some amazing music over the past few months (of which you can read more about on the website, or via @gramophonerings on Twitter.

So, to the top 5 records from Quarter 3 of 2015.

1) Mark Morriss - The Taste of Mark Morriss (see review)

2) The Maccabees - Marks to Prove it

3) Menace Beach - Super Transporterreum E.P

4) Ryan Adams - Live at Carnegie Hall

5) Honeyblood - Honeyblood

Now, wait, wait. I know what you're going to say, Live at Carnegie Hall came out in April and Honeyblood wasn't even released this year. Somehow the fact a nice and succinct 10 track version of the multiple vinyl edition of Ryan Adams solo concerts in New York existed evaded me and it wasn't until late June/early July, I can't quite remember which, that I ordered it. So apologies, but it is too bloody gorgeous to be missed off, because whilst it is brilliant, it also might not make the ultimate Top 5 of 2015 so it had to be added to a quarterly review at some point.

Honeyblood came into my field of consciousness only very recently, due to my involvement with WTGR and a recommendation by an uber fan. They played at Victorious Festival and were aces, so thanks to the joy of internet shopping and apps for many a supplier of all things record shaped, it was ordered before the final ringing chord had time to fall silent.

As aforementioned there have been some epic singles and streams abound, some form part of E.Ps and deluxe edition L.Ps that drop in October so are out of contention (although this month has made something of a farce of those rules).

Desperate Journalist, whose debut eponymous L.P only arrived in January, release an E.P 'Good Luck' with the stupendous 'Perfect Health' concluding the 5 track disc (for further flowery description, please see my review on WTGR). Menace Beach, another whose debut only landed at the very start of the year, brought us "Ghoul Power" from No.3 on the list above (again, another lovely little write up on the lovely WTGR). Tree Machines returned following their first 8 track E.P with a triumvirate of singles, the stand out being the haunting 'At Arms Length' (and again, see an Introducing piece on.....that's right, you've got it) and finally Eaves is adding an extra 4 song disc to the utterly brilliant "What Green Feels Like" album, including the fucking gorgeous 'Jack Madness'. The name Nick Drake has been used in conjunction with him in many articles and reviews but this is very influenced by the likes of "Parasite" from 'Pink Moon' and "The Fly" on 'Bryter Layter'.

Already my mind wanders to who will make the pinnacle of the all important Top 5 record of 2015 from Back to the Vinyl. There are strong contenders, some are shoe-ins for a place in the much sort after five positions, but who will be Number One?

Will there be a last minute album arrive and steal the crown like Hookworms did from Royal Blood last year. Or will something from nearly 12 months previous hold off all comers and be victorious.

It's tantalising stuff and I can hardly wait myself. Although I think I already know. But you don't (although you could probably make a good educated guess).

As Charlie Bucket said to his old Grandma at the end of Roald Dahl's classic tale "Just you wait and see".

Mark Morriss - The Taste of Mark Morriss

The first thing you need to do when reviewing an album is to find out about your subject. Gold Flake Paint wrote about the quick, first impression opinion pieces that are chucked out by music writers under the weight of hundreds of new releases, when reviewing the new Maccabees record, and how it can be useful and not to be dismissed entirely; but if you’re writing for an on-line zine or blog you clearly have an interest in the band or artist, so a bit more research should be done.

This is pertinent as when you first put on ‘The Taste of Mark Morriss’ you are greeted by “This Pullover” by Jess Conrad. Some got this. Some recognised that Mark is sharp of wit and sarcasm and if you’ve seen him live, read an interview or even met him, you will know he is quick with the put down, self-deprecating slight or funny quip. Therefore, if you put this record on and hear this novelty, throw away ditty, it’s BECAUSE the tongue is wedged firmly in the cheek and, taken in conjunction with the brilliantly cheesy, camp, 80’s pastiche album cover, is THE TASTE of Mark Morriss. The real business starts with track 2 and ‘Rock’n’Roll Women’ by Buffalo Springfield.

You see, whilst this isn’t going to be an impartial review as such, I have done a bit of homework. I’ve read a few reviews, mainly to gauge the feeling for this album. It mainly seems to be the uber fan or the uninitiated. In fairness, this isn’t necessarily a good introduction to Mark. The title isn’t “ A Taste..” it’s “The Taste”. Mark’s taste in music. If you want an introduction to Mark Morriss you should start with The Bluetones and then listen to the first two solo records. The big fans from the very beginning, in the main, are big fans of this.

One of the reviews put it that you couldn’t listen to this record of covers without comparing to the originals. I had the opposite problem. I couldn’t have sung you anything off this before I first put it onto the turntable, with the exception of ‘Duchess’ which I’d seen played live. Oh and the video for ‘Lucretia (My Reflection)’ he’d released a bit before. There were a couple of acoustic versions of ‘Angel’ floating about, but my point is these weren’t songs I owned or had any great affection for. Which made this less of a covers album and more purely just a new Mark Morriss album. So not really a problem.

However, there were a number of moments of familiarity. Almost déjà vu. This came first with ‘Rock’n’Roll Women’ but that is somewhat of a classic although my exposure to Buffalo Springfield is minimal.

If you are coming to this record from the position of being at a similar age to Mark, then the slices of 80’s OMD, Madonna, Sisters of Mercy, REM, Pet Shop Boys and Jesus and the Mary Chain  you will be well-acquainted with. I, on the other hand, was 15 when ‘Expecting to Fly’ came out in 1996 so wouldn’t have had quite the same relationship with the 80’s pop as you. I was still absorbing The Beatles in 1985 and my parents weren’t Goths or big fans of synth-pop. ‘Don’t you want me baby?’ by Human League and Ultravox were probably the zenith of their interest. I remember liking Tears for Fears and Nik Kershaw, so if he’d decided to do “Shout” or “The Riddle” or “Wouldn’t it be Good” I would have had something to compare and contrast.

As it is, I was a relative newcomer to these songs and this may have helped me take this record at face value and not whether each song was better or worse than the original. Subsequently I have embarked on an investigation into these songs and listened to each of them as they were initially intended. In almost every case, I have to say, I do actually prefer Mark’s versions. He clearly has put a lot of love and affection into creating a sympathetic  version that doesn’t dismantle the original but makes a cover version worthwhile. Sometimes that is just about being true to the original, like he does with “Duchess” or even “Love Comes Quickly” where he keeps the synth heavy 80’s sound. Sometimes however, just being himself levitates these songs, in the cases of “Self-Control” or “Good Advices”.

Then there are those where he has taken the song, pulled it apart and then added revamped and pimped elements to change the style of the song, no better an example in “Lucretia (My Reflection)” which has become more of an urgent, rolling anthem than the original gothic, brooding slow metallic rendition by The Sisters of Mercy. It is almost a completely different song except for the lyrics and melody. This and “Rock’n’Roll Woman” are two stand out tracks.

“Angel” and “Almost Gold” are flipped on their heads. Madonna’s bubble-gum pop and JATMC’s dark overtones are swapped to great effect, their placement next to each other given meaning.

“Souvenir” by OMD and “Don’t Let Go”, a Weezer song that passed me by from the Green Album, aren’t the strongest of songs and when held up against Mark’s Bluetones and solo compositions, don’t quite measure up. There’s nothing wrong with them but maybe he could have tackled “Gone Fishing” by the latter. That would have been glorious.

It’s difficult to criticise other reviews of the album if they are coming at it from a different angle to myself. I personally think it’s a triumph. Other people may love the original versions so these renditions may not be their cup of tea.

Can’t say I care really, everyone has an opinion. Mine is, this is great.