...It’s that time of year when everyone feels inclined to do their lists of best things, whether it’s books, films, politicians (as if) and inevitably albums. We would not be a credible record shop if we did not follow suit and nail our fave listens of the year down in a list for you our customers to peruse, puzzle over and dismiss as a load of cobblers.
So this year we’re bring you not one list, not two lists but FOUR whole lists. Here is a list of our lists:
1) Tallbird Albums of the Year – that’s the records Simon and I could both bear to listen to at the same time whilst working in the shop together and which we played the most.
2) Maria’s Albums Of The Year – which is in addition to all the ones on the first list and basically all the ones Simon was less keen on.
3) Simon’s Albums Of The Year – all the albums he most enjoyed playing when I wasn't in the shop to moan about them. Sadly the National album had not yet been released at the time of writing.
4) Tallbird’s Biggest Selling Albums of the Year
First things first then –
TALLBIRD ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (cue fanfare!!!)
And in no particular order apart from we both loved Ichabod’s “Too True To Be Good” the most, simply for being a work of genius and beauty, that makes us laugh and cry (sometimes both at the same time) and because Ichabod (aka Kieran Smith) is one of Chesterfield’s greatest musical talents deserving of greater recognition. Special mention also for another Chesterfield outfit “Restless Spirits AKA” whose album features fantastic musical contributions fromTallbird employees past and present, as well as name check for the shop itself, and not to mention the poetic mastery of another of our favourite local heroes Matt McAteer – if you only buy two albums this year make it these two!
1) Ichabod Wolf – Too True To Be Good
2) The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstacy
3) Liz Lawrence – Peanuts
4) Richard Hawley – In This City They Call You Love
5) Marika Hackman – Big Sigh
6) Katy J Pearson – Someday Now
7) Orlando Weeks – Lola
8) Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan – Your Community Hub
9) Restless Spirits AKA – Looking Back From A Distance
10) Loma – How Will I Live Without A Body?
MARIA’S LIST
I’ll keep it brief. There’s not been a Wet Leg release for me this year (by that I mean an album that I instantly fell in love with and played on repeat for months on end, boring anyone within earshot about how much I loved it) but a few of these came close, especially the debut from Sprints and Lava LaRue:
1) Sprints – Letter To Self
2) Lava La Rue – Starface
3) King Hannah - Big Swimmer
4) Four Tet – Three
5) V/A - The Horizon Is On The Horizon
6) Pokey LaFarge – Rhumba Country
7) Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer
8) Hinds – Viva Hinds
9) Thee Sacred Souls – Got A Story To Tell
10) Beyonce – Cowboy
SIMON’S LIST
Simon kept it briefer. I asked him for 100 words to describe his favourite and number one album on his list but in the end he summed it up with just 10: “One chord and shouting, but brilliant once chord and shouting”:
1) Idles – Tangk
2) Nadine Shah – Filthy
3) Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia
4) English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
5) Jane Weaver – Love In Constant Spectacle
6) Fontaines DC – Romance
7) Nick Cave – Wild God
8) Honeyglaze – Real Deal
9) Public Service Broadcasting – The Last Flight
10) Our Girl – It Will Be Fine
TALLBIRD'S BIGGEST ALBUMS OF 2024
Which brings us to the biggest selling albums of the year, in effect the list chosen by you our customers and as you can see there is some cross-over (though neither Simon nor I rated the Cure album and Taylor Swift’s songs leave us cold, sorry!)
1) Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
2) Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets’ Department
3) Fontaines DC – Romance
4) Frank Turner – Undefeated
5) Oasis – Definitely Maybe= Richard Hawley – In This City They Call You Love
6) The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstacy
7) Paul Weller – 66
= Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
8) Liam Gallagher & John Squire
= Ichabod Wolf – Too True To Be Good
9) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God
= David Gilmour – Luck And Strange
10) Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard & Soft
And there you have it - that's us all listed out. Hopefully you'll approve of some of our choices, perhaps there's one or two you might like to explore further, and maybe there's a couple that you firmly disagree with - we'd love to hear what's floated (and sunk) your boat this year - so comments welcome.
Wishing you all a very Happy 2025 (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a new Wet Leg album which will be number one of my list next year, I can guarantee it!)
*The eagle-eyed among you will notice that there was no Kiss on our list. That’s because a) we don’t like Kiss and b) they haven’t released any new albums this year and c) I just wanted to keep up the tradition of giving my blog titles names of songs. Sorry to disappoint!
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