Album Of the Year, 2012

Quotation Of The Day ~ William Shakespeare: If music be the food of love, play on.

This is the last installment in my year-end wrap-up, boys and girls.  Late, i know, as blogger boss doesn't seem to allow me to embed videos here easily anymore. I would have loved to include vids here, and i did discover a workaround, but it's a pain in the arse and tedious and all, so you're on your own there.  Search YouTube.

Anyway, here, in no particular order, is a list of all of the CDs i bought in 2012:

Jane Siberry – Meshach Dreams Back
Ian Anderson – Thick As A Brick 2 Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball Big Wreck – Albatross
Roy Wood – Music Book George Harrison – Early Takes, Vol.1 Joan Osborne – Bring It On Home
The Trews – Hope & Ruin Peter Hammill – Consequences Florence And The Machine – MTV Unplugged Keane – Strangeland Joe Bonamassa – Driving Toward The Daylight Colin James – Fifteen Van der Graaf Generator – Alt Chantal Kreviazuk – In This Life Billy Talent – Dead Silence Matchbox Twenty – North Dead Can Dance – Anastasis
Saga – 20/20 Van der Graaf Generator – Live In Concert At Metropolis Studios Marillion – Sounds That Can't Be Made
Alanis Morissette – Havoc And Bright Lights The Tragically Hip – Now For Plan A Rory Gallagher – Blueprint Rory Gallagher – Jinx The Albion Christmas Band – A Sound In The Frosty Air Bruce Guthro – Celtic Crossing Roger McGuinn – CCD The Albion Band – The Vice Of The People Steeleye Span – Now We Are Six Again Judy Collins – Bohemian Calum & Rory MacDonald -- The Band From Rockall  Green Day -- ¡Uno! Not a lot, compared to my heyday when i would buy c. 100 CDs a year, but now, at my advanced age, i go for quality over quantity. And it was really tough to choose a top three. There were some great albums. It was really painful for me to have to exclude Joan Osborne --it occurred to me recently that she is my favourite female vocalist of all time, ever, yes, even above dear Kate Bush. And excluding Calum & Rory McDonald's album was a tough decision, too -- so much of it sounds like Runrig, and my devotion to Runrig is well-known, So here, after much soul-searching, are the top three.  (Drum roll, please, Mr Percussionist.) #3:  Bruce returns to form with a vengeance with this one, primarily on the strength of the song "We Take Care Of Our Own," but really, there isn't a duff track on the album. #2: Billy Talent's latest album almost made the top spot, with two superb singles ("Viking Death March" -- see previous post -- and "Surprise Surprise") and it was a very close call, but ultimately, the album i've played more than any other this year has been (ta-daaa): Three great singles, and i wish i could embed the vids for all three but blogspot.com has been buggering me about on that issue.  They are, however, "Albatross," "Wolves" and "A Million Days." I'm afraid you'll have to look 'em up on YouTube until i sort this problem out. Anyway, tough choices, i know, but proof positive (IMFFHO) that music isn't dead -- the music industry is in a sorry state but music itself is alive and well. Oh, and before i migrate this mess of a blog to WordPress or somewhere, here's the playlist: Green Day - ¡Uno! Jane Siberry - Child (Music For The Christmas Season) Waterson:Carthy - Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand Steeleye Span - In Concert Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow The Albion Christmas Band - A Sound In The Frosty Air The Beatles - Happy New Year (1962 bootleg) Sandy Denny - Like An Old Fashioned Waltz Gong - The Best Of Gong Nick Lowe - Basher: The Best Of Nick Lowe Yes - Union Madonna - American Life (no, really!) Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley The Pretty Things - The EP Collection SRC - SRC Rod Stewart - A Spanner In The Works Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown Peter Hammill - The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage Faces - The Best Of Faces: Good Boys ... When They're Asleep Buddy Guy - Skin Deep Happy New Year, everyone!