Get Ready

Far more important than Grammies, Oscars, Brits, American Music Awards and all the other back-slapping, champagne guzzling awards ceremonies are of course the Neil-ies. Yes, my own extremely personal top ten list of the CDs that have given me the most pleasure over the past 12 months. Baited breath no more, the results are out. This is the list that you have all been waiting for. However unlike all the other (inferior) awards, mine are not in reverse order, and not in any order actually. As with all listings, everybody will disagree with the content - that is the whole idea of all awards anyway - but like it or lump it, this is my list:

NEW ORDER - Get Ready
I make no apology for being a lifetime New Order fan. A nine year wait since Republic was nine years too long. This one was fresh, new, but still distinctively Sumner & Co. But with input from Billy Corgan and Primal Scream, it had a sharper edge. Crystal one of the singles of the year too. Just a pity the album only had ten tracks. Note to the band: Please make another one before I retire in 30 years time.

STEREO MCs - Deep Down and Dirty
What is it with nine years and comebacks? Like New Order, the stereo MCs also took a virtual decade to return, following their wonderful Connected album back in 1992. Yes this new CD took up where that left off, but I have no problem with that. A funky, urban style that was so wrigglingly dancy but nicely messy and genuinely real. Masterful, exceptionally groovy and never long out of the CD player. Play it, then play it again.

SPIRITUALIZED - Let It Come Down
How could it compare with its predecessor, the epic Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space? Extremely well actually. Gospel choirs, huge string sections, and a moody atmosphere that you could cut with a knife. It was ambient, it was indie, it was indescribably good. An epic CD. Quite humbling.

EELS - Souljacker
A good song should paint a picture, but these canvases were true masterpieces. Not boy-band pretty, but a ramshackle yet vivid selection of American society's misfits. Every track a striking image of the underbelly of life. Painfully clear, if more easily ignored. The usual Eels repertoire belongs in the moody bag, but this one rocked. But still made you cry. Awesome.

TRAVIS - The Invisible Band
I really wasn't expecting to like this one. Yes I hummed to Driftwood, and sung along to Why Does It Always Rain On Me, but I feared the Scot-rockers had run out of steam. Wrong. Undoubtedly mellower than before, with previous power riffs traded in for 60's harmonies. Still some deft lines, wrapped around easy to digest melodies which resulted in something as cuddly and comforting as an old sweater. Amazing staying power for ongoing listening, and not the fluffy cop-out that many critics suggested.

ASH - Free All Angels
The first single boded well. That was Shining Light. Guitars were back in fashion. Brit-pop was not dead after all. Neither was the melodic side of punk either. Ash flew the flag for the real deal. Unbounded vigour and truly infectious passion made Free All Angels red-hot and steaming. An uncompromising, huge wallop of sound that wasn't just decibels, but awesome tunes to boot. Cum on feel the noize.

CHARLATANS - Wonderland
Somehow they seem to just get better. Their previous Us And Us Only was supreme, but Wonderland had the edge. Funkier, yet rockier, darker but still with a fragility. So Tim Burgess went a bit falsetto on us for a couple of tracks, and the album even included a rare (but awesome) Charlatans instrumental tune, but what a testimony that some bands don't give up, and develop for the better. One to test the power output of your system. Play it loud.

BJORK - Vespertine
Proving that music boxes could be trendy, Iceland's most famous export proved to be a real ice maiden. Once again she was sharp and inventive. An album full of tunes pure crystalline white, crisp and delicate. Brim-full of atmosphere, chilling yet somehow simultaneously warm. But she is the mistress of paradox, who else could be so open yet intensely personal? Her most accomplished album to date. Sparkling.

SUZANNE VEGA - Songs In Red And Gray
Cutting edge? No. Gobsmackingly different? No. But it was a cool clutch of simple songs that sounded better than ever and just didn't get tiring. Another of America's lesser heroines supplied a gem of an album that hardly got noticed. An uncluttered orchestrated affair, with background strings, warming mandolins and downbeat drumbeats that took nothing away from the charm and appeal of her voice. Riddles in the words, ripples in the music, candor in its execution.

JAMES - Pleased To Meet You
Not rousing, spectacular or any quick fix, it took more than a few listens for its strands of beauty to start weaving together. Tim Booth's voice nagged it's way into your psyche, and the album morphed from mystery to a tapestry of majesty. Not an arty conceptual CD nor a big pop album either, the tracks were the mark of a band who followed their musical instincts rather than the draw of the cheque book. Every band should make an album this good once in their career, but few do. Now that Booth has quit, this may turn into their epitaph. And a proud one it is too.

There you have it. No Kylie, no Strokes, no Wu-Tang Clan, no Paul Weller and no Starsailor? but if I was going to have a top 20, then they would probably make it to the list. So are these the best albums of the year? Who knows, but they are the 10 offerings that have graced my CD player more than any others - and still do. Thank goodness you disagree with me - otherwise we'd only have ten titles in our catalogue.

Neil Chase
Music Editor