Counting Down

 2020's greatest hits....

If you’d told me on January 1^st 2020 that I’d only get to see 2 gigs, but would read in excess of 50 books, I simply wouldn’t have believed you. As it was, Alex Rex’s barnstorming launch party for Andromeda, supported by the equally wonderful Lavinia Blackwall at Platform, ending the Celtic Connections Festival, was the last live set I saw. The other had been a free gig for Burns’ Night at The Cumberland with Francis MacDonald, which was warmly appreciated. It’s nice to know the Scottish theme will continue into 2021 with new albums promised by: Arab Strap, Alex Rex, Jill Lorean, Mogwai and Teenage Fanclub.

Equally surprising, neither Alex nor Lavinia’s releases were my album of the year, being bested by Ed Askew’s masterful London, which was in turn kept off the top spot by Cornershop’s triumphant, anthemic two-fingered salute to all the intolerance and hatred we have to live through; England is a Garden truly is the best hour of 2020.

Elsewhere, it was great to rediscover Bauhaus in their entirety and to treasure Jill Lorean’s flawless solo debut, along with the marvellous Will Oldham Covers album she made with Alex and Alasdair Roberts under the Three Queens in Mourning soubriquet, that makes her impending album release a probable highlight of 2021.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed being able to list my books of the year as well. I’m utterly unapologetic about the top choice; Harry’s book is inspirationally brilliant. As far as fiction goes, don’t just stop at David Keenan’s magic realist masterpiece, Xstabeth; consider all the equally ranked ones, as they are short collections of brilliant short fiction by independent presses, highlighting outsider writers that I adore and am pleased to call my friends. Read them!! Anyway, here are the lists -:

2020 Albums of the Year:

1.      Cornershop – England is a Garden

2.      Ed Askew – London

3=. Alex Rex – Andromeda

3=. Lavinia Blackwall – Muggington Lane End

3=. Three Queens in Mourning – Hello Sorrow; Hello Joy

6. Dinosaur Jr – Swedish Fist

7. Wire – Mind Hive

8. Bob Dylan – Rough & Rowdy Ways

9. Wire -  10:20

10. Various – Return to Y’Hup

2020 Short Releases:

1.      Jill Lorean – Not Your First

2.      Youth of America – Bop Showaddy EP

 

2020 Re-releases and Curios:

1.      Bauhaus – The Collection

2.      Tight Meat Duo – Creaming the Gutter Punk

3.      Tebot Piws – Y’Gore A’R Gwaetha O’R

4.      The Prats – Way Up High

5.      The Pastels – Advice for the Graduate

6.      Directing Hand – What Put the Blood?

7.      Directing Hand – Songs from the Red Room

8.      Kelley / Neilson – Passport to Satori

9.      The Wedding Present – Sticky

10.  Michel Houllebecq – Establissement d’un Ciel d’Alternance

11.  The Wedding Present – Once More

12.  Edwards / Mikari / Neilson – Live at Café OTO

13.  Michel Houellebecq – Presence Humaine

 

2020 Gigs of the Year:

1.      Alex Rex: Platform, February 1^st

2.      Francis MacDonald: The Cumberland Arms, January 25^th

 

2020 Books of the Year:

1.      Harry Pearson – The Farther Corner

2.      Owen Jones – This Land

3.      Karl Whitney – Hit Factories

4.      David Keenan - Xstabeth

5.      David Snowdon – Give Us Tomorrow

6=  P.J. Smith – Analogue Party

6= Holly Watson – Never Seen the Sea

6= Jim Gibson – The Hidden Valley

6= Fee Johnstone – Hath No Fury

6= Ian Dowson – Rain God