So in just a few days we shall enter 2009, the year that would have marked a century of Woolworths but will perhaps mark an interesting year for high street stores and will certainly show us whether Zavvi survives or not.
So on that musical note as we leave 2008 I thought I would post my favourite albums that have been released in 2008 and include a brief part of what I’m looking forward to listening to in 2009.
Jack’s Mannequin – The Glass Passenger (September) - I start with this album as it was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. On it’s release it wasn’t available in the UK so I ended up importing it from the U.S just to listen to it and I am actually listening to it as I type!
Jack’s Mannequin’s first album is one of my favourite albums of all time, full of brilliant piano-punk-pop which seems to be unique in sound and so the follow-up album was going to be tricky to beat.
Listening to ‘The Glass Passenger’ I don’t think I can say that it’s better than the first but I can’t say it’s worse, there’s more of ‘Something Corporate’ (the lead singers previous band) in this album but at the same time some more laid back tracks. The track ‘Hammers & Strings’ has completely took me, it’s slow, melodic and quite sad and has fast become one of my favourite songs ever. The rest of the album is well worth a listen too, I don’t think there’s a single bad track, it does take a bit of listening to though.
Paramore – The Final Riot (December) - Paramore were a band who’s album ‘Riot’ I bought earlier in the year and got completely hooked on and so receiving their live CD/DVD for Christmas made me very happy and having listened to the CD and watched the DVD I have to say it’s one of my favourites of 2008 for many reasons!
The DVD is refreshing, by this I mean that Paramore are all Christians (which I only discovered a couple of days ago) and so there is no swearing at the audience which is noticeable but doesn’t make them worse live…if anything it makes them more genuine and honest.
The live versions of all the tracks have been mixed perfectly, the vocals are clear and the instruments have been recorded brilliantly too. The band add variations to live tracks but at the same time keeping the songs original feel.
A must have pop-punk CD/DVD!
Slipknot – All Hope Is Gone (August) - I was driving in the summer and was in the process of changing CD’s when I heard ‘Physcosocial’ on the radio, I continued to listen eager to find out who was singing this awesome track only to be shocked that it was Slipknot.
I then purchased their album and got an even better surprise when the drums on the first track began reminding me that Joey Jordison was the drummer of Slipknow.
This album is totally different to what I expected from Slipknot (who I have to confess I hadn’t listened to before) the mix of heavy rock/metal and melodic vocals is spot on, there’s so many great tracks on here I couldn’t not add it to my top albums of 2008!
Ben Folds – Way To Normal (September) - It seems the good albums came out in the latter part of the year and Ben Fold’s ‘Way To Normal’ is one of them. Being quite a Ben Folds fan I was excited about this album and eagerly awaited it’s release and it was worth it!
Much like ‘The Glass Passenger’ it took some listening to get into it but it’s a brilliant album mixing a variety of piano-based styles ranging from traditional Ben Folds to the more experimental sounds he seems to do so well.
Lyrically the album mixes funny, clever lyrics with more serious songs that really get you thinking! Another one of 2008′s best albums!
Picking a 5th album is difficult so much of me wants to mention Relient K’s ‘The Birds and the bee-sides’ or Less Than Jakes ‘GNV FLA’ or even Alphabeats ‘This is Alphabeat’ but I think my final favourite of 2008 has to be…
Feeder – Silent Cry (June) - Feeder have spent the last few years since their drummer Jon Lee killed himself dissappointing me. Although their music has been good (and don’t get me wrong I love some of their songs of recent years) there seems to have been a distinct lack of that sound they had on ‘Polythene’, ‘Swim’ and ‘Echo Park’.
Silent Cry (in my opinion) is Feeder back to their best, melodic rock has been restored to the British band and I listened to the whole album on full volume during a drive to Spring Harvest waiting for the dissappointing track and I never found it! It’s a brilliant album and so becomes one of my 2008 favourites!
Most Dissappointing Of 2008?
With listening to albums from bands you know and love comes dissppointment and so the award for most dissappointing album has to go to Panic! At The Disco for Pretty. Odd which is actually Pretty. Crap. Their first album was so good, full of energy and fun. Filled with songs you just sing over and over again and Pretty Odd is the exact opposite.
Nine in the Afternoon was a good single and probably the only good song on the album, the rest of album is dull and lacks everything that made the first album great.
Moving onto 2009…
So I finish this post with what I am looking forward to for 2009…for starters I’m looking forward to hearing Fall Out Boy’s new album which should arrive this week.
I’m also looking forward to hearing the albums due to be released sometime this year by Relient K, Angels & Airwaves and Paramore.
Finally I’m hoping that Serj Tankian will get himself back into the studio and write another album!
