Top Five for 2005

Chris Squire/Nardelli' Syndestructibles

Maia Sharp's Upstanding Citizen

Judith Owen's last release (cant remember the name)

Richard Thompson's Front Parlour Ballads (at least I bought it 2005)

I cant think of a 5th one.sorry

So, I can't keep it to five, but I (think I) can keep it to single digits:

Tord Gustavsen Trio, "The Ground"
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, "At Carnegie Hall"
Jackson Browne, "Solo Acoustic, vol. 1"
The Waifs, "A Brief History"
Alan Broadbent, "You and the Night and the Music"
Morphine, "The Night"
Cowboy Junkies, "Early 21st Century Blues"
Everything But The Girl, "Acoustic"
Kenny Barron Trio, "Perfect Set"
Patti Smith, "Trampin'"

Oops, so that's double digits. But just barely. I'm just not good at narrowing these things down. And yes, I do have eclectic taste. Why do you ask? :-)

Happy Listening

I buy about 10 CD/SACDs per month I guess, but a majority was released prior to 2005, I think...and at times I get a bit confued what was orginally released when...so working from memory for just 2005 in no particular order (& excluding SACDs as the original music has been available)

1. Tim Ries: The Rolling Stone Project: jazz interpretations of the Stones! With Charlie Watts, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Scofield, Larry Golding, Sheryl Crow, Keith Richards, John Patitucci..simply amazing

2. Steve Kuhn: Trance: release of 1975 recording...has been out of print for years: jazz+ electronica before its time and current craze and done way better

3. Toto Bonka Lokua: spare instrumental backing a trio of amazing voices..great test record as well...almost acapella, african, carribean, even blues influences.

4. Oz Noy: Ha!: If you like SVR, Jimi Hendrix, etc, you'll like this

5. Joshua Redman: Momentum: finally gets his version of funk jazz right

6. Robert Plant and The Strange Sensation:Might Rearranger: vastly underrated, best solo effort in yrs.

7. Martin, Medeski & Wood: End of World Party: the best of jam band music and their own best album to date IMO

8. Jeff Parker: The Relatives: Jazz gtr by someone who was brought up on chill, hip-hop, experimental..well sounds like that way, angular solos are quite interesting..and has his own identity and thus uniquness as an artist..perfer to Tortoise in which he is band member

9. Bill Connors: Return: yes that one...from Chick Corea's Return To Forever...very well recorded and "fusion" done with a swing

Hey, I kept it to single digits!

I've copied and pasted my records of the year from mails sent to a mailing list I'm on.
Lugs the music review site I set up for Audiogon (see top of music section here) has been on a holding pattern this year but here's my views-they are angled for that mailing list so some of the comments are related to what others have said about the music.

It's in two sections.

It was a decent year for new music I thought with the trend continuing that artists made shorter albums, a good thing imho. In the interests of debate I've listed the countdown to my top ten, quite a few releases some Flies had in their ten and also some releases which I consider worth checking out. As Sharon pointed out it's a bit crazy to rate music this way but its part of the fun; quite a few towards the bottom of this list could have on another day made it into my top ten.

BECK-GUERO; Hispanic flashes but ultimately Beck by numbers, of course his numbers are Quantum Mechanics and there is no doubting the superb talent and construction. Sea Change showed his human side but the robot is back. Broken Drum is great though.

SUSUMO YOKOTA-SYMBOL- a large part of the history of Classical Music is sliced and reconstructed into something both new and familiar. A hit and miss affair.

RYAN ADAMS-JCN-Weakest of his trilogy and his most country but a few tracks are pure gold.

COLDPLAY-X&Y-I have to laugh the opening middle eight recalls Rush circa'82 and yet Flies and critics alike love this band. Hypocrisy alert. Second point is, a lot of this music is actually very good. Third point Chris Martin is easily the worst lyricist ever to become rock's bright new hero, his lyrics are so bad they are funny-surely worth a thread of its own.

VAN DER GRAFF GENERATOR-PRESENT-Lacks the colour and scope of their early work and seems a tad too restrained as if Hammil has been to Progaholics. It has flashes of their eccentric charm.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN-DEVILS AND DUST-Four great songs but sadly Bruce seems muddled lyrically (the title track is so clumsy, Reno such an obvious bore and others sub-par) and a little lost musically. Production irritates too.

EDITORS-THE BLACK ROOM-yup you can spot the influences a mile off but it has charm, lacks the overall variety to really nail it.

THE NATIONAL-ALLIGATOR-Decent record with some wonderful moments but I don't hear the lyrical and musical brilliance (the drummer needs shot) that many do. A tad overrated imho.

SUSUMO YOKOTA/ROTHKO-DISTANT SOUNDS OF SUMMER-Nice Electronica which suffers in parts from an inability to keep a mood but beautiful moments all the same.

BRIAN ENO-ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH-Electro-pop I suppose as Eno sounds strangely 80's on his first vocal album for ages. More than the sum of its parts, an enjoyable listen with excellent instrumentation as you would expect.

MARK EITZEL-CANDY ASS-One of his better experiments but does ultimately falls between two stools. A couple of classic songs and some good Electronica.

HAROLD BUDD-LA BELLE VISTA-Solo improvised piano from Lanois vaults-few things are better in life than a glass of red wine and Budd on the stereo. Lovely.