And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final countdown for 2009

Friday 18 December - as is our wont at this time of year, The Friday-Nighters met up for a pre-Xmas meal before trotting off to a gig. Sadly, due to a heavy snow fall, Chantel McGregor was unable to make it to The Roman Bath so we opted instead for Stealer at The Terrace. I've blogged them before, so I don't need to add further to my previous, favourable comments. Over the meal, the topic of 'album of the year' inevitably came up and I realised I would have to sift through my purchases for 2009 and try to put them is some kind of order.

2009 was significant for me because it was the year that my CD collection finally busted my shelf space and I've had to resort to CD storage cases instead. Looking back, I can see why. I acquired 7 CDs from alternate sources, bought 35 previously released albums (including 5 from 2008 that I needed to catch up with), and 12 brand spanking new ones. A total of 54 acquisitions. Good for music, bad for my bank account!

Whilst compiling my list I also took the opportunity to write down some 2009 releases that I still want (Santa take note), another 4 at least. The 2008 releases that I didn't acquire until this year included; Marillion, Judas Priest, Panic Room, Richard Barbieri, and Bryan Josh.

Of the pre-2008 purchases there was quite a few Thunder albums, who officially stopped touring this year, and almost the entire back catalogue of Dream Theater. I also replaced a number of CDs that I'd copied from vinyl to MP3 (I know, I should've kept the vinyl).

Obviously, all 12 of 2009 purchases are eligible for my top ten, but 2 aren't going to make it. Unfortunately, they are really good albums so their exclusion from my top ten does not imply that they were no good, only that I've got 10 others that are slightly better. So, the non-winners this year are Breathing Space with Below The Radar, and Nine Black Alps with Locked In From The Outside.

Okay pop-pickers, here's the final count down:

10 The Answer - Everyday Demons. Northern Irish hard rock noiseniks followed up their 2006 debut with more of the same. But in a good way.

9 Muse - The Resistance. Fifth studio album from these alt-rockers, this one turned all the knobs to 11. Completely out of control, massively over the top, this surely establishes Muse as the new Queen.

8 Joe Bonamassa - The Legend of John Henry. I thought Sloe Gin was a high point for this American blues-rock guitarist, but he's raised the game by an order of magnitude with his raw, trademark blues sound.

7 Steven Wilson - Insurgentes. Founder and front man of Porcupine Tree, Steven released this solo effort. Fantastic soundscapes that take you where Radiohead would have done if they hadn't gone off the rails. Genius.

6 The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love. Their fifth recent album inspired by an Anne Briggs EP of the same name. This is a rock opera, a love story of a woman who falls in love with a shape-shifting forest dweller. A jealous forest queen, a villainous rake and an ensemble of other characters add to the storyline. Can I use the word 'genius' again? Yes.

5 Lynyrd Skynyrd - God & Guns. Their first studio offering for six years, bit it's as if they've never been away. A bit redneck for some people's tastes but good for me. Superb.

4 Porcupine Tree - The Incident. It's a bit more stripped-down than Fear Of A Blank Planet, but even more unnerving for all that. Brilliant.

Into the top three...

3 Hope&Social - Architect Of This Church. You can buy this album for whatever you can afford. The minimum prices are £.01 for the download, £2.95 for a CD+postage. It's a unique selling point and basically you get one of the best albums of the year. You've got to be mad not to get it. Get over to www.alamomusic.co.uk.

2 Parade - The Fabric. You can't buy this one through normal retail outlets yet, try www.paradeband.com. It's kinda prog-indie... hell, I don't know. It's just a fantastic album and you REALLY need to listen to this.

1 Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Frankly, the best thing I've heard for a very, very long time. On the basis of this album I've purchased a further seven CDs from their prodigious back catalogue, and turned into a Dream Theater fan. Incredible, this will blow your mind.

Happy New Year!

Paradise, drawn in blood, twisted torn, round a lullaby, with love

Friday 11 December - I'm a bad person, I went to see Mostly Autumn on Friday 4 December but didn't blog them. However, The Druid did, so read his blog instead.

So, we went for the covers option this weekend, Copowt at The Roman Bath. We've seen these before and they have a popular following. They're not as technically expert as some of the bands we see, but they make up for this by their enthusiasm and the excellent mix of covers they do, popular stuff that gets the crowd singing along. CopOwt are a five-piece covers band from Copmanthorpe, just outside York, and consist of: Russ (vocals), Alan (guitar and vocals), Paul (guitar), Paul (drums), and Seon (bass and vocals).

So what did we get? From my addled memory and in no particular order: Dakota and Local boy in a photograph (Stereophonics), Teenage Kicks (Undertones), Buck Rogers (Feeder), Modern Way and I predict a riot (Kaiser Chiefs), When the sun goes down (Arctic Monkeys), Should I stay or should I go (The Clash), Pretty Vacant (The Sex Pistols), Sex on fire (Kings of Leon), White Wedding (Billy Idol), Hanging on the telephone (Blondie), Bohemian like you (Dandy Warhols), Hush (Deep Purple), Ever fallen in love (Buzzcocks), Cigarettes and alcohol, Rock 'n roll star and Roll with it (Oasis), Basket case (Greenday), and Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol). Jolly excellent stuff, recommended.

The fabric has torn, Can the line remain true?

Friday 4 December - a special day for me, personally and musically. But enough with the mush and let's look at the music. This was date two of a very special trio of gigs for Josh & Co Limited and their support Parade. On 14 November they kicked off at Esquires, Bedford, tonight they were at The Duchess, York, and on 13 December they will be at The Robin 2, Bilston.

The prog-rock scene in York has slowly been coalescing into a musical collective, centered around Mostly Autumn, that is spawning a variety of high quality side projects. The support band, Parade, consisted of Chris Johnson (vocals, guitars, keys), Simon Snaize (guitar), Anne-Marie Helder (vocals, guitars, keys), Patrick "Paddy" Berry (bass), and Gavin Griffiths (drums). Chris, Simon and Paddy have played at various times, for Hazzard County, an alt-country covers band whose line-up was somewhat fluid. Simon and Chris have always sought to develop their song writing skills into original material, each appearing as solo artists in their own right. Chris has been in Mostly Autumn and Fish's band. Gavin is a fellow Fish bandmate and he and Anne-Marie also feature in both Panic Room and Mostly Autumn. Are you keeping up? Just to confuse the lay punter further, Bryan Josh also came on-stage to perform the guitar solos for Diamond, and Ending.

Parade have garnered enough material already to put out an album, The Fabric, which they are touring. The album is available at gigs and will be also available retail from January through a distribution deal with Voiceprint. As far as I could tell, and I hadn't heard any of the material before, they pretty much did most of the album. Highlights for me were Start Again, a very heavy The Dogs, the lyrically superb Feedline and dreamy Ending, although I enjoyed every single track, and had no hesitation in acquiring the album. Are they prog-rock? Well, some bits are, and some are a bit more melodic. They do LOUDquietLOUD, and quietLOUDquiet. Chris and Anne-Marie harmonise together like Buckingham and Nicks. If Buckingham-era Fleetwood Mac were a bar of Galaxy, Parade would be a Green & Black's Dark 85%, brooding, dark, and much healthier for you. In terms of musical variety, I would put them closer to alt-rockers Feeder, or Linoleum. All in all, an extremely strong performance and very highly recommended. Buy the album.

During the interval there was some re-tuning and shuffling of equipment, but ultimately, it was pretty much the same line-up for Josh & Co Limited, the solo project from Mostly Autumn guitarist Bryan Josh whose first album, Through These Eyes was released towards the end of 2008. Tonight we had Bryan Josh (vocals, guitar), Olivia "Livvy" Sparnenn (vocals, tambourine), Iain Jennings (keys), Chris Johnson (vocal, guitars, keys), Patrick "Paddy" Berry (bass), and Gavin Griffiths (drums). Livvy and Iain form the core of Breathing Space, and both are members of Mostly Autumn (there will be a quiz at the end of this blog, so pay attention).

I haven't got the album (call yourself a fan?) so, again, most of the material was new to me. That said, there were some very powerful tracks; We Graze, Through These Eyes, Into Your Arms, Going Home, and Old Friends. There was lots of foot stomping and singing along to The Appian Way, which was sung twice, once for the encore. We were also treated to a couple of covers; All Along The Watchtower (the Hendrix version of Dylan's song), and Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin). Another fantastic performance and very highly recommended.

I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble On, Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

Friday 27 November - and we're taking a punt on three bands that we've never heard before who were appearing at The Duchess. First to take to the stage were York four-piece The Leads. They consist of: Rob Lettice on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Tim Creasy on vocals and lead guitar, Gordon Ritchie on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Corr on drums. They started off very strongly, sounding a bit like Lit. The edgy, early tracks did soften as they went on, ending up sounding like Wheezer or Busted. But hey, we all love a cheesy, catchy tune. The only bad thing I can say about them is that they had zero stage presence. Basically they were four blokes playing their instruments for us. They could have been in my front room. Anyway, definitely a band to watch out for.

The second band up were more like an Oasis covers band, except they didn't play covers. The Lookout are a four-piece from York consisting of Rich Wheeler on vocals, Jon Thompson on guitar, Marc Johnson on bass, and Jon Mellin on drums. In contrast to The Leads, lead man Rich swaggered back and forth across the stage like Ian Brown (of The Stone Roses) and sang up into his microphone like Liam Gallagher. Musically they sounded like a raw Oasis practicing in their bedroom. Not bad. Not as good as the first band, but still worth watching out for.

Finally, the headliners, The Crookes who hail from Crookes in Sheffield (thanks to Lynn for spotting that). They have released a couple of singles through the Too Pure Singles Club label and play a melodic, folk-influenced, Indie rock. Although, to my untutored ear it sounded like Morrissey doing 50s skiffle. The Crookes consist of: Russell Bates, Daniel Hopewell, Alex Saunders, and George Waite. I think, but don't quote me on this, that Russell played drum, Dan and Alex were on guitar, and the crooner with the bass and toy guitar was George. Sad to say that they weren't really my cup of cappuccino, but for an encore they did come amongst the audience and performed acoustic/acapella in our midst. They had great voices. For lovers of Noah and The Whale I understand.

Due to a combination of late finishing at The Duchess and early finishing at The Roman Bath, we only caught a couple of Led Zep covers from femme-fronted Remedy (who were in the Bath). They sounded brilliant and I hope we get a chance to see them again soon so that I can write them up and provide more details.