Round-up of 2012

First of all, a Happy New Year to anyone who runs their eyes over this ramshackle collection of scribbling, and I’m truly sorry that I got some catching up to do to bring this blog up-to-date and that some reviews will get short shrift.

23 November 2012 – and we were at The Duchess to see Aynsley Lister. I’ve never seen him before but read good reviews of him in Classic Rock, hence our taking a bit of a punt. There was no support act, which was a bit disappointing. Aynsley played much self-penned material and a variety of blues covers; Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, and for his encore, a superb version of Prince's Purple Rain. A very impressive performance and definitely someone that I would like to see again. 

7 December 2012 – found us at Fibbers to see Hope&Social and, once more, a truly excellent performance. Basically, this was promoting their latest album, All Our Dancing Days, released on a pay-what-you-want basis. The new tunes instantly clicked and, inevitably, I ended up buying the album on the night. I cannot recommend seeing these boys too highly.

21 December 2012 – we ventured across the Pennines to the Manchester Academy to see one of my favourite bands, Thunder. There was no support but the set was in two halves, one acoustic and one electric, with a twenty minute comfort break in between.

Not having an album to promote allows the band to indulge themselves with the material they perform, both their own and covers. Pete Shoulder (of The Union) joined the band on-stage, The acoustic set comprised; Stand Up, The Moment of Truth, Does It Feel Like Love?, Weather With You (Crowded House), This Forgotten Town, Don't Wait Up, I'll Be Waiting, It's Another Day, Low Life In High Places, and Amy's on the Run.

The electric set had a few more covers; Backstreet Symphony, The Devil Made Me Do It, Until My Dying Day, Might Just Take Your Life (Deep Purple), Jet (Wings), Numb, Isn't It Time (The Babys), River Of Pain, On The Radio, Hammer To Fall (Queen), Love Walked In, and Dirty Love.

The band came back for an encore; Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen) and I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll. This was then followed by giant inflatables, fake snow raining down on us, and we all sang along to I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday (Wizzard). What a top night out and the price of the ticket included a CD of the Xmas Show, so I’m looking forward to that! 

2 January 2013 – and so to my personal roundup of the year. The number of live gigs was definitely down this year, my own fault, nothing to do with the quality of artists at local venues. My CD collection swelled by another 49 albums, 20 of which were released this year, 29 were older issues.
My top ten new albums for 2012 were:

1. Weather Systems, Anathema
2. Crown and Treaty, Sweet Billy Pilgrim
3. Map Of The Past, It Bites
4. Flying Colours, Flying Colours
5. Afterglow, Black Country Communion
6. Momentum, Neal Morse
7. Standing at the Sky's Edge, Richard Hawley
8. All The Wars, Pineapple Thief
9. All Our Dancing Days, Hope&Social
10. Not The Weapon But The Hand, Steve Hogarth & Richard Barbieri

I don’t think that I bought a duff album all year but some, obviously, didn’t get in my top ten. Here they are in no particular order:

• Concerto for group and orchestra, Jon Lord
• Rookery, Chris Helme
• Driving Towards the Daylight, Joe Bonamssa
• The 2nd Law, Muse
• Cotton Wool & Knotted Wood, Hope&;Social
• Underrated Silence, Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters
• Generation Freakshow, Feeder
• A Far Cry From Home, Stolen Earth
• Adventures in Neverland, The Reasoning
• Valtari, Sigur Ros

Of the older issues, it doesn’t seem fair to rank them as the reasons that I bought them vary so much, so I present them by artist alphabetically:

• Judgement, Anathema
• A Natural Disaster, Anathema
• Falling Deeper, Anathema
• A Fine Day to Exit, Anathema
• Black Country Communion, Black Country Communion
• Live Scenes from New York, Dream Theater
• Pour Me A Drink, Edwina Hayes
• Don't Explain, Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart
• Don't Stop Believin' - The best of, Journey
• Venus & The Sky Turns to Clay, Makana
• In Case You Didn't Know, Olly Murs
• The Middle of Nowhere, Orbital
• In Sides, Orbital
• Snivilisation, Orbital
• Orbital 2, Orbital
• Orbital, Orbital
• Out of An Ancient World, Riversea
• What Lies Beneath, Robin Trower
• The Playful Heart, Robin Trower
• Voyage of the Acolyte + 1, Steve Hackett
• Twice Born Men, Sweet Billy Pilgrim
• Revival, The Answer
• 10 Stories Down, The Pineapple Thief
• The Script, The Script
• Science & Faith, The Script
• Wintercoast, Touchstone
• The City Sleeps, Touchstone
• 1 Love, Various