Should auld acquaintance be forgot / And never brought to mind?

The end of another year and so here's a round up of what I've been up to musically. I've bought 38 albums this year, 13 that were actually released in 2010, the rest being a mixture of recent and classic releases that I've only just caught up with.

Among the old stuff is material by The National, Nils Lofgren, Starsailor, Super Furry Animals, Pink Floyd, Alter Bridge, Elton John, Newton Faulkner, Transatlantic, Lacuna Coil, Astra, Thriving Ivory, Jeff Buckley, JJ Cale, Mumford & Sons, Them Crooked Vultures, and The Reasoning.

The new releases were; Mexicolas The Minerva Suite, Lost From Atlas Lost From Atlas, Hope&Social April, Cheap Trick The Latest, Engineers In Praise Of More, Oceansize Self-preserved While The Bodies Float, The Union The Union, Iron Maiden The Final Frontier, Feeder Renegades, The Pineapple Thief Someone Here Is Missing, Kids In Glass Houses Dirt, Joe Bonnamassa Black Rock, and You Me At Six Hold Me Down. Looking back over this list I can see that it's a pretty eclectic mix; power-pop, blues, prog, indie, metal, rock, you name it.

We've seen 21 live gigs this year, seven covers bands; The Mothers, Rubber Bullets, The Mojos, Graf Zapplen, Bad Dog, Skint, and Flood Damage, the rest were artists presenting original material. At some of the gigs there were supporting bands that deserve mention as well so the line up of bands we saw this year comprises; Chantel McGregor, Dorien Starre, Comply Or Die, Adam Dawson, The Union, Hope&Social, Shed Seven, Ash, A Joker's Rage, Astrae, Morpheus Rising, GUN, Hazzard County, Boss Caine, Surprise...Fire, and The Hummingbirds.

Sadly, we missing the new lineups of Breathing Space and Mostly Autumn, but maybe next year. I've noticed this year that I am leaning somewhat in the direction of prog-metal, or at least prog-something. This isn't intentional, it's just the type of music that I'm enjoying at the moment. Having said that, my top band has got to be The Union who have delivered an outstanding rock album and a blistering live show this year. Roll on 2011, I think it's going to be another good one!