2015 Review

Oh, dear, I've not been so prolific either in purchases or live gigs this year. I must try to do better.

Out of 30 musical purchases my pre-2015 acquisitions totalled 19, all on CD:

• There were serveral late purchases in 2014 that didn't make the 2014 list; Sonic Highways by The Foo Fighters, Hypnotic Eye by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Unravelling by Knifeworld, Great Western Valkyrie by Rival Sons, Magic Mountain by Black Stone Cherry, and The Dirty Truth by Joanne Shaw Taylor. All were good, solid albums.
• For Now I Am Winter by Icelandic pianist Ólafur Arnalds (2013) was a bit leftfield for me but this indie-classical composer has produced a magical album that I throughly recommend. He has toured with Sigur Rós which rasied his public profile and may give you an inkling of his music. He composed the score and end-credits track for the 2013 ITV series Broadchurch, the score for Ron Krauss' film Gimme Shelter, and For Now I Am Winter was used in the pilot of the 2013 US TV show Masters of Sex.
• This year I acquired four Pink Floyd albums, all remastered and released in 2011; The Final Cut, Obscured By Clouds, Soundtrack From The Film 'More', and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.
• A couple of 'complete' recording came my way; Reason To Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings of Rod Stewart (issued in 2005), and ...That's Who! The Complete Chrysalis Recordings (1973-1980) of Frankie Miller (issued in 2011). The Rod Stewart collection is of his early material 1969-1974 and features some fantastic songs before he became a mainsteam pop star. Frankie Miller was a new name to me but his Be Good To Yourself was covered by Thunder so I went in search of his material. A Scottish rock singer-songwriter he had his biggest success in the 1970s. But this compilation is an indication of the massive influence his songs had on artists of the seventies. This is fully-featured mini-box set which puts 7 albums (plus 1 remixed version) and 3 single sides onto 4CDs and not a duff track in sight!
• And a couple of best ofs; The Very Best Of... Stevie Ray Vaughan from 2007, and The Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC by err.. ABC from 2001
• Another boxset in the Original Album Classics series, this time by Jeff Beck issued in 2008 and comprising the albums; Rough And Ready, The Jeff Beck Group, Blow By Blow, Wired, and Live With The Jan Hammer Group.
• I wanted to dip my toes into a classical guitar selection so tried The Ultimate Guitar Collection by Julian Bream (2001) but was slightly disappointed.
• Finally, a couple of oldies that I've heard before, thought they were great and wanted to buy; Further the 1997 album from Geneva feauturing the superb vocals of Andrew Montgomery, and the 2014 re-issue of the 1987 album Momentum by Steve Hackett. Very pleased indeed with these.

And so to the releases of 2015 of which I managed to pick up just 11, which is a bit rubbish for me.

I'll start with more from the Original Album Series which, whilst technically released in 2015, span earlier years and so won't qualify for inclusion in my top ten. The Groundhogs, a band for which I have no other material and only the dim memory of Thank Christ for the Bomb. More good, solid music but sounding a bit dated these days.

Having disposed of album 11 that only leaves 10 for my top ten, oh dear. Here we go pop-pickers:

(10) Wolflight by Steve Hackett. We saw Hackett on his Genesis re-Visited tour and were mightly impressed with with how well he has aged. A superb guitar player and such a fine performance that I pre-ordered his new album. This is brilliant staff and definately a 'must have' even if you are not into Genesis.

(9) Hollow Meadows by Richard Hawley the Sheffield troubadour. This is a vastly darker album from his 2012 album Standing at the Sky's Edge. A bit more Leonard Cohen than I would have liked but strong stuff indeed and recommended.

(8) A very new aquistition, The Oblivion Particle by Spock's Beard. This seems to be a concept album about a chap who discovers the oblivion particle and uses it to build a time machine, guided by the voices in his head, when he isn't taking his medication. A bit weird, but the music is great, to me a bit more mainstream than their 2013 Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep.

(7) Rattle That Lock by David Gilmour. OK, I actually prefer his 2006 album On an Island but this is still top-notch stuff.

(6) The Grand Experiment by Neal Morse and his solo band which, for this album, included Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater). Fantastic album with extremely high production values.

(5) The Killer Instinct by Black Star Riders. Their first album, which was superb, had the shadow of Thin Lizzy upon it, this this shows them moving out of the shadow and into their own sound. Oh sure, you can still hear the Lizzy influence, but this are still old-school, hard rocking tracks that stand on their own.

(4) Never a wrong step, Hand.Cannot.Erase from Steven Wilson is a joy. His fourth solo album and apparently heavily inspired by The Dreaming by Kate Bush. The album is written from a female perspective, and the concept and story being inspired by the case of Joyce Carol Vincent, where a woman living in a large city dies in her apartment and no one misses her for over three years, despite her having family and friends.

(3) Oh Wonder is an eponymous album, I haven't been able to use that word until now in this review. Oh Wonder are a London-based pop duo, Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West. Their mellow, slow-grooving, R&B-flecked alt-pop tunes make for gorgeous listening. The track All We Do was used as the theme for ITV's 2015 six-part drama The Unforgotten.

(2) Who knew that Jeff Lynne would come back in 2015 with his own ELO and a brand spanking new album Alone In The Universe? What's more it's flipping brilliant, everything you would expect and more. An instant classic.

(1) And finally, who am I to confound the critics? The best album of 2015 as voted for practically everyone on the planet who have working ears is... Iron Maiden's Books of Souls. Their sixteenth studio album, first studio double album, and therefore also their longest to date, with a total length of 92 minutes of genius. It topped the album charts in 24 countries and earned the band their fifth UK No. 1. I'm sorry, you need to buy this. Do it now!