ameraal's best of 2005

[ameraal]

albums, singles (http://www.moopy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=565957#post565957), remixes (http://www.moopy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=28330), movies ALL coming up here!

first of, as a prelude to my top 10 albums of the year, YES, you GUESSED it, giev it up for the HONOURABLE (how british) mentions!


The Knife – Deep Cuts
http://j.o2.pl/muzyka/theknifedeepcuts_150px.jpg

This album was actually released at the end of 2004, but i only discovered them thanks the out-of-this-worldy amazing Pass This On, which got spins at the begining of the year and subsequently Lolly loaded me with a few more KNIFE tracks off the album.

The wonderfully weird Scandinavian electro siblings have produced an album that could just as well be the soundtrack to a futuristic Kubrick farce/comedy musical. The vocals go from sniffilingly Bjork-esque, to vocoder dominatrix, to Down-syndrome victim, synthesizers out of the 80s, tantalizing beats.

Disturbing is certainly the word to describe them – I mean look at them:
http://www.alternationmusic.com/images/bands/theknife200x198.jpg
there are CLEARLY issues here.

Listening to this when high is STRONGLY recommended.

Standouts - Pass This On, You Make Me Like Charity, Heartbeats, Listen Now

[Kung Fu Ninja]

I bought this album but I really don't like it. Maybe its one I'll just have to go back to at a later date, but it hasn't really clicked with me at all this year. I always feel like I'm missing out on something, I just can't see what!

[ameraal]

I bought this album but I really don't like it. Maybe its one I'll just have to go back to at a later date, but it hasn't really clicked with me at all this year. I always feel like I'm missing out on something, I just can't see what!

it's a GROWER
my initial reaction to the knife was very queasy, it felt like bad retro mixed with infantile lyrics and vocal, it takes time for its charms to reveal themselves i think

[ameraal]

Beck - Guero
http://www.mtv.com/shared/media/news/images/album_covers/sq-beck-guero.jpg

Beck's always been one of those artists who i can appreciate only singles-wise. Guero is the first album i decided i'd invest in, mainly because of one of the leaked tracks - Brazilica.

Guero, while very "Beck", is a very accessible album, almost pop, with a western whiff. Still I seem to have a bit of a problem with it – while I like the separate songs I never feel the urge to play it from beginning to end.

Standouts are the wonderfully boppy Hell Yes and the gorgeous Missing, formerly known as Brazilica – which is wonderfully lazy, chilled and emotional and features my favourite Beck vocal performance ever and is certainly one of my top songs of the year.

[ameraal]

Annie – Anniemal
http://musicweb.cz/data/1651/nahled_annie-anniemal.jpg

This is what all modern pop music SHOULD sound like. Spawning one of the best songs of the year, for me Anniemal still doesn’t quite live up to the promise of its predecessors in the singles department – Chewing Gum and Heartbeat.

It’s basically the currently “in” pop with an electro twist – fun, schnazzy, fresh. The album's weakness is that it's a bit too samey to receive a higher regard from me and make the top 10. Produced mostly by Richard X, i can't help thinking that he's becoming a tad lazy, he could’ve tried a bit HARDER.

My standout track besides the singles is the delightful Helpless for Love.

[Quandary]

Can't we do year-end-lists with requests of YSI or am I just too lazy..:shy: I'm sure there's a lot of good music I still haven't heard. See I have a song mixed by Knife and actually never heard Annie. How many honourable mentions will there be though?

[Kung Fu Ninja]

At first I thought Anniemal was shocking rubbish and it took ages for it to grow on me, it seemed none of the songs were that special or went anywhere, beside the singles. Over time I grew to like it quite a lot, but I agree that the rest of the album tracks rarely keep up the consistant brilliance of the singles!

[ameraal]

Ladytron – Witching Hour
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000AY9ON0.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Ladytron are a band I’ve always felt drawn too for some reason (I almost went to a gig of theirs some years ago), not only because of their impeccable style and the fact that one of the members is a compatriot, but which I’ve never explored.

In this regard i must say I’m VERY happy with their current effort Witching Hour.
Noisy, spunky, cold, calculated synthpop with menacingly haunting double whammy vocals that penetrate like subconscious suggestion rather than lyrical disclosure, often like a whisper muffled in music. Like a frosty kiss this is coke music if there ever was such.

If Placebo were gals with synthesizers this is what they’d probably be doing and sounding like.

Standout tracks are Beauty, Sugar and International Dateline.

[Kung Fu Ninja]

Oooh, I haven't picked this up yet, but I did like Destory Everything... :D

[ameraal]

Can't we do year-end-lists with requests of YSI or am I just too lazy..:shy: I'm sure there's a lot of good music I still haven't heard. See I have a song mixed by Knife and actually never heard Annie. How many honourable mentions will there be though?

i can always do request if anyone has any, i just really don't want to do any for the sake of it, mainly cause i don't have much time and it's tasking enough doing the lists alone, which i'm doing in some free intervals during work...

there are 5 honourable mentions :)

[ameraal]

Oooh, I haven't picked this up yet, but I did like Destory Everything... :D

i liked destroy everything, but it just wasn't enough to give me any impetus to give the album a go
however Bunty's constant mira ramblings and international dateline did the trick :D

[ameraal]

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
http://robosexual.typepad.com/glob/images/illinois.jpg

Illinois is another album, like Witching Hour, that misses out the top 10 bacause of my lateness in picking it up and not really sinking quite in yet.

Still it's more than worthy of a mention due to its growth potential. Sufjan goes from full out festive to heart-wrenching with ease and aplomb while being political and socially engaged.

Folkish, breezy, buoyant, vivacious, the album's like a story with Sufjan as the narrator.

My standout track at the mo, due to excessive listenage is Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois.

[Quandary]

which i'm doing in some free intervals during work...
A-ha :D ! * respect * It's true, all of this takes a hell lot of time..but it's fun to do (may do a small one myself now)

[ameraal]

that's it for now, i hope to start the top 10 tomorrow, though i still haven't delibarated the lower bottom's exact positioning

feel free to request anything, quandry ;)

[Loufoque]

How ACCLAIMED

[Devil]

Maybe I should check Annie out a bit, she sounds like my kind of thing.

[ameraal]

you should, it might just be your thing
if you liked the richard x stuff, it's the way to go

[ameraal]

alright, top 10 time


10. Juliet – Random Order
http://www.rockonnet.com/imagelib/articles/cd-teka/juliet_random_order.jpg

I can’t say how excited I was about this release and not only because of the sheer brilliance of lead single Avalon. Working with Mr. Lu CUNT made Juliet’s debut album somewhat a flagman for what we could expect from Madge later. The album met all my expectations and took those for Confessions... even higher.

Random Order is a very consistent effort, showcasing the sullen girl from Philadelphia’s wide range of sonic inspiration (from rock to trance and ambient) and writing talent, thus continuing a trend of late that i love – dance records with actual depth. Comparissons with COAD can be made, but only vaguely, Juliet’s effort being by far more diverse musically and stylistically.

Understated in places, loud and edgy in others, with an image to match, it’s a well-balanced affair with emotive, subdued melancholic gems like “Waiting” and “United”, full frontal dirty grooves like “Nu Taboo” and dancefloor killers like “Avalon”, "On The Dancefloor" and “Would You Mind”.

Standouts - Avalon, Would You Mind, Waiting

The Moopy Verdict (http://www.moopy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=24314&highlight=juliet)

[ameraal]

9. Tori Amos – The Beekeeper
http://www.levykauppax.fi/cover/normal/1/13/13040.jpg

Here's a tricky one.

The first thing that strikes you about this album is the cover - appalling, nothing short of it.

The second thing is the 19 (NINETEEN) tracks and total running time of approximately 90 (NINETY) minutes.

You push play and while fighting off thoughts of "who the hell imagines i have enough free time to listen to an hour and a half long album more then twice" it becomes clear that Tori really has changed and there seems to be no turning back to the raw days of Boys For Pele, the torment of From The Choirgirl Hotel, or the further electronic exploartion on To Venus And Back.

Tori continues the course she began on Scarlet's Walk. She's not the outspoken, fiercely passionate artist she was before, instead she sounds sedated, she sounds like she's swallowing all her emotions behind the facade of a barmy eccentric flower-potion shaman woman, doting mother and loving wife from Suburbia and time seems to have become an elusive category, as she spreads herself over a 90 minute canvas and not because she has to in order to convey her message, but seemingly because she can.

After all this you're probably wondering what this is doing at number 9 in my albums of the year list then? I'm this vocal about this album's weaknesses only because of my strong feelings toward Ms. Amos. And i do believe change is never a bad thing, i doubt i'd want a Tori that is still singing about shaving everyplace she's been touched by ex-lovers.

It's nothing you haven't heard before, though there are a few attempts at reggae and gospel, its strength for me is in the details - lovely vocal harmonies, intricate piano arrangements, often rhythm-orientated, and ultimately had this been several songs shorter it would've held up together much better as an album.

And after all a "bad" Tori album is still better than a good album by many an other artist.

Standouts - Sweet The Sting, The Power Of Orange Knickers, Witness, The Beekeeper

[ameraal]

8. Kate Bush - Aerial
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Aerial_sm.jpg/225px-Aerial_sm.jpg

Kate's 8th album, double album at that, has certainly been one of the most anticipated releases of the year, what following her 12 year hiatus after the disappointing (so they say) The Red Shoes.

I'm no Kate expert, actually i'm no more than a diaper fan owning no more than a couple of her albums, however i imagine anyone who's ever heard Hounds of Love would be looking forward to new material and Aerial came in just the right moment.

Another lenghty leisure, CD1 carries a batch of seemingly unrelated songs from the trip-hoppy lead sinlge Elvis ode "King of the Mountain", to the, erm, digital "Pi", to the lush medieval tune about her son Bertie of the same name, to the adventures of the whimsical housewife that is the laundry odyssey "Mrs. Bartolozzi", while the tracks on CD2 are held together by birds' chirping.

Again widely influenced, it's a lazy and barmy evening-over-a-glass-of-wine affair, that flows extremely well, the music's rich and well polished, Kate's vocal are wonderful as usual. As much as it can be classified as an acuqired taste i can see this being accessible for the average listener as well.

Standouts - Nocturn, Bertie, A Coral Room, How Top Be Invisible

[ameraal]

7. M.I.A. - Arular
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0f/Arular.jpg/200px-Arular.jpg

Probably the most musically inventive album of the year, London-born Sri Lanka-raised Tamil freedomfighter daughter M.I.A.'s debut album's stylee is an amalgam of ragga, electro, punk, rap, hip-hop - you name it. It's one of those albums that come along once every few years and bring THAT freshness to the table that in my opinion will inspire plenty of albums to come in 2006.

The lyrics are what you wish to make them to out be - multi-faceted social commentary or the ignorable ramblings of a crazy woman. The music is raw energy, playing Arular is pretty much the equivalent of plugging yourself in the electricity socket - it charges, evoking primary movement and exhilirating.

A bit tough to get into initially, yet utterly pleasurable once in your system.

Standouts - Bucky Done Gun, 10 Dollar, Pull Up The People, Sunshowers, Galang

[Loufoque]

9. Tori Amos – The Beekeeper
http://www.levykauppax.fi/cover/normal/1/13/13040.jpg

Here's a tricky one.

The first thing that strikes you about this album is the cover - appalling, nothing short of it.

The second thing is the 19 (NINETEEN) tracks and total running time of approximately 90 (NINETY) minutes.

You push play and while fighting off thoughts of "who the hell imagines i have enough free time to listen to an hour and a half long album more then twice" it becomes clear that Tori really has changed and there seems to be no turning back to the raw days of Boys For Pele, the torment of From The Choirgirl Hotel, or the further electronic exploartion on To Venus And Back.

Tori continues the course she began on Scarlet's Walk. She's not the outspoken, fiercely passionate artist she was before, instead she sounds sedated, she sounds like she's swallowing all her emotions behind the facade of a barmy eccentric flower-potion shaman woman, doting mother and loving wife from Suburbia and time seems to have become an elusive category, as she spreads herself over a 90 minute canvas and not because she has to in order to convey her message, but seemingly because she can.


After all this you're probably wondering what this is doing at number 9 in my albums of the year list then? I'm this vocal about this album's weaknesses only because of my strong feelings toward Ms. Amos. And i do believe change is never a bad thing, i doubt i'd want a Tori that is still singing about shaving everyplace she's been touched by ex-lovers.

It's nothing you haven't heard before, though there are a few attempts at reggae and gospel, it's strength for me is in the details - lovely vocal harmonies, intricate piano arrangements, often rhythm-orientated, and ultimately had this been several songs shorter it would've held up together much better as an album.

And after all a "bad" Tori album is still better than a good album by many an other artist.

Standouts - Sweet The Sting, The Power Of Orange Knickers, Witness, The Beekeeper*VOMITS*

WORST ALBUM EVER

[Suedehead]

Too many girl singers. Pfffffffffffffft...

Just joking. I'm not so sure I agree with the ameraal assessment of most of those albums, but I'll keep quiet for now. Random Order in particular is one big patchy mess.

[ABMB]

Ladytron – Witching Hour

I have a couple of songs by Ladytron but there is just something I really dislike about them which I cant put my finger on.


9. Tori Amos – The Beekeeper

I thought this was so disappointing. Its exactly the album I was always dreading her make. Totally uninspiring.


Beck - Guero


Another disappointment. I agree with what you said about liking the songs individually but not feeling inspired to listen to the album as a whole. Certainly not bad but after listening to it I cant help but shrug my shoulders. Dont let that album put you off Beck. Odelay is essential in my opinion.


Sufjan Stevens – Illinois


My standout track at the mo, due to excessive listenage is Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois.
Spot on write up for this album. Its a grower for sure. Not sure if i can be bothered to do a year end chart but if I were to do one then i think this would be a contender for the top 5.

Thats also my favourite song on the album. I’m also really fond of John Wayne Gacy, Jr and Chicago


8. Kate Bush - Aerial

Another contender for my top 5 and another one that seems to get better with each listen.


7. M.I.A. - Arular

YAY! Im really disappointed to see this in the lower ends of magazine top 50's. Its so good it deserves to be MUCH higher up. Its just what I needed to hear this year. Glad to see it in your top 10.

Annie's album is 2004, no? Its a great album -its exactly what pop music should be.

[Floella]

The Knife – Deep Cuts
http://j.o2.pl/muzyka/theknifedeepcuts_150px.jpg

This album was actually released at the end of 2004, but i only discovered them thanks the out-of-this-worldy amazing Pass This On, which got spins at the begining of the year and subsequently Lolly loaded me with a few more KNIFE tracks off the album.

The wonderfully weird Scandinavian electro siblings have produced an album that could just as well be the soundtrack to a futuristic Kubrick farce/comedy musical. The vocals go from sniffilingly Bjork-esque, to vocoder dominatrix, to Down-syndrome victim, synthesizers out of the 80s, tantalizing beats.

Disturbing is certainly the word to describe them – I mean look at them:
http://www.alternationmusic.com/images/bands/theknife200x198.jpg
there are CLEARLY issues here.

Listening to this when high is STRONGLY recommended.

Standouts - Pass This On, You Make Me Like Charity, Heartbeats, Listen Now

Excellent! I got the DVD version the other day, the videos are as bizarre as I expected. However, my stand-out track would be You Take Me Breath Away, with Pass This On and Heartbeats bringing up the rear.

There's something really really wonderful about listening to The Cop on full blast whilst walking through a busy area in a VERY bad mood "Shut up...I piss in your mouth, I shoot you right on the spot you motherfucking shit".

[octophone]

Some interesting selections here. I'm looking forward to reading and comparing alternate views of certain albums and your "Aerial" write-up starts that process.

[ameraal]

Excellent! I got the DVD version the other day, the videos are as bizarre as I expected.


oh, i've only seen the video for pass this on - once at that, disturbing is definitely the word for them
i dunno why, but i'm almost sure the pass this on video director did madonna's hung up vid :confused:

anywhere their videos can be seen online, flo?

[ameraal]

Too many girl singers. Pfffffffffffffft...

Just joking. I'm not so sure I agree with the ameraal assessment of most of those albums, but I'll keep quiet for now. Random Order in particular is one big patchy mess.

ah suedey, it always seems we're at the same place, but our reasoning fior being there is totally opposite...oh well

another point your post has prompted - yes, the girls are everywhere
i believe that all critics are heavily male-biased, which personally gets on my TITS

i have a difficult time liking male vocalists, usually due to their lacks - emotional and in substance

[ameraal]

6. Gaelle – Transient
http://creep.ru/mp3/gaelle.jpg

Another something i picked up off a resident mooper, this time jester being the culprit, Gaelle is a US dance Label Naked music product, who many of you are actually familiar with vocally – she was the voice on the Wamdue Project hit “King of my Castle” some years back – not that that should fool you into thinking her solo album is anything like it.

Haitian-american, read "the born in Haiti US citizen", singer-songwriter Gaelle's biggest strenght is her voice which has a rich, soulfully enchanting texture. Her lyrics hover mostly over (and are most effective then) the matters of the heart - from truly blissfull expressions of love (the marvellously exuberant "Falling" or "Repetition"), to lust (the piano/sax-driven slice of house "Rain", the haunting "Moonsglow") and exploration of the demise of feelings ("Seperate Rooms").

Transient glides from neo-soul through latin, jazzy and soulful house to ambient, managing to hold a balance between the uplifting, the melancholy and the dark themes it brushes up over. Somewhat a modern day Sade, even if she does have a lot of ground to cover to deserve such a comparisson.

The album's biggest weakness for me is Funky favourite "Parkway" which feels misplaced with it's "kill the cheating bastard's new bird" ghetto theme, bringing down the otherwise "inspired" tone of the album.

Standouts are everywhere - the 80s-tinged r&b/funk of Give it Back, the aforementioned Rain, Repitition, Separate Rooms, Repetition, Love U More

[ameraal]

Next up? May hell break loose!

5. Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi
http://images.thalia.de/06/31/72/06317288_b003.jpg

I have no desire to make ANY excuses for this album choice (i don't have to justify anything, just deal with it). I realize why certain people (yes, you - Kate, Sheena, Suedey, AGS etc *yawn*) might hate someone who's been around for almost 20 years in the public's eye mainly gushing out one or another sappy ballad or demonstrating behaviour that is light-headed as she has grown heavy-bodied. End of rant.

This is my favourite album to resent this year, it really is a cause for celebration that Mimi finally managed to pull herself together and not only that, but deliver some of the strongest material of her career.

I make a POINT that the words "ultra", "platinum" and "new edition" have NOTHING to do with the version of the album i regard so fondly. Yes, this project has been marred by bad single choice and reissues plans, but at the end of the day the sad thing is that the uninspired ploys worked and she's still selling bucket-loads thanks to them.

Content-wise not much can or has to be said here – a solid album consisting of standard Pop/R&B mushy love longs and beat driven mid-tempo numbers, a stunning couple of which could easily contend for some of her best songs ever, but instead were robbed of the single status that they deserve - i.e. the Neptune’s penned&produced "Say Something" and the Kanye West track "Stay the Night". The return of the voice, as the project was dubbed, (and at a stretch and on the condition that we're talking STUDIO here) coupled with nice production make this one of the best Mariah’s done.

Standouts - Stay The Night, Say Something, I Wish You Knew, Joy Ride, We Belong Together

[Suedehead]

I don't hate Mariah! Certainly she's a cunt and her 'diva' attitude, ironic or not, I just do not find amusing in the slightest but I own all her albums after all..

[ameraal]

4. Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor
http://z.about.com/d/dancemusic/1/2/o/1/2/MadonnaConfessionsonaDancefloor.jpg

One of the latest contenders for my album of the year list, and the second of the “Lu CUNT” offerings, this one as instant as it gets. From first listen it’s all around light-weight hedonistic dance goodness.

It’s a throbbing, disco electro-pop experience that works amazingly as a whole even more so because of the fact that it’s mixed. It wins with the sense of abandonment it delivers, leaving you to simply revel in its assimilation ready lyrics and rhythms. An album that should carry an appeal and pleasure strictly “of the flesh”, it somehow manages to affect on another level as well.

The downsides are few – 1) initially it sounds “samey” in places and 2) the few songs in which Madge takes on topics like fame, her public persona, her drive: all topics she has tackled already and to better avail.

The upsides? Take your pick: songs like the anthemic "Get Together" with the dirtiest bass-line in ages, the almost Shakespearean tragedy and the vocoder overdose of "Forbidden Love", the techno-erotica and sweeping beats of "Future Lovers", the creeping disco violins of "Jump", even the unabashed "Hung Up" etc.

I think in time this will be regarded as one of her milestone albums, the only thing i’m a bit weary about being its staying power.

[Suedehead]

OK, so top 3... Goldfrapp, Fiona and... er.. I'm temporarily blank. I'm sure I know but anyway..

[ameraal]

3. Roisin Muprhy – Ruby Blue
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/images/roisin-murphy-ruby-blue.jpg

Mostly known as Moloko's frontwoman (which has proven to have an ambiguous effect) Roisin's grown into an artist of her own. I underscore the word "artist", because i she is a "finished" artist from her image to her sound - a flawless package visually and sonically .

The album that carries the "mood swing" 2005 award, exploring private thoughts, longings, loves, joys, sadness. Working with Mathew Herbert Roisin has produced an, i hesitate to use the word, "arty" album that however carries some of the sound of Moloko. But this is actually her first real demonstration and exposure of emotion after a flashing or two on Moloko’s last album (for now) "Statues".

Reminiscent of Bjork’s early work in its utilization of weird sounds, jingles and beeps to construct melodies and recreate instrumentalization, "Ruby Blue" is as intricate as it's easy going. It’s wonderfully well-rounded – nice and shiny on songs like the glorious "Sow Into You" or the yearning "If We’re In Love", slow-burning and off beat on the tantalizing "Night Of The Dancing Flame" or monotonous "Off On It", stomping and plain weird on "Ramalama (Bang, Bang)", right stomping on "Ruby Blue", melancholic and lullaby-esque on "The Closing of Doors" and "Sinking Feeling".

Spawning two of the best singles and videos of the year, gorgeously packaged, the only flaw i find is the fact that Love In The Making was deduced to a prelude.

Standous? I hesitate to say all of them, but if i HAD to pick - Sow Into You, Ruby Blue, Sinking Feeling, If We're In Love

[ameraal]

OK, so top 3... Goldfrapp, Fiona and... er.. I'm temporarily blank. I'm sure I know but anyway..

SMARTY PANTS :Oi:

[ameraal]

2. Goldfrapp – Supernature
http://www.blackoutfirenze.it/immagini/goldfrappsupernatureimmagine

A frontrunner for a very long time, this is an ode to the 80s in every way. It’s all about the synths, the even beats and that deadpan vocal delivery.

Pulsating, sweeping, hypnotic and lazy, yet invigorating and energizing, this record is a far cry from both predecessors – the off beat and wonderfully weird and exploring "Felt Mountain", and the richly layered, but calculatedly chilly sexual explicitness of "Black Cherry".

Abundant in 80s references - glam, disco, synth pop, you name it – and never quite reaching the end, never taking it to the culmination that it's hinting at, the sound of "Supernature" is between noisy and sparse, well polished, carrying a subconscious sense of depth, atmosphere and pelvic vibration, that make for its magic.

[Agnetha]

Mariah, Madonna... WHAT AN EXCITING LIST

[Suedehead]

I wouldn't say Supernature is a 'far cry' from Black Cherry. To me it just sounds like the next step forward - it's hardly a dramatic departure. Great album all the same.

Ruby Blue, of course, is turgid shite. :)

[ameraal]

1. Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine
http://epicrecords.com/contests/fionaapple/art/cvr.jpg

Fiona’s back and this time she’s possibly outdone herself. Her acerbic lyrics flow over intricate sonic landscapes and wonderfully vibrant beats, creating a very rich musical texture with traces of pop, symphonic, jazz and rock music.

The thing about Fiona for me is that I’ve always been able to relate with what’s she’s going on about, I can identify with her disability to build and stay in a lasting relationship, her constant struggle with herself, her search for the reasons, her urge to pick everything apart.

"I'm such an incredibly, stupidly sensitive person that everything that happens to me, I experience it really intensely. I feel everything very deeply. And when you feel things deeply and you think about things a lot and you think about how you feel, you learn a lot about yourself. And when you know yourself, you know life" - Fiona Apple, 1996

This album went down a very long path prior to its release, taking literally years and an almost entirely new production process for it to see the light of day over the counter. Though it has been strongly acclaimed by the critics it’s still struggling for the commercial success of her previous records, something which will hopefully change now that she’s supporting Coldplay on their US tour.

While I still prefer Jon Brion’s unreleased version to the official Mike Elizondo one, both have their merits and a mixture of the two would have been flawless.

Standouts - Waltz, Not About Love, Better Version Of Me, Please, Please, Please

[Suedehead]

Spectacular #1! Well done.