I haven't really bought a lot of music this year as interesting stuff has been thin on the ground. Hope 2007 sees some imporovement.

New albums I've enjoyed:

Johnny Cash, American V-A Hundred Highways.
Graham Coxon, Love Travels at Illegal Speeds.
TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain - and, err, that's it.

Reissues:

REM, Best of the IRS Years (not out yet but I know I'll love it from the tracklisting)
The Associates, Affectionate Punch
Denim, Back In Denim.

And also, though it was released in 2004, the Luke Haines triple disc set - a recent purchase, and excellent.

Looking forward to:

Smiths box set.
Diamanda Galas, Guilty Guilty Guilty.

Oh, and when will someone make a pop album to match the excellence of PSB Behaviour and Very or Human League, Dare. I wish they would!

Ringleader was ok but Morrissey can do better. Let's hope he returns with a corker in 2008.

I have really enjoyed Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"....everything is starting to sound the same to me these days though!

Love Alma xxx

Search for Paradise (The Wedding Present)
MEDS (Placebo)
Ten Silver Drops (Secret Machines)
You See Colours (Delays)
Violence is Golden (Scanners)

Keane "Atlantic"
Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"

Keane "under the iron sea or Muse "black hole.."

Cat Power - The Greatest
was the best album by the other artist I bought this year (and I bought a lot). Simply beautiful!

Gold - Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit
Silver - Ryan Adams, 29
Bronze - Pet Shop boys, Fundamental

Only 2 for this year I'm afraid!
Scritti Politti - White Bread, Black Beer (just beautiful)
Belle & Sebastian - Life Pursuit

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Tom Petty - Highway Companion
New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us...
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Cheap Trick - Rockford
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Dr. John - Mercernary
and probably the new Radio Birdman, although I haven't gotten to hear it yet.

2005-2006 has been a fantastic year for music. Some of the best releases include:

Jim Bob: School
Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental
Andy Bell: Electric Blue
Belle and Sebastian: The Life Pursuit
Franz Ferdinand: You could have it so much better
Mew: Mew and the glass handed kites
Sparks: Hello young lovers
Depeche Mode: Playing the angel

I've been a Moz fan for a long time and I do hold onto the notion that he might regain his musical 'fizz' but there's a feeling around Ringleader that it's bland and lifeless musically.

I don't think Morrissey has lost his passion, his artistic integrity or turned into a middle aged rock star (yet) but I think the rest of the band have. His mistake is continuing with the band.

They have been wonderful spasmodically and at least consistently good since Your Arsenal but after the variety and apparent passion of the first 3 studio albums, his latest 3 with this band sound staid and jaded. Don't get me wrong, I think Quarry is a great album - truly great - and that there are interesting moments on Maladjusted and Ringleader; but I feel his band have lost their focus and imagination. WE now all know exactly how the next album will sound, and I don't think you could have said that at any stage during his career up until lately.

I have been a fan for years and I'm sure he'll still trot out some nice tunes and the occasional gem with 'the lads,' but I hope for more from an artist who remains as great as ever - unlike his band.

Morrissey needs to find some younger (or older - it actually doesn't matter) musicians who - crucially - have some passion and imagination and are willing to offer ideas and challenge Morrissey and help him achieve the heights he's reached in the past.

Perhaps certain members of the band can still do this: only Morrissey and the band really know where the problem lies.

I said ages ago that I won't be a regular on here or at his gigs, and I will only now be a fan of his past work unless he does something genuinely exciting for his next record.

This is make or break time - Morrissey has everything to prove; once he thinks he doesn't have everything to prove, he may as well retire.

Whether he can do something extraordinary, with vision and beauty with this band only he knows. He may have to bring in other musicians, try working in a different way or something else. But I sincerely hope he doesn't simply put out another decent mid-paced rock record with a couple of nice tunes because lyrically and artistically, the man could *still* change pop music.

This is not an attack on Moz - it's a suggestion; I hope he has the bravery to try something like I'm suggesting. He is too good to put out another bland record.

broken

I heard the latest barely groovy middle aged T Rex impersonation he's trying to pass off as his latest single on the radio 1 chart run-down (well, where else?) and my mum was in the kitchen with me - she swears 'In the Future When All's Well' was originally by Rod 'the God' Stewart. Anyone know who wrote the original?

I'd love to hear the original because I think if you were to strip away Boz/Jesse/Alain's cliched guitar part, the workaday drumming and the barely noticeable bass, add a little passion and verve (which you'd have if it was your own song) and throw in a little imagination (covers are always bald - eh?) I think it might actually sound pretty good.

But fuck, Moz - next time you do a cover, select a song with a memorable melody!

broken

New York Dolls, Franz Ferdinand, Raconteurs, Bob Dylan, The Replacements (Best of), All American Rejects, and Dashboard Confessional all released decent albums this year.

Morrissey released some good B-sides, namely
"Ganglord"
"If You Don't Like Me Don't Look at Me"
"Song From Under the Floorboards"
"Human Being"

his album "Ringleader of the Tormentors" was a disappointment.

Favorite Recent Releases by:

* Arctic Monkeys
* Dirty Pretty Things
* Antony & The Johnsons

The Depeche Mode release was good. The Muse release was good but not as good as Absolution. Babyshambles had some great moments. The Thom Yorke release was good but there was not enough meat to it.

Looking forward to the new ones from Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Trashcan Sinatras, and hopefully Morrissey.

dmh

but the new Bob Dylan, "Modern Times" is the best album I've heard this year. Like Moz, Dylan has aged with grace, wit and as much creativity as he ever had...

Medulla (Bjork)
Supernature (Goldfrapp)
Hot Fuss (The Killers)

Not a great year.

some of these may not have come out between june '05 and june '06 but they're new to me...

-one of the best years in music-

Faster Pussycat - The Power & The Glory Hole
Storybook Funeral - Demo and Live Shows
Mexican Cheerleader - Mexican Mystery Tour
Smart Brown Handbag - Harry Larry
The Newlydeads - Dreams From A Dirty Nap
Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors + singles
Ween - Shinola Vol. 1
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys (The Legacy)
Helloween - Reissues
Das Kapital - Denying The West
The Bomb - Indecision
Tom Daily - The Death Of Tom Daily
The Streets - The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
Maritime - We, The Vehicles
An Automotive S/T
Bullets & Octane - In The Mouth Of The Young
Gosling - Here Is...
Be Your Own Pet - S/T
Beth Orton - Comfort Of Strangers
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Élan Vital
Damone - Out Here All Night
The Death Riders - Soundtrack For Depression
RC5 - American Rock'n'Roll
Red Invasion - I'm Not Too Young To Die
Robbie Williams - Intensive Care
The Summer Obsession - This Is Where You Belong
Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
t.A.T.u. - Dangerous & Moving
Morningwood - S/T
Revolting Cocks - Cocked & Loaded

surprised to not see the zutons mentioned.

1. AFX - Chosen Lords
2. Growing - Color Wheel
3. Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors
4. Various - Congotronics 2

i've already seen them once this year, and i'm going again sept.14th! they're like a cross between joy division (vocals) and early depeche mode (music). not much similar to the moz, but good quality music nonetheless.

Mellowdrone-BOX
Elefant-BLACK MAGIC SHOW
Editors-THE BACK ROOM
Stellastarr*-HARMONIES FOR THE HAUNTED
We Are Scientists-WITH LOVE AND SQUALOR
and for shits and giggles...
Ice Cube-LAUGH NOW, CRY LATER

I have the new Keane CD, but I haven't taken to it like their first.

The new Katie Melua disc is pretty good. And I just discovered Tally Hall (thanks to Craig Ferguson), but I think their disc was released in 2005.

Best in Show 2006 (so far):

* Rick Ross "Port of Miami"
* Nelly Furtado "Loose"
* Kelis "Kelis was Here"
* Morrissey "Ringleader"
* Dashboard Confessional "Dusk & Summer"
* Prince "3121"
* Ghostface Killah "Fishscale"
* Lily Allen "Alright, still"
* Veronicas "The Secret Life of"

Aberfeldy - Do Whatever Turns You On
Augie March - Moo, You Bloody Choir
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
The Concretes - In Colour
Danielson - Ships
The Dears - Gang Of Losers
Dimmer - There My Dear
Duels - The Bright Lights And What I Should Have Learned
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
Grandaddy - Just Like The Fambly Cat
Ed Harcourt - The Beautiful Lie
Lawrence Arabia - Lawrence Arabia
Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Morrissey - ROTT
Grant-Lee Phillips - nineteeneighties
Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Razorlight - Razorlight
The Raconteurs - The Raconteurs
The Reduction Agents - The Dance Reduction Agents
The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
The Tyde - Three's Co.
Voom - Hello, Are You There?

Looking forward to new Eric Matthews, Luke Haines, Veils and Pernice Brothers. It's been a good year for music,

belle and sebastian - life pursuit

we are scientists - debut

muse - black holes

keane - iron sea

the secret machines - 3rd lp -name escapes me.

thom yorke - eraser

arctic monkeys - whatever...

mozz - rott. , i guess.

Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo Road
With Love And Squaloe - We Are Scientists
Stars Of CCTV _ Hard-Fi
Love Travels At Illegal Speeds - Graham Coxon
Empire - Kasabian
One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This - New York Dolls

And I'm buying the Fratellis album on Monday because I've heard 8 tracks and love them all

2 best releases this year:

SCOTT WALKER: The Drift
WALKER BROTHERS: Everything Under The Sun (box set)

Morrissey - ROTT
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Divine Comedy - Victory For The Comic Muse
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
James Dean Bradfield - The Great Western
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am....
The Aliens - Alienoid Starmonica EP
AFX - Chosen Lords
Muse - Black Holes And Revelations

#1 The Fall - Heads Roll
#2 The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
#3 Strokes - First Impressions of Earth

Can't recall when The White Stripes last album (Get Behind Me Satan) came out - Is that within the last year? That would most likely see #2 and knock the other two down to #3 and #4

#5 Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo To Anywhere

Elsie

But I've enjoyed these in the last year:

Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever...
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

Plus looking forward to the rumoured Moz album reissues.

1. Morrissey - ringleader of the tormentors

2. KanYeWest - late registration

3. Rihanna - music of the sun

Ringleader (I love it, f**k the naysayers. They dunno what they're talking about)
Arctic Monkeys (overhyped but still...)
The Editors (did this come out between '05-'06?)
The Organ
Hot Chip
----------------

Best discovery, courteousy of this website was Betjeman's Banana Blush.

I shall be investigating the Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan LP and am looking forward to getting my copy of the Dears new LP. And the new Bloc Party one should come out soon hopefully

oh I quite like the Kasabian LP and all. And The Secret Machines one too. And I like about half of DM's latest LP. And about half of We Are Scientists

Worst LPs? The Streets "I've done too much prang" or Primal scream "Strolling Bones tribute"

BLUEBIRDS

elbow - leaders of the free world
clearlake - amber
sigurs ros - takk
pedestrian - ghostly life
morrissey - rott

now I'm waiting for the new cd of sparklehorse and the veils

ciao
Riccardo

The best album of 2005-2006 hasn't been mentioned yet. It's "Let's Get Out of This Country" by Camera Obscura. Simply the best lyrics and melodies off any album in a long time.

#2: Neko Case -- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

#3: Mojave 3 -- Puzzles Like You

#4: The most recent High Dials album

a tie between...

        Placebo- Meds and
        Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Show Your Bones

then...
        Depeche Mode- Playing the Angel
        AFI- Decemberunderground
        The Bronx- The Bronx

Anthony & The Johnsons "I'm a bird now"
Franz Ferdinand "You could have it so much better"
Adam Green "Jacket Full of Danger"
Muse "Black Holes and Revelations"
Dirty Pretty Things "Waterloo to Anywhere"
Belle and Sebastian "The Life Pursuit"
Bonnie Prince Billy "The Letting Go"
The New York Dolls "One day..."
Depeche Mode "Playing the Angel"
Dresden Dolls "Yes, Virginia"
Joan as Police Woman "Joan as Police Woman"
Mogwai "Mr. Beast"
Morrissey "Ringleader of the Tormentors"
Placebo "Meds"
Thom Yorke "The Eraser"
V.A "Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited"
Sufjan Stevens "Illinoise"
Towers of London "Blood Sweat and Towers"

Lots of great records this year!
Yes, I LIKE TOWERS OF LONDON, AND SO WHAT?

A little bonus:

The best thing this year, of all the things in the world: The second season of Lost.

The worst thing in music: emo, and those crap bands Panic! at the disco, Fall Out Boy et al.

The hype: Artic Monkeys (they're good, but c'mon), Richard Ashcroft (crashing bore, hasn't done a good thing since The Verve split, they were ace)

If they keep playing their songs all the time everywhere I swear to God I'll kill somebody: Coldplay (or U2, they're the same crap)

Belle and Sebastian- The Life Pursuit
Babyshambles- Down In Albion
Editors- The Back Room
The Dears- Gang of Losers
Morrissey- ROTT
Vinny Peculiar- The Fall and Rise of VP
Dirty Pretty Things- Waterloo to Anywhere

~Sift through the garbage to find a gem.

Here's a brief list of mine...
1, Echo And The Bunnmymen - Siberia: If you're a Bunnymen fan and do not own this album you are missing out, I rate it alongside some of their best 80's stuff.
2, Killing Joke - Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell: There's something really scary about 40+ year olds sounding this brutal! That's a good thing, by the way.
3, Editors - The Back Room: The best of the new bands about in my opinion.
4, Stuart Staples - Leaving Songs: I love listening to this when I feel mellow. Not quite as great as the Tindersticks albums though.
5, Circulus - Clocks Are Like People: This is great. Sounds like a mixture of indie and psychedelic, with a medievil twist.

Flat Pack Philosophy

Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor
Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors

that's it really. everything else is crap.

TOOL's 10,000 Days. Which by the way, were great last night at Staples... I don't like any other artists that are still alive.

The Boy with the Buttons

This year I have been mostly liking:
Editors - The Back Room
Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo To Anywhere

But to be honest these weren't perfect, and I've been playing Pulp, Suede and The Shins (and obviously Moz and The Smiths) more than is strictly necessary (I'm a revisionist, what can I say).
I was very, very disappointed with Razorlight's effort, considering their brilliant debut (it seems Johnny has a touch of Las Vegasitis), but I'm sticking with it as my 'getting ready to go out' album.
The wealth of music out there at the moment is staggering, and there are some very promising bands and artists, but at the same time it just means that there is more shit to sift through. Then again, maybe I'm just a crotchety old maid who thinks that the best thing out there is Morrissey and that there's nobody else worth my blood, sweat and tears.

1. Raconteurs, "Broken Boy Soldiers"
            Great show live!
2. Neil Young, "Living With War"
            Chalk this one up to American guilt.
3. New York Dolls, "One Day.."
            Where it all began.
4. Ray Davies, "Other People's Lives"
5. Willie Nile, "Streets of New York"

01) Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
02) Barzin - My Life in Rooms
03) Trespassers William - Having
**) Small Town Boredom - Autumn Might Have Hope*
04) Piano Magic - Incurable
05) Jason Molina - Let me Go, Let me Go, Let me Go
06) Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette
07) Lisa Germano - In the Maybe World
08) Jandek - Glasgow Monday: The Cell
09) Voices and Organs - Orphanage
10) Pumice - Yeahnahvienna

*floating ordinal

Honourable mention:
July Skies - Where the Days Go
Damien Jurado - And Now that I'm in Your Shadow
Gregor Samsa - 55:12
William Basinski - The Garden of Brokenness
Belong - October Language
Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors
Painting Petals on Planet Ghost - s/t
Liz Durrett - The Mezzanine
Lambchop - Damaged
Fred Thomas - Sink Like a Symphony
W-S Burn - Birdsong in Stereo
El Perro del Mar - s/t
The Late Cord - Lights from the Wheelhouse
Xiu Xiu - Air Force
Scott Walker - The Drift
Thee More Shallows - Monkey vs. Shark
Jandek - What Else Does the Time Mean
Jessica Bailiff - Feels Like Home
Hush Arbors - Since we have Fallen

Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - "Rabitt Fur Coat"
Johnny Boy - "Johnny Boy"
Christina Aguilera - "Back to Basics"
The Pipettes - "We Are the Pipettes"
Justin Timberlake - "FutureSex/Love Sounds"

another year of nothing.

ROTT has some great singles and a lot of crap in between. Stuart Staples' Leaving Songs was a let down...The Stroke's single was so wretched i never bothered to listen to the album it was taken from...Venetian Snare's latest is pretty fucking routine.

Nurse With Wound's Shipwreck Radio Vol. 2 wins i guess, but there's not much competition

I'm surprised at how many people are saying 2006 is a bad year for music. There's a lot of good stuff out there if you know where to look! I guess people are either lazy or giving up?

My favorites from 3rd/4th quarter 2005 through current are:

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Crystal Skulls - Blocked Numbers
Elefant - The Black Magic Show
Grizzly Bear - Horn of Plenty
The Raconteurs - Broken Soldier Boys
Wilderness - Vessel States
Comets on Fire - Avatar
Film School - Film School
Aloha - Some Echoes
Ambulance LTD - New English EP
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Deerhoof - The Runners Four
Engineers - Engineers
The High Dials - War of the Waking Phantoms
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
Wolf Parade - Apologizes to the Queen Mary
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt
My Morning Jacket - Z

The Eraser

Cat Power: The Greatest
Jenny Lewis & Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
Joan As Police Woman: Real Life
Belle & Sebastian: The Life Pursuit + If You're feeling Sinister (Live)
Adam Green: Jacket Full Of Danger
Bright Eyes: Motion Sickness
Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Not bad as well: Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, The Dears, Yeah yeah yeah's, Sufjan Stevens, Tilly and the wall, Depeche Mode, Phoenix, Soulwax Nite Versions,