2011 "Best" Albums and your Musical Highlight/s of the Year

Q Magazine's Top 50, PJ is doing well!

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/...of-the-year-2011.php

Paste's Top 50

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/...t-albums-of-2011.php

Guardian, No's 50-11.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/musi...intcmp=ILCMUSTXT9389

My musical highlight of the year for me is a no brainer. I had got a last minute ticket to the gig, as I was certain it was the one night of the tour this would happen.

In all my years of concert going I have never felt such an atmosphere of emotion. It was a tsunami of cheers sweeping the stadium that continued for a couple of minutes through the song. It was very special indeed to see these guys.

Ignore the two guys standing in this clip, they quickly sit down. I prefer this audience production to the officially released version.

and the encore......

An excellent year for new music I think.

Album of the year for me by a good length Wilco: The Whole Love. Two others ahead of the pack; King Creosote and Jon Hopkin: Diamond Mine and Bon Iver: Bon Iver.

Dissappointments, Elbow, The Low Anthem and to a degree Kate Bush: 50 Words for slush. I just wanted it to be better.

Bruce

Some of my favourites, in no particular order...

and this one is not out until next week but i know it is going to be a belter!

atb

kk

It's picking up lots of 5 star reviews......

Lontano, my guess is that our lists will overlap by 75%.  

There will be a few "snaps" I am sure. I have a first draft, just need to test it out with a few listens over the weekend. I reckon our number 1 will be the same....

Yes, the #1 is still unchallenged but I will work on the rest tomorrow.

PS:

Could we include one more category - remaster of the year. 

Yep - I think I know what you might choose there....

It has been a good year for classical and opera,  as well as for major reissues. Some personal favorites among the new batch:

Best concerto: joint first prize for Hewitt with Mozart, and Tharaud's Bach: 

Best Choral:

Best symphonic (an easy one):

Best art song:

Best chamber music:

Best solo piano: this one is actually quite difficult. On balance:

(NB: I haven't heard his Schubert recording yet)

Best opera: there were two brilliant new recordings of Handel: Curtis' low key Ariodante (a good performance of a great opera) or Jacobs' energized Agrippina (a great performance of a good opera).

Outsider:

Best overall: working on that.

Cheers,

EJ

come on chaps, cough up your lists!  then again, you will only add to my never ending shopping basket!

atb

kk

Concerts of my year

1. Roger Waters  - The Wall - O2 - the closest you will get to a Floyd reunion with Gilmour/Mason - special

2. Nik Bartsch Ronin - Kings Place London - amazing rhythms, sound and musicianship

3. Keith Jarrett Trio - Juan Les Pins, Antibes, France - the master at work, with the sound of the waves lapping the shore by the stage

4. Elbow - O2 - this was fabulous, great chaps and a big singalong!

5. John Grant & Midlake - great to see this combo playing Queen of Denmark

6. Steve Wilson - better than Porcupine Tree IMHO and the drumming was just phenomenal

7. Chailly/Beethoven Symphonies 4 & 6  - Barbican, London

8. Alison Krauss and Union Station - Southbank, London - what a lovely lady and what a voice

Most disappointing musical event of the year - Rush, 02 - underwhelming

A contender for my favourite album of the year....exciting, refreshing playing.

Musical highlight was probably Allison Krauss and Union Station, mainly because it was a last minute thing and exceeded expectations.

Musical disappointment is probably because I'm a tightarse, not getting tickets to The Wall.

Album wise I can't remember, so I guess nothing stands out.

Disappointing album of the Year, let’s hope it grows

Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow

20-10 (in no particular order)

Elbow – Build a Rocket Boy

The Impossible Gentlemen

Marius Neset – Golden Xplosion

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

Nils Petter Molvaer – Baboon Moon

Mathias Eick – Scala

Stefano Battaglia – The River of Anyder

Peter Gabriel – New Blood

Avishai Cohen – Seven Seas

Opeth - Heritage

10. Helge Lien Trio – classy piano trio from Norway

9. Colin Vallon Trio – Rruga – excellent Swiss piano trio on ECM

8. Jethro Tull – Aqualung  40^th – stunning remaster from Steven Wilson

7. Magnus Ostrom – Thread of Life – debut solo from E.S.T. drummer

6. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know

5. Metronomy – The English Riviera – my record of the summer.  A sunny, happy album that all the family loved and we played constantly whilst on a superb holiday in the South of France.

4. Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning – this is excellent prog and I prefer this to some of his Porcupine Tree output, a bit more challenging but still very accessible

3. Nils Frahm  - Felt – this is atmospheric, recorded in his Berlin Apartment with muffled piano, it is  modern classical ambient music at it’s best.

2. Beethoven Symphonies – Riccardo Chailly/Gewandhausorchester – these are the best Beethoven symphonies I have heard by a country mile. The recording quality is the best and Chailly has made these so exciting that I play them all the time.

No 1 and my ALBUM OF THE YEAR. King Creosote/Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine – is this the most charming record ever? Well certainly of this year. What a gem and it should have beaten PJ for the Mercury.

My "live" musical highlight of the year was seeing The Wall, twice, here in Boston.  A close second was seeing Guster perform in Boston, also twice. We also really enjoyed Roger Daltrey's Tommy performance here, mostly because we *love* Tommy.

We've purchased almost no released-in-2011 music this year.  Which means that The Decemberists "The King is Dead" wins our best-of award.

Thanks to all who posted here as I've already ordered some of these discs.  We were looking for a good Beethoven symphonies collection and the Chailly recordings seem to get great reviews here and elsewhere!

Would love to see them live.

Hi Miles,

Luving your picture....you've changed!!!

Thank you for the music.

Another big vote for Diamond Mine - recommended to me by J.N. who got to listen to it with your good self Mr Lontano!