What was your favourite al*** in 2009 ?

Posted by: tpia on 18 December 2009

Doesn't have to be released this year - just one you loved playing and would recommend to all and sundry.

This one I appreciated for its great momentum, and multi-layered percussion.

Posted on: 19 December 2009 by mongo
quote:
Originally posted by MilesSmiles:
quote:
Originally posted by mongo:
Not as good as the hype. But it's the beatles and it's Fab


For me both boxes have surprisingly lived up to the hype - they have to be right at the top of my 2009 list.

Think i was so excited i overhyped them to myself. I have to say the white album in particular is even more wonderful.
Posted on: 19 December 2009 by Whizzkid
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion






And For Classical its Jean Sibelius especially


Sir Colin davis & LSO plus the 3 & 7 disc.





Dean...
Posted on: 19 December 2009 by tpia
The Sibelius is indeed very good.
Posted on: 19 December 2009 by rich46
quote:
Originally posted by tpia:
The Sibelius is indeed very good.


everyone should listen to cohen live in london .
Posted on: 19 December 2009 by Derry
Posted on: 19 December 2009 by Diccus62
Only £4.48 on amazon this wonderful album. Won't cheat by picking another (well not yet), well ok then I discovered EST this year but can't choose a favourite



and the single



regards

Diccus Smile
Posted on: 20 December 2009 by Bananahead
quote:
Originally posted by Steeve:




Thanks for the recomendation. I have added this to my shopping basket.
Posted on: 20 December 2009 by Hot Rats
I couldn't decide which one to buy ...





... so I bought both of them!

This release was problematic ...



I pre-ordered a copy from Amazon UK at a cost of £140. Great value for 71 CDs and a DVD! When it arrived some of the replica sleeves were not glued together properly and a few discs had a light glue residue on them, which I managed to clean up. I asked Amazon to replace the product and when it arrived I managed to assemble a single good set from the two now in my possession. The box set was eventually withdrawn and re-pressed. It is now back in stock at Amazon but the price has almost doubled to £258.98.

I don't buy too much 'new' music but I enjoyed this album:



BBC Radio 2 have a Christmas interview with Sting during which he will perform some of the songs from the album.

It has taken me many years to discover this one:



This disc contains the original album, the A and B sides of the 'Looking Back' single, the John Mayall/Paul Butterfield EP and a radio session (79 minutes running time)

Remembering the days when time was only the division between one Soft Machine concert and the next one ...



This 2 disc set features the classic line-up of Mike Ratledge/Hugh Hopper/Elton Dean/Robert Wyatt and a fine performance it is. The set comes with a CD-ROM with some background information on the band and the venue. We lost Hugh Hopper to leukemia in June this year. He will be greatly missed.

So there's my summary of 2009. Not too much recently recorded music but many happy hours spent listening to the music that provided the soundtrack to my younger years.
Posted on: 20 December 2009 by Steeve
quote:
Originally posted by Bananahead:
quote:
Originally posted by Steeve:




Thanks for the recomendation. I have added this to my shopping basket.


hey, at last someone has taken notice of my rantings!! Make sure you get the Bonus Edition with the 4 extra EP tracks tagged on the end. These are actually re-recordings of far earlier written tracks which have only been available as MySpace downloads before. Think it's under a fiver now on Amazon anyways so worth a punt. Hope you enjoy. She's not everyone's cup of tea but I think she's errr...great?

Steeve
Posted on: 20 December 2009 by FlyMe
So hard to pick - but here are two contrasting contenders:


Posted on: 20 December 2009 by JWM
quote:
Originally posted by JWM:


To which, of course, I must add my album of the year (silly me for forgetting it...)

Portico Quartet : Isla
Posted on: 20 December 2009 by tpia
Quote Doctor Jazz

I bought the Miles Davis set too - and yes the glue is a bit dodgy. I paid euro 160 on Amazon fr. It is still available there at that price.
Posted on: 22 December 2009 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by Haim Ronen:



By far the best disc of the year for me.


Haim, it's sitting on top of my listening pile, as soon as I can set aside time for proper attention. It comes very highly recommended.

All best,
Fred



Posted on: 22 December 2009 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by irwan shah:

The year 2009 will always be remembered for two things: First, I was finally able to afford Naim electronics. Second, I discovered a wonderful pianist called Fred Simon. No prizes then for guessing what are some of my favourite albums are for the year 2009!

Fred Simon's:

Dream House

Remember the River

Since Forever

Greg Lyons' Smoke Signals


Irwan, thank you so much for the wonderful compliment ... I'm truly grateful for the praise and support.

And I'll bet my albums sound fantastic on your Naim system! If you get a chance, try Since Forever in the 24bit/96kHz format ... so realistic sounding you'd swear you could reach out and touch the instruments!

All the best,
Fred



Posted on: 23 December 2009 by El Guapo
Sunn O))) - Monoliths and dimensions
Anaal Nathrakh - In the constellation of the black widow
Pete Namlook - Music for urban meditation III
Der Blutharsch - Flying High
All Hail the transcending ghost - All hail the transcending ghost
Wolves in the throne room - Malevolent grain
Wino - Punctuated equilibrium
Posted on: 23 December 2009 by rich46
quote:
Originally posted by droodzilla:
quote:
Doesn't have to be released this year - just one you loved playing and would recommend to all and sundry.

By that criterion, probably this:




supertramp crime of the century

Benedikt Jahnel Trio - Modular Concepts. If you like Holon, you may well enjoy this, minimalism inspired piano trio.

I don't think it's necessarily the best album I've heard all year - but I have played it a lot, and recommended to all and sundry, including you!

Regards
Nigel
Posted on: 23 December 2009 by mikeeschman
Angelia Hewitt Bach "The Well Tempered Clavier", the 2009 recording.
Posted on: 23 December 2009 by Guido Fawkes
Best live album recorded in 1986 and released in 2009 award has to go to



CD 1
orgone accumulator; lord of the hornets; teen ballad; quark, strangeness and charm; radio Egypt; days of the underground; ned ludd; acid rain; work song; online; damnation alley; all the machines are quiet; telekinesis; test tube conceived

CD2
aerospaceage inferno; ship of fools; standing on the picket line; robot Robert; spirit of the age; psi power; flying doctors; sanctions; hidden persuasion; three little words from a fool; marathon man; rewind; diamond mine; white destiny

Avoid the bootlegs on evil-Bay with a different track listing as they are not mastered with the care of the voiceprint version.
Posted on: 23 December 2009 by droodzilla
I feel that I've left a decent enough interval since my first post on this thread to come back for "seconds". Therefore, my other recommendation is this excellent reissue from ECM:



Classic, exploratory seventies jazz from Germany. A must buy for all jazz fans, not just the ECM-heads, in my view.

Regards
Nigel
Posted on: 24 December 2009 by Stackman
My album of the year is White Sugar by Joanne Shaw Taylor. The album is extremely catchy with plenty of blues, rock & soul. Her raspy voice and guitar playing is beautiful and the recording sounds brilliant. I took it along with me to the dealers and he decided to buy it for himself.
Happy Christmas
Chris
Posted on: 24 December 2009 by reubs1981
The XX - xx

The hype and buzz around this one is justified. They sound like literally nothing else at the moment. They have songs and tunes, but the production is obviously influenced by dubstep. They are min imal; nothing extraneous added into the mix. And they look f**king cool too. That does matter, by the way!
Posted on: 24 December 2009 by irwan shah
Fred:
Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to get a sample recording in that format before deciding to make that purchase. In your opinion, can the 24 bit recording match the warm analogue sound of a turntable? I use a low end Project 0.5 with an upgraded Ortofon stylus and with this, the 'Remember the River' LP sounds even better than the CD fed through the Supernait's DAC.

I can understand why some board members are so passionate about their turntables. I am still dreaming of the day when I am able to save up enough for the legendary LP12 (with a Naim tone arm of course), fed through a Superline into the Supernait! Anyone out there with this combination?

Looking forward to taking delivery of Empirical's album early next year. Any chance of Naim releasing that on vinyl?
Posted on: 24 December 2009 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by irwan shah:

In your opinion, can the 24 bit recording match the warm analogue sound of a turntable?


I like analogue LPs, and they generally do sound warm, but 24 bit sounds like the instruments are in the room ... warm and clear and closer to real. I think LPs have a coloration, an albeit pleasant one, but not as true.

All best,
Fred


Posted on: 25 December 2009 by irwan shah
Fred:
Thanks for the explanation. I never thought that digital would be able to compete with analogue. Until now, I have purchased CDs because of the convenience it offers. I am still nuts over the turntable though! But 24 bit recordings are from Naim are only available as downloads. Not sure how to deal with those as I like having something like an album cover / sleeve to hold in my hands. However, I am trying to get over this 'hang-up' as I am purchasing a laptop soon (primarily for work - database and writing), and will rip my CD collection for storage on its hard disk. The optical signal will then be fed into my Supernait. I will probably purchase 24 bit downloads from Naim when I get this system set up.