What were your musical highlights of the year?

*

I'm holding out for a good December because I reckon to have had a rather poor CD buying year.

Best single highlight possibly Lambchop 'Damaged' which is a significant return to form.

Bruce

The best album I've heard this year was actually released in 05, Richard Hawley's Coles Corner was a stormer. Bonnie Prince Billy's The Letting Go (spooky, haunting, folky country) was one of this years highlights. Modern Times made it a hat trick of superb, late period Zimmie and Amy Winehouse's Back To Black was great fun.

Tomorrow night seeing Zutons at the Portsmouth Guildhall

.

My highlight would have to be Yeah Yeah Yeah's recently album 'Show your Bones' anbd also Tool '10000 days' . Saw Tool twice as well which was an emotional experience.

Ryan

Brilliant expose of crack cocaine revival and life in NYC, plus assorted snapshots from the 'hood'.

Ghostface, founding member of Wu Tang Klan.


BB

Probably Tord Gustavsen at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival but Lizz Wright was damn fine at the Queen's Hall too.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:[...]The best new track of the year was David Wainwright's Feet by HMHB.

I missed this - where is it to be found?

Steve.

Live, of course Mackerras conducting Beethoven this summer, but also his Makropulos Case at ENO earlier in the year. Messiaen's From the Canyons to the Stars was similarly stunning.

Ian's mention of the Jazz Festival reminds me of the wonderful concert Chick Corea gave.


On disc, the Rattle/BPO Schubert 9th was pretty stunning. I enjoyed the Keilberth Siegfried (though I have been rather disappointed by the most recent release from the cycle).

Opera Rara's issue of Don Carlos, and indeed, the ROH's 1955 account under Giulini must also come pretty near the top of the list.

Honourable mentions to Runnicles' Tristan and Isolde, Paul Lewis's Beethoven and Barenboim's Ramallah concert with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.



Of course, things broaden out somewhat if one includes discs bought this year, but where were not released this year. Sets such as Colin Davis's Beethoven symphonies, Helmut Walcha's Bach (esspecially his Goldberg variations), Oramo's Sibelius, Jochum's Brahms, Giulini's Verdi Requiems, Uchida's Mozart concertos and Jochum's Haydn have all been rather wonderful finds for me.


regards, Tam

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bull:

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:[...]The best new track of the year was David Wainwright's Feet by HMHB.

I missed this - where is it to be found?

Steve.

Steve



This is a charity record with proceeds going to Save the Children.

1. Four Tet featuring Princess Watermelon - Go Go Ninja Dinosaur
2. Rasputina - A Skeleton Bang
3. Franz Ferdinand - Jackie Jackson
4. Snow Patrol - I am an Astronaut
5. The Divine Comedy - Three Cheers For Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho
6. The Kooks - The King & I
7. Half Man Half Biscuit - David Wainwright's Feet
8. The Barcelona Pavilion - Tidy Up Tidy Up
9. Jonathan Richman - Our Dog is Getting Older Now
10. Belle and Sebastian - The Monkeys are Breaking Out the Zoo
11. Ivor Cutler Trio - Mud
12. The Flaming Lips - The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now
13. Kathryn Williams - Night Baking

Track 7 is the best track by far, but the rest of tracks are OK.

There is a Colours Are Brighter wewb site.

Rotf

so far, my best 2006 album (while realeased on late 2005) is probably Hypnotize, by System of a Down.

Probably my best musical event this year was discovering JS Bach. Better late than never.

Best live gig was The Funky Butt at the Emsworth Food Festival.

Nigel

FInally getting the chance to see David Gilmour play at the Royal Albert Hall.

Already enjoying massively his performance including the full rendition of Echoes which is quite unusual, then all of a suden things get even better when David Bowie pops on stage and sings Arnold Lane then duets with Gilmour on a sublime Comfortably Numb, that evening makes my spine tingle just thinking about it!!!

Seeing the film about invented 1960's group Sweetwater that made one record, opened at Woodstock, did a couple of TV apperences and then disapeared.

The highlight was discovering that they was not inventedat all! I have now ordered their first record from Amazon...

JohanR

Imogen Heap, "Speak for Yourself".
Easy to dismiss as simple teen pop on first hearing, but I think she is one of the best British songwriters of the past decade. She manages to convey real feelings with normal daily-use language. Clever musical constructions too. Appeals on many levels.

quote:

Originally posted by CraigP:
FInally getting the chance to see David Gilmour play at the Royal Albert Hall.

Already enjoying massively his performance including the full rendition of Echoes which is quite unusual, then all of a suden things get even better when David Bowie pops on stage and sings Arnold Lane then duets with Gilmour on a sublime Comfortably Numb, that evening makes my spine tingle just thinking about it!!!

I was there too (with Mr Maynard-Portly), excellent gig. We both did a double take when DB walked on "It's not HIM is it?" "It is!!!" So Mr Bowie's appearance, Echoes and Comfortably Numb were my highlights. I had only heard 'On An Island' in Tarquin's car on the way to the RAH, so much of the first half was new to me though it certainly had it's moments.

However, this was eclipsed by another concert at the RAH in April - THE CURE!!! Over three hours of doom and gloom from their entire history going right back to their debut single 'Killing an Arab'. Probably the second best concert I've ever been to (the best was VdGG at the RFH last year )

The Cure?? You lucky man, Simon - they were my all-time favourite band of the 80s. Have been to see them two or three times now...oh how I miss those evenings of abject misery!

Still, I can usually recreate them pretty well by playing Disintegration every so often just to keep my spirits down...

Jon

I would never have had you down as a Cure fan - if you make it this way again we can REALLY upset Derek. Disintegration is quite jolly - Pornography is the really gloomy one!!

Nigel

David Gilmour live was a real highlight of this or any year for me. DB wasn't there the night we went but it was still an absolutely fantastic event. Slightly disappointed that there is not a dvd forthcoming, just a rerelease of the CD with a DVD added on with only one song from the RAH set.

quote:

Originally posted by hungryhalibut:
Jon

I would never have had you down as a Cure fan - if you make it this way again we can REALLY upset Derek. Disintegration is quite jolly - Pornography is the really gloomy one!!

Excellent, Nigel - sounds like a plan!

quote:

Originally posted by hungryhalibut:
Disintegration is quite jolly - Pornography is the really gloomy one!!

Nigel

Nah, Faith is the REALLY gloomy one. When I heard of Ian Curtis' demise I couldn't face playing any Joy Division so I put Faith on instead - it seemed to match the mood.

Pornography is loud, harsh, violent, virtually unlistenable and probably the second best Cure LP in the world (after Disintegration of course!)

For me it was discovering Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, and Whiskeytown. The new Drive-By Truckers album was probably my overall best buy.

Musical highlights of the year ...

1) buying my Naim gear :-)
2) best gig of this year : The Hamsters at the Abertillery Blues Festival
3) best release of this year : Beth Orton's Comfort of Strangers

Cheers
Scott

Chris,

I think the full DVD is coming out some time next year.

The video of Gilmour and Bowie dueting on Arnold Layne can currently be viewed on Gilmours website

http://www.davidgilmour.com/