Top ten releases for 2008?

jcs,
nice idea to see what the other guys liked most this year. Here is my top ten list, but in arbitrary order:

1) Noel Akchoté - So Lucky. Very melodic and spartanic electric and acoustic guitar, interpreting pop song themes in jazzy style.
2) Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat 20th Anniversary. Includes a gorgeous version of the 1988 "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" from the Rob Wasserman "Duets" album.
3) Villa Medica - Nata per la Musica. Pure sound recording of baroque chamber music.
4) Eric Clapton - Unplugged. After 12 years I decided to buy the LP version. Very intimate recording, a milestone of live performance.
5) Antonio Forcione - Tears of Joy. LP version, relaxed music and a very good recording.
6) J.J. Cale - Rewind-Unreleased Recordings. Good old JJ, good old slide guitar, good sound. Greetings from Tulsa.
7) Van Morrison - Keep it Simple. After all these years still full of beautiful songs, very typical.
8) Neil Diamond - Home before Dark. Thought that his 2005 "12 songs" was great ? Even topped by "Home before Dark". I asked myself if this is the same man who sang simple popsongs in the late 70s.
9) Tethered Moon - Experiencing Tosca. The modern jazz trio plays themes from the classical Tosca opera. Sound and music perfect.
10) Regina Spector - Soviet Kitsch. Pure, rough, clean sound, but still very nice and reduced pop songs.

Kind regards from the Lake Constance,
Holger

quote:

Originally posted by hardholgi:
1) Noel Akchoté - So Lucky. Very melodic and spartanic electric and acoustic guitar, interpreting pop song themes in jazzy style.

Holger - great choice there with that Noel Akchoté album. That was on my last years top 10 list. Very simple guitar interpretations of Kylie Minogue tunes.

I have played it to a few people who really liked it and kind of recognised the tunes but could not place it as Kylie music.

Cheers

Here are my listening favourites this year

2008 Releases

1. Arve Henriksen - Cartography - released on ECM - my album of the year - modern day trumpet musings, wonderful atmosphere and astonishing sound quality

2. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - stunning voice from Aboriginal singer
3. Mathias Eick - The Door - released on ECM
4. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - January - released on ECM
5. Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is - another excellent album from Lanois
6. Bennie Maupin - Early Reflections - superb late night saxophone
7. Van Der Graaf Generator - Trisector - new album from the Prog masters
8. Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan - Sunday at the Dirt Devil - Sunday morning music
9. No-Man - Schoolyard Ghosts - a real grower - another excellent Wilson release
10. Pat Metheny Trio - Tokyo Day Trip Live

Just outside the top 10

Buika - Nina De Fuego - stunning voice
Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
David Holmes - The Holy Pictures
E.S.T - Leucocyte
Porcupine Tree - We Lost the Skyline
Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantando - on ECM
Felice Brothers

Rereleases of the year

Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat - 20th Anniversary release
Genesis - 1970-75
ECM Touchstones Series
Robert Wyatt back catalogue

Release that I expected would crash into my top 10 but did not make it

Steve Wilson - Insurgentes

Most played albums of the year

Bruce Springsteen - Magic
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Cheers
Adrian

in no order of preference:

Arun Ghosh - Northern Namaste
Knutsson, Norberg & Kraja - Norrland III (thanks
Stefan)
Maria Pia de Vito & Huw Warren - Diálektos
Peter Green - The Anthology
Holloway, ter Linden & Mortensen - Jean Marie Le Clair sonatas
Dub Colossus - A town called Addis (well, I like it)
Richard Egarr - Purcell, keyboard suites and grounds
Tricky - Knowle West Boy
Quadro Nuevo - Antakya (their Christmas album is rapidly replacing this selection)
The Garifuna Women's Project - Umalali

Mentioned in dispatches:
the Felice Brothers, Raconteurs, Ophélie Gaillard (Boccherini - Madrid and Britten sonatas), Duffy, Tony Kofi and Artemis Quartet (Schubert)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1963/top25ce8.png

Shocking - but it is the truth of itunes rankinglist

Here ya go..


1 - The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine
2 - Benga - Diary Of An Afro Warrior
3 - MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
4 - Beck - Modern Guilt
5 - Scuba - A Mutual Antipathy
6 - TV On The Radio - Dear Science
7 - Deepchord - The Coldest Season
8 - Dave Angel - Classics (remastered re-issue)
9 - Zombie Zombie - A Land For Renegades
10 -Booka Shade - The Sun And The Neon Lights



Dean..

I doubt that I've bought 10 new albums this year. Of the ones I have, those that have stood out were:

Phantom Limb
Karine Polwart - This Earthly Spell
Ashe Grunwald - Fish Out Of Water

steve

Hmm...I could've sworn I could put together a Top 10 for 2008 but it appears many of my "new" discs were actually released late last year?!?!

I do have a couple worthy nominations:

Kills: Midnight Boom
Black Keys: Attack & Release

Many of the albums I did purchase in 2008 I have yet to really warm up to: Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice; Ryan Adams - Cardinology; Alejendro Escoveda - Animal; lambchop - OH (ohio)

Likley all worthy albums but dissapointed based on such impressive back catalogues.....

2008 Purchases

CD
--
1. Walter Becker - Circus Money; An inventive and excellent release from Walter. Great melodies, harmonies, musicianship and a reggae feel to some of the tracks that really surprised me. There must have been some vocal cleaning up done to Walters voice. Those who witnessed him crucifying Hatian Divorce 'live' last year would not beleive this is the same singer.

2. The Dears - Missiles; The band broke up prior to releasing this album and I am pleased they managed to keep going. Looking forward to a UK tour next year and with 3 albums behind them, plenty of material to perform. My favourite 'Newish' Canadian band.

3. Jeff Beck- Live at Ronnie Scott's; Jeff's playing is wondefully expressive, backed with a top class band. The DVD is an essential buy for next year.

4. Tim Bowness/Peter Chilvers - Overstrand; A companion release to 'California, Norfolk', beautiful.

5. Spooky Tooth - Nomad Poets "Live in Germany 2004"; A top band still going strong, with Mike Harrison's voice improving with age. Old Git's rule

Vinyl
-----
6. no-man - Schoolyard Ghosts; Wilson & Bowness make great albums that reveal more in time, fabulous.

7. Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior; Richards best release since 'Mock Tudor' and so pleased I picked this up at the RFH gig this year.

8. Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely; Really enjoyed the Glastonbury performance and this has fantastic energy from Jack & Brenden.

9. Porcupine Tree - We Lost the Skyline; This In-Store performance really captures Steven Wilson & John Wesley's voice & Guitar at their best. Old tunes are given a new lease of life.

10. Porcupine tree - Lightbulb Sun; The 2007 remix / remaster of the original album is a great pressing by supervised by the late Michael Piper on his Gates of Dawn label. One of my favourite PT albums and a return to this kind of song based cycle would not disappoint me for the next PT release.

Denis

Denis - some nice choices - Insurgentes not good enough to make your top 10 then?

Adrian,

I simply have not played it enough (CD/Vinyl) to give due consideration. It's the same with 'Live In Gdansk', where I have the 5 CD/DVD & 5 Vinyl versions. I will invest time next month and probably revise my 2008 list

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Just A Little Lovin' by Shelby Lynne yet. The first track alone makes it a top 10 recording for me this year. I take it with me to every listening session as a reference.

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Just A Little Lovin' by Shelby Lynne yet. The first track alone makes it a top 10 recording for me this year. I take it with me to every listening session as a reference.

Afraid this album did nothing for me. So what is in your top 10?

Here are my ten - the first five were easy; the rest took some thought.

1. [em] (Wollny/Kruse/Schaeffer - [em]3
A piano trio like no other - there really *is* something new under the sun.

2. Bennie Maupin - Early Reflections
Maupin is wonderfully supported by a group of young Polish musicians.

3. Toumani Diabate - Mande Variations
The beautiful, soothing sound of Diabate's cora.

4. Morton Feldman - The Viola In My Life
Hard to believe this is ECM's first Feldman CD - the two were made for each other!

5. Scarlatti - Piano Sonatas (Pletnev)
A cheat, as this is an old recording, but I'll remember 2008 as the year I found Scarlatti.

6. Arve Henriksen - Cartography
Although it hasn't completely clicked with me yet, I'm willing to take Adrian's word for it!

7. Alboran Trio - Near Gale
An advance on this piano trio's fine debut album, "Meltemi".

8. Marilyn Crispell - Vignettes
A lovely album of solo piano reflections.

9. Dans Les Arbres - Dans Les Arbres
The nearest thing to a Christian Wallumrod album this year - quite inaccessible, but weirdly fascinating.

10. Bobo Stenson - Cantando
Another great piano trio CD.

The reissue of the year, for me, was Keith Jarrett Trio's "Setting Standards". My live highlight was seeing Angela Hewitt perform all of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier over two weekends in Manchester - simply magical.

Regards
Nigel

I'm far too lazy to list only new releases or reissues from 2008 (because I can't remember the actual release dates), and I'm also too lazy to just include ten. (I did buy some rock and jazz recordings this year, but none made their way into my top 10 or 20.)


The Best
Bach – Complete Sacred Cantatas; Harnoncourt/Leonhardt (Teldec)
Beethoven – Complete Symphonies; Bruno Walter w/ NYPO and Philadelphia (1941-1953; United Archives)
Brahms – Complete Symphonies; Rafael Kubelik w/ BRSO (Orfeo)
Debussy – Piano Works Volume 4; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Chandos)
Dowland – Complete Solo Lute Music; Jakob Lindberg (BIS)
Espana – Piano music of Granados, Albeniz, and Falla; Michel Block (OM Records)
Haydn – The Creation; Paul McCreesh (DG)
Schubert – 11 Piano Sonatas; Christian Zacharias (EMI)
The Master Pianist Youri Egorov (EMI)
Weinberg – String Quartets, Vol 1; Danel Quartet (CPO)


Another ten for good measure
Beethoven – Complete Symphonies; Carl Schuricht (EMI)
Beethoven – Complete Violin Sonatas; Jumppanen / Cerovsek (Claves)
Beethoven – Op 2 Sonatas; Maurizio Pollini (DG)
Duparc – Melodies; Murray, et al (Hyperion)
Enescu – Symphonies, Vox Maris; Foster (EMI)
Janacek – From the House of the Dead; Boulez (DG)
Prokofiev – Romeo & Juliet Suite (arr MTT); MTT (RCA)
Scarlatti – 14 Sonatas; Christian Zacharias (MDG)
Scarlatti – 49 Sonatas; Christian Zacharias (EMI)
Tchaikovsky – Symphonies 4, 5, 6; Daniele Gatti (Harmonia Mundi)



--

quote:

Originally posted by Todd A:
I did buy some rock and jazz recordings this year, but none made their way into my top 10 or 20.

Hi Todd - I would be interested to know what was the best of the rock and jazz that did not make the top 10 overall but that you think was good.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by droodzilla:
Here are my ten - the first five were easy; the rest took some thought.

1. [em] (Wollny/Kruse/Schaeffer - [em]3
A piano trio like no other - there really *is* something new under the sun.

2. Bennie Maupin - Early Reflections
Maupin is wonderfully supported by a group of young Polish musicians.

3. Toumani Diabate - Mande Variations
The beautiful, soothing sound of Diabate's cora.

4. Morton Feldman - The Viola In My Life
Hard to believe this is ECM's first Feldman CD - the two were made for each other!

5. Scarlatti - Piano Sonatas (Pletnev)
A cheat, as this is an old recording, but I'll remember 2008 as the year I found Scarlatti.

6. Arve Henriksen - Cartography
Although it hasn't completely clicked with me yet, I'm willing to take Adrian's word for it!

7. Alboran Trio - Near Gale
An advance on this piano trio's fine debut album, "Meltemi".

8. Marilyn Crispell - Vignettes
A lovely album of solo piano reflections.

9. Dans Les Arbres - Dans Les Arbres
The nearest thing to a Christian Wallumrod album this year - quite inaccessible, but weirdly fascinating.

10. Bobo Stenson - Cantando
Another great piano trio CD.

The reissue of the year, for me, was Keith Jarrett Trio's "Setting Standards". My live highlight was seeing Angela Hewitt perform all of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier over two weekends in Manchester - simply magical.

Regards
Nigel

Nigel - great top 10. I am going to spin EM 3 later tonight to reassess it as it is your first choice. We agree on the Maupin and Cartography will grow and grow on you.

Feldman's Viola in My Life was not my favourite ECM by a long stretch but again I need to respin.

I had for gotten about Alboran Trio. It is a super record so upon reflection that could make my yearend list.

I agree with your comment on Dans Les Arbres being inaccessible. I think this would be one to appreciate after having seen them do it live which I seem to remember you did.

Cheers

PS - waiting for top 10's from Herr Just & Herr MilesSmiles

Tindersticks-The hungry saw
Kings of Leon-Only by the night
Al Green-Lay it down
Jakob Dylan-Seeing things
Sigur Ros-Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Bob Dylan-Tell tale signs
Dave Gilmour-Live at Gdansk
Lykke Li-Youth novels
Neil Diamond-Home before dark

thats nine for now...

quote:

Nigel - great top 10. I am going to spin EM 3 later tonight to reassess it as it is your first choice. We agree on the Maupin and Cartography will grow and grow on you.

Feldman's Viola in My Life was not my favourite ECM by a long stretch but again I need to respin.

I had for gotten about Alboran Trio. It is a super record so upon reflection that could make my yearend list.

I agree with your comment on Dans Les Arbres being inaccessible. I think this would be one to appreciate after having seen them do it live which I seem to remember you did.

Cheers

PS - waiting for top 10's from Herr Just & Herr MilesSmiles

Thanks Adrian

Your top ten made me want to hear Yunupingu and Steve Wilson/Porcupine Tree. Eick's "The Door" nearly made it onto my list, but I confess to preferring Wasilewski Trio behind Stanko, much as I enjoy their two trio albums. I also have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to metheny.

I love [em]3, although it took me two or three to get into it - a highly original and successful blend of 20th century classical music with jazz, or something like that. I also really like Wollny's weirdly gothic solo piano CD, "Hexentanz" - just don't play it at night when you're alone in the house!

Feldman is one of my favourite composers - ECM's attention to recording detail suits his compositional style, where the tiniest, quietest detail matters.

Dans les Arbres - a somewhat perverse choice, but I wanted to acknowledge ECM's attempt to do something different. I listened to it a few weeks ago on Sunday morning, and it seemed to make a lot of sense at the time.

I too await Oliver's and Stefan's list with baited breath!

Cheers
Nigel

Nigel - send me an email if you can - I don't have your email address.

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by Lontano:

The only two that come immediately to mind are Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin' and the much older Mule Variations from Tom Waits. (Of course, I picked up some newer reissues of some Coltrane, but since I already had those recordings in older transfers, I didn't count them. Were they new, I most certainly would have.)

Pls find below my Top 10 for 2008. To make it managable I excluded Jazz or Classic releases (might make another list later on). I avoided as well any gimmicky choices, playtime over the year is a fair indicator - so pls don't tell me my list is predictable and boring.

1.) Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition ~ Jennifer Warnes
2.) Gurrumul ~ Gurrumul Yunupingu
3.) Just A Little Lovin' ~ Shelby Lynne
4.) Here Is What Is ~ Daniel Lanois
5.) Sunday at Devil Dirt ~ Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
6.) The Mande Variations ~ Toumani Diabate
7.) Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! ~ Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
8.) Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8 ~ Bob Dylan
9.) Keep It Simple ~ Van Morrison
10.) Rockferry ~ Duffy


On special request -
My favourite used MoFi buy this year: Blues In Orbit ~ Duke Ellington
My favourite used DCC buy this year: The Very Thought of You ~ Nat King Cole
My favourite used 1st Pressing buy: Tie between Miles Davis - E.S.P. (DP35) and Pink Floyd - DSOTM (Black Triangle)
My favourite use Target buy: J. S. Bach - Mass in B Minor (Nonesuch 2CD set)

Thanks MilesSmiles - no surprises there - mostly what you have been playing a lot of.

Cheers

CSI: Ambleside - Half Man Half Biscuit
Shirley Collins - The Harvest Years
Karine Polwart - This Earthly Spell
Blackmore's Night - Secret Voyage
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come Darkness, Come Light
Devon Sprule - Keep Your Silver Shined
Loreena McKennitt - A Midwinter Night's Dream
Kate Rusby - Sweet Bells
Patsy Matheson - Little Piece of England
Bellowhead - Matachine
Keith Emerson Band - The Keith Emerson Band with Marc Bonilla

I'm sure I've forgotten to list some absolute gem, but I'm not getting any younger. The Shirley Collins album is a retrospective compilation, but is superbly assembled and as fresh as any new release.

Most of the discs I got this year were not new releases but anyway, here are my 2008 favorites:

*Ensemble Mare Nostrum - Andrea De Carlo - J.S. Bach: Orgelbluchlein / MA RECORDINGS
*Carolin Widmann, Denes Varjon - Robert Schumann: The Violin Sonatas / ECM
*Richard Egarr - Henry Purcell: Keyboard Suites & Grounds / HARMONIA MUNDI
*Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - Claude Debussy: Complete Works for Piano, Vol 3 / CHANDOS
*Martin Zeller - J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Vol 1 / MA RECORDINGS
*Abdullah Ibrahim - Senzo / WDR
*Alboran Trio - Near Gale / ACT
*Quadro Nuevo - Antakya / FM
*Chris Beier - Piano Works VIII: Aeolian Green / ACT
*Misha Alperin - Her First Dance / ECM

I think that I have taken this year my preference of small ensembles to its limit. Five of those ten discs are solo albums, one is a duo, two are trios, one is a quartet and the only 'large' scale musical group is the octet of players and singers in Bach's Orgelbuchlein.
Five of these discs were recommended to me by forum members (Stefan, Adrian, Huw & Doug) and I take this opportunity to thank them again.