SO LAST YEAR: A 2006 round -up (pt.5)

SO LAST YEAR 41-50
Instead of a simple albums of the year list I have come up with my own personal festive 50 of sorts - except it's too late to be festive. I thought I would go ahead and publish it in the first week of 2007 as there wouldn't be any new stuff to bother with, so here it is, in five exciting instalments(!)....

41. Shock And Awe - Neil Young [Living With War] link
It was hard to pick a track off 'Living with War' as well. This is probably Neil Young's strongest rock album for years. He gets angry and the guitars get noisy again.

42. Pink Steam - Sonic Youth [Rather Ripped - Geffen]
As most of you know, 'Rather Ripped' is SY's return to short pop tunes, in contrast to the recent run of albums they made with Jim O'Rourke. 'Pink Steam; is the anomaly on it, as it's the longest track and it doesn't have any vocals til way past the halfway point. It's such a strong album of tunes it was hard to pick out highlights, so I might change my mind and have 'Or' or 'Do You Believe in Rapture' in here instead.

43. Spaceape - Burial [Burial - Hyperdub]
One of the albums of the year without a doubt, and maybe a good bet for next year's Mercury prize? Burial took dubstep to a strange spaced out half-speed place. 'Spaceape' is the spooky one with the menacing split-track vocal breathing out of yr speakers. Difficult not to fill this list with tracks from the album, well worth checking out.

44. God Only Knows - Petra Haden link
What a song to cover! Marks for sheer audacity for covering the Pet Sounds classic, and extra marks for doing it so well. I haven't heard her version of the Who Sell Out but apparently it is done the same way with Petra just overlaying her own vocal harmonies in place of the instruments.

45. Another Sunny Day - Belle & Sebastian [The Life Pursuit - Rough Trade] link
This put the willies up a few critics when it was released due to the use of the F word, and people either forgot that B&S have always used it, and always written quite racy songs. This is just a great summer record, although it did come out in February just to confuse you.

46. Smile - Lily Allen [Alright, Still EMI] link
The first of two UK no.1s in this 50, I was even surprised at that fact myself. I found myself falling for this tune whilst working on a radio show this summer, and I still haven't got sick of it. I know a lot people don't rate her, but much like Eminem, I just have to admire her way with words.

47. Big Julie - Jarvis Cocker [Jarvis - Rough Trade] link
I only heard this album in early December, probably because I expected a disappointment, and although it isn't totally successful there are some great songs on it. This is one of the best, a tale of a lonely smalltown girl who escapes her boredom through hearing a song on the radio. Of course that story has been told before, but Jarvis brings his own charm to it.

48. Mars - Quack Quack [7" single - RUN03] link
A live highlight of the year for me, Quack Quack come from Leeds and inhabit a funky instrumental space somewhere between Can and Stereolab. 'Mars' is an organ-lead peice of funky post-rock propelled along by some great drumming. They are coming back to these shores in February, so check them out.

49. Then Kill Caesar - Current 93 [Black Ships Ate the Sky: Durtro] link
Current 93's most ambitious and successful album doesn't really belong in a bite-size round-up of the year, but I felt I had to represent it somewhere. 'Black Ships Ate the Sky' works with the themes of judgement and apocalypse and it is a song cycle based around Charles Wesley's hymn 'Idumea' which is sung eight times by eight different singers, so I felt it unfair to single one out.
This track features David Tibet's vocal accompanied by Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance on acoustic guitar, a talent who pops up later on in this list.

50. Evangelista II - Carla Bozulich [Evangelista - Constellation] link
We'll start with the difficult material, shall we? Former vocalist with the Geraldine Fibbers, Carla Bozulich's album 'Evangelista' was one of the most intense and emotional releases of the year, but along with Scott Walker and Joanna Newsom it made me feel good about music this year, especially because labels are willing to push this kind of thing, and artists are still extending themselves. 'Evangelista' came out on Constellation in May and featured some familiar accompanying musicians, particularly people from GY!BE and the related bands.