Editor’s Choice: Albums Of The Year
With a Clickmusic top fifty of the overall best of 2008 to follow, here are Becky Reed's own personal favourites.
The best thing about about individual lists is being able to big up the albums that have genuinely made you happy this year. Not necessarily the most accomplished, nor impressive, nor genius, just the ones that are most loved.
With a top fifty of the overall best albums of 2008 according to Clickmusic to follow this week, here are my own personal bundles of joy.
10. Vampire Weekend - 'Vampire Weekend'
They may be preppy New Yorkers, this debut contained gorgeous folk numbers such as 'Bryn' and the post-punk tinged 'A Punk' plonked alongside African-influenced tunes. Too clever by half, but it all felt natural and so very right. Smug gits.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
9. Sugababes - 'Catfights And Spotlights'
Brimming with the most sublime pop ballads the trio have ever recorded, it is the most consistently good Sugababes album to date. Its relative failure can be blamed on the single releases of the two most misleading tracks on here. For god's sake, Island Records, 'Sound Of Goodbye', 'Sunday Rain' and 'Every Heart Broken' are tear-inducingly heavenly. Release them.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
8. We Are The Physics - 'We Are The Physics Are OK At Music'
The Glasgow quartet burst out of nowhere, leaving everyone who saw them live reeling. 'You Can Do Athletics, BTW' and 'Less Than Three' are a prime examples of the Futureheads on amphetamines onslaught that leaves you sonically battered.
Buy: DIY | 7 Digital
7. Mystery Jets - 'Twenty One'
Previously just another ramshackle indie bunch, the boys let loose and raided their 1980s vinyls and turned out a consistently fun sophomore effort. 'Two Doors Down' and 'Young Love' were pop treasures, while 'Flakes' and 'First To Know' showed a genuinely sweet side. Easily the most endearing release this year.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
6. Justice - 'A Cross The Universe'
Is it cheating to put a live album in the list? Probably. Never an act to be appreciated in the privacy of your room, '†' was just the preparation for the holy Justice live experience. This live album, accompanying their DVD, captures the thrills and anticipation of the fucking meltdown that can only occur with an up for it crowd. Epic and insane.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
5. Duels - 'The Barbarians Move In'
Lumped in with the chipper Britpop revivalists when their debut album was released in 2005, Duels clearly never felt at ease. They went and hid themselves away on a windswept beach oop north, and came back with a dark, unsettling masterpiece, this time full of conviction, with 'The Furies' and Sleeping Giants' standing out in particular.
Buy: DIY | 7 Digital
4. Liam Finn - 'I'll Be Lightning'
For someone who's never really been a fan of the folky singer/songwriter genre, Finn's debut was a revelation. Vibrant, dreamy, psychedelic, bitter, twisted, hopeful - all these things, and from a one-man band extraordinaire.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
3. Keane - 'Perfect Symmetry'
If you'd told me this time last year I'd be putting a Keane album as one of my favourites of the year, I'd have probably asked you to have me institutionalised first. Still reeling from the shock of 'Spiralling', the electro pop of the likes of 'You Haven't Told Me Anything' and 'Again And Again' continues to cause a warm fuzzy feeling alongside the grandiose title track. Any fears of growing bored of the gimmick are gone, as nearly three months after the release it's still a firm favourite, and would easily have been number one had a mental promise not been made to the top two.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
2. Ladyhawke - 'Ladyhawke'
It's too dreadful to imagine a year without Pip Brown coming into our lives. No. Not even going to try. Wave after wave of the most perfect pop songs, from the wit of 'Professional Suicide' to the loved-up bliss of 'Magic', every moment is a glorious electro new wave trip to the best of the Eighties, all done with the underlying sweetness that sets Ladyhawke apart from her peers.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
1. Elbow - 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
From the first listen, this was going to be album of the year, no matter what came after it. Guy Garvey showed on their fourth album a consummate ease vocally and lyrically, meaning each time he laid his chest bare he broke your heart ('Some Riot') before healing it tenderly with life-affirming tracks such as 'One Day Like This' and 'Mirrorball'. Perfection.
Buy: HMV | 7 Digital
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