Christmas 2007
I’ve just posted some photos of Christmas so far – our second Christmas starts tonight as Jordan is back and expecting a visit from Santa, then tomorrow we have 16 people coming round for food…should be fun! Have a great New Year’s Eve everyone!
Check out my photos on my moblog here.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
And so another Christmas Eve is upon us! Steph is (as usual) working a stupidly long shift at work, you have to feel sorry for her…she left before 7am this morning and probably won’t be back until 7pm. Jordan is off to his Dad’s later today and coming back just before New Year’s Eve so we are without him for Christmas, something Steph really hates.
We’re planning on having two Christmases, one tomorrow and another on New Year’s Day when Jordan returns. In a way he’s lucky because he gets two Christmases, which when you’re 8 years old means twice the presents, twice the fuss and attention, and generally being spoiled twice! Last night he got a bit upset that he wouldn’t be with his Mom over Christmas, so having to alternate between two separated parents does have it’s downsides, although he’s pretty well adjusted and doesn’t really know any different, so it doesn’t really bother him very much from what I can see.
Tonight Steph and I plan on staying at home together, we may have a few family members visit but it’s going to be a pretty low key affair, which will be nice. I’m going to make a concerted effort to turn all the technology off and just sit and chat whilst sipping mulled wine, and maybe watch some crap TV while we’re at it.
Tomorrow morning we’re seeing Steph’s family; her folks, grandparents, sister, brother to exchange presents, then later in the day we’lll head over to my folk’s house for Christmas Dinner and more present exchanging etc. My brother is staying with my folks at the moment as he’s recovering from a recent operation (not the best Christmas present) and I’ve not see him since he had the op on the 17th, so we’ll have chance to check out his scar! And check he’s ok!
On Boxing Day we’ll no doubt have a quiet and lazy day until the evening when we go around to Mike & Nicky’s to see the rest of the family; cousins, aunts, and uncles etc.
Then it’s back to the daily grind for Steph unfortunately. She’ll be back to work and I’ll have no work and no child to look after…I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with myself, but hopefully I’ll be out and about visiting people instead of being stuck in front of the computer! Steph has 3 days off over New Year so she’ll get a bit of a break then. We still haven’t got any definite plans for New Year’s Eve, we’ll have Jordan back so it will no doubt be something local and it’s going to have to be pretty low key as we’re expecting 15 family members at ours for food on New Year’s Day (Jordan’s Christmas Day) so that’s going to be rather hectic!
I can’t wait!
Albums Of The Year: 2007
It’s time for my 3rd annual ‘Albums Of The Year’ round up! 2007 has been another great year for music and I have spent a lot of time discovering both new and old bands, as well as rediscovering bands I’d forgotten about – mainly after going through my much neglected and dust covered CD collection.
Below are my top picks for 2007… (Don’t forget to post yours in the comments!)
Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times
I’ve never been a particularly big fan of KOL, in fact they’ve annoyed me somewhat in the past being inconsistent and never delivering a great album. I’m pleased to say that with ‘Because Of The Times’ they have finally delivered a great album.
When I saw them in April 2007 the live show more than lived up to the album, in fact there were moments where the live versions of songs outshone the studio recordings. Third time lucky? I think so!
Stand out tracks: ‘On Call’, ‘Charmer’ and ‘Knocked Up’.
Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
‘Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace’ carries on from where ‘In Your Honour’ left off, with a mixture of hard rocking ‘classic’ Foo Fighters tunes and several softer, stripped down acoustic tunes reminiscent of the acoustic portion of ‘In Your Honour’. Add to this a sprinkling of 70’s rock stardust (did Taylor Hawkins’ love of The Eagles finally rub off?) and you have another great rock album from one of the world’s greatest ever rock bands.
Having caught the Foos at the O2 Arena in November (my 10th Foo Fighters gig since 1995!) I was pleased to see that their live show now includes both electric and acoustic sets – perfectly representing this latest album and it’s predecessor. Roll on Wembley Stadium next June – I can’t wait!
Stand out tracks: ‘Let It Die’, ‘The Pretender’, ‘But Honestly’, ‘Home’.
Biffy Clyro – Puzzle
Part of the reason Biffy Clyro are so great is because they don’t do things by the book. Just as you are getting into a big sing-along chorus, they throw in 16 bars of white noise in an obscure time signature. There was a point where I thought Biffy Clyro would never achieve any commercial success, whether they wanted to or not.
With ‘Puzzle’ Biffy have remained true to their ’spaz-rock’ roots, but also managed to include the ‘Questions & Answers’ element they touched upon during previous albums, and produce what is their most commercial sounding and commercially successful album (no.2 in the UK album chart) to date, without becoming a different band.
‘Puzzle’ includes all the things that make Biffy Clyro great and you’ll do well to find a tighter or noisier live band on the planet!
Stand out tracks: ‘Saturday Superhouse’, ‘Get Fucked Stud’, ‘The Conversation Is…’, ‘Now I’m Everyone’.
Wilco – Blue Sky Blue
Wilco are a band I’ve only discovered in the last two or three years and yet they’ve made it into my albums of the year list in both 2005 (with ‘A Ghost Is Born’) and 2007 with ‘Blue Sky Blue’. Because of this I was especially disappointed when they cancelled their UK tour in November this year, fingers crossed they’ll return in 2008!
‘Blue Sky Blue’ opens with what has become one of my favourite Wilco songs ‘Either Way’, a song that embodies everything I love about Wilco. When I listen to ‘Blue Sky Blue’ it reminds me of summer evenings spent in the garden with my girlfriend. To say that it’s ‘more of the same’ would be an insult to a great band, however ‘Blue Sky Blue’ continues the Wilco tradition of beautifully crafted songs, full of subtleties and colour.
Stand out tracks: ‘Either Way’, ‘Impossible Germany’, ‘Hate It Here’.
My Morning Jacket – Okonokos (live)
Like Wilco, I was late getting in on the act with My Morning Jacket. I had ‘It Still Moves’ a couple of years ago and quite liked it, but somehow I missed ‘Z’ until about 6 months ago – once I realised just how good it was, it didn’t take me long to discover ‘Okonokos’ which may just be the best live album I’ve ever heard! Maybe it’s because I’m having a real My Morning Jacket-fest at the moment, but I just can’t get enough of this double live album. I must get the DVD!
Many comparisons can and frequently are made; acts such as Neil Young and Led Zeppelin come to mind and these are conjured by the dreamy epicness created on ‘Okonokos’. There are moments on this album where it sounds as if there are 3 bands playing at the same time, such is the power of the haunting vocals and pounding drums. Even the quieter moments (of which there are plenty) sound truly massive.
‘Epic’ is a word I keep coming back to when describing My Morning Jacket and it’s one I like!
Stand out tracks: ‘Gideon’, ‘Off The Record’, ‘One Big Holiday’.
Albums that only just missed out on the top 5 include:
Idlewild – Make Another World
Mute Math – Mute Math
Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City
Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild
Related Posts:
This Year’s Gigs: 2007
This year I have been lucky enough to see the following people play live…
Bloc Party
Biffy Clyro
Chris Cornell
The Deciphers
Doug Walker
The Feeling
Foo Fighters
Idlewild
Incubus
Jack McManus
Kings Of Leon
Maximo Park
Mute Math
Now It’s Overhead
Pearl Jam
The Police
Serj Tankian
The Shins
I must have see The Deciphers around 10 times and Biffy twice along with Idlewild a couple of times. Not my busiest gig year but a great one non the less, if only because I got to see Pearl Jam & the Foo Fighters again and I got to see a band I’d dreamed of seeing and never thought I’d see – The Police!
Roll on 2008!
Where did all the good music go?
This depresses me:
Today Syco Music (Simon Cowell’s label which is part of Sony BMG) are celebrating holding the No.1 spot in three of the UK sales charts. They have the top 3 albums in the artist album chart with Leona Lewis, Shayne Ward and Westlife. They are also numbers 1 and 3 in in the DVD charts with the X Factor DVD and Shayne Ward longform DVD, and they have Leona Lewis now with a six week reign at No.1 in the singles chart in the UK.
Leona Lewis’ record breaking Spirit album sold a further 164,433 copies last week. Shayne Ward made a fantastic debut at no.2 with sales of 95,801 for the Breathless album, and Westlife had another massive sales week with 83,692 copies sold of Home.
In the singles chart Leona Lewis achieved a sixth week at No.1 with Bleeding Love, which has now sold 662,225 copies, continually extending its lead as the year’s biggest single. Further to this, SonyBMG had four of the top ten singles last week and in total 17 of the top 40.
“This is an historic achievement for Syco and my congratulations go out to Leona, Shayne, Westlife and of course, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar and the whole Syco team,” says Ged Doherty, Chairman and CEO, SonyBMG Music Entertainment UK & Ireland. “Their drive and ambition have once again delivered a great result for the entire company at the busiest time of the year.”
I have nothing against these people personally, but what does it say about the state of the music industry and public at large when this is what’s dominating the charts? Simon Cowell should not be single handedly bending over the UK music industry and having his way with it like he is. Where did all the good music go? Surely there’s got to be something better than this out there? And if so, why are those artists not ruling the roost in such a way?
Maybe the internet has finally created a sub-culture where all the real music will be consumed in a free digital format, whilst the throwaway tosh of ‘Pop Rivals The Academy Factor’ will continue to be bought in the form of annoying ringtones that are played loudly on the bus?
Maybe the Roddy Woomble quote I posted back in October hit the nail on the head:
…it’s not true that people have stopped buying albums, it’s just that they’re still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem.
Where did all the good music go? My next post will try and answer this question – it’s time for the annual ‘Albums Of The Year’ post!
