Albums of the Year – 2017
Transplants – Take Cover EP
Kind of reminiscent of the Tim Timebomb covers series from back in 2013, but more polished than those tracks. I love the variety of styles here, but would have liked more tracks
Standout track: Nothing but a heartache
Old Firm Casuals – Wartime Rock n Roll
Another solid EP from the Old Firm Casuals. They are always very consistent stylistically, but I love the Rose Tattoo-inspired slide guitar on the first track.
Standout track: Hell’s a lot better
Mayfield – Victim of Circumstance
This album sounds really great. This is surprisingly not drum-heavy, given that it’s a drummer’s project. After watching the launch show, I wasn’t sure about the singer, but she sounds really good on the record. I’m a big fan of the sax player too. Looking forward to more from these guys.
Standout track: My Apartment
Rancid – Troublemaker
Rancid have become very consistent over the last 4 or 5 albums, varying their style a little between albums. In that regard Troublemaker isn’t groundbreaking, but solid as always.
Standout track: Telegraph Avenue
Andy Allo – One Step Closer EP
I’m never quite sure what I’m going to get from Andy Allo. This EP is sad, but still beautiful. This is probably more heartfelt than a lot of her earlier work, but I have no idea if she’ll stick to this sound (probably not, given her recent chritmas EP)
Standout track: 1000 Days
Special Mention: Prince – Purple Rain Deluxe
This is border-line since it’s a re-release, but I’ll consider the second disc (“From The Vault & Previously Unreleased”) as new since it contains the first release of these tracks.
I was probably most looking forward to the studio version of Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden, but found it underwhelming compared to the 1984 Birthday Show version. The 12 minute “Hallway speech” version of Computer Blue is so good. I can understand that it wouldn’t fit on an album, but I’d say it’s better than the album version. We Can Fuck is perfect 80’s prince – funky, synthy, sexy and obscene. I’m very glad it was released, even though I’m sure prince would be very unhappy with it coming out.
Standout track: We can fuck