100. Rene Hell – The Terminal Symphony (Type)
99. King’s Daughters And Sons – If Not Then When (Chemikal Underground)
98. Wolfgang Voigt – Kafkatrax (Profan)
Here's the first quarter of my very subjective favourites list of 2011. The ordering is pretty arbitrary, to be honest, but I guess it's all part of the game.
In certain circles, it remains sacreligious to criticise Brian Eno. No matter how many awful records he’s involved with, his reputation seems undiminished; never mind the music, we’re advised, feel the ideas.
A mixed bag today, as I contemplate giving up and playing a bunch of old Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings records in preparation for tonight’s Hammersmith gig.
I’m not sure what happens on Saturday towards the end of the first night of Bob Dylan’s three shows at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Suddenly, though, he’s blazing through one of the songs he traditionally reserves for encores, “All Along The Watchtower”, with no break between it and the roaring version of “Ballad Of A Thin Man” that normally you’d have expected to be the show’s climax, the band then taking a well-deserved bow and a quick break before coming back for one, two or three more songs, further lapping up of the crowd’s applause prior to a final wave goodnight, perhaps even a nod from Bob in the general direction of a crowd he otherwise doesn’t go too far out of his way to acknowledge.
