04 TO THE FLOOR: As 2004 slowly packs away its belongings and promises it'll call, so the annual year-end lists come out. We'll be featuring some of them here over the next few days, but if you require a massive round up already, right now, Ur music has scooped up a whole slew of Revs of The Year in several easy to use pieces. (Now we feel like we're Slashdot or something).
As we mentioned a while back, Edward at Enthusiastic But Mediocre battled not just Christmas but also internet cafes to bring the top 125 singles of the year: he's still around the 70-point, but you can tell where the quality bar has been set because Ruslana only makes number 113.
DECEMBER 28TH UPDATE:
Rob DaBank is going to be in charge of the Festive Fifty this year, but it takes someone truly dedicated to fire up Excel to produce the chart Peel would have wanted. Dan at ACME has done the required number crunching to discover the tracks Peel played most often...
Meanwhile, ACME also offer an album-of-the-year-omatic selection device thingy doobery that tells me my album of the year was the Albert Ayler boxset.
The 2004 Worldwide Music Awards (not to be confused with the World Music Awards) took place on that day which nobody is entirely sure if it's meant to be called Boxing Day or not when it falls on a Sunday; amongst the winners was Mr Scruff for Keep It Solid Steel. A John Peel 'Play More Jazz' award went to SA-RA Creative Partners and Booty La-La was a deserving winner in the Cuts of the Year category.
DECEMBER 31ST UPDATE:
K-Punk's review of the year is a little too kind to Natasha Bedingfield, but is most acute (although depressingly so) when they observe that Roisin Murphy's brand of popstarriness is old-fashioned.
As it should be: The Fall top the Festiva Fifty - and, as the list shows, fears that non-Peel listeners might have been tempted to swamp the charts with Maroon Five have been proved baseless (or else they've mucked about with the rankings):
1. The Fall - 'Theme from Sparta FC Part 2' (CD Single) - (Action Records)
2. Bearsuit - 'Chargr' (7") - (Fortuna Pop!)
3. Caroline Martin - 'The Singer' (LP- I Had A Hundred More Reasons To Stay By The Fire) - (Small Dog Records)
4. Aereogramme - 'Dreams and Bridges' (LP- Seclusion) - (Undergroove)
5. Sluts of Trust - 'Leave You Wanting More' (LP- We Are All Sluts of Trust) (Chemikal Underground)
6. The Delgados - 'Everybody Come Down' (LP- Universal Audio) - (Chemikal Underground Records)
7. Sons & Daughters - 'Johnny Cash' (mini LP- 'Love The Cup') - (Domino)
8. Half Man Half Biscuit - 'Joy Division' (Peel Session)
9. Graham Coxon - 'Freakin' Out' (Split CD Single thing) - (EMI)
10. Jawbone - 'Hi De Hi' (LP- Dang Blues) - (White Label)
11. Bloc Party - 'Helicopter' (LP- Promo) - (Wichita)
12. Texas Radio Band - 'Chwareon Bwtleg Pep Le Pew' (LP- The North South Divine) - (FF Vinyl)
13. Martyn Hare - 'Do Not Underestimate' (4.55) (12") - (Designer)
14. Cinerama - 'It's Not You It's Me' (7") - (Go Metric! Records)
15. Aereogramme - 'The Unravelling' (LP- Seclusion) - (Undergroove)
16. PJ Harvey - 'The Letter' (CD Single) - (Island)
17. Laura & Ballboy - 'I Lost You But I Found County Music' (CD Single 'Past Lovers) - (Sl Records)
18. Jawbone - 'Jack Rabbit' (LP- Dang Blues) - (Loose)
19. DJ Distance - 'Ritual' (EP- Closer Than You Think) (CDR) - (Lix Recordings)
20. Bloc Party - 'Banquet' (LP- The Silent Album) - (Wichita)
21. Ballboy - 'The Art of Kissing' (LP- The Royal Theatre) (SL Records)
22. The Black Keys - 'Ten AM Automatic' (CD Single) - (Fat Possum)
23. PJ Harvey - 'Shame' (CD Single) - (Island)
24. Decoration - 'It Tried It, I Tried It, I Loved It' (CD Single) (White Label)
25. 65 Days of Static - 'Retreat! Retreat! (LP- The Fall of Math) - (Monotreme)
26. McLusky - 'That Man Will Not Hang' (LP- The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire') - (Too Pure)
27. Listen With Sarah - 'Animal Hop' (White Label)
28. XBooty - 'O Superman' (12") - (White Label)
29. Digital Mystikz - 'B' (12") - (DMZ)
30. The Black Keys - 'Girl Is On My Mind' (CD Single) - (Fat Possum)
31. Art Brut - 'Formed A Band' (CD Single) - (Rough Trade)
32. The Delgados - 'I Fought The Angels' (LP- Universal Audio) - (Chemikal Underground Records)
33. Shitmat - ''There's No Business Like Propa' Rungleclotted Mashup Bizznizz' (LP- Full English Breakfast) - (Planet Mu)
34. Magic Band - 'Bug Eyed Beans from Venus' - (Peel Session)
35. Jon E Cash - 'International' (12") - (Black Ops)
36. Wedding Present - 'Interstate 5' (CD Single) - (Scopitones)
37. Tunng - 'Tale from Black' (LP- This is…. Tunng - Mother's Daughter and Other Songs) - (Static Caravan)
38. Melys - 'Eyeliner' (CD Single) - (Sylem)
39. Decoration - 'Joy Adamson' - (Peel Session)
40. Cornershop presents Bubbley Kaur - 'Topknot' (CD Single) - (Rough Trade Records)
41. Calvin Party - 'Northern Song' (LP- Never As Black) - (Probe Plus)
42. Plasticman - 'Cha' (12") - (Terrorhythm)
43. Kentucky AFC - 'Be Nesa' (LP- Kentucky AFC) - (Boobytrap)
44. Bloc Party - 'Little Thoughts' (CD Single) - (Witchita)
45. Aphrodisiacs - 'If U Want Me' (CD Single) - (SL Records)
46. Mountain Goats - 'Your Belgian Things' (LP- We Shall All Be Healed) - (4AD)
47. Magic Band - 'Electricity' - (Peel Session)
48. Ella Guru - 'Park Lake Speakers' (LP- The First Album) - (Banana Recordings)
49. Ballboy - 'I don't have time to stand here with you fighting about the size of my dick' (LP- The Royal Theatre) - (SL Records)
50. The Vaults - 'No Sleep No Need' (10") - (Red Flag)
... plus, of course, it's a mainly white, mainly guitar-based chart, which means up in heaven, Peel is enjoying his annual whinge about how conservative the Festive Fifty is.
Simon Reynolds has weighed 2004 and found grime most mighty over at Blissblog; and, contradicting K-Punk's judgement of "over-rated", has lots of praise for what The Streets did.
JANUARY 1ST UPDATE:
Rolling Stone elect to not try and pretend that there's a "best" record of the year, and so just produce a list of alphabetical order Top 50 that includes The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and The Streets - if you haven't compiled your albums of the year list yet, you can find sheets available at WH Smiths which have these albums pre-printed to save you the effort. Nice to see Tegan and Sara's So Jealous on there, although the dull, worthy thud of U2 is also there. Oh, and Velvet Revolver? It's okay to admit that its pisspoor, you know. You don't have to pretend to like it just because they've got a profile.
Metafilterites (or is that Meta-osexuals?) respond to lists by making more lists. Infinite Jest reminded us that we'd much enjoyed The Kleptones Yoshimi Battles The Hip-Hop Robots, which approached the Flaming Lips and hiphop (in its widest and most general sense) in much the same way Dangermouse took on the Beatles and Jay-Z; every bit as culturally significant, a lot more musically interesting.
Entertainment Weekly's Ten Most Overlooked Albums of 2004:
Various - Unclassics
Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
The Hidden Cameras - Mississauya Goddam
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
Haika d'Etat - Coup de Theatre
Various - Watt Stax: Highlights from the soundtrack
Ambulance Ltd - LP
Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama - There Will Be A Light
Amp Fiddler - Waltz of a Ghetto Fly
DJ/Rupture - Special Gunpowder
- it's worth remembering that Heat was going to be the British Entertainment Weekly when it started out.
Tiny Mix Tapes takes 2004 from a variety of angles - The B-sides list could broadly be described as 'experimental best of' but would rather be (PEEL + LATE JUNCTION) - (XFM * VH2); Matt Weir presents his fifteen top songs which he could draw - although, to be honest, "draw" is stretching it a bit; Marti provides a white boy take on hip hop of the year - like Rolling Stone, the Mercury Awards people and Band Aid 20 he's suffering from the collective delusion that Dizee Rascal is some kind of genius. And there's an appreciation of the top 20 album covers, too. Yes, there's also a more mundane writer's poll if that's what you want.
JANUARY 2ND UPDATE:
The Canton Repository [registration required, tell 'em you're from Azerbaijan] has compiled its list of best albums, a task performed by Dan Kane. This is what's moving them in Ohio:
To The 5 Boroughs - Beastie Boys
Twentysomething - Jamie Cullum
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
The Libertines - The Libertines
American Idiot - Green Day
Pretend You're Alive - Lovedrug (the "record of the year"; it's from a local band)
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Contraband - Velvet Revolver
... if it wasn't for that local band, you might think this had been compiled by the AP.
JANUARY 4TH UPDATE:
Oh Columbus lists the fifty best-selling albums at their local, Magnolia Thunderpussy - extract:
1 The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
2 Modest Mouse - Good News For People.
3 Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs
4 Lovedrug - Pretend You're Alive
5 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
6 Jet - Get Born
7 Interpol - Antics
8 Bjork - Mudulla
9 The Postal Service - Give Up
10 Mastodon - Leviathan
JANUARY 9TH UPDATE:
The official end-of-year UK sales charts:
2004’s Top-Selling Albums
1, SCISSOR SISTERS, SCISSOR SISTERS
2, HOPES AND FEARS, KEANE
3, GREATEST HITS, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
4, SONGS ABOUT JANE, MAROON 5
5, CALL OFF THE SEARCH, KATIE MELUA
6, ANASTACIA, ANASTACIA
7, CONFESSIONS, USHER
8, FEELS LIKE HOME, NORAH JONES
9, FINAL STRAW, SNOW PATROL
10, IL DIVO, IL DIVO
11, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 59 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
12, GREATEST HITS, GUNS N' ROSES
13, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 57 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
14, 10 YEARS OF HITS, RONAN KEATING
15, A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE, STREETS
16, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 58 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
17, HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB, U2
18, ENCORE, EMINEM
19, THE SOUL SESSIONS, JOSS STONE
20, FRANZ FERDINAND, FRANZ FERDINAND
2004’s Top-Selling Downloads
1, VERTIGO, U2
2, WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, GWEN STEFANI
3, LOSE MY BREATH, DESTINY'S CHILD
4, AMERICAN IDIOT, GREEN DAY
5, DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, BAND AID 20
6, THESE WORDS, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
7, SHE WILL BE LOVED, MAROON 5
8, JUST LOSE IT, EMINEM
9, I BELIEVE IN YOU, KYLIE MINOGUE
10, CAR WASH, CHRISTINA AGUILERA FT MISSY ELLIOTT
11, THIS LOVE, MAROON 5
12, IF THERES ANY JUSTICE, LEMAR
13, DOGZ DON'T KILL PEOPLE WABBITS DO, MOULDY LOOKIN STAIN
14, FLASHDANCE, DEEP DISH
15, LOVE MACHINE, GIRLS ALOUD
16, NUMB/ENCORE, JAY-Z & LINKIN PARK
17, DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT, SNOOP DOGG
18, MARY, SCISSOR SISTERS
19, UNWRITTEN, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
20, I'LL STAND BY YOU, GIRLS ALOUD
2004’s Top-Selling Singles
1, DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, BAND AID 20
2, F**K IT (I DON'T WANT YOU BACK), EAMON
3, CHA CHA SLIDE, DJ CASPER
4, CALL ON ME, ERIC PRYDZ
5, YEAH, USHER FT LIL' JON & LUDACRIS
6, ALL THIS TIME, MICHELLE
7, LEFT OUTSIDE ALONE, ANASTACIA
8, MYSTERIOUS GIRL, PETER ANDRE
9, TOXIC, BRITNEY SPEARS
10, F.U.R.B. (F U RIGHT BACK), FRANKEE
11, I DON'T WANNA KNOW, MARIO WINANS FT ENYA & P DIDDY
12, BABY CAKES, 3 OF A KIND
13, TAKE ME TO THE CLOUDS ABOVE, LMC VS U2
14, MILKSHAKE, KELIS
15, LOSE MY BREATH, DESTINY'S CHILD
16, MY BAND, D12
17, THESE WORDS, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
18, EVERYTIME, BRITNEY SPEARS
19, THUNDERBIRDS/3AM, BUSTED
20, DRY YOUR EYES, STREETS
2004’s Top-Selling Music DVDs
1, LIVE AID, VARIOUS ARTISTS
2, ON FIRE - LIVE AT THE BOWL, QUEEN
3, DEFINITELY MAYBE, OASIS
4, DREAM CAST - LES MISERABLES IN CONCERT, CAST RECORDING
5, CASTLES IN THE AIR, CLIFF RICHARD
6, WHAT WE DID LAST SUMMER, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
7, WELCOME TO THE VIDEOS, GUNS N' ROSES
8, 68' COMEBACK SPECIAL, ELVIS PRESLEY
9, LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM, QUEEN
10, ALOHA FROM HAWAII, ELVIS PRESLEY
11, THE TURNAROUND TOUR - LIVE, WESTLIFE
12, THE FAREWELL TOUR, CHER
13, LIVE AT DONINGTON, AC/DC
14, HELL FREEZES OVER, EAGLES
15, THIS LEFT FEELS RIGHT - LIVE, BON JOVI
16, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, WHO
17, LIVE AT THE ALBERT, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
18, GREATEST VIDEO HITS - 2, QUEEN
19, LIVE AT SLANE CASTLE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
20, THE STONE ROSES, STONE ROSES