Rate 08: Albums of the year

Not comprehensive - but possibly too large - guide to the albums of the year; tomorrow, celebrate Christmas with a musical selection box of tunes.


Black Mountain - In The Future


Adorable - Footnotes


Cat Power - Jukebox


Aidan John Moffat - I Can Hear Your Heart


Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge


Tying Tiffany - Brain For Breakfast


Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers


Sons And Daughters - This Gift


Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend


Helen Love - It's My Club & I'll Play What I Want To


The Duke Spirit - Neptune


Robots In Disguise - We're In The Music Biz


School Of Language - Sea From The Shore


Simon Breed - The Smitten King Laments


Tegan And Sara - The Con


Pete & The Pirates - Little Death


Los Campesinos - Hold On Now, Youngster


Die So Fluid - Not Everyone Gets A Happy Ending


Hawksley Workman - Between The Beautifuls


The Orb - The Dream


Malcolm Middleton - Sleight Of Hand


Kathryn Williams & Neil MacColl - Two


The Kills - Midnight Boom


MGMT - Oracular Spectacular


Neon Neon - Stainless Style


Operator Please - Yes Yes Vindictive


Ivor Cutler - A Flat Man


Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward


Kimya Dawson - Remember That I Love You


Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy


Diamanda Galas - Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Brand-new album from DG - her 17th


The Black Keys - Attack And Release


Boy Kill Boy - Stars And The Sea


Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground


Dawn Kinnard - The Courtesy Fall


Capercaillie - Roses And Tears


Forward, Russia - Life Processes


Blood Red Shoes - Box Of Secrets


Tift Merritt - Another Country


Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw


Long Blondes - Couples


Fosca - The Painted Side Of The Rocket


Half Man Half Biscuit - CSI Ambleside


The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent


Portishead - Third


Robert Forster - The Evangelist


Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles


The Wave Pictures - Instant Coffee Baby


Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell


Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes


The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine


Delays - Everything's The Rush


Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday At Devil Dirt


Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours


They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them - We Are All In The Gutter, But...


El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars


Spiritualized - Songs In A&E


Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up 'Til It Was Light


Ladytron - Velocifero


The Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea


Shearwater - Rook


The Notwist - The Devil, You And Me


Johnny Truant - No Tears For The Creatures


Rudimentary Peni - No More Pain


Sarandon - Kill Twee Pop!


Gemma Ray - The Leader


Joan As Policewoman - To Survive


Errors - It's Not Something...


Lykke Li - Youth Novels


Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes


Emmylou Harris - All I Intended To Be


Tilly And The Wall - O


Wild Beasts - Limbo Panto


The Beep Seals - Things That Roar


Black Kids - Partie Traumatic


Patti Smith & Kevin Shields - The Coral Sea


Cute Is What We Aim For - Rotation


The Hold Steady - Stay Positive


Wire - Object 47


The Charlatans - Best of the BBC Sessions 1999 - 2006


Various - Life Beyond Mars


She & Him - Volume One


Heloise & The Saviour Faire - Trash Rats And Microphones


Marianne Faithfull - Live At The BBC


CSS - Donkey


Noah And The Whale - Peaceful The World Lays Me Down


Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel


Thom Yorke - Eraser: The Remixes


The Week That Was - The Week That Was


Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart


Stereolab - Chemical Chords


Juliana Hatfield - How To Walk Away


Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things


Squeeze - Complete BBC Sessions


Giant Sand - Provisions


Loudon Wainwright III - Recovery


Thomas Tantrum - Thomas Tantrum


James Yorkston - When The Haar Rolls In


Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires


Little Jackie - The Stoop


Manda Rin - My DNA


Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini


Calexico - Carried To Dust


David Holmes - The Holy Pictures


Fiery Furnaces - Remember [Live]


Neil Halstead - Oh, Mighty Engine


Glasvegas - Glasvegas


Polysics - We Ate The Machine


Drever, McCusker & Woomble - Before The Ruin


Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?


Michael Franti & Spearhead - All Rebel Rockers


Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby - Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby


The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed


Christophe Beck - Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Score


Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue


O'Death - Broken Hymns Limbs and Skins


Roses Kings Castles - Roses Kings Castles


Euros Childs - Cheer Gone


Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling


Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty


TV On The Radio - Dear Science


Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation


Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke


Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight


Ani Di Franco - Red Letter Year


Hot Puppies - Blue Hands


Euros Childs - Cheer Gone

Leonard Bernstein - 90 Years Of... box set


Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping


Mr Scruff - Ninja Tune


Asian Dub Foundation - Punkara


Lambchop - Oh Ohio


Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park


Lucinda Williams - Little Honey


Tilly And The Wall - O


Those Dancing Days - In Our Space Hero Suits


Eugene McGuinness - Eugene McGuinness


Shelleyan Orphan - We Have Everything We Need


The Long Blondes - Singles


Okkervil River - The Stand Ins


Will Oldham & Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Is It The Sea?


Various - Jon Savage Presents....


Danielle Dax - Dark Adapted Eye


Lotus Eaters - Silentspace


Pink - Funhouse


Bloc Party - Intimacy


Los Campesinos - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed


Chairlift - Does You Inspire You?


Steinski - What Does It All Mean?


Various - BBC Radiophonic Workshop: A Retrospective


School Of Seven Bells - Alpinism


Robin Guthrie - 3.19


Tony Christie - Made In Sheffield


Belle & Sebastian - BBC Sessions


Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust


David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today


Headless Heroes - The Silence Of Love


Aimee Mann - One More Drifter In The Snow


Beyonce - I Am Sasha Fierce

Rate 08: This year just gone: May 2008

A nation braced itself as The Sugababes warned there might not be a new album from them this year, Elton said he wouldn't make one for ages, while Whitesnake seemed convinced they'd been booked to support Led Zep.

Early signs of the financial crisis: Deutsche Bank cancelled a staff jolly with Duran Duran. And Gordon Brown was listening to The Bee Gees every day. Everclear went off cheerfully to play a gig for US troops in Guantanamo, giving them ideas about what music to torture prisoners with next.

For the second time, DMX had his name linked with a pile of dead dogs and was looking at legal grief, while R Kelly was finally getting his sex video day in court.

Rather than ignoring him, people tried to treat Noel Gallagher's complaints about Jay-Z at Glasto as if he had a point to make. Likewise, the Daily Mail's pitiful attempt to 'explain' emo resulted in a 'you don't understand us, it's so unfair' where a polite eye-rolling was all that was required.

It turned out that no matter how much money was spent by ITV viewers, Robbie Williams held a golden vote in the British Comedy Awards - and some fans were just as upset by the Radiohead remix contest.

Virgin Radio was picked up by the Times Of India - presumably far enough away to never have heard what they were buying. The world welcomed NME Radio - at last, Clare Sturgess at breakfast. At least it made more sense than the NME greetings cards range. In yet-another-attempt to find some customers, Napster decided to try selling mp3s.

The Vaselines reformed as the Gang Of Four slimmed down and Mumm Ra called it a day.

Let's be generous; let's assume that Tommy Steele was getting Elvis and Cliff muddled up when he claimed that he'd shown Presley round London. Cliff himself was taking on the late General Franco, who he believes stopped him winning Eurovision. In 1968.

Woolworths announced it would no longer sell singles, presumably because it was too busy not selling anything else to anybody.

Etheridge: He can't be anti-gay, he has my records

Fresh from Rufus Wainwright's clumsy attempt to campaign against Proposition 8 by suggesting he didn't really support gay marriage at all comes another example of pop stars who should know better not quite thinking through their stances, as Melissa Etheridge writes to the Huffington Post to try and calm everyone down about Rick Warren taking time off from hating gays to appear at Barack Obama's inauguration:

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher.

So, on the one hand we have a bloke making videos comparing gays to paedophiles, on the other, the same bloke tells Melissa Etheridge that he has some of her records. Well, that would seem to cancel each other out, right? After all, if a man tells you he owns a record by a lesbian, he can't possibly be all bad, right?

He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays.

Aha - so, somehow, he accidentally managed to bracket people who love those of the same sex with people who take sexual advantage of children. Just blurted it out, accidentally, and probably really, really meant to edit it out of the video before distributing it.

Etheridge doesn't mention if the "open hearted" man she went to meet also suggested that he "regretted" calling the Church Of England's position on gay bishops "wrong" when he supported the Church Of Uganda boycott of the Lambeth Conference this year:

Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. "We shall not tolerate this aspect at all," Dr Warren said.

Etheridge suggests that gays and lesbians should engage with Warren, and rather than march on his church, should help out with his church's work against HIV and AIDS. Really, Mel? Because what he campaigns for is "saving sex for marriage" and "one partner for life". True love waits.

Oh, and he doesn't think condoms will help:

Supply condoms and eventually microbicides for everyone. The correct and consistent use of condoms may prevent HIV infection. But condoms will never stop the pandemic. In many places, getting condoms is nearly impossible. And even when a person has a condom and uses it properly, there still is a chance the condom will fail. Likewise, microbicides – which researchers hope will enable women to protect themselves – will only reduce risk, not eliminate it; the development of effective microbicides is still years away.

His desperation to stamp AIDS is so serious, he's invented a little acrostic - which he has copyrighted and insists can only be used with permission.
Yes, everyone should really get behind his campaign.

Etheridge is not an idiot. And she's probably capable of Googling Rick Warren's name. But, hey, he can't be all bad: he says he's bought her records.