Top picks from the year music reinvented itself
From Taylor Swift’s second coming to a rebooted LCD Soundsystem, Danny McElhinney finds 2017 was defined by…
We will per- haps look back on 2017 with considerably more affection than the year that preceded it. If a death pall hung over 2016 because so many of our favourite musicians passed away, then 2017 was more about rebirth, reinvention and returns.
St Vincent stepped into the big league with Masseduction while Taylor Swift rounded on the Tay-Tay naysayers with Reputation. LCD Soundsystem returned after a lengthy hiatus to great effect on American Dream. Guns N’ Roses proved they could still cut it at Slane, while U2 took us down memory lane for a night to remind us how good they are live and how great The Joshua Tree album still is. Songs Of Experience was not the return to form that it might have been (though other critics do not concur) and maybe they need to go away and make it up all over again, as Bono might say. The real Irish success story of the year was Picture This. In a little over 18 months they have gone from word-of-mouth tips to arena fillers. And though they call the RDS an arena too, that’s a 30,000 capacity stadium they will fill next summer. Other Irish artists who had an annus mirabilis included Declan O’Rourke, Imelda May and The Rusangano Family, who deservedly scooped the RTÉ Choice Music Prize.
Here, for what it’s worth, is my pick of the best albums of the year and the best gigs I attended.
Have a cracking Crimbo.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 1 St Vincent Masseduction
It didn’t seem likely that St Vincent’s latest album could raise her personal bar higher than 2014’s stellar effort but Masseduction, the former Annie Clark’s fifth album since beatifying herself, does that. Tracks such as Los Ageless and the heartbreaking New York are inspired by her onoff relationship with Cara Delevingne. She is among the most compelling artists of this era.
2 Father John Misty Pure Comedy
The success of 2015’s I Love You Honeybear obviously encouraged Josh Tillman to become more ambitious and expansive. From bitching about bad indie bands attracting unwarranted attention to ‘bedding Taylor Swift every night inside the Oculus Rift’, Tillman is on great lyrical form. It’s 77 minutes of pure entertainment, if not the barrel of laughs the title suggests.
3 Grizzly Bear Painted Ruins
Maybe it’s because (by the band’s own testimony) members of Grizzly Bear are scattered across the planet, that when they convene they want to impress each other. Painted Ruins could have been indulgent. Instead there is a coherence to the musical flights of fantasy, the false climaxes, the pitch shifts and controlled chaos. This is the best of their career.
4 Taylor Swift Reputation
‘The old Taylor can’t come to the phone… Why? ’Cos she’s dead.’ She might as well be. Swift’s transformation from country pop ingénue to globe-conquering music icon is complete. Look What You Made Me Do, I Did Something Bad, Getaway Car and virtually every one of the others are irresistible. Croker can’t come soon enough.
5 Declan O’Rourke Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine
The Dublin man had been quietly working on this well before grabbing our attention with Galileo in 2004. Although necessarily a work of gravitas, he realised that great melodies, pace changes and lighter musical moods were as intrinsic to the project as being respectful to the subject matter. This will surely come to be seen as his defining album.
6 Rhiannon Giddens Freedom Highway
In a similar way to Declan O’Rourke, Giddens set herself the considerable task of chronicling 400 years of oppression of African-Americans in music. Some of the songs take tragic stories passed down through the ages and still have the power to appal centuries later. They sit with missives about more recent atrocities – and searing covers of tracks such as Richard Farina’s heartbreaking Birmingham Sunday – on a powerful album.
7 LCD Soundsystem American Dream
Tickets for the shows by James Murphy’s outfit in October were like hen’s teeth – though perhaps our leader Leo V wishes he’d stayed away from the Olympia. After a sixyear hiatus, American Dream marked a triumphant return to recording. The joy was allowing the soundscapes to burrow into your affections, revealing new textures at almost every listen.
8 Perfume Genius No Shape
If you have not yet made room in your affections for Perfume Genius, aka Seattlebased artist Mike Hadreas, then you really need to. Like a melange of Antony And The Johnsons, Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley, he is by turns melancholic and melodramatic. This is his fourth and maybe his best album but seek out previous efforts Too Bright and Put Your Back N 2 It for music of similar gilt and grace.
9 Lorde Melodrama
Lorde managed the transition from precocious 16-year-old with Pure Heroine and Royals in 2013 to an artist of real substance with Melodrama. Aided by cowriter/producer Jack Antonoff, who works so effectively with Taylor Swift, Lorde has delivered a darkly polished pop album of the highest order.
10 Kendrick DAMNLamar
DAMN confirmed Lamar’s place among the elite of hip hop. To many, he is at the top of the pile. It consolidated the achievement of 2015’s wondrous To Pimp A Butterfly. DNA, Yah and Loyalty, which also features a convincing turn from Rihanna, are brilliantly executed. Even U2 have leapt on his bandwagon. It’s the smart thing for all of us to do.
11 Imelda May Life Love Flesh Blood
2017 was the year Imelda went back to black. The blonde kiss curl was forsaken in favour of hair, dark and straight. Out went the ersatz rockabilly, in came torch songs telling of the heartbreak of the split from husband Darrel Higham. She was made to sing songs such as Black Tears, Should’ve Been You and The Girl I Used To Be. The fact that they were written from her own experience was the bitter pill that had to be swallowed.
The old Taylor can’t come to the phone… Why? ’Cos she’s dead
12 Stormzy Gang Sign &Prayer
Britain’s guv’nor of Grime hit the ground running with this debut album. As well as on-the-money observations of Britain’s urban youth with tracks such as Shut Up and Big For Your Boots, he showcased a more measured side on Blinded By Your Grace.
13 Maria Doyle Kennedy Maria Doyle Kennedy
Although she is arguably better known as an actress Maria can sing a bit too. From the celebratory Pride to the hard-hitting Colour Code, she is tone perfect. If the quality of this album surprises you then check her previous efforts; this underrated treasure has been hidden in plain sight all along.
14 Morrissey Low In High School
He might be increasingly divisive in his pronouncements, even by his standards, but the return to form Morrissey displayed on Low In High School was undeniable. Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up On Stage and Spent The Day In Bed were cracking singles. His best collection since 2006’s Ringleader Of The Tormentors.
15 Pugwash Silverlake
Any number of previous Pugwash offerings (particularly Eleven Modern Antiquities and The Olympus Sound) are among the finest Irish albums ever. Silverlake is another pop masterpiece. XTC, ELO and the Beatles are still an influence on tracks such as (the sublime) The Perfect Summer, Without You and Sunshine True and that should never be a hindrance to seekers of great pop music.
16 The Big Moon Love In The 4th Dimension
Juliette Jackson’s allfemale quartet laid down a great marker here . Songs such as Cupid, Sucker and Formidable show a subtle diversity of approach to what is essentially guitar-based indie music. A Mercury Prize nomination raised their profile and many more than the 100 or so who showed up at their Dublin gig in April may claim to have been there if they achieve the success they deserve.
17 Otherkin OK
Otherkin were hardened road warriors before they went to the studio to record their debut album. Sensibly, live favourites such as Treat Me So Bad, Come On, Hello, and Feel It are presented loud, raw and with little in the way of embellishments, and are all the better for that.
18 The xx I See You
I have to confess to merely admiring what The xx were doing on their first two albums. However, I See You was one that I – and many like me – could take to our hearts. Jamie Smith’s solo sojourns have strengthened the group when that alone could have led to its implosion. Romy Madley Croft has grown as a musician and her higher profile on I Dare You benefits everyone.
19 James Vincent McMorrow True Care
The release of True Care in May was a welcome surprise to many, especially as it came so soon after We Move, one of 2016’s best albums. It’s a more personal and looser album lyrically, while musically the Dubliner seems even less inclined than ever to be confined to one category. His stated aim to release albums only when the creative urge takes him should be applauded.
20 Ed Sheeran ÷
It’s the lot of the ubiquitous artist to be pilloried for the sin of success. It shouldn’t deflect from the fact that Ed Sheeran was among the first artists from these islands to successfully mix the energy of hip hop with the sensibilities of the singersongwriter. I wouldn’t be a fan of Galway Girl but the quality of the rest of the album can’t be ignored.
An underrated treasure hiding in plain sight all along…