Bye bye Bobby Farrell

The sad news of the end of 2010 was the untimely death of Bobby Farrell of Boney M, a man who was designed to dance and mime while Frank Farian did the vocals. He was indeed the forerunner of Milli Vanilli. Of course Frank Farian's shining apogee was the Far Corporation and its version of Stairway To Heaven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzDEmkfb6VI

Just recently, I was reminded by Phil Collins of the dreadful version of Stairway that Led Zeppelin did at Live Aid, so awful that they banished from memory all video of their performance.

So farewell Bobby. And thanks for all the Boney M glory.

The Top 40 Albums of 2010

These are the albums which I think are the best of 2010. In brackets is the position the album came out in my poll of critics' polls (Q, NME, Uncut, Classic Rock, Rock Sound, Mojo):-

40. Israel Cannan - "Walk" - an Australian singer-songwriter

39. Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now" - In a year when I didn't find much country music to admire, this was the pick of the year and the title track was the soundtrack to my volcano-extended stay in the USA

38. Meat Loaf - "Hang Cool Teddy Bear" (25=) - Nothing is as good as his work with Steinman, but "Los Angeloser" was a greta cut.

37 Doobie Bros - "World Gone Crazy" - One of the gigs of the year and "Chateau" is the best track on this album which could have come out anytime from 1972 onwards

36 Surfer Blood - "Astro Beach" (29) - Not quite as good as it thought it was.

35 Interpol - "Interpol" (19) - Brooding and moody. "Lights" is the best track on the album.

34 McFly - "Above The Noise" - fun gig previewed this album which sees the cute boys become more rocky and even sample War of the Worlds.

33 Brandon Flowers - "Flamingo" (20=) - somewhat of a disappointment that this did not aspire to the heights of the Killers albums nor be sufficiently different.

32.Cheap Trick - "The Latest" - see the Doobie Bros, but another slice of Trick fun!

31. Usher - "Raymond v Raymond" - a vastly underrated album with some cracking tunes on it especially "OMG" and "Monster"

30. My Chemical Romance - "Danger Days"  (14) - a vast disappointment after "The Black Parade" but with some fun glam-inducing rock anyway.

29. The Wanted - "The Wanted" - brought back a pop sensibility to the charts and "All Time Low" was a cracking song

28. The Drums - "The Drums" (13=) - "Let's Go Surfing" was a fantastic song, sadly the rest of the album failed to live up to these heights.

27. Asia - "Omega" (20=) - Another solid outing for the original line-up which was full of tunes and great work from Wetton and Downes.

26. Midlake - "The Courage Of Others" (12) - bucolic and the Fleet Foxes of the year. 

25. Liars - "Sisterworld" (15) - another successful reinvention and you got to love any song called "Scarecrows on a Killer Slant"

24. Nelson - "Lightning Strikes Twice" (25=) - not quite the second coming of REO Speedwagon and AOR but a great album from Rick's boys

23. Vampire Weekend - "Contra" (7) - too over-cheerful in my view, it was like living under a sunlamp, but props for "Horchata", and always an album to cheer you up.

22. Joanna Newsome - "Have One On Me" (13=) - is this woman actually Kate Bush?

21. Beach House - "Teen Dream" (9) - As much as I tried, I couldn't like this album as much as the reviews suggested. I always found my mind wandering a little. But worth perservering with.

20. Pain of Salvation - "Road Salt One" (30) - the only Eurovision connection in my list and a superb set of downbeat prog/rock tunes. Can't wait for the Swedes to come up with part two of this song cycle.

19. Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back" (23) - A wonderful set of covers done on piano with orchestra and the cover of Arcade Fire's "My Body Is A Cage" is one of the tracks of the year.

18. MGMT - "Congratulations" (5) - No "Time To Pretend", no "Kids" and therefore fewer sales but "Siberian Breaks" was superb.

17. Imagined Village - "Empire and Love" (28) - I don't tend to do much folk, but this outing of the occasional folk super group was right on the money and the passion of commentary on the current state of the war was astonishing.

16. Kings of Leon - "Come Around Sundown" (17=) - No "Sex On Fire" but a more brooding effort than the last album with plenty of classic tunes of which "The End" is possibly the pick.

15. John Mellencamp - "No Better Than This" - excellently reviewed and inexplicably overlooked by the critics, this finds my favourite artist of all time recording a rootsy set in excellent voice. Worth checking out for lovers of Americana.

14. Hurts - "Happiness" (24) - shimmering 80s synthpop returns with the spirit of the Pet Shop Boys. With any luck they will be huge in 2011 with "Wonderful Life" (as will hopefully Empire Of The Sun)

13. FM - "Metropolis" (17=) - Another slab of melodic AOR which would brighten up anybody's record collection and "Days Gone By" is possibly my track of the year. Definitely a band to see in 2011.

12. Bruce Springsteen - "The Promise" (22) - an album of rejects from the "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" sessions, but a coherent and fantastic album.

11. Deerhunter - "Halcyon Digest" (10) - more brooding alt-rock which constantly engaging the mind and the ears. Very moving.

10. Janell Monae - "Archandroid" (11) - a tour de force of styles and quite possibly the most bonkers concept album of the year. A tour not to miss in 2011.

9. Take That - "Progress" (16) - astonishing achievement from what could have been a car crash - "SOS" and "Kidz" are totally awesome.

8. Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs" (1) - an album one can listen to over and over in all different situations. Again awesome storytelling.

7. These New Puritans - "Hidden" (8) - from the opening this draws you in to a sweeping world of percussion and orchestrations; again a fully-realised overall concept.

6. The National - "High Violet" (2) - an album of stunning and restrained beauty. "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" is another track of the year.

5. John Grant - "Queen Of Denmark" (3) - another stunning achievement of twisted pain set to beautiful music.

4. Anderson/Wakeman - "The Living Tree" - a surprising album from two members of Yes, which in the title track has a work of such stunning delicacy that it can move you to tears. 

3. LCD Soundsystem - "This Is Happening" (4) - probably my most played album of the year this twists and writhes from "Drunk Girls" to "Hit" in a constantly listenable and inventive manner

2. Foals - "Total Life Forever" (6) - shimmering beauty culminating in "Spanish Sahara". It's a shame that the live show eschewed the delicacy and replaced it with muscularity. The drum break in "Spanish sahara" is probably the moment of the eyar.

1. The Besnard Lakes - "Are Roaring Night" (27) - Is it a concept album? Is it rock? Is it prog? Doesn't matter, because this is a song cycle of constant surprise, change and delight. Utterly fantastic.