Ring out the old, ring in the new...ring-a-ding-ding

2009-01-03
Categories: music

Ring out the old, ring in the new...ring-a-ding-ding

Ever since the Internet gave me the opportunity to pretend that my opinions counted for anything I've put together an end of year list that almost no one read. In the years before blogging it was the poor souls of the Galaxie 500 Mailing List who had my idle ramblings delivered to their inbox and on to the recycle bin but the last few years they've appeared on my blog where they trouble nobody.

I'd habitually reel off my years fave albums and gigs and ponder on what the next 12 months might bring...but this year I couldn't be bothered. Maybe it's because there's been nothing that truly blew me away - certainly not on album anyway - there's been lots of albums I've liked but I'm not sure there's been an On Fire or a Penthouse or an Ys that can take my breath away. Or maybe because I can count the gigs I've been to using my fingers (although Nina Nastasia in Brighton was breathtaking and most of the other gigs didn't disappoint). Or maybe I'm just a little tired of trying to 'rate' music.

My last.fm charts offer lists of the usual suspects but just so I have an end of year list here are the top 12 abums that last.fm thinks I listened to last year...

...hmm not one of those was released in 2008.

I read a bit more fiction this year (not a great deal but some) and, off the top of my head, my faves were...

And of course there was one outstanding non-fiction book but I'm expecting the paperback version of Dean Wareham's Black Postcards to be even better (without that mistake!)

That'll do - maybe 09 will be a bit more inspiring.