My dedicated reader's favourite album of last year was Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady. The album gets its UK release next week and if there is any justice in this world it will be huge. 11 songs all about drugs - as far as I can make out - and sort of channelling early Springsteen and Southside Johnny into late 90s rock. And you know what, it works a treat. This is a wonderful album. Go buy it.
Whilst the Decemberists have been around for a number of years, and a friend of mine is a big fan, I have to confess - a few tunes aside - they have never really made much of a splash with me. With their fifth album - 'The Hazards of Love' - a 17-track concept album that sort of tells a story about a fair maiden ravished by a shape-shifting demon (no, really) - however, I am suddenly find myself surprisingly won over. On some levels - like most concept albums - it is utter tosh, but with its repeating musical motifs and reprises, making you quickly think that actually there are only about five actual songs on the album - a clever trick. Like with all good concept albums this makes listening on shuffle not the ideal way to digest this album - especially as their are short 'interlude' pieces joining all the songs too. Added to all this the fact that the band seem to have a love for early 70's British folk/prog/heavy metal and this walks right up my street - and will ...
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