Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
The Badloves - Get On Board
James Blake - Overgrown
Christine and the Queens - Christine and the Queens
Paula Cole - This Fire
Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
Frou Frou - Details
Garbage - Garbage
Nik Kershaw - 15 Minutes
Wendy Matthews - Emigre
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid (Metropolis Suites 2 and 3)
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Thom York - The Eraser
My awareness at the end of 2016 that my pop music listening was being swamped by classical listening led to a concerted effort early in 2017 to listen to more pop music. Here is the result, a decent number of albums on the monthly list for January.
Yes, I know it's now April. Catch up plans are forming...
The best part was that I did manage to listen to at least a few things that I hadn't heard in quite a while. The most extreme example of this was Get on Board which, according to my spreadsheets, I hadn't listened to for about 6 years.
Which surprises me because I have always genuinely thought it is a fine album, particularly as it's a debut. The Badloves made just 2 studio albums before breaking up, although Wikipedia tells me they made some fitful attempts to reunite, and lead singer Michael Spiby also did some solo work.
Spiby's silky voice is definitely a highlight, but more than that Get on Board has that balance that's so important to making a coherent album. There's a range of moods and tempos, but also a common sound and aesthetic. It's slightly old-fashioned (in some ways more 1970s than 1993), with folk and blues elements. It does perhaps dip ever so slightly for a couple of tracks in the middle, but there are still plenty of highlights.
And it was a considerable success, thanks to expertly selected singles. "Green Limousine" seems to have been the one that got the most attention, but the one that made me sit up and take notice was the debut single, "Lost". 3-minute radio-friendly pop songs don't come much nicer than this.
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