Friday 31 January 2020

Popular Music 2019

There are various ways of counting these things, but on the best measure I listened to 95 different albums and EPs of popular music during the year.

Which is holding at the same lowish level as the previous year. I guess I'm relieved it hasn't sunk any lower.

As before, this doesn't count any material I don't own a copy of. Even though I increasingly use streaming (primarily Deezer) to listen to music, the goal is still to purchase things that I really respond to. And that did actually occur a couple of times during the year, as well as some requests for Christmas gifts.

Most Tori Amos albums were heard at least once, though Midwinter Graces missed out again. More interesting is the large amount of Pearl Jam that I listened to in a fairly concentrated burst, including buying more albums post-streaming. I certainly won't claim to have got to know those additional albums properly, but they're now in the library.

Patty Griffin also received a decent airing (5 albums), as did Something for Kate along with Paul Dempsey's solo albums. Radiohead was supplemented by purchase of Amok by Atoms for Peace and a couple of digital Thom Yorke singles.

I also bought my first Sarah Blasko album. I know I want to buy at least one more. The first choice was just a question of which one I found in a shop.

Chronological listening to Depeche Mode albums confirmed that Violator, which I'd picked up a couple of years ago in Germany, really was the best one to own, so that worked out well.

The full list:

Tori Amos
  • Little Earthquakes
  • Under the Pink
  • Boys for Pele
  • from the choirgirl hotel
  • To Venus and Back - venus orbiting
  • Strange Little Girls
  • Scarlet's Walk
  • Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
  • The Beekeeper
  • American Doll Posse
  • Abnormally Attracted to Sin
  • Night of Hunters
  • Unrepentant Geraldines
  • Native Invader
  • Live in Sydney 11/11/14
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Tina Arena - In Deep
Atoms for Peace - Amok
The Badloves - Get on Board
Beyonce - Beyonce
Sarah Blasko - What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have
Kate Bush - The Sensual World
Toni Childs - House of Hope
Toni Childs - Keep the Faith
Christine and the Queens - Christine and the Queens
Christine and the Queens - Chris (English version)
City on a Hill - City on a Hill
Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn
Tim Corley - Anywhere But Here
Tim Corley - Like Stars
Elvis Costello - Extreme Honey
Crowded House - Together Alone
Paul Dempsey - Everything is True
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Depeche Mode - Violator 
FKA twigs - LP1
Brooke Fraser - What to do with Daylight
Garbage - Garbage
george - Polyserena
Gomez - Liquid Skin
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Patty Griffin
  • Flaming Red
  • Children Runing Through
  • Downtown Church
  • American Kid
  • Servant of Love
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Incubus - Make Yourself
Jars of Clay
  • If I Left the Zoo
  • The Long Fall Back to Earth
  • The Shelter
Billy Joel - River of Dreams
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Elton John - Madman Across the Water
Nik Kershaw - Human Racing
Jennifer Knapp - The Way I Am
Wendy Matthews - Cafe Naturale
John Mayer - Continuum
John Mayer - The Search for Everything
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Over the Rhine - Ohio
Pearl Jam
  • Vitalogy
  • No Code
  • Yield
  • Binaural
  • Riot Act
  • Pearl Jam
  • Backspacer
  • Lightning Bolt
Radiohead
  • OK Computer
  • Kid A
  • Hail to the Thief
  • A Moon Shaped Pool
Seal - Human Being
Simply Red - Picture Book
Something for Kate
  • The Official Fiction
  • Desert Lights
  • Leave Your Soul to Science
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Tears for Fears - The Seeds of Love
Thrice 
  • The Alchemy Index
  • Beggars
  • Major/Minor
Suzanne Vega - Tried and True
Washington - Insomnia
Washington - There There
Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance
Rachael Yamagata - Heavyweight
Thom Yorke
  • Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses
  • Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
  • You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry