Best Of ' 08

Have you checked out 'Cut Your Key' by The Junipers, 'Rushes' by The Fireman or 'Casting Shadows' by The Black Hollies? All three tip-top to me..

That man Sam ain't lying about The Junipers, a brilliant record. Bearing your taste in mind Cliff I'll throw The Beep Seals - Things That Roar and Bryan Scary - Flight of the Kinfe. Oh and I've only listened once but Bipolaroid - E(i)ther Or sounds like the bee's knees too.
Happy shopping.

Cheers Guys,

Sammy I have all 3 of those, Valis tipped to the Junipers, Black Hollies are Frenchy faves and that Fireman album is one of the best things I've heard from Macca since The Beatles.As for Barry's suggestions, I love Bryan Scary but don't have that album and I'll certainly be investigating the other 2 bands.

Merci Beaucoup Lads.

Wish I could contribute, but this year I seem to have gone into the past far more than the present. I'll have to have a deep think before I could begin to recommend.

Except for Bitter:Sweet's new album. That one kicks some large spy-themed ass.

I have found a bumper crop of '08 releases to my liking. For Psych fans, check out "2" by Darker My Love. New bands (to me) discovered this year include:
King Kahn - The Supreme Genius of King Kahn & the Shrines
The Punch Brothers - Punch
Computer vs. Banjo - Computer vs. Banjo
Topaz & Mudphonic - Music for Dorothy
Firewater - The Golden Hour
Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

Old favs with great new releases include Nick Cave, Drive-By Truckers, The Raconteurs, Amos Lee, Jakob Dylan, Marc Ribot, Sparks, the Raveonettes, Giant Sand and T-Bone Burnett.

My "Amazed at how much I like it" pick? "Meet Glen Campbell".

I've been struggling over an end of the year favorites list and as usual I will end of with a collection of mixes for the year.

Right now at the top of my list seems to be...
Deerhunter - Microcastle
and a bunch after that in no order yet
Fleet Foxes
Lila Downs
The Baseball Project
The Dodos
Bon Iver
Jackie Greene
Vampire Weekend
Delta Spirit
Winterpills
Old Crow Medicine Show
The Wood Brothers
Damien Juardo
The Black Hollies
The Fireman
The Ruby Suns
Department of Eagles
Tindersticks
T-Bone Burnette
The Sea & Cake
My Morning Jacket
Nick Cave
The Pillbugs
The Quarter After
Joan of Arc
Lucinda Williams

OK, I should stop but you see I've been getting my hands on way too much music. And I liked that new Cure album, Barry Adamson, the Ry Cooder anthology, the live Clash, the La's deluxe release, and how about those two re-releases of The Lines. How could we not have been listening to them for the past twenty years. The New Order and Replacements reissues.

TV On The Radio, Vetiver, Sigur Ros, Frightened Rabbit, The Week That Was, Robert Forster, The Last Shadow Puppets, Giant Sand, Marnie Stern, Dreadful Yawns, Vic Chestnut, Dungen, Mugison, Crystal Stilts, ... I could keep going.

Yeah, it's been another good year.

Great list there George, my faves from it are: The Dodos, Black Hollies, Ruby Suns, Fleet Foxes, Quarter After and Of Course The Pillbugs. A good year but not spectacular I'd Say.

Here's how I see '08 so far... http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Salvadorbarry/2008

Amazing what a redundacy cheque and a keen eye for a sly blog can do, still got 150 albums to listen to before I sign this off...

I would have agreed with you in August Cliff but things have warmed up methinks.

Still... odd years are always better than evens. Anyone wanna debate this completely unscientific yet pretty much accurate fact 1960- onwards. I'd love to hear it ;)

Hi Barry,

I have a grand total of 14 of those 220 albums you've selected (note to self must purchase the Doleful Lions album)must admit many of your choices have me completely clueless so I'll have to investigate further, this is the problem when deciding as I have to stick to psychedelic and powerpop purchases, I've missed out on sooo much. I do know what you mean about having a backlog of albums to catch up on though, last count I had about 60 albums I've yet to spin. Does anyone else find that they have so much to catch up on that these days it's difficult to give an album a chance to grow upon you? I find that if it doesn't register immediately with me then an album gets left behind, sinful I know but as I'm fond of saying, " So much music, so little time."

Yeah, I think I'm just going to point everyone to your list, Barry.

Hi Barry,

I have a grand total of 14 of those 220 albums you've selected (note to self must purchase the Doleful Lions album)must admit many of your choices have me completely clueless so I'll have to investigate further, this is the problem when deciding as I have to stick to psychedelic and powerpop purchases, I've missed out on sooo much. I do know what you mean about having a backlog of albums to catch up on though, last count I had about 60 albums I've yet to spin. Does anyone else find that they have so much to catch up on that these days it's difficult to give an album a chance to grow upon you? I find that if it doesn't register immediately with me then an album gets left behind, sinful I know but as I'm fond of saying, " So much music, so little time."

-frenchconnection

I'm totally with you. I get so much music that I have very little time for each release, to be honest, and with the overwhelming plethora of new stuff to discover alongside all the old stuff that also needs discovery (or rediscovery) it just becomes harder and harder to stay on top of my collection.

I do remember a time when I used to know all of my albums intimately, though. Alas, it's been a while now....

Barry, dear, I only know of a handful of the albums you picked. But what I do know I very much like, so I trust your judgement.
(Oh, how I covet "Gossip in the Grain"!)

I do remember a time when I used to know all of my albums intimately, though. Alas, it's been a while now....

-gabechouinard

I remember (only a few years ago) when I knew the entire lyrics to every single song on every single album I owned. By heart, completely without help. Ah, where has my memorizing skills disappeared to?

Wow, Barry.... I have gotten more new releases this year than ever before and I only have 13 of th 224 on your list.

I'm currently retooling my Top 40 of '08 (and my Best of 2008 Mix), bit for those of you who are interested here is it's current state:

http://www.amazon.com/Petrocks-nbsp-Best-nbsp-Albums-nbsp-of-nbsp-2008/lm/R1LEZY25Y7GV9U/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_1