My Favourite Albums Of 2011

My favourite movies of 2011

There are lots of acclaimed movies I've yet to see that came out in 2011 so this is just a provisional list of my favourites so far this year.

1. Hugo

2. Super 8

3. The Tree Of Life
4. Midnight In Paris

5. True Grit

6. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

7. Biutiful

8. Black Swan

9. The King's Speech

10. Attack The Block

Best gigs of 2011

Looking back at my list of gigs for this year I feel more uncool than ever because so few would ever grace the pages of NME and a good many are actually in their 50s and 60s. Not that I care anymore because I can say without doubt it's an honour to see some of the legends I've had the pleasure of seeing for the first time this year. Plus I got to see a few exciting up-and-comers too, so I'm not completely without hope in the cool stakes! Anyway, here's my annual list of my 10 favourite gigs of the year.

10. Janis Ian at Cadogan Hall and Judy Collins at Leicester Square Theatre

(Sorry, I can't decide between these two!)

9. Emmylou Harris at the Royal Festival Hall

8. Laura Cantrell at Mondo Water Rats

7. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at Hammersmith Apollo

6. The Twilight Singers at Concrete

5. My Brightest Diamond at St Giles In The Field

4. Jonathan Wilson, Dawes & Jackson Browne at The Borderline

3. Marianne Faithfull at the Barbican

2. Patti Smith at St Giles In The Field

1. Sufjan Stevens at the Royal Festival Hall

Merry Christmas!

Stevie sings Buddy

Stevie singing the Buddy Holly classic It's So Easy introduced by Chris Isaak. She's also on a new Buddy Holly tribute album, called Listen To Me, singing Not Fade Away, but I think this is even better. Interestingly enough, Waddy Wachtel, who is playing guitar with Stevie, also plays on Linda Ronstadt's 1977 version, which I think is still the best cover.

The Afghan Whigs are back...

The good news is one of my favourite ever bands is reuniting and playing a gig in London. The bad news is that I can't make it to the show. I just hope they'll announce a few non-festival dates later in the year because I would love to see them again. In other crappy news, another of my heroes, Lindsey Buckingham, whose solo show I have been waiting years to see, has cancelled his first ever UK solo tour because his guitarist has hurt his back. All in all this has been a pretty depressing December so far.

Gillian Welch at the Hammersmith Apollo

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Hammersmith Apollo, 23 November 2011

"I just looked around at all the stage I'm not using," quipped Gillian Welch at the start of the show and it's true that she, along with partner and musical accompanist David Rawlings, do look slight on the vast and historic Hammersmith Apollo stage. But, man, do they manage to fill it with their voices and Rawlings' amazing guitar playing. The Apollo may be far from intimate but by the end the show it certainly felt like it was.

My Brightest Diamond at St Giles In The Field

My Brightest Diamond

Jess Bryant

St Giles In The Field, 17 November 2011

Shara Worden came dancing up the aisle at the start of the show at St Giles In The Field, literally. Wearing a white mask and a costume of felt orange flowers (also worn by the chamber assemble backing her tonight), she twisted and turned and pointed as in some kind of new tribal dance that was both theatrical and fun. After seeing St. Vincent last week at the Queen Elizabeth Hall I wondered what her fellow ex-Sufjan Stevens alumni, Worden, would be like, playing in a church no less, but this was something completely and charmingly different.

St. Vincent at Queen Elizabeth Hall

St. Vincent

Cate Le Bon

Queen Elizabeth Hall, 10 November 2011

After seeing Annie Clark in such tiny venues a couple of years back it was strange to see her play the much bigger and totally sold out Queen Elizabeth Hall. That said, it was no surprise really, aside from all the buzz surrounding her new album, Strange Mercy, her talent (and let's be honest here, her appealing pixie looks too) meant it was only a matter of time before she was discovered by a wider audience.

Janis Ian at Cadogan Hall

Janis Ian

Cadogan Hall, 5 November 2011

I've wanted to see Janis Ian live for years now. My aunt introduced me to her as a teenager but, heavily into my punk phase, I sort of scoffed at anything I deemed "middle of the road". But somehow, despite my prejudice, the songs At Seventeen and From Me To You crept into my heart.

Steve Earle at the Royal Festival Hall

Steve Earle & The Dukes (and Duchesses) featuring Allison Moorer

Royal Festival Hall, 25 October 2011

Despite not being in the best of health I dragged myself to the Royal Festival Hall to catch Steve Earle and his band figuring that at least I had a seat and it always ends fairly early there. I'm really glad I did although I didn't make it through the encore but the two hours beforehand was certainly more than worth the effort.

Roger McGuinn at Cadogan Hall

Roger McGuinn

Cadogan Hall, 15 October 2010

After last week seeing one of the original Byrds singing Eight Miles High in London, here I am exactly a week later seeing another of the original Byrds singing the exact same song. Last week it was of course David Crosby, together with his old pal Graham Nash, and this week I was lucky to see the bespectacled leader of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn himself.

Crosby & Nash at the Royal Albert Hall

Crosby & Nash

Royal Albert Hall, 8 October 2011

For the past couple of years I've been lucky enough to catch Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Royal Albert Hall and each time has been a pretty amazing experience.

Gig memories: David Bowie at Wembley in 1995

David Bowie
Morrissey
Wembley Arena, 18 November 1995

I recently discovered an old review I wrote for this show at the time, written on a school computer. It's full of teen pretension and I completely dismiss old rock stars (aside from Neil Young funnily enough) and Bowie's 80s output. I don't really know why because I love a lot of Bowie's 80s work (particularly the Scary Monsters and Let's Dance albums and even the first Tin Machine record) but I was the midst of my punk rock phase then and just a snotty kid. But even that couldn't stop me loving Bowie.

Treetop Flyers interview

Over the past couple of years there's been one new band I've seen live that has made me prick up my ears with their Crosby, Stills & Nash-style harmonies and Neil Young rock outs: London band Treetop Flyers. It's not often you see a small band playing support who feel like they could be headlining, so I jumped at the chance to speak to singer Reid Morrison for Hive Mag, which you can read here or on this very blog below...

Sounding like they came straight out of the golden age of Laurel Canyon, people are starting to catch on to London band Treetop Flyers and their unique sound dubbed “country soul”. With such famous fans as Adele and Laura Marling, they have been particularly busy in 2011 releasing their second EP, Things Will Change, winning the prestigious Emerging Talent competition at this year’s Glastonbury festival and now releasing a new single, It’s About Time. We caught up with frontman Reid Morrison to talk about their successful year, the band’s forthcoming debut album and more…

So it’s been a busy year for Treetop Flyers. Does it feel like it’s starting to really happen for you guys?

Yeah over the past six months especially it’s been pretty crazy. Things have been good.

Alessi's Ark at the Camden Barfly

Alessi's Ark

Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou

Stealing Sheep

Camden Barfly, 24 August 2011

I can't help but feel a swell of pride over Alessi. Since I first discovered her three years ago when she was just 18 I've seen her play numerous shows, release two excellent albums and grow immeasurably as an artist and performer. It's bewildering to me that she hasn't graduated to playing bigger venues than this, the tiny Camden Barfly where I've seen many a friend's band play, but the place is admittedly filled to the brim with barely room to move so hopefully that's a positive sign that her whimsical and enchanting style of folk pop is catching on a little.

The Jayhawks at The Forum

The Jayhawks

Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold

The Forum, 5 August 2011

Of all the bands that emerged from the so-called alternative country scene The Jayhawks always seemed to be the most under-appreciated. It's particularly crazy given that during the 90s they released two albums that equal, and maybe even better, anything Uncle Tupelo ever made. But in the mid-90s one of the band's main songwriters, Mark Olson, decided to leave the band and although they carried on making great records those special harmony vocals between Olson and fellow frontman Gary Louris were sorely missed. I saw Olson-less Jayhawks twice before they split and they were always fantastic but when Louris teamed up with Olson for a duo album there was no doubt that these two guys were meant to sing together. I guess it was only a matter of time before the whole classic line-up of the band got back together, lucky for us, and the gig tonight to finally see and hear the chemistry between these five guys and gal really was worth the wait.

Farewell Amy Winehouse

Such a waste of an incredible talent. I would have loved to have seen her overcome her problems, clean up and achieve her full potential, but alas it wasn't to be. Anyone doubting her importance or influence only need look at the current crop of female singer-songwriters, it's just a shame she won't be around to make that comeback and surpass them all again. I guess she'll now become a legend because of her early demise but personally I think that whole 27 club mythology is hugely overrated, to survive is what's important. Nevertheless, despite her well-publicised fight with addiction, it doesn't make her death any less sad. Rest in peace, Amy.

Jonathan Wilson, Dawes and Jackson Browne at The Borderline

Jonathan Wilson with special guest Jackson Browne

Dawes

The Borderline, 20 July 2011

After years of going to gigs sometimes you think you've seen it all and then something happens to totally surprise you. Like going to see two largely unknown artists in a tiny club for just seven quid and having a rock legend, who you paid £50 to see in a huge venue a couple of years ago, turn up and turn a great gig into one of the best shows of the year. Thanks to the appearance of the legendary Jackson Browne about halfway through this is one gig I won't be forgetting soon.

Steve Martin at the Hammersmith Apollo

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers

Hammersmith Apollo, 8 July 2011

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see Steve Martin on his first banjo tour. It was probably the most surprisingly show I went to that year because it was so good and not just the oddity a comedian playing the musician would suggest. Instead it was a fabulous mix of virtuoso banjo playing and genuinely hilarious comedy. Martin is not just a major comedy star but he's also a genuinely gifted musician, in fact it's delightfully old fashioned in a way, a star who is all-rounder, a true entertainer if you will.

Tift Merritt at The Borderline

Tift Merritt

Simon Lynge

The Borderline, 4 July 2011

It's funny, I think I had forgotten just how petite and lovely Tift Merritt is because when she walks on stage I'm surprised at how small and beautiful she is. Wearing tights, black shorts and a sailor-style top, she seems over-dressed for the warm weather but she tells us our London heatwave would be considered mild in her hometown of North Carolina. Tonight she seems more excited than the last the last time I saw her live, filled with a nervous energy that somehow enhances her performance.

Stevie Nicks signing

I can't believe it but I met Stevie Nicks today. It was at a HMV signing so it wasn't the private affair I had imagined when I was younger but it still left me shaking like when I was an obsessed 12-year-old fan.

Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park

Hard Rock Calling 2011:

Rod Stewart

Stevie Nicks

Adam Ant

Rumer

Hyde Park, 26 June 2011

I seem to be becoming a Hard Rock Calling regular, this is now my third year in a row. That said I certainly didn't imagine being back with Rod Stewart as the headliner, but when it was announced that Stevie Nicks would be playing her first solo show in the UK for 22 years at this festival of course I couldn't not go. Aside from Stevie, the whole line-up was really not my kind of thing but some I wanted to catch for curiosity's sake and some, such as Train and The Lighthouse Family, I wanted to plain avoid.

He Stopped Loving Her Today

Since it's Father's Day I thought I'd post this classic song, He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones. The Possum is without doubt one of the greatest singers but the greatest man I've ever known is my dad. Named Noel because he was born just before Christmas, he was a big, tough Irish man with the warmest smile and a mischievous twinkle in his eye, who held his ground but never, ever held a grudge. He had a great sense of humour and a soft and gentle side too though I only saw him cry three times: once when he was watching that old movie The Bells Of St Mary where Ingrid Bergman plays the nun who dies of tuberculosis, just once when he was very sick, nearing the end of his life, and the thought of being parted from us momentarily overwhelmed him and once when he was listening to this song, by his favourite singer George Jones. He would put the record on, sit there, eyes closed and get lost in the music. I can't really blame him since it quite honestly is the saddest song ever written even more touching thanks to Jones' sob in the voice delivery. So, as corny as it sounds, this song will always make me think of my dad, a great man and a great song to remember him by.

Judy Collins at Leicester Square Theatre

Judy Collins

Leicester Square Theatre, 12 June 2011

Early last year I passed up the opportunity to see Judy Collins live and I immediately regretted it. I thought that, at the ripe old age of 72, there wouldn't be many more opportunities to see her live but I needn't have worried: it turns out Collins still loves to tour and seems well able for it too, seeming more lively than many acts half her age and sporting a pair of high heels that even I wouldn't have been able to stand in for a couple of hours.

Emmylou Harris at the Royal Festival Hall

 
Emmylou Harris & The Red Dirt Boys

Simon Lynge

Royal Festival Hall, 1 June 2011

Oh Emmylou, could you be any more perfect? I've seen Emmylou Harris before but this time she seemed energised and happier, walking on to the stage with a little dance. It almost goes without saying that she looked absolutely radiant, wearing a silver headband and layers of brown velvet, satin and lace and the most amazing fringed suede boots, she launched into a song from her new album Hard Bargain, the upbeat, toe-tapping Six White Cadillacs, following it with Orphan Girl and Red Dirt Girl, both of which got a big cheer. Tonight, she told us, she would be digging out some old tunes and trying out some new ones and it really was a lovely mixture of both.

Marianne Faithfull at The Barbican

Marianne Faithfull
The Barbican, 23 May 2011

Having recently read Marianne Faithfull's autobiography and listened to her entire back catalogue, I'm more convinced than ever that she's not just a rock icon but a national treasure. Seeing her live tonight for the first time (on Bob Dylan's 70th birthday no less - she even mentions this herself) just confirms the fact for me because Marianne, at 64 years of age, is just as magnificent as I imagined.

Grant Lee Buffalo at the Royal Festival Hall

Grant Lee Buffalo

Heidi Spencer And The Rare Birds

Royal Festival Hall, 18 May 2011

Hello, Royal Festival Hall old friend. Seems like I've been spending more time at the RFH recently but I have to admit it's one of my favourite venues, location-, sound- and seat-wise. It's also one of the best places to see acoustic acts and although Grant Lee Buffalo aren't strictly acoustic, this is still the perfect venue to see them again.

Alela Diane interview

I was lucky enough to chat to one of my favourite current singers the magical Alela Diane at her show at the Scala last week for Hive Mag. She was surprisingly tiny, even more gorgeous in the flesh and absolutely lovely to talk to. You can read the results below:

Having emerged from the same Nevada City folk scene that gave us Joanna Newsom, Alela Diane is a singer-songwriter who seems to change and grow with every record. She’s been through a lot of changes since her last album having married her guitarist and formed a new band that sees her move away from her folk roots into a more country rock sound. We caught up with her at her show at London’s Scala to find out about her fantastic new album Alela Diane & Wild Divine, her dad and husband being part of the band and her unique journey into music.

So Alela, has the tour been going well so far? Because there’s a song on the new record [Heartless Highway] all about the disillusionment of life on the road…

I was particularly run down when I wrote that song because we had been on tour for far too long. But this tour has just been a couple of weeks. I got a little run down and I did get a cold and my eye swelled shut, but other than it’s all worked out and it’s been fine. My body just gets run down, I get really tired and then my immune system just kind of fails on me and then all these weird things happen. [laughs]

Sufjan Stevens at the Royal Festival Hall

Photo from Gigwise

Sufjan Stevens

DM Stith

Royal Festival Hall, 13 May 2011

Astonishing. Breathtaking. Exhilarating. Is there a word to sum up Sufjan Stevens' show? All I know is that my jaw dropped somewhere in the first few seconds and remained that way for a few songs until the amazement couldn't suppress the grin any longer. Visually exciting, amazing fun and riveting throughout, for the most part I thought it was the most unique show I had every been to but the end, while great fun for the audience, owed much to The Flaming Lips with confetti and balloons and dancing in the aisles coming straight out of the Wayne Coyne party handbook. Not that it mattered because after the first two-thirds where else did it have to go? It just had to turn into a party or a light show and it kind of did both.

Alela Diane at Scala

Alela Diane & Wild Divine

Peggy Sue

Dylan LeBlanc

Scala, 12 May 2010

Louisiana singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc looks like a cross between Ashton Kutcher and a young Townes Van Zandt. So yes, he's easy on the eye and has a kind of cool, authentic cowboy thing going on.

Kurt and the end of an era

It was really bizarre to learn that, at the beginning of this month, it is now 17 years since Kurt Cobain died. After watching Courtney Love's Behind The Music episode on YouTube it brought back all the feelings that many of my generation felt back when we learned Kurt had finally succumb to his illness (and depression is an illness) and ended his life. It was not only the end of his band Nirvana but really it was an end of an era too: the whole grunge scene seemed to die out and the bands that came after were just pale imitators. I guess all good things have to come to an end but I wish Kurt had overcome and survived, I can only imagine what good things he'd be doing now. That's why I prefer to think of Kurt smiling, as above in this photo I had on my bedroom wall years ago, rather than romanticise his depression and mental illness as many people do now. Think of all the things Kurt has missed, the movies he could have watched, the songs that could have brought him joy, the great people he could met, the music he could have made and the daughter he could have known as she grew up. His early death made him an icon but I wish he was still around, even as a fading artist, than just a picture on a moody teenager's wall who is idolising someone who no longer exists, something I'm sure Kurt himself would have hated.

Gig Memories: Leonard Cohen at the O2 in 2008

Leonard Cohen

O2 Arena, 17 July 2008

So, I had planned to go see Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter tonight but due to a bout of the flu this week I've been stuck indoors while everyone else has been enjoying the unusually sunny April weather. Since I can obviously no longer write about that show I thought instead I'd reminisce about a show I went to a few years back that I've been thinking a lot about lately: Leonard Cohen at the O2 back in 2008.

New Stevie Nicks!

The Twilight Singers in London

The Twilight Singers

Concrete, 16 March 2011

The Twilight Singers

The Bookhouse Boys

Alice Gold

Electric Ballroom, 18 March 2011

You know it's funny, until Greg Dulli mentioned on stage that this was the first time the band had played live in five years, I hadn't even realised that it had been so long since The Twilight Singers last toured. I guess between all the shows with The Gutter Twins and Mark Lanegan I had still been getting my Greg Dulli live fix. But still, while it's undoubtedly the Dulli show, there is something special that happens when Greg gets together with the rest of the Twilights. Lucky us then that London got not just one, but two shows, to kick off their comeback tour in support of the fantastic new record Dynamite Steps.

The Twilight Singers at Concrete

I luckily won tickets through a competition on Q Magazine's website to see The Twilight Singers at a tiny exclusive gig at Concrete, a small venue in the basement of Pizza East in Shoreditch. Needless to say it was incredible and Greg Dulli was in top form. I'm going to see the band again tomorrow night at Camden's Electric Ballroom so I'll post more about both gigs in full then. In the meantime, here's a phone pic of the debonair Mr Dulli. We were right at the front as you can tell and were even thrown his drumstick (as the last song he performed behind the drums) at the end of the show. It's funny how stuff like that makes you feel like a giddy, music-loving teenager again, so thank you Mr Dulli, thank you.

Caitlin Rose at The Borderline

Caitlin Rose

Treetop Flyers

The Borderline, 7 March 2011

It's interesting how the mood of a performer can affect the show. A bad mood doesn't necessarily mean a bad show, sometimes an angry artist can make for a more intense, powerful show (check out a pissed off Neil Young or an upset Cedric of The Mars Volta for evidence). However, with Caitlin Rose tonight the change of mood seemed to come over her midway through the gig and it was odd to see the feisty and defiant singer suddenly become timid and guarded.

Farewell Suze Rotolo

I only read Suze Rotolo's book A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir Of Greenwich Village In The Sixties last year but I completely fell in love with her spirit, intelligence and independence. Yes, she was Bob Dylan's girlfriend as he rose to fame and inspired some of his most famous songs but Rotolo was an amazing woman in her own right: an artist and teacher whose political activism and world-view influenced Dylan's and was an integral part of the folk music scene of the early 60s, something she documented so well in her book. So I was saddened to hear that Rotolo had died aged just 67. I'm definitely glad I got to know her a little through her book and she's certain to live on through that, the iconic images like the one above and the many songs that Dylan wrote for her.

Hawksley Workman at The Borderline

Hawksley Workman

Roken Is Dodelijk

The Borderline, 14 February 2011

I've always wondered just why Hawksley Workman isn't a huge star. He writes clever, funny and incredibly tuneful pop songs that are just on the right side of offbeat, sung with a powerful, soaring voice and in concert he's a true showman, full of amusing stories and slightly surreal banter. I can only assume it's because he's not as classically good looking as the Jeff Buckleys and Rufus Wainwrights of the world, especially now with his slightly chubby face and receding hairline. But live he's somehow transformed, he looks younger, like an adorable little schoolboy who can't believe what he's getting away with. "I get to live inside my head for a living," at one point he admits grinning.

Patti Smith at St Giles In The Fields

Patti Smith

St Giles In The Fields, 27 January 2011

Wow. This show will be the one to beat. And how appropriate it was staged in the rather sacred setting of a centuries old church because this really was music as a religious experience.

St Giles In The Fields stands in the heart of the city, just off Charing Cross Road. You can see it looking small but majestic while walking down Denmark Street, the stretch of shops otherwise known as London's Tin Pan Alley, the home to a wide assortment of stores selling sheet music, guitars and other instruments. Its tall but simple steeple is a small beacon of a little peace and respite from the bustling streets surrounding Oxford Street. It's no wonder then that Patti Smith, on a trip to London, discovered it one day while visiting Denmark Street and found some poetic solace in its tranquil atmosphere and impressive history.

Laura Cantrell at Monto Water Rats

Laura Cantrell
James Walbourne

Monto Water Rats, 26 January 2011

I wish I could say I discovered Laura Cantrell on John Peel's uber-cool recommendation or first heard her voice drifting from the radio on his hugely influential radio show, he was afterall the man who introduced her to these shores and called her debut, Not The Tremblin' Kind, his favourite album "of the past 10 years and possibly my life". But in reality I came to the Laura Cantrell party rather late and through the recommendation of a Flaming Lips-loving friend. It was just after her third album came out, Humming By The Flowered Vine, around the time Laura had her first child which has meant that she hasn't toured in five and a half years and I missed the boat in order to see her live.

Richard Thompson at the Royal Festival Hall

The Richard Thompson Band

Royal Festival Hall, 18 January 2011

"I like kittens and little babies. Can't you see that's the kind of guy I am?" Richard Thompson sings at the start of the show. It's the opening line of The Money Shuffle, the first song on his excellent new album Dream Attic (which he amusingly dedicates to the bankers of the world) but somehow it seems the truth, because all through this three hour show Thompson comes across as a truly nice guy: funny, sweet and self-deprecating, not one of the greatest guitarists in the world today and a true British music legend, which he most definitely is.