My Favourite Albums Of 2017

This year has definitely been an interesting one musically, with women in particular releasing many of the best albums of any genre. That wasn't reflected well enough in the end of year polls, in my opinion, but it certainly is in my list. I actually included a couple more men in my first draft before realising that in my heart these were the albums that won me over more than anything else this year regardless of gender.

My Favourite Movies Of 2017

1. Brigsby Bear
2. Logan
3. Get Out
4. The Meyerowitz Stories
5. Wonder Woman
6. Paterson
7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
8. Lady Bird
9. I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore
10. Hidden Figures

Merry Christmas!

Best Gigs Of 2017

Out of all the shows I went to this year the two most memorable were touched by death and that's what will forever define them in my mind. There was the first night of Eddie Vedder's two shows at Hammersmith where Chris Cornell's death hung over everything like a huge black cloud. Cornell's suicide affected me more deeply than other celebrity deaths for many reasons so to experience that shared grief with other fans and also to witness Vedder's first public acknowledgement of it was very moving and cathartic and I will never forget it.

Mark Lanegan at Koko

Mark Lanegan
Joe Cardamone
Duke Garwood
Koko, 12 December 2017

Once again I venture out into the cold, dark, winter night to see Mark Lanegan, my 19th time seeing him live no less. It's actually been five years since I saw him, the last time when his excellent album Blues Funeral came out and he's been oddly prolific since then so there are a lot of Lanegan tunes I've yet to experience live.

Elvis, Carl Perkins and Blue Suede Shoes

I wrote about the history of one of the greatest songs in rock 'n' roll history, Blue Suede Shoes, over at Rebeat Magazine. You can read it here!