My Favourite Albums Of 2020

13. Tanya Donelly & The Parkington Sisters

12. Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman

11. Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers

10. Isobel Campbell - There Is No Other...

9. Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter

8. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud

7. Ren Harvieu - Revel In The Drama

6. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

5. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

4. Greg Dulli - Random Desire

3. Margo Price - That's How Rumors Get Started

2. Neil Young - Homegrown

1. Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom

Finally! Vol 2 Of Neil Young's Archives

It's expensive but I guess I've hardly been to any gigs this year. This is my favourite Neil era so I'm sure it will be worth it!

Albums Of The Decade

My favourite albums of the past decade. It's really hard to rank albums and really every one is interchangeable because each has meant something special to me or been something of an obsession over the past decade at different times. It's also interesting to see since starting this blog how a lot of the albums on my end of year lists are now rarely listened to by me and some almost completely forgotten (I really don't think I've thought about Yuck, for instance, since 2011 but they are there on my list that year). These were chosen for a combination of most listens and the memories they bring back. I'm sure I've missed out some good ones though.

Best Gigs Of 2016

I didn't go to as many gigs this year but there were still plenty of highlights for me from some old favourites, a few legends and some acts, new and old, who I had never seen before. Probably the most unusual was film director/composer John Carpenter at Troxy, whose mix of electronic soundtracks and visuals was pretty incredible. Meanwhile, Bat For Lashes' themed show showcasing her concept album The Bride was theatrical, warm and brilliant; Margo Price made me fall in love with her thanks to her no-frills traditional country and Low brought their Christmas record to life for me in ways I didn't expect. On top of that I got to meet Greg Dulli, one of my heroes, and to see Neil Young play with his new band, Promise Of The Real,  featuring Willie Nelson's sons. Not bad at all. I hope 2017 has lots of good things in store too.

10. Lush at the Roundhouse

9. Cyndi Lauper at Hammersmith Apollo

8. Greg Dulli at the Union Chapel

7. Neil Young & Laura Marling at the O2 Arena

6. Angel Olsen at Koko

5. Warpaint at the Roundhouse

4. John Carpenter at Troxy

3. Bat For Lashes at the Union Chapel

2. Low: A Christmas Performance at Union Chapel

1. Margo Price at The Scala

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real at the O2 Arena

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real

Laura Marling

O2 Arena, 11 June 2016

At the Graham Nash show last week I met a man who was seeing Neil Young live for the first time at this O2 Arena gig and I warned him, "don't expect him to play the hits! Neil plays what he wants and that's part of what makes him so great and exciting to watch!" Well, my words have come back to haunt me because tonight Neil played many of his best loved songs, kept it easy on the new tracks and still was exciting as ever. Even giving the audience what it wants, Neil manages to still be completely unpredictable. I was so used to Neil never pandering to those who want the old hits that when he actually does it, well, it's a huge surprise and almost as shocking as when he rolls out a 30 minute feedback-filled unknown number.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Hyde Park

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
The National
Tom Odell
Hyde Park, 12 July 2014

It's always interesting listening to people's reactions after a Neil Young show and his latest headline slot at Hyde Park was no different. "Neil was clearly phoning it in! It felt like the opening night where the band were finding their feet!" one fan moaned to his friend. "That was incredible, his guitar-work is mind-blowing!" enthused another. "I wandered off before the end, it was so dull: so many tedious guitar solos," I hear another complain as he rejoins a friend, while someone else in front of me exclaims "He was so inspired tonight, even better than last time he was in London!"

Best Gigs Of 2013

Although I didn't go to as many shows this year there were still definite highlights and a few shows that I will never forget. I got to see Neil Young with Crazy Horse for the first time, a longtime dream, not to mention seeing Christine McVie briefly reunite with Fleetwood Mac for Don't Stop at the O2 Arena. I didn't do the festival thing this year (after last year's double dose of rain and mud it was something of a relief to be honest) or see as many new artists but I did get to see a few artists that have long been on my wishlist, like Patty Griffin and Grace Potter, as well as old favourites like Dinosaur Jr and Cat Power. So all in all not a bad year and 2014 is already shaping up to be great too. But for now here's my favourite shows from 2013: 

10. Built To Spill at Electric Ballroom

9. Patty Griffin at the Union Chapel

8. Simone Dinnerstein & Tift Merritt at the Purcell Room

7. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell at Hammersmith Apollo

6. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals at Bush Hall

5. Neko Case at The Forum

4. Arcade Fire (as The Reflektors) at the Roundhouse

3. Fleetwood Mac at the O2 Arena

2. David Byrne & St. Vincent at the Roundhouse

1. Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the O2 Arena

Neil Young & Crazy Horse at O2 Arena

 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Los Lobos
O2 Arena, 17 June 2013

It's fascinating still to read all the fan reviews of a Neil Young show. All these years on and he still divides opinion although this London show was generally received more favourably than the concert in Dublin the night before. While I do understand that some people are turned off by long guitar solos and lots of noisy feedback, most of the time when I read the complaints I do wonder if they were at the same show I was. This is because of all the times I've seen Neil Young I've never come away less than amazed, and this concert was no exception.

My Favourite Albums Of 2012

I had a really difficult time this year whittling down my favourite albums of the year to just 10, there were so many I really loved: so I decided to make it 11. There are others I really loved too like Ryan Bingham's brilliant hard rock meets traditional country Tomorrowland, The Mars Volta's underrated Noctourniquet and Kathleen Edwards' lovely follow-up to Asking For Flowers, Voyageur, but these are the records that ultimately made the cut.

Patti Smith and Neil Young

I had to post this amazing photo of Patti Smith and Neil Young taken at BookExpo America yesterday where Patti conversed on stage with Neil about his forthcoming memoir (out in October), Waging Heavy Peace. My favourite part (courtesy of a report from The New Yorker) is this wonderful exchange when Patti and Neil compare their books (Patti's being the fantastic Just Kids):

Patti: Our books are very different but I think there’s something about them that’s similar. Neither was written vindictively or to settle a score. Both were written humanistically.

Neil: I think they actually are quite similar. I’m a highway and landscapes. You’re a city and painted bricks and lots of people. I’m travelling and you are, too, but I’m on the road and you’re travelling down streets. 
                         

Wow. Beautiful. I really can't wait to read Waging Heavy Peace.

My favourite albums of 2010

Neil Young's Le Noise

Obviously I'm stupidly excited to hear that Neil Young's new album, Le Noise, produced by the incredible Daniel Lanois (the man who turned around Emmylou Harris' career with the stunning Wrecking Ball) has been announced to be released next month on September 28.

From the man himself (on Facebook):

“Le Noise” is complete. It is a solo record. Playbacks are happening now. Release date is September 28th. It will be available in Vinyl, CD and I tunes in the first edition, followed by Blu-Ray, and an APP for I-Phone and I-Pad a month or so later. The app will be free. It gives you an interactive album cover. Forgive my use of the word “album”. I am old school. When you buy the songs/movies from I- tunes they show up in your APP. Peace ny"

Thanks Neil. Can't wait!

Goodbye Ben Keith

I was upset to hear today that Ben Keith, the man who played beautiful pedal steel on so many classic Neil Young albums and toured with him on almost every non-Crazy Horse tour, has passed away at the age of 73. That’s him above playing with Neil during the Harvest sessions in 1972.

This Old Guitar: Neil Young and Hank Williams

Hank Williams' famous 1941 Martin D-28 acoustic guitar (pictured here being played by Hank himself to his son Hank Jr back in 1949) isn't in a museum somewhere, shut away in a glass case being stared at by visitors, or locked up safely by some rich collector, it's actually still being used to make innovative, beautiful, heart-breaking music, just like Hank did back in the 1930s and 40s. That's because Neil Young is now the proud owner of the priceless guitar.

Albums of the decade

My favourite albums of the past decade. This has been a really hard task, much harder than I imagined. I've left out some really great albums that I've really enjoyed and loved but after a lot of consideration I think that this is the music that has meant the most to me over the past 10 years.

1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2. Mark Olson - The Salvation Blues
3. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
4. Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will
5. The Twilight Singers - Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers
6. Neko Case - Blacklisted
7. Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin
8. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
9. Joanna Newsom - Ys
10. At The Drive-in - Relationship Of Command
11. Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co.
12. Cat Power - The Greatest
13. Neil Young - Prairie Wind
14. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
15. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
16. The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium
17. PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
18. Stevie Nicks - Trouble In Shangri-La
19. Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
20. Hawksley Workman - (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves
21. Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday
22. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
23. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses
24. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
25. The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth

Best & Worst Gigs Of 2009

I learned many lessons from all the concerts I attended this year, important things such as: Bob Dylan fans are grumpy, selfish and have short attention spans but Pearl Jam fans are kind, cool and generally awesome; The Troxy is the worst venue in London unless The Flaming Lips are throwing confetti around the place; Steve Martin is an amazing musician and even more surprising, still very funny; M. Ward really doesn't like cameras; Fleetwood Mac security for the front row is really strict at their shows but the guards can be worn down if you're persistent and appeal to their better nature; going to gigs really sucks when you are ill and, finally, Roger Daltrey of The Who is one of the nicest guys in the whole world. And with that, here are my favourite gigs of the past year. Click on the titles to bring you to my original review of each show.

The Best
1. The Mars Volta at the ICA

2. Neil Young at Hyde Park

3. Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Royal Albert Hall

4. Pearl Jam at Shepherd's Bush Empire

5. Faith No More at Brixton Academy

6. M. Ward at The Borderline

7. Steve Martin at the Royal Festival Hall

8. Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Arena

9. Wilco at The Forum

10. Neko Case at Bush Hall

The Worst
1. Monsters Of Folk at Troxy
2. Bob Dylan at the O2

More barn!

A quote from Graham Nash from Jimmy McDonough's superb Neil Young biography Shakey: “I’m down at the ranch and Neil goes, ‘Hey Willy, wanna hear something?’ So we go down to the lake and row out to the middle in this rowboat and I think, ‘Jesus Christ, this guy’s been a fuckin’ mystery to me all my life - if he wants to talk to me privately, surely there’s more places to do it than in the middle of a fucking lake in a rowboat.’ What he’d done is he’d wired his house as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker, and they played Harvest. And at the end of it Elliot Mazer comes down to the shore of the lake and goes, ‘Neil, how is it?’ Neil turns around and shouts, ‘More barn!’”

Neil and Joni

Just because this photo is pure awesome.

Neil Young at Hyde Park

Hard Rock Calling 2009:
Neil Young
Fleet Foxes
Seasick Steve
Ben Harper & Relentless 7
The Pretenders
Hyde Park, 27 June 2009
So the promise of seeing Neil Young live for the ninth time brought me out for (sadly) my one and only festival-style experience this summer. But it was a great day that seemed to encompass the best and worst of the British weather, starting out sunny and uncomfortably hot and halfway through dark clouds suddenly gathering over the crowds in Hyde park and drenching us all in rain.

Best Gigs Of 2008

Neil Young at Hammersmith Apollo (5, 6, 8, 9, 14 March)

Back in the UK for the first time since 2003, after Neil Young’s aneurysm I really thought I would never see him live again so I must admit I flipped out when he announced these fairly small (for him) shows at the legendary Hammersmith Apollo and I attended five out of the six shows he played there.