Top 10 CDs of 2009 (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Top 10 CDs of 2009

12:09pm Friday 18th December 2009 in

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10: Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers

Emotional, enigmatic, frequently painful album in which the Manics put music to words left behind by guitarist Richey Edwards when he disappeared 14 years ago. With Steve Albini at the helm, it’s largely classic Manics bluster, but Nicky Wire’s fragile vocal on the closing William’s Last Words provides the highlight.

9: Madness - The Liberty of Norton Folgate

The Nutty Boys’ immutable take on the canon of classic English concept albums from Ogden’s, through Parklife to A Grand Don’t Come For Free and The Good The Bad & The Queen never leaves London town but revels in twisted pop, music hall, dub, folk and pearly wisdom as it chronicles their bittersweet whimsy.

8: Noah & The Whale - The First Days of Spring

Unexpectedly uplifting break-up album/film in which singer Charlie Fink chronicles his split from nu-folkie Laura Marling. Folk laments meet choral marches, orchestral indie pop and impressionist blues as Fink tips out the contents of his soul, pokes and prods them, then restores order.

7: Ian Brown - My Way

Brother Brown’s self-belief has rarely been better honed than on this euphoric celebration of his own path to glory. Stellify will have you rushing like prime Frankie Knuckles, while In the Year 2525 melds northern soul and mariachi trumpet and For the Glory examines his former band.

6: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

Wilful, bloody-minded third album recorded in the desert with Josh Homme finds the tearaway scamps of a few years ago indulging their baser instincts, throwing out the pop song rule book and hitting everything much harder. Still, plenty of room for Alex Turner’s indie Alan Bennett lyrics.

5: Engineers - Three Fact Finder

Shoegazy electronica and baggy dreampop collide on Engineers’ long-awaited, Slowdive/MBV-channelling sophomore album that’s laced with creamy vocals, hazy beats and tracks that build magnificently into Spector-esque soundscapes. It’s a beauty and deserves your attention.

4: Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Songs to make you smile through morning-after tears are Doves’ stock in trade and here they crack out some of their finest – from the title track’s Johnny Cash in the (acid) rain lollop to the Lancastrian inter-stellar psyche of House of Mirrors. Should’ve been this year’s Seldom Seen Kid.

3: The Gilded Palace of Sin - You Break Our Hearts...

Ennio Morricone on absinthe, this black-hearted debut from the Mancunian trio is an uninhibited Gothic Western opera to dark skies and lost souls. Think Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Dr John and Mark E Smith getting together to make merry with their own misfortune.

2: The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant

In which Wakefield’s finest are finessed by the black nail-varnished guiding hand of new guitarist Johnny Marr. The Jarman bros’ vim is every bit as vitriolic as before – and they always had a way with a hook – but now comes tempered with Marr’s trademark guitar beatification.

1: Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul

Released only as a blank CD-R with a poster or book because of a legal battle, DM and Mark Linkous call in the great and the good from Gruff Rhys to The Shins, Strokes, Iggy and Flaming Lips, as well as David Lynch, for a blissed-out, rocked-up, bug-eyed psychedelic meditation.

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