With the power of Spotify, I tend to listen to more music once only. I will pick up an idea from a tweet, or hear a track on the radio, and it will steer a particular direction. As it is so ephemeral, I started to write down the albums I wanted to hear and tick them when I had done so. Last year I wrote about this way I find music to enjoy: Music of 2014.
One important observation is the shift from buying, say, eight CDs a year and listening to each ten times and now listening to 80 new albums a year. There is a built-in ‘newness-over-quality’ which typifies the impact of digital media.
Various artists – All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs and Voice of Greg Allman, Live, 2014
Tangerine Dream – The Virgin Years, 1974-78
The Unthanks – Mount the Air, 2014
Emily Portman – Hatchling, 2012
Emily Portman – The Glamoury, 2010
Bob Marley – Easy Skankin’ in Boston, live 1978, 2015
Texas – 25, 2015
Nils Lofgren – Live from the Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, Pa, 1976
Faustus – Broken Down Gentleman, 2015
Bella Hardy – Battleplan, 2013
Jackie Oates – Lullabies, 2013 (includes Dream Aengus)
Megson – Live, 2013
Nigel Kennedy – Kennedy Experience, 1999. This is execrable.
Teleman – Breakfast, 2013. Suggested by @BobDigby
Cara Dillon – Thousand Hearts, 2014
James Bay – Chaos and Calm, 2015
Laura Marling – Short Movie, 2015
The Staves – If I Was, 2015
The Staves – Dead and Born and Grown, 2012
Seasick Steve – Sonic Soulm Surfer, 2015
Seasick Steve – Hubcap Music, 2013
Maz O’Connor – This Willowed Light, 2014. Definitely a highlight. Love the voice.
Eric Clapton and Friends – The Breeze: an appreciation of JJ Cale, 2014
Eric Claton – Old Sock, 2013
Maz O’Connor – Upon a Stranger Shore, 2013
Van Morrison – Duets, 2015
Al Stewart – Year of the Cat and Past, Present and Future
Altan – The Widening Gyre, 2015
Muse – Drones, 2015
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear – Skeleton Crew, 2015. Via a breakfast tv performance, one of the most delightful finds of the year. I was given the CD of this so it was played often in the car.
Neil Young – The Monsanto Years, 2015
Joy Williams, Venus, 2015. ex The Civil Wars
Kate Rusby – 20, 2012
Lianne La Havas – Blood, 2015
Joss Stone – Water for Your Soul, 2015
ColvinQuarmby – Live at Bridgnorth, 2005
George Ezra – Wanted on Voyage, 2014
David Gilmour – Live at Gdansk, 2008
David Gilmour – Rattle that Lock, 2015. One of the few listened to many times.
Martha Tilston – Machines of Love and Grace, 2012
Joe Satriani – Shockwave Super Nova, 2015
Jess Glynne – I Cry When I Laugh, 2015
Benji Kirkpatrick – Bendrix, 2015. So much but than Kennedy’s.
Don Henley – Cass Country, 2015
Don Henley – End of Innocence live, 2010
The Dead Weather – Dodge and Burn, 2015. Jack White
Stereophonics – Keep the Village Alive, 2015
Tom Robinson – Only the Now, 2015
Jeff Lynne’s ELO – Alone in the Universe, 2015
Lucy Ward – I Dreamt I was a Bird, 2015
Jackie Oates – The Spyglass and the Herringbone, 2015
Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot – What Have We Become, 2014. Return of a distinctive partnership.
Joe Bonamassa – Live at Radio City Music Hall, 2015
False Lights – Salvor, 2015 (includes Sam Carter and Jim Moray.)
Emily Portman – Coracle, 2015.
Nils Lofgren – UK2015 Face the Muse Tour
Enya – Dark Sky Island
The Corrs – White Light, 2015
Eliza Carthy and The Wayward Band – You Know Me, 2015
Eliza Carthy – Mons Meg, 2015
Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams, 2015
Kate Rusby – The Frost is All Over. Christmas album.
Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr – Murmurs, 2015.
At the end of 2015 we went to the GB Festival of Folk and I produced a playlist.
See Music of 2014
See also my collection of posts at My Music – Shifting Sands