My Top 10 Albums of 2005: #1
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
#1: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Although there was little doubt in my mind that Bloc Party would be my number 1 for the year,
watching their performances on MAX's Later With Jools Holland last night totally confirmed it. Just watching Kele's frantic fingers on Helicopter was incredible. Plus it sounded fantastic.
As I was voting for Triple J's Hottest 100 last week, I considered my top 10 songs for the year. While this year I tried to vote for the littler bands or the Australian ones (to get them into the 100), I still considered the year's greatest songs off the list. In all honesty, my number 1 and 2 would be Banquet and Helicopter, both Bloc Party.
That's the sort of impact Silent Alarm had on me. Some outstanding riffs, such depth to the songs and simply a raw rock sound with a few things I hadn't heard before. The duelling guitars on Banquet actually caught my attention late in 2004 when Triple J played it off their earliest EP. I was unable to find anything to download (especially with my bad spelling of "Block Party") but by the time the album came around, I'd definitely taken notice (as did many others). Like Doves, I downloaded one song, liked it, then another, liked that too, then one more and the album was sold to me.
Gradually I grew to love the whole album, heavily playing a track or two for a week and moving on to another one. Even the ending, which I initially thought was a bit weak, I came to really appreciate. I still think the solo on Positive Tension should have been longer given the 3 or so minute lead-up, but it's still amazing. The whole album's done so well I can't help but heap praise on it.
I'm still cut that I missed out on tickets to their July concerts last year. The tickets went in 2 hours flat. I was left wondering how people had even heard of them, so scarce was radio play at the time. Without a doubt, I'll be there to snap some up the next time they head Down Under. Until then, I'll keep turning to this album: my album of 2005.
Honorable mentions for albums that just missed my top 10 (but I still listened to obsessively at one stage): The Bravery - The Bravery, Foo Fighters - In Your Honor, Kisschasy - United Paper People, The D4 - Out Of My Head and Gyroscope - Are You Involved?
Regular mentions for quality albums I've thoroughly enjoyed go to: Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth, Wolfmother - Wolfmother, Neon - Neon, 67 Special - The World Can Wait, Weezer - Make Believe and Gorillaz - Demon Days.
3 comments to this post
This album has been on my list for a long time, and reading this posting has increased the priority I will now give to it :) I've only given one listen to the album, and I really enjoyed it. Banquet is a fantastic song, but the whole album has an energy that's hard to beat. As soon as it gets below the $20 mark I'll pick it up without a doubt...
I notice you gave an honourable mention to Weezer's Make Believe. Almost every reviewer I know has panned this album, do you think they were unfair? Pinkerton is still one of my favourite albums of all time -- be sure to check it out if you haven't heard it.
To be honest, it's the first time I'd really listened to a Weezer album. I liked the older stuff I'd heard and just took a chance on this one because I had sufficient money and sufficient boredom.
It is pretty obvious sounding college rock at face value and the lyrics can get pretty corny. Once I accepted that, I had a bit of fun with Make Believe and I don't think many reviewers could get over that. I think ultimately I really like the lead singer's voice and they know how to write choruses that sound pleasant on the ear.
Pinkerton has now been bumped up in priority too!
On the surface Pinkerton doesn't sound like much. The production is pretty horrible, but underneath the surface is a set of some of Rivers Cuomo's darkest lyrics. It's one of the few albums that I consider a tortured masterpiece, or an album where the writer's pain is our gain. I plan to write a list sometime on my blog with a theme like that, because there are many brilliant albums out there that are incredibly dark and it's almost worth the songwriter going through the pain they did so they could release such a brilliant album.
Definitely grab Pinkerton - I've seen it for as low as $10 so there are really no excuses :)
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