Paradox One

WEARING MY REVIEWER’S HAT-

PHILS FESTIVE 40 - 2008

FESTIVE 40 / BEST OF 2008

Although I have had to suspend the recommended releases part of my website through sheer pressure of work the yearly recommendations are becoming, for me at least, a tradition, and will continue.
The #s have no particular significance. I also slip in other great recordings by the same artists!
1 GRAVEYARD PARADISE: THE COMPLETE 1 2 6 & TABOO RECORDINGS 1966-68 (Ugly Things Records) (also recommended from this label: THE LIGHT: TURN ON...THE LIGHT Garage & Psychedelic Sounds from Southern California, 1967); THE MUSTANGS: RIVERSIDE GARAGE LEGENDS)

2 CHRIS WOOD: VULCAN (Esoteric)

3 JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR: WHITE SUGAR (Ruf) (Blues album of the year)

4 RARE BIRD: SOMEBDOY’S WATCHING (Esoteric)

5 STOMU YAMASH’TA/ STEVE WINWOOD/ MICHAEL SHREEVE: Go (Esoteric) (also recommended Yamash’ta’s East Wind Freedom is Frightening and Come to the Edge: Floating Music)

6 TIM GRIMM: HOLDING UP THE WORLD (Corazong) (Remarkable set of songs)

7 ANALOG MOON: AM RADIO (Circuit Ride) (wonderful crossover prog)

8 MAN: BACK INTO THE FUTURE (deluxe 3 CD package from Esoteric) (also recommended ‘Maximum Darkness’ and ‘Slow Motion’)

9 SUPERSISTER: Present from Nancy (Esoteric) (also recommended ‘Pudding en Gisteren’ and ‘To The Highest Bidder’)

10 VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: TRISECTOR (EMI)

11 VARIOUS ARTISTS: SPIRIT OF JOY Tales from the Polydor Underground 1967-1974) (3 CD box set)
12 VARIOUS ARTISTS: NEVER EVER LAND: 83 Texan Nuggets from International Artists Records (Box set of the year) (not forgetting the reissues by The Golden Dawn and The 13th Floor Elevators)
13 BEN WEAVER: THE AX IN THE OAK (Forget some ambivalent reviews, best solo this year)
14 NEIL YOUNG: CHROME DREAMS 11 (Did I just say best solo of the year?)
15 TANEYTOWN: EAST OF EVERYTHING (Corazong) (Reprise)
16 RUSH: SNAKES AND ARROWS LIVE (Atlantic)
17 DAVE GILMOUR: LIVE IN GDANSK (Columbia)
18 GRATEFUL DEAD: ROCKING THE CRADLE, EGYPT, 1978 (Rhino)
19 SPACE DEBRIS: ELEPHANT MOON (triple LP)
20 JACK BRUCE: CAN YOU FOLLOW? (box set retrospective on Esoteric)

21 HAMFATTER: WHAT PART OF HAMFATTER DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND (again, well they did Dragon’s Den didn’t they?- all credit to Pink Hedgehog who keep releasing excellent music by Garfield’s Birthday, Simon Felton etc.)(EYE could be the next big thing from this wondrous label- like Radiohead on the light station!)
22 MAHOGANY FROG: DO5 (Moon June)
23 KHAN: SPACE SHANTY (Esoteric)
24 KEEF HARTLEY: LITTLE BIG BAND (Esoteric) (All the Hartleys are worth having!)
25 LOVE SCUPLTURE: FORMS AND FEELINGS (Esoteric)
26 JULIAN JAY SAVARIN: WAITERS ON THE DANCE (Esoteric) (just edges out JULIAN’S TREATMENT)
27 EGG: THE POLITE FORCE and EGG and CIVIL SURFACE (slightly lesser so) (Esoteric)
28 BILL FAY: BILL FAY (also TIME OF THE LAST PERSECUTION) (Esoteric) (belated discovery of the year)
30 CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Cosmo’s Factory 40th anniversary edition (Get ‘em all!)

31 MOODY BLUES: ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM (with bonus- bliss!)
32 MELLOW CANDLE: SWADDLING SONGS (Esoteric) (believer the hype!)
33 BORIS SAVOLDELLI: INSANOLOGY (ZR) (This is something different- just a voice and an occasional guitar)
34 NEIL ARDLEY: HARMONY OF THE SPHERES (Esoteric) (Criminally overlooked music with John Martyn and Ian Carr also in fine form)
35 PLANETA IMAGINARO : BIOMASA (Cuneiform) (The music lives up to the name!)
36 BARR: BARR (Record Heaven) (‘Call My Name’ is a masterpiece)
37 HANS THEESINK AND TERRY EVANS: VISIONS (Blue Groove)
38 STORM WARNING: SOMETHING REAL (I’ve read some mixed reviews but this lives up to its title)
39 EAST OF EDEN: SNAFU (followed closely by MERCATOR PROJECTED) (Both on Esoteric)
40 MATS MORGAN: HEAT BEATS LIVE (Cuneiform) (maybe not their best but never less than interesting- nice DVD by Morgan!)

41 SIENNA ROOT: FAR FROM THE SUN (Transubstans) (Classic heavy rock)
42 JUPITER SOCIETY: FIRST CONTACT/ LAST WARNING (No Carptree this year but Carl Westholm’s still there!)
43 BIRDSONGS OF THE MESOZOIC: DAWN OF THE CYCADS (Deluxe double CD from Cuneiform if you’re looking for something completely different!)
44 RICK RAY BAND: VIOLENCE MARRED BY PEACE (Neurosis) (with brass! With something to say!)
45 ROOT DECO: THIRD WORLD PLANET (A work in progress, another band with something to say!)
46 VARIOUS: STRANGE PLEASURES: FURTHER SOUNDS OF THE DECCA UNDERGROUND (3 CD box set) (The 6 year wait since ‘LEGEND OF A MIND’ has been worth it!)

I know that’s well over 40 but who’s counting? And there are also the ones I’ve missed that will have to wait until next year. Also, I haven’t heard the Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver although I understand I should!

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2008

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2007

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2006

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2005

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2004

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2003

RECOMMENDED RELEASES OF 2002 / 2001



 

Please e-mail me at phil@paradoxone.co.uk for further information on any of these albums

 

 

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