I've been giving this a bit of thought lately.First off let me say that I'm not one of those people for whom a year has any particular meaning,musically.Essentially there's good music and bad music,and I spend a lot of my time seeking the former,regardless of whenever it came onto the market.So this year,for instance,I've bought plenty of CDs,borrowed others,downloaded some,and the vast majority have been from years gone by.And in some cases,literally years-for instance,some of my happiest listening this year has been to 78s made over 50 years ago.But anyway,there HAVE been CDs made in 2007 that have swam into my ken,and among those I'd list the following as being worth an airing:-
Tom Waits-Orphans,brawlers and bastards
Tom goes back to some R'n'R basics in this triple-set,which,despite its length,doesn't show much fat.
Kurt Elling-Nightmoves
Kurt Elling is reinventing the classic nightclub singer tradition with real class and imagination,with a poetic and philosophic slant that's quite unique.I saw him and his trio a week or two back,and it was stunning.His back catalogue is full of great moments,but this album is the pick.
The Necks-Townsville
The Necks also have a strong back catalogue by now,quite a feat for a band who have taken a left-turn in the piano trio tradition and who rely almost exclusively on developing the seeds of an improvised idea with incredible rigour.Great video of them here,to give you an idea-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P0uCGDCNKno
Michel Petrucciani-The complete concert in Germany
The late great pianist recorded solo a decade ago-this reissue adds about three-quarters of an hour of unearthed extra material.The apex of expressive lyricism,and incredible communication.I'd give my right arm to play like this
And here's four or five 2007 releases that I'm looking forward to hearing in some future year
The Bad Plus-Prog
Another left-field piano trio.Anyone who has an interest in music for music's sake should take a peek at their blog-
http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/which is full of provocative,fascinating comment on the music scene-all of it.They're also a great band,always likely to do perverse and stimulating takes on such diverse artists as Bacharach,Kurt Cobain,Rush and Radiohead.And Hey! their drummer has the same name as me!
Miles Davis-The Complete 'On the Corner' sessions
Sony have managed to do something right in the last few years,by finally releasing the various 'complete' sets of Miles recordings.This one should be really interesting-the original '73 album baffled the critics,mixing epigrammatic melodies against a huge armada of percussion funk amid a slew of electronica,sitars etc.Miles' purported influences at the time were Sly Stone,Hendrix and Karlheinz Stockhausen,and it shows.A decade or two later,a whole area of music grew up from this root.If the other 'completes' are anything to go by,this should quadruple the available material.
Robert Wyatt-Comicopera
He hasn't made a duff album yet.
Supersilent 8
Spook,where are you? Anyone who knows Supersilent 6 will know what this band are capable of...
Polar Bear-?
Still unreleased,the band's third album promises to be just as good as the first two if the snippets on their site are anything to go by.Seb Rochford is the best drummer/composer alive now
Joni Mitchell-Shine
Joni has been treading water of late,releasing fulsome,lush albums of old hits with orchestra-but always delivered with unfailing candour and class.She still knocks the opposition out of the ring insofar as musical/poetic ability goes.
Brian Eno-Unreleased works of startling genius
Who can resist such a title?
I love the opening track Ghost Trains 