I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2022 : 31-40

 

This year, the standard has been the highest since IDHAS began six and a half years ago. Narrowing things down to this 100 as been really difficult. For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to the IDHAS Review where you can find further details and how to listen or buy the album.

A reminder that anything reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single is highly recommended. 

No 31 : The Bye Bye Blackbirds - August Lightning Complex    IDHAS Review

No 32 : Emperor Penguin - Sunday Carvery        IDHAS Review





No 33 : The Summer Holiday - Acqua     IDHAS Review

No 34 : Andy Bopp - An Andy Bopp Compilation          IDHAS Review

      

No 35 : Elvis Eno - A Startling Realization Of The Obvious     IDHAS Review

No 36 : Whelligan - In The Mean Meantime      IDHAS Review


  


No 37 : Phil Yates & the Affiliates - A Thin Thread      IDHAS Review

No 38 :  Derrero - Curvy Lines    IDHAS Review

  

No 39 : Librarians With Hickeys - Handclaps & Tambourines   IDHAS Review 

 
No 40 : The Glad Machine - Hey       IDHAS Review

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The Bye Bye Blackbirds - August Lightning Complex

 
I mentioned in my review of Boxer At Rest that The Bye Bye Blackbirds were stretching away from the Power Pop tag assigned to them on earlier albums. With August Lightning Complex, that genre seems even more distant in the mirror.

Only Favorite Stars could potentially labelled Power Pop and it is wonderful, showing that the band have lost none of their ability to go there, should they wish. The Oakland California six piece provide a wonderfully adult album, as you would expect but never take for granted.

Bradley Skaught's song writing is as top notch as ever, but lyrically, the album is much darker, maybe brought on by the pandemic lockdown effects in the two years since Boxer At Rest. The album has a lot in common with 70s Pop Rock, but there are hints of Country Rock and West Coast Rock.

However the production is big and crystal clear, you can hear and pick out every instrument in a way that most albums don't enable. Choruses are as memorable ever. The real plus is that six highly talented musicians blend beautifully, you sense that there isn't an ego in sight.

Much will be made of We Got Lost, a co-write with Matt Piucci who guests on the song, as does Doug Gillard. Despite the obvious Paisley connection, it is Kelly Atkins's vocal that stands out. Even more exciting is the one minute psych out that follows the track as a reprise. It blew my socks off.

Don't Wait is almost Gospel Country Rock and Something From The Old World is a classic slice of 70s Stadium Rock. Mechanic is chipper, at times Americana but with a wonderful twang. Want Show As Young starts all Glen Campbell but the riff, chorus and brass make this a much larger beat.

Then there is Marching, a nine minute epic. A vocal that is a little Tom Petty and a song that allows instruments to come in from everywhere with a Procol Harum like organ part way through. It is a magnificent brooding affair rounding of a splendid album. Big in every sense of the word, The Bye Bye Blackbirds have released a masterpiece.

You can listen to an buy the album here.

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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2020 : 21-30

It's been difficult to get these choices down to 100. I'm also not a believer in saying one album is better than another. Most of the time you are comparing Apples To Oranges. I'm not a List person, I just think what's the point.

However, for the last few years I have compiled annual Best Of 's because these posts seem so popular and the aim of this Blog is to get exposure (and Sales) for the artists. There is no meaning or judgement on an album that is Number 1, Number 100 or not on the list. Anything that I review on here, mention on Social Media or play on the Radio Show is as highly recommended.

I would also add that the Top 100 includes albums available as Download Only. To suggest that they are anything less than equal to a Physical release is grossly unfair, even more so in 2020 with all that has happened during the year. To qualify, an album has to be available for sale in any format.

For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to where you can find further details on how to listen or buy the album. 

No 21 : Foxycontin - This Time You’re on Your Own    IDHAS Review

No 22 : Gretchen's Wheel - Such Open Sky      IDHAS Review









No 23 : The Successful Failures - Pack Up Your Shadows     IDHAS Review

 

No 24 : The Amiimopps - Life On Pluto          You Tube Group

       

No 25 : The Bye Bye Blackbirds - Boxer At Rest    IDHAS Review

 

No 26 : The Mommyheads - New Kings Of Pop       IDHAS Review




 




No 27 : Answering Machine - Bad Luck     IDHAS Review

No 28 :  The Happy Fits - What Could Be Better    IDHAS Review



 

No 29 : KEYS - Home Schooling   IDHAS Review

Libertino · KEYS - The Strain

 

   

No 30 : DISQ - Collector         Review

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The Bye Bye Blackbirds - Boxer At Rest

The Bye Bye Blackbirds are back with their fifth album and very welcome it is too. The band have always been labelled as Power Pop, which is not that accurate. Their feet have always been standing more in Pop Rock and on this album they stretch even further afield.

An album Produced By Doug Gillard and Recorded by Chris Von Sneidern is always going to promise great variety and Boxer At Rest provides that in spades. The near death of founder and Guitarist Lenny Gill resonates in Bradley Skaught's lyrics. Skaught reflects on loss and this is even more apt in the outside world at present.

The delay in the album's release was due to waiting for Gill to recover from his heart transplant and be fit enough to add his Guitar parts and this bonhomie shines throughout, no matter how dark the lyrics. This is a wonderful album.






You Were All Light is the standout song and that is firmly in Psych Pop Territory. Don't be fooled by the lyrical depth, because songs such as Watch Them Chime bristle along with big choruses and riffs. Baby It's Still You goes all Mavericks with the Brass in the chorus.

So True is fun packed containing a Wig Wam Bam riff and descending into a Stones-ish 12 Bar close. War Is Still Hell edges into Rock And Roll and If It Gets Light is a magnificent slab of Psych, almost 8 minutes of it. It's a revelation.

It is left to the closer, All Our Friends, to get anywhere the Power Pop that they've been labelled with. Boxer At Rest is a magnificent album, a proper album to be listened to from start to finish. It will definitely be up there at the end of year awards.

You can buy the album here.


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