I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2022 : Top 10

So we arrive at the Top 10! As mentioned previously, it has been a really difficult task putting these albums in order. My choices may not be your choices, but I think we have a varied 100 and there is something in it for everyone.

Well done Bandicoot! It has been a great year for Wales with some fine albums emanating from a great country. Strangely, for a UK site, Bandicoot have the first British Album Of The Year on IDHAS on the 7th Occasion.

01 Bandicoot - Black After Dark       IDHAS Review

02 Richard Öhrn - Sounds In English       IDHAS Review

03 Dot Dash - Madman In The Rain       IDHAS Review





04 The Mommyheads - Genius Killer     IDHAS Review

05 The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field      IDHAS Review

06 Spygenius - Jobbernowl      IDHAS Review

07 Toni Tubna And The Stockholm Tuba Sect - When The Magic Went Wrong       IDHAS Review

08 Best Bets - On An Unhistoric Night         IDHAS Review

09 The Tambles - Scraping By        IDHAS Review

10 Outtacontroller - Come Alive        IDHAS Review

Finally, a mention for one album that didn't appear. The one main rule for the IDHAS100 is that an album has to have been reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single. Chris Church's Darling Please wasn't reviewed here, due to me reviewing it for a magazine that insisted that I did not review it elsewhere. I thought Chris would benefit from this bigger audience. There is a real possibility that the album would have been in this Top 10 if it had been reviewed.


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The Tambles - Scraping By

 

This is an album that catches you completely by surprise. You soon realise that there is far more than meets the ear here. At its heart is an excellent example of UK Beat from the second half of the sixties and The Tambles have that down to a tee, beautifully played and atmospherically ace in detail.

A great example is Home which has the sound and feel nailed. But there is much more on show, there is an ability to mix verses and choruses with the lead up sounding nothing like the chorus. Take for instance Listen, all I can think of through the verse is the Batman Theme, but then the chorus just explodes into the catchiest pop imaginable.

Then there is the opener, Reminding Me Of You is multiple songs in one. Starting off all Southern Rock and then goes all Ray Davies does Country and onto a piano led Brass affair. The Dutch quartet certainly know their stuff, it would be easy to be as one trick as Ocean Colour Scene, but they aren't set in their ways.

Can Only Hope is a bit like your Grandad doing Park Life to someone strumming Stray Cat Strut, but the chorus goes all Zutons and then there is a blistering Guitar solo. Wild Wild River is real hee haw Country, First Light Groove is splendid Psych. Got Me Going is great UK 80s lad pop, very different to everything that surrounds it. 

She's Not A Lover is a fantastic closer, Power Pop in essence with a driving riff and just a pinch of Early Beatles with a hippy outro with some Great Brass. Sister Augustine is a wonderful cross between Manfred Mann and UK Glam Rock whilst never losing its beat.

Many criticise new music in a why do we need another Kinks when we have the originals manner? I have no idea why because when you have such genre crossing joy as Scraping By, you want to celebrate it. There's an underlying wit in this awesome album. Others try to pull off different bits. This lot master it and with some style. I highly recommend the album to all.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The Tambles here.

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