2014: Albums

ALBUMS:

HITS

Ed Sheeran “X” 6

George Ezra “Wanted On Voyage”

Its definitely class. Some accused his follow up “Staying At Tamara’s” (2018) as being less authentic or ‘selling-out’. Although I can hear that to a degree....... it feels a little more ‘crowd-pleasing’ and/or ‘uplifting’......... its hugely overstated. There’s not a million miles of ground between the two albums.  In fact, of the two, I probably slighter prefer the later album. That said, this one arguably has a greater number of outstanding tracks in isolation. It’s all very structurally and compositionally simple. ‘Classic’. But superbly, masterfully done. 8

Paolo Nutini “Caustic Love” 7

Paloma Faith “A Perfect Contradiction” 7

One Direction “Four” 7

ALTERNATIVE

Juçara Marçal “Encarnado” 7

Jackie McDowell “Baptisia” (EP) 8

Excellent! I’d describe it as ‘like a minimalist version of Bǰörk, using musically Eastern influences such as pentatonic scales, crossing over with a ‘folk’ feel which is also present in the lyricism, although the lyrics are also ‘country’ in style at times. 8

Adult Jazz “Jist Is”

I don’t even know how to review this..... but its brilliant! It is certainly experimental, marked by complex timings and structures, erratic shifts, and what initially sounds like chaos. On closer listening, however, this chaos is intricately woven, suggesting a tight underlying framework on which everything is built. The lyrics appear to explore themes of coming of age, though they unfold in a surreal, stream‑of‑consciousness style. 8

Torn Hawk “Through The Force Of Will” 7

Blonde Redhead “Barragán” 7

ALBUMS I ALREADY KNEW

Coldplay "Ghost Stories" 6

CONCLUSIONS?:

In terms of any theory of 'things getting better as you work back' - it might be gaining momentum at this point. The last couple of years (2016-14) seem to have picked up somewhat and 2014 has a really solid collection of singles and the above albums are 6s at worst but mostly 7s and 8s. Looking the other way, in true chronology, this means there is a noticeable deterioration over the next few years. I envisage two problems with a straightforward deterioration over time, however. Firstly, it feels more like a sudden decline between 2014 and, say, 2018 and then more of a flatline (that actually does pick up again eventually). Secondly, this suggests that something significant may have happened around this time. And! We know that it DID. Streaming was on the increase and streaming data was introduced into the official chart (2014 for singles, 2015 for albums). I find this hard to shrug off as two non-related events. We will have to keep going back to get a clearer picture, though.