2017: Albums & Conclusions (plus - Am I Continuing this?)

Originally posted Feb 2026

ALBUMS

ALSO – AM I CONTINUING THE GWIM PROJECT?

Marking Key at bottom.

Ed Sheeran “÷”

This kicked off my 2017 listening very well. I’d summarise it as an album that showcases the versatility of the artist. No track is like the last one. For example, if we start from the top, “Erasure” is a striking opening – its like a heavily produced folk number (but one that is largely rapped, interestingly). “Castle On The Hill” is a perfect example of Sheeran’s song-writing skill. Its a straightforward but perfectly executed indie-pop track. “Dive” is a 6/8 time track with a swing/blues feel. “Shape Of You” presents as an R&B-leaning dance-pop track. However, it is a sparsely arranged piece focusing largely on percussion that adds a marimba-like groove to the proceedings.  “Perfect” is a well-written ballad that’s is, indeed, near perfect. I say ‘near’ because I have just one tiny niggle with this track. All the way through, the melodic phrasing is very precise and neat. Each phrase ends on the down-beat of a bar. This is completely consistent apart from one line in the chorus: ‘listening to our favourite song’. There - ‘fav’ lands on the down-beat...... but we’ve still  ‘-ourite song’ to get through. Because everything else is so perfectly symmetrical it sticks right out and sounds like we just couldn’t quite get that line to work. Its just me, and such a petty criticism, but I’ve never been able to get past it.

“Galway Girl” has an Irish-folk blend to it........ and so the album continues on this varied journey. It does start to flag a little towards the end. That said, the final track, “Supermarket Flowers”, a tribute to Sheeran’s late mother, is authentically heartfelt and delivered well. I really like the sentiment ‘you were an angel........ when God took you back he said ‘Hallelujah, you’re home’’. If it were not for the slight tailing off towards the end, or the album also blended some real ground-breaking stuff in there, I might have considered it for an 8. 7

EMA “Exile In The Outer Ring”

Superb. In summary – it has rock (arguably grunge) at its core but with a heavy electro-feel to it. It could be the soundtrack to a low-budget 80s horror film. It somehow has sparse arrangements yet a persistent ambient backdrop with a thick texture. We hear striking ‘industrial’ sounds, intense guitar riffs and distorted vocals against that backdrop – which is created by layered guitar work – it seems to use guitars like you would a synthesiser. The arrangements seem to be thought out in minute detail. There’s never anything there for the sake of it. If a beat is not needed – there  isn’t one. If bass is not needed – it isn’t there. The whole thing is very dark and gloomy, even it is more upbeat moments. So, it was always going to be a winner with me, right? 8

Rag ‘N’ Bone Man “Human”

I knew a lot of this album. To be honest, as brilliant as it is, I was anticipating even better – a possible 9. Its not quite that...... but it is superb. His soulful and somehow simultaneously smooth and gruff voice draws you right into the well-written and expertly arranged songs. The a capella  ending of the classic track “In My Time Of Dyin’” (titled “Die Easy” here) showcases this beautifully. Although I was somewhat disappointed – that disappointment was very relative as it still gets...... 8

Fazerdaze “Morningside”

Its pretty straightforward rock music with a fairly ‘raw’ feel. Hailing from New Zealand, I believe she plays all the instruments herself. I quite like the style of creating various vocal and instrumental ostinatos or phrases and alternating between them, then adding layers. It does mean there is very little development but it presents an interesting sound. I also like the way the voice is always slightly distant and echo-y....... the consistency making it feel that it is actually the ‘natural’ sound. Its good. Its not mind-blowing, though. 6   

Sam Smith “The Thrill Of It All”

I like Sam Smith as a personality although the music is a bit hit and miss. Here, the good points come from the distinctive voice (distinctive but reminiscent of Jimmy Sommerville) and interesting sounds that can be found in the production of the music and draw the ear’s attention. The not so good point come from the very traditional nature of the song-writing – which means that this side of the coin offers very little in the way of originality or creativity. Its good, but not good enough to rave about. 6 

Sondre Lerche “Pleasure”

It seems to model itself on mid-80s David Bowie, although it does pursue different directions.  For example, “Serenading In The Trenches” uses ‘industrial’ sounds,   “Siamese Twin” switches between an electronic march feel to a slinky atmosphere with funky bass and stripped back percussion, and “Hello Stranger” has a very unusual harmonic makeup where it sounds as if the vocals are in a different key to the backing music. That track in particular is very fascinating and I would like to get my teeth into it at some point. Its interesting, melodic, and quite creative in parts. Its a borderline case for me but falls just short of the higher mark. 7

Liam Gallagher “As You Were”

This was his first solo album following the break up of his post-Oasis band Beady Eye. I feel very similar to it as his second album which I reviewed for the 2019 section of this project.  For that one I wrote:

To be fair, its good strong rock song-writing and with a good balance of styles across the rock spectrum. It lacks anything particularly interesting, original, or innovative. But, Gallagher himself has often commented that’s exactly how he assesses himself. He just carries on that classic rock tradition. So fair play, I guess.

The member’s of Blur recently made complimentary comments about Oasis’s revival which gave me a different perspective to my long-standing past musings. I’ve always thought of Oasis post-1998, and the Gallaghers, as ‘stuck in time’. But Blur basically believe the brothers are doing a ‘good job’ of authentically representing that era. Its made me reassess things to a point. This album? As above. The only thing is I think I preferred the 2^nd album........ but maybe that’s just because they are very similar and I heard that one 1^st (?). 6

Kamasi Washington “Harmony Of Difference” (EP)

This is excellent. My issue with jazz albums is that, unless they are massively brilliant and interesting, the wonder of the live experience doesn’t translate to record for the length of an album. It could be edited to 10 mins and you’d have exactly the same album. This solves my problem in 2 ways. At 30 mins it is nice and short. It also takes the listener all over the place at a good pace. 8

Stormzy “Gang Signs & Prayer”

I like Stormzy. This was his big breakout album. Its a little all over the place. I guess it makes sense because he’s exploring two themes as the title suggests – his urban street life & his Christianity. As well as exploring these contrasting themes, the music does its own exploring: gospel, R&B, grime, soul, hip-hop, dancehall. 6

Blanck Mass “World Eater”

Its sort of texturally dense electronic music with a very ‘heavy’ sound. ‘Industrial dance music’ maybe? I dunno. I did quite enjoy this because it is undeniably a very striking audio experience. In fact, I was really enjoying it for a while but there seems to be a ‘covering-up’ of the fact that not an awful lot happens. There’s very little in the way of development. There’s a limited amount of very static ideas that are present for extended periods of time. The reason I say ‘cover-up’ is because although on the face of it there IS stuff going on, all that’s really happening is the odd thing drops in, the odd thing drops out, and the dials on the mixing board are moved up and down so that you’ve got exactly the same thing but with the various levels changed. I suppose that IS quite interesting in a way......... like taking in the same view but from as many angles as possible. 6

Paloma Faith “The Architect”

I am a passing fan of Paloma Faith. She’s a great artist generally speaking. I’d need to go back and re-listen but I remember rating her 1^st couple of albums very highly. This was her 4^th and 1^st (and currently only) #1 album. I enjoyed it. Its all good songs performed well. There’s a fairly strong powerful opening number, good balance between pop-driven and more soulful numbers and a good closing track. The only trouble is nothing majorly stands out to me. I can remember thinking ‘wow’ with those 1^st couple of albums but I’m not really getting that so much here. Also, there are a number of ‘insertions’ of politics. I do like the politics behind it (which includes a monologue from Samuel Jackson, a speech from Owen Jones, and a very spot-on conversation about the reality of whether voting does or doesn’t have any meaning from voices I can’t identify (and only generic names are provided in the credits). As I enjoy Faith’s stuff on the whole, its nice to know we’d more likely be political allies than enemies. 6

Madeline Kenney “Night Night At The First Landing”

‘Indie with an edge’ is how I would describe it. Its like listening to fairly straightforward indie except its hidden beneath a wash of sound and production. I guess its like indie if it was done by an impressionist artist. 7

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings “Soul Of A Woman”

These are some of the last studio recordings released posthumously following Jones’ death a year earlier. Consequently, I can’t quite tell if its a proper album, a ‘sort of’ album of recordings that no doubt would have eventually resulted in an album that may or may not have been this, or just a compilation of unreleased tracks thrown together by record producers. But, if you like Jones’ brand of soul/funk, this is as good as ever – it won’t disappoint. 7

Taylor Swift “reputation”

So, we started 2017 with Ed Sheeran – lets end it with Taylor Swift. Although I’m working backwards, so I haven’t sat and listened through any earlier Swift albums, I am aware this was considered a departure from her earlier stuff, and therefore divisive. Judging from Swift tracks I know from before and after this album, I can hear it is an unusually dark, aggressive, and edgy offering with a heavy and bass-y electronic feel. I like the ‘sound’ of it all, however I think the song-writing suffers. Plus, it sort of ‘flat-lines’. There’s not much dynamism. To say all the tracks sound the same would be a misrepresentation. But, once you’ve heard the 1^st track, you know what you’re getting. That said “Look What You Made Me Do” is still one of my favourite Swift tracks. The perfect balance of fun and genuinely psychotic. 6

ANY CONCLUSIONS

2017 was a good year apparently. There was a strong set of singles on my playlist and the albums scored highly. The ‘worst’ ones were a 6. It also the 1^st time I didn’t put anything in the ‘Don’t Like’ list (see part 1). So, at this point, we’re probably starting to get evidence that things get better as you work backward. That said, 2023 remains my favourite year so far.

AM I CONTUNUING THE GWIM PROJECT?

Simple answer. Yes. I am still planning to do 2 more years, in fact.  The plan I have in place will somewhat fill the hole I have from 2000 to the present day (well only to 2016 now) and make me fairly knowledgeable about the current scene. However, I plan to listen to very slightly less (slightly fewer albums in the retrospective years and stricter rules on new albums) and write a lot less. I have other projects that need attention so this will free-up quite a lot of time.  I am also aware my posts are very lengthy. This should make them more readable. The number of posts will be similar. But the ‘current year’ posts will just be things that really interest me rather than an appraisal of everything. The retrospective year posts will have the ‘M’eh’ & ‘Good’ lists removed and just have the ‘Not Like’, ‘Top Ten Contenders’, and ‘Top 3’ lists. Albums in both categories will now only have a mini-review if the score less than 3 or more than 7. I feel both extreme ends of the scale need justification. Otherwise, I will just state a mark.

That’s it then. 2 years of this project behind me. That’s a weird thought.

Marking key (in a nutshell)

10 – Perfect (only 3 albums in history)

9 – Basically 10/10 (I just don’t quite view them in the same way as the 3 albums)

8 – Outstanding (possible nit-picking criticisms)

7 – Brilliant

6 – Good

5 – Average

4 – Has potential but below average

3 – Some good points but not very good overall

2 – Poor (possibly a few good points)

1 – Abysmal