2022: Albums & Conclusions

Originally posted May 2025

THE ALBUMS

Marking key at bottom

SZA “SOS”

I was looking forward to this one – I really liked the single “Kill Bill” and knew this was a massive album. It got mixed reviews, but in my experience most of the greatest albums do. In the UK, it was released right at the end of 2022 and has basically been in the chart ever since, often quite highly placed, and surged back in to the top ten in 2025 following the ‘deluxe version’ being released.

But....... although the opening track isn’t exactly a great song it is a strong opener. It sort of yells ‘pay attention’. That’s followed by “Kill Bill” that I declared one of my very favourites of 2023. Unfortunately from there it flatlines. There are some good tracks..... there’s a couple of brilliant tracks, in fact. And even some of those that aren’t so good have some interesting things that catch your ear. But, on the whole, it’s pretty dull to be honest. Its 67 minutes and I feel it’s one of those albums where there’s an album hidden it is that’s about 30-40 minutes that is superb. However, that’s not the album we're presented with. I think this is the 1zt time while doing the GWIM Project that I’ve been sad about the mark I’m giving an album. 4

Ezra Collective “Where I’m Meant To Be”

This jazz-based outfit had an album out in 2024 which I gave a 6. They’re are clearly talented musicians and the album was good. It suffered a little from a sense of ‘ok I get it. What else you got?’ kind of thing. This is a step up (or actually chronologically the other one is a step down). It’s main suffering is arguably a problem with the genre rather than this group. Lengthy ostinato passages with subtle improvisation underneath & long passages of improv showmanship are very very impressive and enjoyable live but don’t translate quite the same on record. Nonetheless, this one is a..... 7

Metro Boomin “Heroes & Villians”

It’s starts off very strong. I was loving it for the 1^st couple of tracks. I’d say the 1^st and last quarters are great. However, it dips for large parts of the middle and gets a bit tiresome in places. Overall, it’s probably just about a..... 6

Fred Again ..... “Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)”

This was a curious one because this artists released an album in 2024 and I really liked it. Gave it a 7, like. I liked this also...... but this was far more acclaimed than the other one. And I much preferred the other one. I wonder if it’s a case of they are both pretty much the same but I happened to hear the other one 1^st?  I really love the final track “Winnie (end of me)” but didn’t let that fool me into thinking the whole album had been better than it was. 6

Ella Henderson “Everything I Didn’t Say”

I’d only heard her (as far as I know) as a guest vocalist on dance-type tracks until this. So, I was pleased it wasn’t an album full of that. However, its largely full of tracks that are ‘fine’. There’s nothing wrong with the song-writing per se, it’s pretty good, but there no ‘X-factor’...... see what I did there? There are a couple of numbers of interest. “Ugly” is one, where there seems to be just a bass drum and one bass-string line. The percussion is replaced by finger clicks and such, and the musical instruments are replaced by voices. Interesting. Overall, tho, just OK really. 5

Loyle Carner “hugo”

The hard hitting politics, particularly concerning inequalities, is a plus point for me. Some of the music is too. There’s a lot of rich piano work being performed or sampled here. However, the whole thing doesn’t really make itself stand out for me. I feel like I always want it to be doing more. And despite the fact the album is short and sweet, there are still extensive parts of it where things get a little dull and monotonous. 5

Harry Styles “Harry’s House”

To be fair – significantly better than the standard teeny-bop music I was expecting. This was probably the assuming old grump in me coming out. The so is were decent and had a unique edge to them. At times some of the ‘quirks’ felt a bit old-school or even cliché such as snippets being played backwards......... but it would be hypocritical of me to moan about that too much. Simon will tell you, when we are recording I like to go ‘a bit weird’ and playing things backwards is usually my first point of call. 6

Shygirl “Nymph”

Kinda like indie/dance/hip-hop crossover with a variety of influences and on the experiment side. Its largely unconventional in sound and a little in the structure/composition of some of the tracks. Although I wasn’t blasted to another planet it was a very worthy listen. 7 (I am enjoying this artists in 2025)

George Ezra “Gold Rush Kid”

So this was always going to be the ‘difficult next album’ after the Goliath of an album that was “Staying At Tamara’s” (2018). Now, although I’ve heard tonnes of Ezra I’ve never actually sat and listened to that album start to finish. But, critics seemed to confirm that “Gold Rush Kid”, whilst good, was the usual ‘repeat – but not as good’ that 9 out of 10 ‘difficult next albums’ turn out to be. I think I can tell that. But, there’s no denying these are largely great songs performed well. George Ezra processes a quality that most don’t. Usually, someone who sings so positively about everything (including death in Ezra’s case) either irritates the heck out of me or I just find it all a bit mawkish. Ezra manages to pull it off. 7

Fergus McCreadie “Forest Floor”

Fantastic and virtuoso contemporary jazz. This hit better than similar albums I’ve heard due to its contrasting tracks (which can even be heard throughout individual tracks such opener “Law Hill”). For example the striking fast paced display of precision and technique of “Law Hill” is followed by the calm playfulness of the more melodic “The Unfurrowed Field” which in turn contrasts the slow contemplative “Morning Moon” which in turn contrasts the percussive and rhythmic “Landslide’......and so on. My favourite track is “The Ridge” that really goes on a journey. I’d definitely recommend it even if contemporary jazz isn't quite your bag. 7

ArrDee “Pier Pressure”

I enjoyed it. I like this genre when the music, composition, structures etc are interesting. This was the case here. Didn’t slap me in the face, but it was good. 6

Gwenno “Tresor”

I didn’t realise she was one of The Pippettes – who I liked but were far more pop-y. This is quite a straight forward folk-band-like set-up but with little sprinkles of experimentation. It works well as a album, for me, with balance and contrast. Plus, the whole thing is sandwiched between opening and closing tracks that are both playful set slightly sinister in sound. There’s heavy use of open harmonies (4ths and 5ths) that we tend to broadly associate more with Eastern music or ancient Western. There’s the use of drones in a couple of places (a musical term for a continuous bass line of 1 notes a perfect 5^th apart – not flying cameras) which has similar connotations. Its really good. There’s a 3 run track towards the end of “ Kan Me”, “Keltek” & “Tonnow” that I find brilliant and hypnotic. 7

Kojey Radical “Reason To Smile”

Because this is my least familiar genre, I begin by listening with some basics in mind. They are how interesting the music used is, how varied it is, how long it is (sometimes), if the artist seems to ‘stand out’ from their contemporaries, and can I detect any innovation. If at least some of those boxes are ticked then I’ve got something to work with despite my lack of knowledge. All the boxes are ticked here. Its a great album. “Nappy” is my favourite track with is disjointed brass backing and it’s humorous vocal delivery of the chorus. It’s the first time listening to this genre that I’ve been disappointed by how SHORT a track is! Other highlights are “Born” & “War Outside” 7

Wet Leg “Wet Leg”

I’d say it’s basically just indie music with a post-punk feel with fairly witty lyrics. There’s nothing original or particularly innovative here. That said, they DO do it exceptionally well. 7

ANY CONCLUSIONS:

Focusing simply on the year in isolation – I wasn’t particularly impressed. There wasn’t a great collection of tracks in the hit singles. Although the average mark for the small collection of albums isn’t bad, there are none above 7. In a larger context, although I’m currently only comparing a few years, any ‘nice and neat’ theories are being questioned. I started with the notion that pop music has somewhat deteriorated over time. I concluded in 2024 that it was a vastly overstated claim but there was some truth to it. If true, there should be a gradual increase in quality over the years as I work backwards. From 2025-2023, the theory was stacking up. However, 2022 takes a bit of a nosedive. Of course, its unlikely a correlation of year vs quality will be in a straight line year on year. Also, I wondered if Covid had anything to do with it. I talked about the reasons for that in Part 1. For this we are talking about 2020 -2022. So, for that theory to hold up then 2021, the middle of the 3 Covid years with lockdowns and social restrictions around in one guise or another for the entire 12 months, should be an even worse year than 2022, during which everything was lifted in the 1^st half of the year. Let’s see.........

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