Thursday 1 January 2009

And the best album of 2008 is ....

.... well, to be honest I have no idea as I don't appear to have bought (or even heard in its entirety) any album that was released in 2008. Ah well, at least there's a New York Dolls album to look forward to in 2009 .....

Happy New Year one and all!

4 comments:

Michael said...

It's Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal. Just so ya know.

DGW said...

Hey Michael - just the sort of response I was hoping for! Never heard of the guy but have just grabbed a quick listen to a couple of tracks on his website (am at work and so couldn't get a proper listen). Sounded good enough to warrant further investigation.

Also, I looked it up on Amazon.co.uk and the 'people who bought this also bought ...' section showed the Fleet Foxes, who seem to come up a lot when I search on there. Another band I'll have to try and sample and see if they're actually any cop, or whether Amazon is just putting them up regardless of what I search on!

Michael said...

Fleet Foxes and Al don't sound much like each other, but I can see the fans of one digging the other, if you know what I mean.

Al is sort of a mix of the Springsteen/Steve Earle side of songwriting mixed (particularly on Real Animal) with a Lou Reed/Mott the Hoople sensibility. He's one of America's unsung greats, and I don't just say that because he's from Austin (where I live - hell, he was one of the reasons I moved here way back when).

Fleet Foxes are basically harmony-rich, song-based folk rock. I don't think their record is anything revolutionary (except to the indie rock cognescenti, who always seem surprised that something with melody is good), but it's a really good example of that kind of old-fashioned sound. I like it a lot.

DGW said...

Have ordered 'Real Animal' today .... thanks for the tip Michael.