Essentials
Britsound's TOP 10 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007
2007 has produced some excellent British albums, and we are only interested in recommending only the very best of them - so that you save both time and money when you choose what to buy and listen to. So we are proud to present our Top 10 Best Albums of 2007. Our list of runner-ups is at the bottom of this page as well. So, sit back and enjoy our list of the VERY best of 2007...
1. Ghosts - The World Is Outside
Huge potential. Two words neatly sum up this band from Surrey. One part Cure, one part Radiohead and one part Spiritualized, Ghosts demonstrate that they have a huge range of musical inspiration to draw from. Never overbearing and never presumptuous, The World Is Outside is an album of finely crafted pop songs that display a deft talent for writing melodic hooks combined with catchy lyrics. It might be easy to view Ghosts as being ‘another’ Feeling or Keane, but there are songs on this album that deserve recognition.
Starting with the pumping Stay The Night, a song that Robert Smith would be proud to have written, through the euphoric swirling crescendos of Mind Games to the elegiac motifs of Temporary, Ghosts are a band that have that crucial sense of depth, yet are accessible enough for us to grasp that they are something special upon first hearing. Ghosts deserve to go the whole way if they continue to find their own sound and deliver haunting music like this.
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows
So much has been made of Radiohead’s decision to release their latest album as a ‘pay what you want’ download that the album itself has become overshadowed by its method of delivery. Unshackled with a major record deal and all the expectations and trappings that brings with it, In Rainbows is a return to form; an album that pleases as much as it is wonderfully discombobulated. Gone are the perhaps bloated offerings found on its predecessor Hail To The Thief, there are genuine Radiohead classics here. From the frail incandescence of Nude (a track originally written over ten years ago) and the mournful paean of House of Cards, where Thom Yorke quietly implores that “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover”, there is such a richness of confection on display that it confirms Radiohead are back to being their creative best. The stripped barebones finale of Videotape is as powerful as it is understated. A song about dying and leaving a videotape as your last statement on life as a preference to communicating with that other person in the flesh, Yorke sings “This is my way of saying goodbye / Because I can't do it face to face" and an electronic drumbeat gently fades the song to black. It’s one of the most important songs Thom Yorke has ever written and it demands serious listening.
What will the future bring for Radiohead after In Rainbows? It seems anything is possible. As Thom Yorke recently said in an interview, “the idea that you can just press return and people can hear it…it’s expanding everybody’s minds.”
3. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
If Myths of the Near Future is any prediction of what lies ahead for London foursome Klaxons, the band has a tremendous career ahead of them. One of the great triumphs of the album is being able to put forward a cohesive debut without gaps, holes, or filler. From beginning to end, Myths is a complete album. There is nothing lacking here: the production is superb; whether a gritty, panicked haze is cast or the heavens open up and clear out the smoke, James Ford’s direction as producer enhances the power and energy of an exploding young band.
The first single released from the album, Gravity’s Rainbow, is an exciting vocal romp over speeding drums and guitar. The real hero of the album, however, is dance/club-friendly track Atlantis to Interzone. It is on this track that the band, more than any other track, displays the sheer brilliance and excitement they are capable of. The beginning shout of DJ! and the sirens that repeat throughout the song (to surprisingly not annoying results) combine with an intimidating, powerful vocal and a Dick Dale-esque guitar riff to produce a track worthy of repeated plays in the car on Saturday night urban adventures and massive radio airtime. A hidden gem on the album is the panic-driven song Magick. Jaime Reynolds’ vocals alternate between frantic chaos and a moment to finally grab a breath and reflect.
It would be unfair to Klaxons to compare them to anyone else. Their style, dubbed “New Rave” by Angular Records’ Joe Daniel, is one unto themselves. They definitely draw on British rave predecessors. At times they seem to have some common bonds with the American group The Killers, but the bonds are not many or constant. There is nothing negative to say about Klaxons or their magnificent debut. There are plenty of things to enjoy about Myths of the Near Future, and an abundance of reasons for this album to echo through speakers on either side of the Atlantic.
4. Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
A lot has been made of Kate Nash’s reputation as merely being Lily Allen’s protégé and it would be a shame if people viewed her work as being derivative because of that connection. Yet Kate Nash is an emerging star in her own right, and Made of Bricks is one of the most bold and refreshing debut album’s of the year. It’s also one of the most original too. There is an appealing lyrical honesty to songs like Foundations and Nicest Thing, and the anthemic surges of Pumpkin Soup surely make it one of the best British songs of the year.
True, she’s a bit rough around the edges, but that’s exactly her appeal. Mouthwash sees Nash singing of her own face covered with the “occasional spot” and celebrating an ordinariness of someone who’s says “I got a family and I drink cups of tea”. Kate Nash has delivered a debut album brimming with scruffiness and confidence; both of which ultimately leave us wanting more. One to watch for 2008.
5. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours truly, Angry Mob
How do you follow up a debut album that achieved international success and critical acclaim? Like this. A couple of standout tracks here, the shimmering acoustic Love’s Not A Competition (But I’m Winning) and the joyous swaggering anthem, Ruby that launches the album with serious intent. As a follow up to Employment, this sophomore album shows a band that’s growing up and flexing its song-writing muscles.
6. The Enemy - We'll Live and Die In These Towns
An album that bites, and a band bursting with energy. The debut album from Coventry’s finest sees a band determined to prove themselves worthy of the public’s attention. Like The Holloways, The Enemy sing of escape from dreary and moribund English townscapes. On Away From Here lead singer Tom Clarke spits “I’m so sick and tired / of working to be retired” and within a three minute song manages to encapsulate the voice of the Britain’s disenfranchised youth. Part Clash, part Jam and all heart, The Enemy are one brash album away from world greatness. Seeing them live though – it’s a visceral experience that will burn itself into your memory.
7. The Holloways - So This Is Great Britain?
Rock music is the domain of the young, and on So This Is Great Britain? The Holloways have created a debut album bursting with energy; a true zeitgeist for the ‘youth’ in the UK today. Packed with social commentary, the Holloways attack a myth of Great Britain that doesn’t reconcile with their everyday life experiences, and they don’t hold anything back doing so.
It’s a rough and tumble album of songs where spirit is more important than musicianship. Although it’s particularly British in its language and cultural references, there’s enough relatable angst here to ensure the album will cross many cultural boundaries finding an audience where such observations on society also ring true.
8. Roddy Woomble - My Secret Is My Silence
Unexpected, but most welcome. The solo album from the Idlewild lead singer is gingerly packed with acoustical flourishes and northern balladry that disarms cynics through its earnest approach to delivering hook-laden folk songs of the finest quality. When Woomble sings of approaching “land without a harbour to find your way home” he is at his ebullient finest.
9. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Expectations were high, but generally speaking, this album hits the mark. From the pounding Brianstorm to the sly balladesque-pop of Flourescent Adolescent, the monkeys are proving to everyone that they just might have staying power. Their brand of quirky pop might just yet see them recognized as the most important British band to emerge in the last decade. They may well be very clever lyrically and musically a breath of fresh air - but does America ‘get it’ when it comes to understanding the Artic Monkeys’ particular brand of social milieu? Sometimes it’s good to keep certain delicacies to yourself.
10. Rupert Wates - Coast To Coast
Hailing from the UK, and having lived in Paris and then relocated to the US, Rupert Wates has notched up an impressive resume along the way. Apart from the many songwriting awards that Wates has garnered in the last two years, even more impressive are his two solo albums, the most recent of which is nothing less than a delight to listen to. At times seeming like a mixture of Nick Drake and Richard Thompson, Wates' songs are acoustic observations and stories of life in America from the perspective of a cultural outsider. These are songs crafted with care and imbued with sincerity and conviction. And The Wave Will Sing is an obvious highlight - with it's driving, looping bass leading to its anthemic calypso-chorus with vigorous acoustic guitars strumming away in accompaniment. On the final song, the piano ballad, (When I Get Over To) California, Wates sings that "One day I'll make it to California / I'm gonna walk through that open door / Maybe I'll find it isn't half the things they promised / Maybe I'll find out what I'm living for." It's at moments like this that you find yourself wishing to take that journey and that chance too. This is an album to be savoured, not rushed. Let the magic gently seep in.
Compiled by RQ & JS.
(c) 2007, 2008 Britsound & Britsound.com
