I hope you all had a nice Christmas. No rest for the wicked here at Top Ten Towers, as I continue to count down my favourite records of the year. What number did we get to? 8? So this post will therefore feature 6 & 7?
You'll only get that if you know any young people. And even then, you won't get it.
For mor information, google "What is 6 7?" - but don't blame me if it makes your screen go funny.
8. The Waterboys – Life, Death & Dennis Hopper
For truly, it is the year of the concept album – but this one’s definitely the easiest to comprehend, because it does exactly what it says on the tin. Following on from the stand-out track on the last Waterboys album, Good Luck Seeker, which was a tribute to the actor Dennis Hopper… here’s a whole album dedicated to his insane story. And somehow, Mike Scott resists the urge to revisit that original tune… he’s got more than enough ideas to fill this record with as it is.
This is a story of sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll – plus plenty of movies too, from Easy Rider to Blue Velvet and beyond – with a host of special guest Dennis Hopper fans invited along for the ride, including Steve Earle, Fiona Apple, Taylor Goldsmith and some guy called Springsteen, who’s not allowed to sing… just deliver a spoken word monologue in those reassuring, gravelly tones… a master-stroke of restraint on Mike Scott’s part.
All this and a song celebrating Hopper’s finest hour – playing this hideously terrifying Frank in Blue Velvet. If you know the film, you'll understand why I'm not sharing the title here. Much of this record isn’t about Hopper as an actor though, it’s about his place in history (particularly the 60s), as a counterculture icon, and as an observer at some of the wildest moments of the 20th Century. So maybe you'll dig it even if you're not a Hopper-head. Or maybe not...
7. Jim Bob - Automatic / Stick
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Clearly not a man who believes in sleep, the artist formerly known as one half of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine this year released two new albums on the same day. Just like Guns n Roses did with Use Your Illusion, and Bruce did with those early 90s albums that weren't as good as Use Your Illusion. Jim Bob promoted this twin-release with his usual verve and vigour...
Well, I bought them both, of course. And they're exactly what you want from a pair of Jim Bob records - lots of angry, maudlin songs about how shit the world is, and quite a few that make you realise he's not actually as misanthrope despite all that, because he writes with such empathy for ordinary folk that at times it just breaks your heart.
I've broken a promise that I made to myself
I'd never write another one of these songs
I'd turn my attention to something else
I've tried but the pull is too strong
God knows real life is hard enough
Without the need to fictionalise
But it grinds my gears and it breaks my heart
To think of all the wasted young lives
Two albums deserves two videos...
...and you might wonder whether those two albums are both 6 and 7?
No. Gen Alpha, I'm sorry... because I'm stopping there today. Just so that 6 is on a separate post to 7. (And also, that leaves me three albums x two more posts. Which seems neater.)
Join me next week for my Top 6 albums of 2025... if you can be bothered.
Start placing your bets now for what's still to come...
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