My Top Twenty Five of 2025 - The Last One!

I feel like I spend more time in these countdowns justifying my choices than actually talking about the records themselves. And here we are again...

1. Half Man Half Biscuit - All Asimov and No Fresh Air

I mean, what does it say about me that my favourite record of the year is one that starts like this...?

Horror Clowns are dickheads

You know it’s true

And if you’ve got a phobia of them

You’re a dickhead too

Chainsaw-wielding evil freaks who chase you through the station

Or just some boring no-accounts with poor imagination

I spent a lot of time justifying the fact that I chose their last album, The Voltarol Years, as my favourite album of 2022 because there was a newfound maturity and sensitivity to Nigel Blackwell's songwriting that lifted the band one step beyond the "comedy post-punk" label they've been saddled with their whole career. And they they come back with this...

Mother Mary, meek and mild, got lost at Farmaggedon

Toe-to-toe with Pennywise she kicked his fuzzy head in

But the thing with HMHB is, even when they're going for the straightforward gags, there's a subtlety to Blackwell's wordplay that lifts their lyrics into pure poetry. Brian Bilston would do well to study the Blackwell canon, because although Brian's record was an immediate hit that soon paled... All Asimov & No Fresh Air is an album I initially thought was going to be a bit disappointing (high expectations again), but its appeal just kept growing. 

Whenever I hear a news report of an avalanche involving British skiers

I listen in with interest in the hope that I might catch the name Ben Shephard

Layers, see. Like an onion. Not everything is obvious. The more you listen, the more it unveils new treats. Like the closing classic, Possible Side Effects, which starts with a typical HMHB celebrity assassination...

...I mean, come on - that was perfectly timed this year, wasn't it? But this song just gets better and better...
  

If I were a carpenter

I’d doubtless have a hammer

And I’d hammer in the morning

On the door of Alan Sugar

Alright mate, I’m just working on the property opposite, and I noticed you have a couple of slates that – oh, it’s you! Any road, I’ve got some tiles in the van if you want me to get up there. I’ve got a load of kiln-dried logs too if you’re interested. I’m thinking of sponsoring a gorilla at Bristol Zoo, what d’ya reckon? Do you need any face-cloths?

That's a comedy writing masterclass right there... but there's much more to it than that...

...because then it morphs into a love song, using the 1964 TV adaptation of Robinson Crusoe as a metaphor for heartbreak. I've never seen it, but I still appreciate the reference.

I still love you, Lucy Anne

And I’m not a rock

Nor am I an island

Try to picture, if you can

Robert Hoffmann

Scanning the horizon

Genius is a term oft-overused, etc. etc. etc...

That's the thing about Blackwell though - he's got so many ideas, he's not content to limit them to one per tune. Take Rawlplugs Of Yesteryear (Breaking The States), a song that is quite literally about the history of rawlplugs...

In the 1960s the jute fibre was replaced by a thermoplastic device

An improvement, doubtless, though nowhere near as romantic

...but also about a band desperately trying to write themselves a hit that will make their name in the US...

Breakin’ the USA

Breakin’ the USA

You’ve gotta press the flesh and tour the country wide

Breakin’ the USA

Breakin’ the USA

You’ve gotta get those college radio jocks onside

Jocks onside

The two ideas really shouldn't co-exist in the same ditty... yet Nigel makes their synergy seem effortless.

And when he does stick to just one idea, the results can be very special indeed. Like pitching the best ITV detective show ever over a frantic Legend Of Xanadu backing track...

Now McCalliog is a poultryman who walks many a mile

And he also does some admin work for Devon CID

But admin work is wasted on a man who has the gift

Nail crooks in minutes with

McCalliog and His Hens

 I could easily write about every song on this album, from the one that starts like this...

I saw Badly Drawn Boy in a badly parked car

With a badly grazed elbow

What can you do?

HMHB - Goodbye Sam, Hello Samaritans 

...to the one where Nigel challenges himself to use every rhyme in the dictionary for the word "yours"...

I’m still confined yet the spirit endures

We’re not entwined ‘cos you’re in The Azores

I’m way behind with my household chores

Ever designed to be on all fours

Going out of my mind trying to get into yours

Going out of my mind trying to get into yours

Don’t eat the rind if it’s covered in spores

I'm going out of my mind...

Can't find a link for that one - what the hell's wrong with the tube of you?

And I've not even mentioned the one I'm saving to post just before Saturday the 18th of April, 2026. Or the one that gives the album its title, about rival gardeners persecuting know-it-all science fiction author Isaac Asimov on his allotment. Or the typically Blackwellian character assassination of Jack's Been To The National, in which every line is a treasure...

That’s Jack

Back on track

Practising his golf swing

In the car park

F1 chat down the fairway

I dare say all is well in his world

Got property in Mobberley

Probably

Ridiculous gate

It’s all about salary

And playing to the gallery

He’s never heard of George Leigh-Mallory

On his phone at the lights

On his own most nights

You see he’s trying to win his wife back

She’s never coming back Jack

She took her stuff back

Take your shot Jack

Bile, spite, hatred and vitriol

That’s all she’s got left for you

And the Himalayan salt lamp

The Navajo headdress

We don’t care about

How much you can bench press

Out of bounds on the left

It’s a right old trail of tears

I don't know what it says about me that no other record as given me as much pleasure as this one in 2025. Perhaps I shouldn't care. I can't even pick a favourite track, but if you put a gun to my head, I'd probably choose the tale of the bloke who was made redundant and bought himself a ventriloquist's dummy that looked a bit like Pete Murphy. It even inspired me to write a comic strip, and I don't do much of that sort of thing anymore.

Happy New Year. I hope it's a better one than 2025, but as there'll be no new Half Man Half Biscuit album to console us, it's already looking like an uphill battle.

My Top 25 of 2025 #8

We're here. At last. The end of this nonsense. My top three albums of 2025.

At various points throughout the last couple of months, I considered naming each one of these my Album of the Year. They're each so different, there's no way to compare them... and choosing which one goes on top inevitably says more about me than it does about the record in question. Maybe the easiest thing to do would be to say they're all the top, in their own distinct way...

3. Panic Shack - Panic Shack

Panic Shack are four young women from Cardiff, and they sound like that on every song. There's a pop punk thing going on in the music, equal parts Ramones, Runaways and Donnas, with maybe a splash of Cerys, and not just because they're Welsh. 

Panic Shack - Pockets

When I started this countdown with Wet Leg at #25 (although actually it turned out to be #26... so strictly speaking, Wet Leg didn't even make this list), I said how much I'd been looking forward to their second album... and how disappointed I was that it wasn't half as much fun as their debut.

Panic Shack - We Need To Talk About Dennis

The fun came when I discovered Panic Shack, who in their own way are covering similar lyrical ground to Rhian Teasdale... but with a lot more self-awareness and without the lack of a vague whiff of misandry that's begun to seep into the Wet Leg ouvre. And if you're going to name your song after a TV personality (Davina McCall?) at least do it for a valid reason.

Panic Shack - Gok Wan

I've no idea what it's like to be a young woman in the 21st Century, I can hardly even manage being a middle-aged man right now, but Panic Shack provide a witty and endearing peek into their lives. The issues of body positivity (or negativity) - stick thin vs. large boobs - crops up in a couple of tunes, leery blokes obviously get a look in, and the tragedy of jeans without pockets is obviously a huge issue. Whatever the subject though, Panic Shack always remember to make it fun. If only Wet Leg could have done that.

2. James McMurtry - The Black Dog And The Wandering Boy

So the reason I didn't want to make Panic Shack my album of the year was purely that it stank of Old Man Trying To Sound Hip. The next two records then are far more what you'd expect... both from artists who have previously topped a year end chart too.  I don't think either of these albums is quite as good as their predecessor... but those records were career bests in my humble opinion, and it's very difficult to follow a career best with something even better, But - as discussed with Pulp - weight of expectation can be a killer.

Anyway, James McMurtry's latest. It's another cracker from the finest grizzled Americana storyteller or his generation... makes you wish he'd write a novel or two like his old man. He inhabits his characters so well, be they the jaded South Texas lawman who can't keep pace with modern times...

South Texas lawman, the work just ain't the same

Used to you could clock 'em good if they called you any names

Now he's up on charges for showin' 'em who's the boss

He reckons after Vietnam, we musta all gone soft

I used to be young

I used to understand

I used to be strong as any man

I used to be tough

Nobody bothered me

Now I've had about enough, this don't suit me

It don't suit me

James McMurtry - South Texas Lawman

...or the MAGA militia, weighed down by the chips on their shoulders...

Nowadays we're feelin' stressed

It's all for us and damn the rest

Tellin' each other have a blessed day

All camoed up and standin' tall

Buildin' bombs and border walls

As all collective conscience falls away

And they wave those stars and bars

Is that really who we are?

Sons of the second sons

Products of genocide

Polishin' up our guns

Payin' on double-wides

Sons of the peasantry

Tellin' ourselves we're free

Sons of the loyal serfs

Salt of the blessed Earth

In search of a savior

...or even a poor little grown-up puppet boy like Pinocchio, with all his innocence lost...

Pinocchio's in Vegas with his eye on the prize

He's a real boy now, his dick grows when he lies

But his face stays frozen like it's still made of wood

It displays no emotion as he cleans 'em out good

At that back room table most any Friday night

He don't even need the money, he's just in it out of spite

When the claims came to light, Pinocchio was blue

The lawyers had a field day, just like they always do

First, they tried to fleece him for a rainbow's worth of gold

He had to sue Walt Disney over copyright control

He got less than he wanted, more than they'd a-give

Both sides are bitter, both sides'll live

James McMurtry - Pinocchio in Vegas

Along the way, he tackles depression, old age and the state of America today with world weary wit and wisdom. He even has a word to say about 9/11...

Annie, what you doin' in Nebraska?

Does anybody know what's goin' on?

Annie, what you doin' in Nebraska?

Trade Center's gone, Trade Center's gone

I never thought much of the younger Bush

He never seemed to have a clue

He sat there smilin' with that children's book

While they decided what to do

No one could find him 'til that big blue plane

Set down at Offutt AFB

We've all seen worse now, but his name's still mud

For goin' down that rabbit hole while Arafat gave blood

OK, let's stop there shall we. 

There's one more record to go, but I might as well save it till tomorrow. 

What else am I going to do on New Year's Day?

My Top 25 of 2025 #7

Almost done!

I thank you for your patience during this difficult time... year end countdowns can be such a drag, can't they?

6. Manic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking

The best Manics album in some time is a strange beast, because with one notable exception, the best song are sung by Nicky Wire, not James Dean Bradfield, and to quote Ben...

Not really a fan of [Nicky's] voice. I mean, when you've got JDB, why ever would you let anyone else sing?

Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking

I've been trying to work out why Nicky would choose to croak so many of these songs himself, rather than letting James be his proxy voice as his usually the case. Maybe James is finding a full concert of belting them out is starting to put a strain on his vocal chords, so the band want a few Nicky tracks in their catalogue to give him the occasional break?

Manic Street Preachers - Hiding in Plain Sight

Or maybe these were a particularly personal batch of Wire lyrics, and he felt the only way the band could do them justice was if he stepped up to the mic?

Manic Street Preachers - OneManMilitia

Whatever the reason, the songs that Nicky gives to James (still the majority of the album) don't feel as personal or as raw... they feel more like standard Manics songs... with that one notable exception...

I've written about Dear Stephen previously, and I probably said everything I had to say about it in that post, but it's still one of my songs of the year. And it's not the only time the band steer into Smiths territory on this record. You'll hear a very Johnny Marr guitar sound on this track too...

5. Pulp – More

I've also written before about the perils of impossibly high expectations... but here's a prime example.

The first Pulp album in 24 years was a record I'd only ever dreamed of. A little context here - every Pulp album from the1993 compilation Intro to their final, Scott Walker-produced, unappreciated epic, We Love Life in 2001 - every one of them was my album of the year.

Pulp - The Hymn of the North

'93, '94, '95, '98, '01 - five years, five albums, nothing to touch any of them. The penultimate disc, This Is Hardcore, is also my favourite record of the 90s. So you see what an impossible task Jarvis, Nick, Candida and Mark had set themself by making a new Pulp record? Was it always doomed to be an ever-so-slight disappointment?

Pulp - Grown Ups

The crazy thing is, More gives you everything you could ever want from a Pulp record, starting with a wonderfully Jarvisian confession about why they went away, and why they chose now to come back.

Something stopped me dead in my tracks

I was heading for disaster and then I turned back

I was wrestling with a coat hanger, can you guess who won?

The universe shrugged, shrugged then moved on

Not a shaman, or a showman, ashamed I was selling the rights

I took a breather and decided not to ruin my life

I was conforming to a cosmic design, I was playing to type

Until I walked back to the garden of earthly delight

I was born to perform

It's a calling

I exist to do this

Shouting and pointing

No one can ever understand it

And no one will ever have the last word

Because it's not something you could ever say

So swivel

Far more of the wit and wisdom of Mr. Cocker is to follow, including the usual meditations on sex, death, growing old, grubby backstreets and old girlfriends who might have been the one...

Pulp - Tina

They even threw in a genuine pop hit... or it would have been a hit, if they'd released it three decades ago, when they originally wrote it...

More then, is a truly great comeback record. It's everything you could want from a Pulp record, and only a Pulp fan who was a complete idiot wouldn't make it his album of the year... but clearly I was expecting More.

 

4. Craig Finn – Always Been

Craig Finn - Fletcher's

By contrast, it's much easier to write about the new Craig Finn album. The main man from The Hold Steady always places towards the top of my countdown for his superior storytelling skills, creating heartfelt vignettes of the people who fall through the cracks. Always Been is no different.

Craig Finn - Bethany

What does make this one different though is that this time Craig enlisted Adam Granduciel and The War On Drugs to be his producer / backing band with the clearly intent of making a big 80s-sounding L.A. record. And they succeed on every level, crafting an album that shimmers in the heat haze like The Boys of Summer... with that unmistakable Craig Finn voice shining through the smog. 

Craig Finn - Luke & Leanna

I've always found The War On Drugs to be a very frustrating band - being a child of 80s American rock, I love the sound they make... but they never seem to have anything to say lyrically, so their records rarely catch with me. Here though, they're working with one of the premier lyricists of their generation, and the result is pure magic.   

Only three more to go...

My Top 25 of 2025 #6 (not 7)

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.

The Waterboys - Hopper's On Top

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. 

The Waterboys featuring Bruce Springsteen - Ten Years Gone

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

Jim Bob - I Will Still Be Here

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...

Jim Bob - Can You Hear Us At The Back Of The Hall?

Jim Bob - Frank Bought A Drone

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...

My Top 25 of 2025 #5

Happy Christmas!

Here's The My Top Ten Traditional Christmas Song...

And here are some more of my favourite records of 2025, to listen to while you cook your turkey.

I wouldn't normally do this on Christmas Day, but I'm worried if I don't, I won't get them all in before next Thursday.

11. The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan

Another concept album, knocking on the door of the Top Ten, this one involving a dream that novelist / songwriter John Darnielle had, involving a shipwreck and a desperate ordeal for three survivors (including the titular Peter Balkan).

The Mountain Goats - Peru

I’m only just beginning to scrape the surface of this one – the latest Mountain Goats album was released in early November – and its position so high in the countdown is perhaps more reflective of my growing fascination with the work of Mr. Darnielle and a lot of time spent listening to the Goats’ back catalogue this year (I’m even thinking of putting together an ICA for JC… if I ever get the time).

10. Jonathan Richman – Only Frozen Sky Anyway

It’s a while since I’ve listened to any new releases from Jonathan Richman – in fact, I don’t think I’m familiar with any of the albums he’s put out this century, only the stuff from his prime in the late 70s early 80s, and the classic 1990 release Jonathan Goes Country.

Jonathan Richman - Night Fever

I was suckered into falling for this one through his cover / reinvention / Jonathanisation of the Bee Gees’ Night Fever, but there’s much more joy to be found here. The critics tell me the album dwells on death and mortality – but isn’t that to be expected from an artist with six decades in the music business? I can’t say I noticed it anyway, I was more taken with his customary wit and wisdom (making me wonder why I haven’t paid more attention to his more recent output), deep philosophical insight (which you can take or leave, it never feels like he’s pontificating) and splashes of Spanish, as on Se Va Pa'Volver and Little Black Bat.

 

9. Divine Comedy – Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Another late entry to the countdown, released at the end of September, yet already confirming itself as a glorious addition to the Neil Hannon songbook. It’s a deeper and more personal record than his rather frivolous last recording, Office Politics – incredibly, that was six years ago, but Neil kept himself busy writing the soundtrack to Wonka in the meantime.

The Divine Comedy - Invisible Thread

Unlike the Jonathan Richman record, I could definitely spot mortality as a major theme here – understandably, as it turns out Neil lost both his father and his favourite dog while working on these songs. Yet it’s never a depressing record – there’s a lightness, a joy to be found in even the most contemplative of tracks. Just none of the pure comedy moments Neil often throws in to satisfy his Noel Coward urges.

The Divine Comedy - The Last Time I Saw the Old Man

It always amazes me that The Divine Comedy came to fame at the height of Britpop, since Hannon’s songwriting belongs to another era entirely. Coward yes, but Cole Porter too.

You can go back to your brussel sprouts now.

My Top 25 of 2025 (4)

Welcome back to my favourite 25 records of the year. And please remember, I'm an English teacher, not a Maths teacher...

13 and a half. Otis Gibbs – The Trust of Crows

OK, confession time. I made a list. I narrowed it down to 25 albums, because this is 2025. I started putting them in order and writing the posts.

Otis Gibbs - Ditchweed

And then I realised I’d left someone out. Don’t tell Ernie, you know what a stickler he is for numerical accuracy. Fortunately the Maths teacher doesn’t seem to care. Maybe he’s used to English teachers who can’t count.

Otis Gibbs - Raze

Anyway, Otis Gibbs released a new album this year, and a fine collection of tunes it is too – as expected from Americana wordsmith and youtube rock ‘n’ roll folklore collector, Mr. Gibbs. I wasn’t able to buy the CD this time round because it’s only available from his website, and the cost of postage from the US is now more expensive than the CD itself. I blame Trump, and I’m sure Otis does too.

13. Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires - Sounds Made By Humans

I’d expected this might end up in a higher position on my year end chart, because when I first heard the collaboration between “The Banksy of Poetry” and the artists formerly known as Talulah Gosh (among other things), I couldn’t stop listening to it. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most immediate record of the year, for its winning combination of Bilston’s witty, vaguely misanthropic middle-aged carping and the warm indie magpiery (yes, I said magpiery, I made that word up myself – figure it out) of Rob and Emilia.

Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires – My Heart Is A Lump Of Rock

Why it didn’t end up Top 10 is perhaps because after a while it started to wear on me, and I began to realise it didn’t have the longevity of comparable discs – say the new album by Half Man Half Biscuit or anything by Simon Armitage’s bands Lyr or the Scaremongers. (Plus, the BB poem/song To Do List… well, it’s a direct steal from our sainted Poet Laureate, and that began to niggle me a bit.)

Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires - Thou Shalt Not Commit Adulting

Still lots to enjoy here then, but without the longevity I’d expected when I was lauding it earlier in the year.

12. Eric Church - Evangeline vs. The Machine

The latest record from Eric Church continues his move away from his Waylon-esque outlaw roots into far more soulful territory. And I’ve always been a sucker for Country Got Soul. Evangeline vs. The Machine is a concept album, apparently, meaning that the songs all merge into one another and there’s some kind of link going on behind the scenes, but much as I love a good overriding narrative, I’ve yet to grasp the one at work here.

Eric Church – Hands Of Time

Despite that, this is a rollicking good record, one that takes great pleasure in stealing lines and, indeed, whole concepts from the classic country and rock songbook. There are gleeful references to the work of Bob Seger, Tom Petty, ACDC, Johnny Cash and  Paradise By The Dashboard Light (not Eric’s first dalliance with Steinman)… plus a glorious reimagining of The Devil Went Down To Georgia for the 21^st Century, which might well be a subtle dig at the Orange Oligarch,

My Top 25 of 2025 (3)

And we're back in the room of gloom...

16. Rialto – Neon & Ghost Signs

Louis Eliot’s Rialto were a particular favourite of mine in the late 90s post-Britpop landscape, mixing Suede’s urban glamour with more personal, storytelling songs like Monday Morning 5:19 and Summer’s Over. Although they didn’t really make it in the UK, apparently they were very big in Southeast Asia, where they even managed to knock Celine Dion off the top of the album chart. They split up in 2004 when Louis went solo… so I figured there was as much chance of a new Rialto record this year as there was of Pulp getting back together.

Rialto – Neon & Ghost Signs

Guess what?

Neon & Ghost Signs picks up where they left off, as though the last 21 years never happened. It was never going to win them an army of new fans, but for anyone who remembers them from the first time round, it does the job. Although the lead single clearly owes a huge debt to Kylie… but there’s nothing wrong with that.

15. Todd Snider – High, Lonesome & Then Some

And so we say farewell to Todd Snider, an Americana hero of mine since the moment I first heard Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues when it cropped up on an Uncut CD back in the early 90s.

Todd Snider – The Temptation To Exist

Todd’s final album, written and recorded while he struggled with chronic pain due to spinal stenosis, is a rambling, bluesy, low key affair which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone who’s not sampled his work before. Start with Songs for the Daily Planet, East Nashville Skyline or 2021’s First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder. For those of us who’ve been with Todd for the long ride though, it’s his last hurrah, and just as worthy of our time as anything he’s ever recorded.

14. Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire

Some artists keep reinventing themselves, striving for the new sound, trying to keep ahead of the crowd. Others take the Tom Petty template and refuse to tamper with a successful sound, just continue giving the people what they want. Kathleen Edwards is from the latter camp – the songs on her 6^th album, Billionaire, wouldn’t sound out of place on her 2002 debut record, Failer. (And if half a dozen albums doesn’t sound much for 23 years, bear in mind that she took 8 years off to run a coffee shop in the middle of last decade.) If you liked any of her previous records, chances are you’ll find much to enjoy here.

Kathleen Edwards – Other People’s Bands

My Top 25 of 2025 (3)

It's 2025... though as far as these guys are concerned, it might still be 1995...

19. Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More

A spur-of-the-moment purchase earlier this year based on the fact that the CD was selling for less than a tenner in its week of release… let that be a lesson to all pop stars out there: if Kim can do it, you can too!

Anyway, this is Kim Deal’s debut solo album  – worthy of note, considering that the artist formerly known as Mrs. John Murphy has been banging away at this racket for 40 years now (and has released a bunch of solo singles over the years, just never a long player).

Certain tracks naturally remind us of The Breeders…

Kim Deal – Big Ben Beat

…but there’s a real range demonstrated across this record, including a deeply moving song about the effects of Alzheimer's on Kim's mum…

Are you mine?
Are you my baby?
I have no mind
For nothing, but love
Are you mine?
How you seen me lately?
I have no time
I have no time
Let me go
Where there's no
Memory of you
Where everything is safe
And nothing is true

Kim Deal – Are You Mine?

…and the title track, which may well be the sweetest love song I’ve heard all year.

18. The Lemonheads – Love Chant

There always has to be a caveat when compiling these end of year lists that records released in the last month or so probably won’t do as well as ones that I’ve been enjoying all year. It should come as no surprise to anyone though that Evan Dando was one of the last people to get off his lazy arse and offer up a new record this year… particularly as this is the first original Lemonheads album in almost 20 years (not counting two fine cover version collections, Varshons I & II).

The Lemonheads - Fear of Living

Much has been written about why the Slacker King has been absent so long – and from what I’ve heard of his live shows this year, he’s still not completely on the wagon. His voice is a lot deeper than it used to be, and he looks less like the Grunge Heartthrob of the 90s… and more like a street bum who’s wandered into the recording studio in search of some White Lightning. Despite that, as one of the heroes of my youth, it’s great to have him back.

17. Counting Crows - Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!

And now for the one that should have been disqualified on the grounds of a) good taste; b) the worst album cover I’ve seen in a long time; b) the fact that half of it was originally released as an EP in 2021. In my defence, when I posted a song from it back then, Martin was grudgingly seen to reply, “That was better than expected.” Which only goes to show that whatever you post on the internet will one day be dug up to embarrass you in later years… so be very careful next time you’re planning on telling anyone how much you’re looking forward to the new Oasis album. (I have no idea whether there’s a new Oasis album… god, i hope not... but really, how could they resist the opportunity to cash in further?)

Counting Crows - With Love, From A-Z

Anyway – Counting Crows. From a similar era to the Lemonheads, yet somehow unable to achieve the same level of cool. The very fact then that I place this record one spot above Evan and co. will damn me in the eyes of many. (And looking like a street bum these days is one step up on looking like an extra in The Sopranos, Adam.)

I could offer the defence that this came out in May, so I’ve had much longer to relish it, but really… I should probably quit while I’m ahead. If you’re of the opinion that Counting Crows are beneath you, nothing I can say will change that. Bring on the brickbats…

My Top 25 of 2025 (2)

More music from the year that concludes the first quarter of the 21st Century...

22. Jason Isbell – Foxes In The Snow

A new Jason Isbell LP would generally achieve a higher placing in my end of year countdown, but he left his backing band the 400 Unit in the pub for this one, offering up a one-man acoustic set instead. Like many Americana artists, the temptation to “do a Nebraska” must always be tackled… and as you’d expect from Isbell, this is another fine collection of subtle country storytelling… but it could have done with a little more oomph in places. Get the band back out of the pub next time.

Jason Isbell – Ride To Robert’s

21. Cory Hanson – I Love People

Cory Hanson is the lead singer of LA-based psychedelic rock band WAND… but in his spare time, he makes solo records which veer more into 70s singer-songwriter territory, and comparisons have been made to Randy Newman (him again! – see #25) and Todd Rundgren. There’s a lot of piano on this record, which always suits me, and some quirky lyrical diversions, such as Hanson’s tribute to Lou Reed, which is keen to remind us that Lou was “a tai chi master”. 

Cory Hanson – Lou Reed

Hanson also offers up a downbeat sequel to a perennial Christmas favourite… and one which, surprisingly, I didn’t mind listening to in September.

Cory Hanson – Santa Claus Is Coming Back To Town

What I like most about Hanson’s songs though is the way he half-reveals a story, and leaves the listener to make up the rest. A bit like Michael Stipe, in a way…

I just wanna leave this town
And say so long, fool
I just need a steering wheel
To hold on to
 
All the standup comics
Burn out on the evening train
All the jokers on their horses
Laughing in the rain
 
Why so serious?
 
You've got no sense of humor
No this ain't funny to me
I heard the rumors you bit her leg
And stumbled into the sеa

20. Hayes Carll – We’re Only Human

In the year we lost Todd Snider, there’s some consolation that we still have Hayes Carll, who ploughs a similar furrow of wry, witty, down-home hippy liberal hokum. The song that most exemplifies that on his latest release is this one…

Hayes Carll - Good People (Thank Me)

I love the story about him hating his neighbour till she gave him some apples. Todd would be proud – and so would John Prine.

And more than ever, right now, we need artists who still dare to write songs like this…

The man on the TV keeps makin' strange faces
Folks flyin' rockets to far away places
The world's gettin' turned on by assholes and racists
And it's all for the progress of man

My Top 25 of 2025 (1)

If it's December, it must be time to start counting down my favourite records of the year. You know the drill...

25. Wet Leg – moisturizer

At the beginning of the year, I had this pegged as one of my most anticipated releases of 2025… so what went wrong? Weight of expectation? A concerted effort to go more mainstream? Rhian Teasdale’s clear desire to recreate herself as some kind of sexy femme-rock icon? (See how she’s changed.)

 (Small m) moisturizer is far from a disaster, but it’s not as smart as it thinks it is – songs named after davina mccall, pokemon and mangetout promise more than they deliver, and the consistent lack of capital letters just smacks this English teacher as trying too hard. When it works – as on the thrilling lead single Catch These Fists – there’s still hope to be had… but there’s nothing as strong or as joyously witty as Chaise Longue or even Wet Dream… and at times, it comes dangerously close to sounding like Republica. Still, maybe that’s what the kids are looking for these days. I very much doubt Rhian and Hester are interested in the opinions of a weird 53 year old blogger as long as they can keep selling out the arenas…

Wet Leg - CPR

Difficult second album syndrome?

24. Bret McKenzie – Freak Out City

Formerly half of Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie released his debut solo album Songs Without Jokes back in 2022, and it was a moderate favourite of mine for its Randy Newman-flavoured observation songwriting. Having been a huge Conchords fan, all it needed to lift it to the next level was… a few more jokes.

Well, they’re still largely absent on his follow-up record, but I continue to dig the profoundly 70s vibe – more debts to Newman, and the occasional steal from Stealer’s Wheel…

Bret McKenzie - Freak Out City

23. Nervous Twitch – The Day Job Gets In The Way

A new discovery from Leeds, which gets them extra marks, and this went down well with Brian, CC and The Swede, so I figured I better squeeze it into my countdown. Nervous Twitch are partying like it’s 1979 – and there’s everything right about that. Further investigation reveals this isn’t actually their debut – they’ve been bashing away at this malarkey for quite some time. Further investigation required…

Nervous Twitch – My Mum’s An Anarchist