The Best Of The Decade 2000 to 2009

These are my top 20 albums of the last decade. I was going to flesh it out and comment on each album, but time's dragging on and I can't keep drawing this out. So here it is:

20. Black Holes & Revelations - Muse
19. I Get Wet - Andrew W.K.
18. Maybe I'll Catch Fire - Alkaline Trio
17. Love Travels At Illegal Speeds - Graham Coxon
16. The New What Next - Hot Water Music
15. Searching For A Former Clarity - Against Me!
14. The Bronx (The First One) - The Bronx
13. Streetcore - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
12. Poetry Of The Deed - Frank Turner
11. The Greatest Story Ever Told - The Lawrence Arms
10. Situationist Comedy - Dillinger Four
9. The Gold Record - The Bouncing Souls
8. American Idiot - Green Day
7. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
6. Sink Or Swim - The Gaslight Anthem
5. It's Great To Be Alive - Fake Problems
4. From Here To Infirmary - Alkaline Trio


3. As The Eternal Cowboy/The Original Cowboy - Against Me!
I've put both The Eternal Cowboy and The Original Cowboy in at number 3 together because they are, essentially, the same album. Each contains different versions of the same songs, recorded at different times and released several years apart. Even if you own only one of these releases you should know that the number three spot is jutsified. The Eternal Cowboy clocks in at just over 25 minutes long, barely making it a full length but it's a brilliantly fast paced record, only letting you catch your breath during the acoustic moments 'Sink Florida Sink,' 'Unsubstantiated Rumours...' and 'Cavalier Eternal'. Otherwise this is just a pure rock-fuck-out record. Actually, that does it an injustice. Tom Gabel's prowess as a lyricist means that you also have to listen to what he's singing. Releasing 'The Original Cowby' might have been seen by some as cash in by Fat and Against Me! themselves on the band's burgeoning popularity but I think it was a brilliant idea. It enhances what was already a brilliant collection of songs by showing them in an even rougher, rawer light and doesn't disappoint at all. Buy The Eternal Cowboy first if you don't own it, enjoy it for yourselves, and then, just as you begin to tire of it, buy The Original Cowboy and rediscover it all over again. Awesome.


2. Oh! Calcutta - The Lawrence Arms
If you're not into punk rock or friends with someone who is, you probably won't have heard of The Lawrence Arms. But if you are into punk rock, you will know and love The Lawrence Arms. One of Chicago's finest exports, since well... the Alkaline Trio. This album has really snuck up on the outside to take second place in this rundown. I've had it since its release but it's only really in the last year that it has found it's way more and more often into my CD player or being played on my iPod. And that is simply because it's a magnificent album, and, as you probably know, I want magnificence. Nothing less. It is the culmination of The Larry Arms's development as a band, as they really do sound like a proper band on this release. No longer do Chris and Brendan sing their own songs but their vocal intertwine to great effect. Brendan's growl coupled with Chris's croon sound fantastic, lending a manic effect to the slower songs and a more tuneful side to the all out punk rock of others. Not to leave anyone out, Neil's drumming defies the attachment of any superlatives and helps to make 'Oh! Calcutta!' a must have for any punks, and a great place for the newbie to start his or her collection. Yes, it does.


1. The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
Derivative. Bruce Springsteen rip offs. Doing absolutely nothing new. Trite. These are just a few of the criticisms I've heard or read of The Gaslight Anthem, but anyone who might offer these opinions, for me, just doesn't get it. Okay, I accept that what The Gaslight Anthem do is hardly ground breaking but they'd be the first to tell you that themselves. I love this album. It's pretty much soundtracked my life since the day I got it. It's a wonderful record. Yes, they reference The Boss but they also pull references (both lyrical and musical) from a myriad of sources, including Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, The Replacements, Social Distortion, Tom Petty and The Clash to name but a few. I think the references that Brain Fallon makes in his lyrics to other bands and their songs work brilliantly and really contribute to the feel of this record and the stories contained within the songs. Fallon has admitted himself that he sees this record as the band's contribution to the story of American rock and roll and like all good connoisseur's, he knows his history and isn't afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve, along with his heart. It's a record of many faces too. It has rockers, ballads, tear jerkers and songs to lift your spirits. If you haven't heard it yet, where have you been? I'd urge you to pick up a copy. If you like honesty, passion, good time rock and roll and (of course) Springsteen, you'll be into this. If you don't like those things, chances are that this will make a convert of you.

Honourable Mentions must go to the following:
Pump Up The Valuum - NOFX
Conspiracy Of One - The Offspring
Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes - Propagandhi
Look What I Almost Stepped In - The Vandals
How I Spent My Summer Vacation - The Bouncing Souls
Global A Go Go - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
The Green Album - Weezer
Reinventing Axl Rose - Against Me!
Caution - Hot Water Music
Apathy & Exhaustion - The Lawrence Arms
Internet Dating Superstuds - The Vandals
Good Mourning - Alkaline Trio
File Under Black - None More Black
The Empire Strikes First - Bad Religion
Cool To Be You - Descendents
God Don't Make No Trash or Up Your Ass With Broken Glass - The Falcon
Happiness In Magazines - Graham Coxon
So Jealous - Tegan And Sara
Where The Humans Eat - Willy Mason
A Certain Trigger - Maximo Park
Capture/Release - The Rakes
A Healthy Distrust - Sage Francis
With Love And Squalor - We Are Scientists
The Bronx 2 - The Bronx
The Sufferer And The Witness- Rise Against
Baby 81 - BRMC
Panic Prevention - Jamie T
Human The Death Dance - Sage Francis
Four One Five Two - Sundowner
New Wave - Against Me!
Agony & Irony - Alkaline Trio
The Last Pale Light In The West - Ben Nichols
C I V I L W A R - Dillinger Four
Love, Ire & Song - Frank Turner
This Is Not The World - The Futureheads
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Build & Burn - The Loved Ones
Appeal To Reason - Rise Against
Heart Burns - Tom Gabel
Ignore The Ignorant - The Cribs
Senor & The Queen - The Gaslight Anthem
Buttsweat & Tears - The Lawrence Arms
Chasing Hamburg - Polar Bear Club
Supporting Caste - Propagandhi

Best of 2009

So that was 2009. The year that was. And actually, although, I said many, many times what a shitty period it was for music, that wasn't true. It was a fantastic year for music, you just had to look hard to find the good stuff which actually makes it more rewarding and enjoyable when you did find something that was good. But I didn't just find good stuff, I found a lot of great stuff. So here's my rundown of my 17 favourite records of 2009. Why 17? Because I couldn't whittle it down to 10. I'll only detail my top 5 because I don't have time to explain all 17 choices, and you don't have the inclination to read 17 quick reviews of albums you probably already own. And you only stumbled across this blog because you thought I was offering free downloads of Frank Turner's album. I'm not, but read on anyway.

Best of 2009:
17. Tegan And Sara - Sainthood
16. Jamie T - Kings And Queens
15. Lucero - 1372 Overton Park (Only rated in at 15 because I only got it a couple of weeks ago and it doesn't seem fair to rate it above albums that had a bigger impact on my year.)
14. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
13. Weezer - Raditude (Right, it's fun. You'll never get Pinkerton part 2, so enjoy this. It's a bloody good pop rock record.)
12. American War - Rhetoric (Download for free HERE!)
11. Crazy Arm - Born To Ruin
10. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
9. Chuck Ragan - Gold Country
8. Dinosaur Pile-Up - The Most Powerful E.P. In The Universe!!
7. NOFX - Coaster
6. Propagandhi - Supporting Caste


5. The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
I've always sort of liked The Cribs, which is odd because they're one of those bands who have a rabid following. Their fans are fiercely loyal, but for some reason I've never really understood the level of devotion that they command in some. Until this year. In 2009, The Cribs blasted back with a new album and most importantly, I feel, a new member in perma-young guitarist Johnny Marr (former guitarist with some band from Manchester? Apparently they were successful once?). Marr's second guitar complemented the bands sound, adding a richness and a real sense of melody to the band's trebly indie punk sound and turned the Wakefield trio into a true English Punk Rock band. A fantastic record and, it's worth noting, an amazingly good live act.

Oh, and the record was brilliantly packaged in the fantastic 'Roses' edition.

Choice cuts: We Were Aborted, Cheat On Me, We Share The Same Skies, Emasculate Me, Ignore The Ignorant, Nothing.


4. Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg
Polar Bear Club are another band who I had previous expereince of and again, didn't really get until a little bit later on. I saw them supporting Gaslight Anthem in March of last year and didn't really enjoy their set. But I didn't know any of the songs and you know what that's like. It's hard to decipher the lyrics and often the songs blur into one another. But then a few months later I was encouraged to try them again and and I'm happy to say I took this advice because had I not done so I wouldn't have got this great record. I've heard them called a slower Rise Against and I would go along with this although that is perhaps an oversimplification of just how good this record is. Okay, it's yet another album covering ground that was mapped and claimed by intrepid explorers long, long ago but that's not to say 'Chasing Hamburg' isn't worth your time or money. It's well worth both. PBC's dual guitar assault makes for great listening, at times blistering riffs blast out of the speakers but these boys know how to kick back and let things breath. A brilliant second album that serves to only heighten the anticipation for where this band might go next. Great cover art too.

Choice cuts: See The Wind, Living Saints, Boxes, Drifting Thing, Light Of Local Eyes, One Hit Back.


3. The Lawrence Arms - Buttsweat & Tears EP
How is that the Lawrence Arms have, armed with only a 4 or 5 song E.P. (depending on format) managed to force their way into so many end of year lists for 2009? Because Buutsweat and Tears is brilliant. Utterly, utterly, brilliant. For us Larry Arms fans, the 3 year wait between the frankly ace 'Oh! Calcutta!' (any superlative attached to this record does it an injustice. Check it out for yourself if you don't own it already, it's glorious) and 'Buttsweat and Tears' has been far, far too long. Although this E.P. doesn't continue along the same lines as 'Oh! Calcutta!' or 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' in further developing the band's sound, it's testament their songwriting abilities that we weren't disappointed by this. In fact, some of the Lawrence Arms's best material yet recorded can be found on this E.P. The only downside to this release is that it's too short, but that is also it's strength. It leaves you wanting more, and now I'm looking forward to their next full length more than ever. What a great way for them to mark their 10th year as a band.

Choice cuts: All of it. It's only 5 songs long, and they're all great.


2. Frank Turner - Poetry of the Deed
I'll be honest. I've never heard a Million Dead song. But then a lot of Frank Turner's fans probably haven't either. It seems to me that Frank has carved a reputation for himself that is entirely his own, and it's to his credit that he isn't known as 'Frank Turner, ex Million Dead', but 'Frank Turner- Blindingly Good Folk/Punk Troubadour'. He's achieved his lofty status through 1 - being a bloody good songwriter and 2 - touring his arse off. Frank can normally be found of a night playing his heart out in a venue somewhere in the world, either as a solo act or with his band of great musicians. He continued his upward curve in 2009 with the release of 'Poetry of the Deed.' His latest effort is even better than 2008's 'Love, Ire & Song' which is frankly (no pun intended) amazing because that was only released in 2008. It amazes me that artists can come out with two brilliant albums in consecutive years, but Frank is one of those who can and has done it. Would you bet against him doing the same in 2010? If you like music played with honest, fire, passion and no little talent then this one's for you.

Choice cuts: Live Fast Die Old, Try This At Home, Dan's Song, Poetry of the Deed, Sons Of Liberty, The Road, Richard Divine, Sunday Nights, Our Lady Of The Campfire, Journey Of Magi.


1. Fake Problems - It's Great To Be Alive
And so to number one. The best record of 2009. And that record is 'It's Great To Be Alive' by Florida's Fake Problems. I came across this record almost by accident. Allow me to indulge myself and tell you the story. For my 23rd birthday I received a small amount of money that I decided to spend on Epitaph's remasters of The Offspring's 2nd and 3rd albums, 'Ignition' and 'Smash'. But, disappointed by the job they'd done remastering and with the frankly lazy new artwork, I returned them to HMV and exchanged them for Angels & Airwaves 'I-Empire' and this, my number 1 record of the last year. It wasn't love at first listen though. I didn't get it. I left it alone after the first listen. I wasn't ready for it. But when I returned to it whilst out one day, by God, it made sense. Bloody. Good. Sense. Who knows what I was thinking when I first listened to it, because I love this record now. Love it. Drawing influences from all over the place, Fake Problems have a sound that is all their own and stands out amongst the glut of folk punk bands that have followed in Against Me!'s footsteps. With 'It's Great To Be Alive' though, Fake Problems have made an album that is every bit as good as anything Againt Me! have released (and they're nice blokes too!). Buy it, buy it now. They are the next big thing and you want to get on this wagon before everybody else does.

Choice cuts:
Again, all of it. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

That's it! You'll have your own thoughts, but these are mine. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll bring you my top 20 records of the past decade, as well as reaction to City's miserable trip to Wigan in the Third Round of the F.A. Cup.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Joe Strummer

On this day seven years ago, Joe Strummer died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was 50 years old. This makes today more appropriate a time than any to put The Clash or the Mescaleros on your stereo and pay tribute to a man whose work changed many of our lives for the better.

Arsenal away Preview

This weekend sees City visit the Emirates hoping for a repeat of last year’s amazing win. The most likely outcome for the game is an Arsenal victory, but with the Gunners losing their captain Cesc Fabregas during last night’s disappointing draw with Burnley and Arsene Wenger already getting his excuses in early (see here), might there be a glimmer of hope for the travelling contingent of City fans?

No. Frankly. Arsenal have been playing poorly of late but have still been picking up points. Wenger’s half time tantrum inspired his side to come back from behind away to Liverpool, with Andrei Arshavin’s explosive strike bagging the points, and by all accounts Arsenal were lucky to even claim a point against Burnley. The Clarets were denied all three points by both the woodwork, which repelled Chris Eagles’s fantastic solo strike, and the linesman who deemed, rightly in my opinion, that Steven Fletcher was offside when tapping in from close range. On another day Burnley might also have been awarded a second penalty for a Mikael Silvestre handball, and with Graham Alexander possessing lethal ability from 12 yards, it’s safe to assume that he would’ve picked up his second goal of the game. All of this might offer hope to City fans, but this ignores City’s form in their last two games. Away to Aston Villa, City were pedestrian at best. Even before Jimmy Bullard’s “I can fly, oh no wait… that’s the ground and I’ve just done my knee again” moment, Villa were putting the pressure on City and in truth should’ve scored sooner than they did, with Luke Young going close in the very first minute of the game and Emile Heskey fluffing a glorious chance as only he can. Villa’s goals, when they did come, all resulted from mistakes made by City. Richard Dunne’s opener saw not one, not two, not three, but four! FOUR! City players make howlers to leave him unmarked in the area. Kamil Zayatte, Andy Dawson, George Boateng and Jozy Altidore all equally culpable, leaving the massive faced Irishman with acres of space and he duly obliged by lashing the ball into the top corner, carrying on his impressive run of form since his transfer from Abu Dhabi Citeh. The second we all know about, Matt Duke running needlessly from his goal, Steve Sidwell’s quick thinking and an impressive finish from West Yorkshire oik James Milner. The third, a John Carew penalty, saw Duke needlessly, in my eyes, pull down Ashley Young and Carew smacked in Villa’s third, with Villa Park finally waking up from its seemingly permanent stupor to remind us that Carew “is bigger than me and you.” He is. But not if you and I were added together to form some kind of super person. Individually, yes. Collectively, no.

And so on to the KC and Blackburn. What can you write about this game? Not much because not much happened. Craig Fagan missed a great chance as Craig Fagan is prone to doing, through one on one with only Robinson to beat he missed. We knew he would so to find ourselves still level after crafting a brilliant opportunity was no surprise. Blackburn hoofed, we hoofed back. Vennegoor of Hesselink flashed a header wide, Jozy Altidore tripped himself up but City weren’t lucky enough to get a third dodgy penalty in a matter of weeks. Blackburn’s introduction of Klasnic might’ve turned the game in their favour but he spurned a number of great opportunities to win the game for Big Sam’s dullards and, in the end, neither team went home happy.

So what from all this leads me to think that City won’t repeat last year’s heroics or even claim a point at the Emirates? Just the fact that Arsenal have been on a poor run and yet are still picking up points. Generally (Liverpool aside), the top clubs do not go on extended runs of poor form. With City regressing back to their October ways rather than their blinding form of November, a win beckons for the Gunners. To add to that City haven’t exactly been pulling up trees away from the KC this season (or indeed, at the KC), claiming only two points, scoring 5 and conceding 21. Doesn’t exactly say “grinding out the points” does it? Meanwhile, Arsenal have only lost once at home to the west London powerhouses of Chelsea, and have conceded a respectable 7 goals in 7 home league games, scoring 22 of their own. That’s not to say I’m totally downbeat about our chances. You never know with football do you? If it was a dead cert that Arsenal would win then you wouldn’t bother going. I had exactly the same thoughts last season prior to City visiting the Emirates, Anfield and Stamford Bridge and I was proved wrong.

The weekend’s other fixtures of note to us see Blackburn take on Spurs at Ewood Park and that should be an away win, given Tottenham’s dismissal of Manchester City last night. Portsmouth play Liverpool in Saturday’s lunch time kick off. Liverpool scraped a win against Wigan last night to lift themselves back into the top Six and maybe that might see them turn a corner. At any rate, I can’t see them dropping points to Portsmouth. Sunday sees a couple of really big clashes with West Ham facing Chelsea and Wolves welcoming Burnley to Molineux. West Ham vs Chelsea is an easy one I think. I’ve seen one pundit predict that West Ham might stifle the Blues but this isn’t going to happen. The Hammers were well beaten by Bolton and with Chelsea swatting Pompey aside I can only see Chelsea winning. Burnley’s visit to Wolves is a little more interesting and is a definite six pointer. Burnley haven’t travelled well this season, whilst Wolves have claimed half of the 16 points at home. Wolves have scored 7 at home all season, with Burnley’s away tally equaling this, whilst Burnley’s defence away from home has been slightly meaner than Wolves’s at home. A dull and unsatisfactory draw for both sides then? Yup.

Whilst I’m here, I’d like to write a bit about Hull’s failed bid to be considered as a host city for England’s 2018 World Cup Bid. I could take this if I felt like some of the cities who won out ahead of Hull merited their places. But Plymouth? Really? How is financially viable for Plymouth Argyle, those perpetual Championship strugglers to have a nice shiny new 30,000 + seater stadium? Their average attendance this season has been 10,726. Laughable. So that’s a huge new stadium for the Green Army to rattle about in? Right, that’s fiscally prudent, isn’t it? Another reason for Hull’s non inclusion is that the organizers wanted a better geographical spread of host cities for more of the country to experience the World Cup. So London get three grounds, Manchester gets two, Liverpool (a short drive down the road from Manchester remember) gets one, and Newcastle and Sunderland get one each. Alright, so I’m hardly likely to be the most unbiased of people in this case but Plymouth and Milton Keynes have hardly proved themselves to be hotbeds of football have they? Milton Keynes average attendance is just as poor as Plymouth’s, with 10,325 actually rattling around an already built stadium. It’s already proved to be an example of money poorly spent. OK, they couldn’t carry on playing at the Hockey Stadium but shouldn’t somebody have pulled Pete Winkleman back from the realms of fantasy to remind him that nobody goes to watch MK Mongs and a team in League One does not justify having a newly built 35,000 seater stadium? Mind you, someone might’ve said something similar to Adam Pearson before the KC was built and now look at it. Full every week, but still very quiet. I’ll shut up now. I’m ranting.

See you after the weekend.

Kick Off

So this is the start of my blog. I've been toying with the idea of doing something like this for a while. I remember I began to think about it seriously the day that City travelled to Anfield and were duly dispatched 6-1. It wasn't the best day we've had following City but it wasn't the worst either. We'd had problems getting to the game. We'd elected to travel by train to Liverpool and get the bus from the station there to Anfield. We'd done that last season. No problem. Or so we thought. We hadn't bargained on the rail services messing with us. Long story short, we were stranded in Manchester with less than an hour and half til kick off and no hope of getting there on time by train so we took a taxi from Manchester to Anfield for £60, driven there by an fucking idiot of a Man City fan who wanted to tell us all about his beloved Citeh and how "the pussy round here is amazing." We ignored him for most of the journey but all got the impression that he hated Manchester United more than he loved Manchester City. So pockets lighter, and heads heavier, we took our seats and watched City get taken apart by a Fernando Torres master class (equally weighted by an Ibrahima Sonko horror show) and then made our way back to Hull. Once back home, we went for a few scoops in Gardener's on Cott Road, with my uncle Peter, his girlfriend Allie and my mum, just to round the day off with something enjoyable because up until then it had been a bit of a shocker. Over several beers, I was cajoled into starting something like this and now three months down the line I've done it.

Over the course of next however many entries, I'm going to bring you my thoughts on City, football in general, be it the Champion's League, England's upcoming World Cup disappointment or just my six a side team. There'll also be a few entries about music, just for variety, you know? This was just an introduction. Saturday sees City travel to Arsenal, where no doubt a repeat of last year's epic 2-1 victory will prove to be beyond them but as long as we can show the same kind of fighting spirit that was evident during our FA Cup Quarter Final tie there back in March then I'll be happy. Anyway, I'll preview that game sometime before Saturday and I'm also working on my best of 2009 lists for goals, games and records.

Thanks for reading.

Soundtrack to this post:
Lucero's '1372 Overton Park' (Universal Republic Records, 2009)