Top ten albums of 2014
Traditions whose absence would mean Christmas would just not be Christmas: The Coke advert (“holidays are coming”), Starbucks’ Red Cups, the two week special edition of the Radio Times, and of course my end-of-year music best-of list One way or another I have acquired (and no, that’s not meant to be as dodgy as it sounds) over 90 studio albums released in 2014. As great as some of the reissues (Nas Illmatic XX), hip-hop history lessons (Wu-Tang Clan, Dr Dre, Notorious BIG, The Roots, Mos Def, Public Enemy) and Record Store Day releases (Life Without Buildings, The Pogues With Joe Strummer, singles boxed-sets of Soundgarden and The Dead Kennedys) undoubtedly were, well it’s all about the here and now, innit? One day I’ll get old, draw a line, refuse to listen to new music and dismiss whatever the young people are listening to these days, but given I only managed to pick up 63 new releases last year it would appear I’m not heading to that place quite yet. Goo...