2020 – Mein Rückblick/ My Review (Austrian German and Englisch)

Meine liebsten Alben, Compilations und  Reissues, Songs, EPs, Serien, Filme und Bücher des Jahres. Und zwei Konzerte, die ich glücklicherweise sehen konnte in 2020.

My Favourite Albums, Compilations and Reissues, Songs, EPs, Series, Movies and Books Of The Year. And two Concerts I got lucky to be there in 2020.

Wie immer ist alles radikal subjektiv gereiht, ohne Kompromisse und Gefälligkeiten oder Gefühle von Schuld (was vielleicht mangelnde Hipness, guten oder schlechten Geschmack betrifft), nur Freude, Vergnügen und Glücksgefühle. Ich will hier nicht viele Worte über die Pandemie verlieren und welch grausliches Jahr 2020 war. Man kennt das. Aber Musik zu hören, auf Platten (LPs und CDs, alles Neuzugänge in meiner Plattensammlung), und via Musik-Streaming, war 2020 weitaus mehr relevant, viel mehr lebensnotwendig als zu irgendeinem anderen Zeitpunkt in diesem Millennium. Dasselbe gilt für Serien und Filme auf Netflix und anderswo – und das Lesen von Büchern. Und die beiden Konzerte, für die ich Eintrittskarten erwischte, kurz vor und in einer kurzen Pause der Pandemie. Wenn es sich um Pop-Kultur und Kultur allgemein dreht, war 2020 ein sehr gutes Jahr. Persönlich auch. Und ich habe 2020 gleich zwei Lieblingsalben auf Platz 1. Los geht’s!

As always everything is ranked radically subjective, without any compromise or a sense of guilt (concerning hipness or good or bad taste), just a sense of enjoyment and delight. Don’t wanna talk here about the pandemic and what a horrible year 2020 was. You know that. But listening to music, on records (LPs and CDs, all new entries in my record collection), and via music streaming,  was in 2020 more relevant, more vital than ever at any other point in the new millennium. The same goes for watching series and movies on Netflix or elsewhere – and reading books. And catching tickets for two concerts, that happened shortly before and a in short break of the pandemic. Speaking about pop culture and culture in general 2020 was a very good year. Personally too. And I’ve two No. 1 albums in 2020. There You go!

 

ALBUMS

1 PAUL WELLER On Sunset (Polydor Records)

1 POPINCOURT A Deep Sense Of Happiness (Milano Records)

3 PAUL MCCARTNEY McCartney III (Capitol Records)

4 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Letter To You (Columbia Records)

5 MELODY GARDOT Sunset In The Blue (Decca Records)

6 TAYLOR SWIFT Folklore/ Evermore (Republic Records)

7 HARRY STYLES Fine Line (Columbia Records, 2019)

8 KHRUANGBIN Mordechai (Dead Oceans Inc.)

9 HAIM Women In Music Pt. III (Polydor Records)

10 ELVIS COSTELLO Hey Clockface (Concord Records)

11 FAMILIE LÄSSIG Im Herzen des Kommerz (Asinella Records, 2018)

12 LOUIS PHILIPPE & THE NIGHT MAIL Thunderclouds (Tapete Records)

13 THEES UHLMANN Junkies und Scientologen (Grand Hotel Van Cleef, 2019)

14 BEN WATT Storm Damage (Caroline Records)

15 LE SUPERHOMARD Meadow Lane Park (Elefant Records, 2019)

16 LEONARD COHEN Thanks For the Dance (Columbia Records, 2019)

17 STOOTSIE Riverside Tales (Free Fall Records, 2019)

18 LIZZO Cuz I Love U (Atlantic Records, 2019)

19 MICHAEL KIWANUKA Kiwanuka (Polydor Records, 2019)

20 5/8ERL IN EHR’N Yeah Yeah Yeah (Viennese Soulfood Records)

21 JUNGLE For Ever (XL Recordings, 2018)

 

COMPILATIONS & REISSUES

1 THE STYLE COUNCIL Long Hot Summers / The Story Of The Style Council (Polydor Records)

2 KEVIN ROWLAND My Beauty (Cherry Red Records)

3 VARIOUS ARTISTS Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller Present Jazz On The Corner Two (Acid Jazz Records)

4 JOHN LENNON Gimme Some Truth. (Universal Records)

5 JOHN COLTRANE Blue World (Impulse Records, 2019)

6 THE BEATLES Live At The Hollywood Bowl (Apple Records, 2016)

7 THE ROLLING STONES Goats Head Soup – Deluxe Edition (Polydor Records)

 

SINGLES & EPS

1 THE ROLLING STONES Living In A Ghost Town (Promotone)

2 KHRUANGBIN & LEON BRIDGES Texas Sun (Dead Oceans Inc.)

3 PAUL WELLER On Sunset (Remixes) (Polydor Records)

 

KONZERTE/ CONCERTS

1 FAMILIE LÄSSIG – 28. Februar 2020, ARGE Kultur Salzburg

2 5/8ERL IN EHR’N – 30. September 2020, ARGE Kultur Salzburg

 

FILME/ MOVIES

1 BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (Sky)

2 LITTLE WOMEN (Sky)

3 ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (Sky)

4 MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (Sky)

5 ROCKETMAN (Amazon Prime)

6 LEBERKÄSJUNKIE (EuroVideo Medien, DVD)

7 DER JUNGE MUSS AN DIE FRISCHE LUFT (Netflix)

8 DAS PERFEKTE GEHEIMNIS (Netflix)

9 DER FALL COLLINI (Sky)

10 MARRIAGE STORY (Netflix)

11 GUT GEGEN NORDWIND (Sky)

 

SERIEN/ SERIES

1 THE CROWN (Netflix)

2 THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Amazon Prime)

3 CALL MY AGENT! (Amazon Prime)

4 EMILY IN PARIS (Netflix)

5 BIG LITTLE LIES (Sky)

6 HIGH FIDELITY (Starzplay)

7 VIRGIN RIVER (Netflix)

8 LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE (Sky)

9 THE UNDOING (Sky)

10 WEIHNACHTE ZU HAUSE (Netflix)

11 ÜBERWEIHNACHTEN (Netflix)

 

BÜCHER / BOOKS

1 SYLVIE SIMMONS I’m Your Man. Das Leben des Leonard Cohen (btb Verlag, 2012)

2 TOM BARBASH Mein Vater, John Lennon und das beste Jahr unseres Lebens (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)

3 NICK HORNBY Keiner hat gesagt, dass du ausziehen sollst / Just Like You (beide Kiepenheuer & Witsch)

4 SALLY ROONEY Gespräche mit Freunden (btb Taschenbuch) / Normale Leute (Luchterhand Literaturverlag)

5 DAVID NICHOLLS Sweet Sorrow (Ullstein Verlag)

6 FERDINAND VON SCHIRACH Kaffee und Zigaretten (btb Taschenbuch)

7 JOACHIM MEYERHOFF Hamster im hinteren Stromgebiet (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)

8 KLAUS MODICK Über Leonard Cohen (KiWi Musikbibliothek)

9 FRANK GOOSEN Über The Beatles (KiWi Musikbibliothek)

10 DONNA LEON Geheime Quellen (Diogenes Verlag)

11 JOHN O’CONNEL Bowies Bücher(KiWi Taschenbuch)

B-logbook: 15.03.2020: We Have All The Time In The World – Staying In

As the vicious Corona Virus strikes the world and all our lives, this is the right time to revisit and hear again all these great box sets, lounging most of the time in the racks. I’m starting with the three volumes of all Stax Volt soul singles from 1959 up to 1975, all in all 28 CDs, brilliantly remastered, a fantastic lively sound, released between 1991 and 1993. Listening to the complete Soulsville U.S.A.

Some Oasis In My Record Collection

On my record shelves:  Several CDs of Oasis, but not even one LP.

Browsing again through my record collection for further inventory I discovered that I do not have any vinyl LP of Oasis on my record shelves. I guess Oasis were the first band I liked that I experienced totally on CD – besides live concerts of cause – just like their Britpop opponents Blur or later favourites of mine like the Arctic Monkeys.

At the beginning I was quite fascinated by the whole Oasis thing for the obvious reasons. I even bought every new single on CD, when I flew to London for doing interviews there. But I don’t own these singles anymore, because I sold all the CD singles I had at once, packed in an oversized box, because they were occupying too much space and offered not enough music.

So all in all, I found six Oasis CDs in my record collection, from the Gallagher brothers rousing album debut Definitely Maybe, released in 1994 and its brilliant follow-up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? to the totally over the top third album Be Here Now from 1997, which I think is still underrated, and the highly interestingly compiled rarities compilation The Masterplan, issued one year later, a turning point in their career. Afterwards all things went down the pan.

Only the live double Familiar to Millions, recorded and released in the year 2000, could remind us of their glory. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, released in the same year, couldn’t do that. One of the new songs even raised the crucial question – „Where Did it All Go Wrong?”. I mainly kept the album in my collection because its release gave me the chance to meet Liam Gallagher in a London café for a long, intense, interesting interview.

The reportedly limited edition of the career overlook Time Flies… 1994-2009 is the last Oasis release that’s on my record shelves. It encompasses three CDs and one DVD, the first two CDs concentrate on the singles, 27 of them, but they are not in chronologic order and album key tracks like „Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” or „Champagne Supernova” are sorely missing – so I still prefer going back to the first three original Oasis albums.

The third CD of the Time Flies… 1994-2009 box contains their last recorded live show up to date – on July 21^st, 2009 at The Roundhouse in London. The DVD collects all 38 Oasis videos, commented by the band.

After Oasis split up, the Gallagher brothers continued their family feud which tore apart their band, accompanied by mostly mediocre musical projects. Listening now to their latest quite good solo albums raises another crucial question: As Liam Gallagher could need a better songwriter and Noel Gallagher definitely needs a better singer for his songs – why don’t they join forces again?

Nevertheless, the clash of their gigantic egos seemed to go on forever. But surprisingly just before Christmas the Gallagher brothers reconciled officially – a big Oasis reunion, a hopefully great new album in 2018 or 2019 and a glorious comeback tour could be possible now. They could learn a lesson from their former foes Blur.

Some Jimi Hendrix In My Record Collection

On my record shelves: Some LPs & CDs of Jimi Hendrix.

Due to Jimi Hendrix‘ 75th birthday I searched my record collection. I found eight LPs and a dozen CDs by the man, who was born November 27, 1942 in Seattle, USA, and turned out to be an ingenious, adventurous guitar player, singer and songwriter in the short span of his lifetime till his untimely death on September 18, 1970 in London.

My favourite Hendrix’ discs in my record collection: The original debut album Are You Experienced, recorded in 1967 in London, the year of the psychedelic summer of love. Chas Chandler, the former bassist of the British R&B-combo The Animals, had seen Hendrix before live on stage, playing in a New York club, and offered to become his manager and producer. He convinced the extravagant guitarist to move to London and built a group around him, The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Brits Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. With rousing live gigs, his wild virtuoso guitar playing, a bunch of fantastic singles and the brilliant Are You Experienced album Jimi Hendrix became quickly a member of London’s rock and pop high society besides The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees or The Who.

In 1997 Are You Experienced was reissued as a remastered double-LP, which I bought in New York at Tower Records on Times Square when it came out, expanded with the early singles like „Hey Joe”, „Purple Haze” & „The Wind Cries Mary” plus B-Sides.

Further faves are: The 1968 double-LP Electric Ladyland (1968), a revolutionary sonic masterpiece with key tracks „All Along the Watchtower”, „Crosstown Traffic” and „Voodoo Chile”.

During my short stay in New York  in 1997 I also acquired the newly released First Rays of the New Rising Sun, a worthy, remastered double-LP update of Hendrix‘ first posthumous 1971 LP The Cry Of Love, that showcases great tracks like the delicate Ballad „Angel”, „Room Full of Mirrors”, „Dolly Dagger”, „Freedom”, „Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)” and „Drifting”.

And last but not least I’m going to mention the stirring live double-LP Live At Winterland, recorded with the original Jimi Hendrix Experience during six concerts  in October 1968 in the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, run by legendary promotor Bill Graham. This maybe is Jimi Hendrix’ best live album, with a good sound quality, quite a loose, playful feeling and the six shows edited so seamlessly, that it sounds just like one concert. But all listed above are essential Hendrix stuff.

The Crucial Question: Records or Streaming?

Records, what else? Preferring LPs or CDs? That really doesn’t matter.

The politics of streaming platforms: They offer everything and appreciate nothing. That’s an appropriate reflection of turbo capitalism and digital mania. And it devaluates music, if you ask me.

The politics of record collecting: Record collectors select which records they want to own and they know which records they want to hear. Record collectors also do appreciate the music they hear and the records they own. They value music. This is what matters.