Favourite Five Of 2023

Memento Mori by Depeche Mode

Released in March, Memento Mori is Depeche Mode’s fifteenth studio album.

After the death of founding member and keyboardist, Andy Fletcher, remaining members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore decided to soldier on as a duo. I am really glad they did, as Memento Mori is an inspired work and in my opinion their best album since 2005’s Playing The Angel. Lyrically it appears to be themed around death and mortality but musically this is classic Depeche Mode. Has been on and off high rotation for me in the nine months since its release.

Favourite track: “Caroline’s Monkey”

72 Seasons by Metallica

After a seven year gap, Metallica released their eleventh studio album, 72 Seasons, in April

Although I enjoyed 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct I enjoy 72 Seasons so much more. I find it difficult to articulate why, but I believe it may be that as a collection of songs it holds together much better as an album. The album received three Grammy nominations and 5 singles were released.

Favourite track: Metallica’s longest song to date, the epic “Inamorata”

Road by Alice Cooper

Road is the 29th studio album from Alice Cooper and his 22nd since becoming a solo artist

The aptly-titled Road features and was written with, his live band and the album has a live feel having been recorded with no overdubs. Alice has described it as a concept album about things that happen while a band is on the road. Featuring his old partner in crime on the mixing desk and production duties, Bob Ezrin, Alice sounds great on the album. Big name guests include Roger Glover and Tom Morello too.

Favourite track: “Big Boots”

Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones

Hackney Diamonds is the first Rolling Stones studio album of original material since 2005

How have they done it? I was very pleasantly surprised by how good this album is. I did not have high hopes when I took it home but I was blown away. They have not sounded this good in decades. Jagger is singing surprisingly well for an octogenarian and although Keith may have adjusted his playing style due to his arthritis, he still sounds rifftastic!

Favourite track: “Whole Wide World”

i/o by Peter Gabriel

More than two decades in the making, i/o arrived 21 years after its predecessor, Up

I was very excited when I heard Gabriel was releasing a new album called i/o (inside/outside) in 2023. I have been a fan for many years and waited with baited breath. Gabriel being Gabriel, he decides to release a new song every full moon and a new mix each new moon. Wait, multiple mixes of the same songs will be available. Yes, 3! The physical versions of the album would not be released until 1st December but it was worth the wait. I got myself a copy of the 2CD/BluRay version as it contains one disc of the Bright Side Mix, one disc of the Dark Side Mix and the BluRay features the Inside Mix. They are all good, if slightly different, and at the time of writing I prefer the Dark Side Mix of the tracks. Great stuff and my contender for album of the year.

Favourite track: “i/o”, the title track

Favourite Five Of 1993

Cure For Pain by Morphine

Cure For Pain was the second studio album of five released by Morphine

The unusual sound of Morphine was due to the intentional absence of guitar, relying primarily on bass, drums and saxophone. I loved them from the moment I first heard the track “Buena” on Australian alternative radio station Triple J. I was enamoured with their unusual sound and ended up buying all of their albums. Sadly bass player and lead singer, Mark Sandman, died instantly on stage due to heart attack in 1999 effectively ending the band.

Favourite track: “Buena”

Songs Of Faith And Devotion by Depeche Mode

Darker than its predecessor, Depeche Mode’s eighth album was a successful follow-up

Depeche Mode were really at their zenith in the nineties releasing several successful albums during the decade. I thought Violator almost impossible to top, but Songs Of Faith And Devotion certainly came close. The album was a top 20 chart hit in more than twenty countries and four successful singles were released.

Favourite track: The original album version of “In Your Room”

Symphonic Music Of Yes by London Philharmonic Orchestra & former Yes members

Symphonic Music Of Yes was mixed in Dolby Surround Sound

Featuring former members of Yes, including original singer Jon Anderson on a couple of tracks and pairing them with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was a stroke of genius. Effectively coming across as a “greatest hits” album by Yes, the orchestrations really highlight the complexity of the compositions. I absolutely adore this album and have had people borrow it as a way of testing if their surround system has been set up correctly.

Favourite track: “Starship Trooper”

Undertow by Tool

Tool became one of my favourite bands virtually overnight due to this album

I absolutely love Tool and enjoy all of their recordings. “Sober”, a single off this album, was the first song of theirs I ever heard and I loved its stop-motion music video too. I decided to buy the album on the strength of that one song and when I got it home I was blown away by how good it was. It was on high rotation for weeks on end both at home and in my car.

Favourite track: “Bottom” featuring the “engaging” spoken words of Henry Rollins

Debut by Björk

Debut was technically incorrect having released a self-titled album as a child in 1977

This solo album was Björk’s first release after the break-up of her previous band the Sugarcubes. Preceded by the single “Human Behaviour”, nothing else around at this time sounded anything remotely like this. The uniqueness of her sound no doubt contributed to her appeal as I know it what made me seek out the album. There have been many imitators since, but none come close to the original.

Favourite track: The non-album single “Play Dead”, which had been added to the album before its Australian release

Favourite Five Of 1990

Brick By Brick by Iggy Pop

Iggy kicked off the 1990s with this album and got Don Was to take on production duties

Although his output in the 1980s was a little hit and miss, Iggy started the next decade strongly with this album. Preceded by the single “Living On The Edge Of The Night”, the album didn’t really gain traction until after the second single, “Candy”, the duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52s, received high rotation on MTV. He also received positive reviews from critics, probably his best since his 1977 David Bowie-produced albums.

Favourite track: “Butt Town”

Still Got The Blues by Gary Moore

The Jimi Hendrix poster in this album cover is a lovely salute to one of Gary’s idols

Gary Moore decided to return to his blues roots after producing a variety of rock albums in the 80s. I doubt even he expected the unprecedented success he would have. This album reinvigorated his career and set the blueprint for the majority of his 90s output, if not the rest of his career. Getting guest artists the calibre of Albert King, George Harrison and Albert Collins to perform on the album probably didn’t hurt either.

Favourite track: The self-penned “Texas Strut” featuring former Thin Lizzy bandmate Brian Downey on drums

Passion And Warfare by Steve Vai

Vai claims that the album is based on dream sequences he had when he was younger

Vai sums the album up as “Jimi Hendrix meets Jesus Christ at a party that Ben Hur threw for Mel Blanc”. What that means is anybody’s guess. For me this album remains the pinnacle of his career, not because it is his most successful, but because it is his most accessible. I enjoy every track on it and I had only heard of him prior to this in the context of being David Lee Roth’s guitarist. Boy was this album a nice surprise!

Favourite track: “The Audience Is Listening”

Violator by Depeche Mode

Violator was the album that converted me into a Depeche Mode fan

Although I had liked the odd single from Depeche Mode, I had never been swayed to go out and purchase one of their albums. This album changed everything, not just for me, but for the band too. It was an international success and was their first album to sell a million copies in the US on the back of four successful singles.

Favourite track: Even though an obvious choice, I couldn’t go past “Personal Jesus”. I even like the cover versions by Marilyn Manson and Johnny Cash.

Ragged Glory by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Ragged Glory is Young’s 18th studio album and the 6th recorded with Crazy Horse

I have always found that my favourite Neil Young music is the stuff he records with Crazy Horse. In my opinion, the band hasn’t rocked this hard together since 1975’s Zuma. This is also their first album together since the Re·ac·tor album in 1981. Thankfully Young would record another two albums with them in the 90s and fittingly, one with Pearl Jam too.

Favourite track: The rollocking “Fuckin’ Up”