Category: 2015NE

59: Prince: HITNRUN Phase 1

~ Lex Leeson ~ 2 Comments

There have been at least two – maybe three or four- brilliant Prince albums released in 2015, but the one actually released by Prince is certainly not one of them. Of the two albums he released in 2014 it makes perfect sense that Prince would choose to take his cues from the rubbish one, and ‘Art Official Age’ has two of its songs revisited here, though the very fact he’s reworking songs he released less than 12 months previously is indicative of just what a half-purple-arsed hack job this is. Prince doesn’t even take sole production duties, handing over some of the reigns to some unknown 25 year old called Joshua Welton, who was presumably taking out the bins during the 4 minutes it must have taken Prince to finish this nonentity. And the production is terrible: so loud and brash that it’s impossible to tell how many of these songs were actually quite good before they were pummelled into weeping smithereens by a production that’s about as subtle as a hefty knee to the balls. The best you can say about ‘HITNRUN Phase 1’ (oh God please don’t subject us to phase 2…) is that it resembles more one of his weird 90’s albums rather than one of his truly dreadful ones.

‘Fun’ Fact: Each of Prince’s last 6’543 albums has been referred to as his ‘best since the 80’s’ by at least one person, a record recognised by Guinness. This isn’t even his best album since 2013.

Come on though, even the crap Prince albums have at least one great song on them don’t they? Indeed, though ‘1000 Xs and Os‘ was originally written for Rosie Gaines many moons ago

Album Link

60: Drenge: Undertow

~ Lex Leeson ~ 1 Comment

Recently I walked past the once agreeable (and astonishingly still open) Witchwood live venue in Ashton and saw that it was advertising an upcoming gig by a Royal Blood tribute act. While at the time I of course despaired at the obvious signal of the end of days and wept openly in the street, looking back it might have only been indicating an appearance from Drenge (fucking ‘Drenge‘??), those other two horseman of the indie-rock apocalypse. Depressingly by-the-numbers ‘rock’ attempts, one half-decent riff swamped in distortion while the singer barks out nonsense lyrics that are cack-handed attempts at sounding ‘dark’. Dull, dull, dull, dull, dull.

‘Fun’ Fact: Drenge hail from Castleton, which you more than likely visit every 29th May for ‘Oak Apple Day’, where a ‘Garland King’ is paraded around the streets wearing an extremely large garland of flowers, followed by local girls dressed in white with flowers. I can only assume the ceremony ends with the ‘Garland King’ being burnt alive in a giant wicker apple.

Come on man, I want to get my Guitar Hero on, there must be something good for me to rock out to: I don’t hate ‘Never Awake‘, probably due to it being played on 6 Music eight times an hour for the past ten months

Album Link

61: Mercury Rev: The Light In You

~ Lex Leeson ~ 1 Comment

The ninth studio album by Ver Rev (as the kids almost definitely call them) is the rather sad and dispiriting sound of a once highly significant band miserably fizzling out. While certainly no disaster it’s such a descent from their truly ground-breaking best into ineffectual rambling that listening may make you question the very point of recorded sound. The band seem uncertain what exactly their music is aiming for other than a place on the Radio 2 playlist and a radical re-think is needed.

‘Fun’ Fact: ‘Sunflower‘ is absolutely the worst thing they’ve ever recorded. Perhaps the worst thing anyone’s ever recorded. Perhaps the worst thing anyone’s ever done.

It can’t all be bad bro, surely? The lead single ‘Are You Ready‘ does the best impression of usefulness

Album link

2015 Necessary Evil

~ Lex Leeson ~ 2 Comments

As Churchill once said: “Never has so much work been done to achieve something so pointless for the benefit of so few”

But it has been done, alright? So either grin and bear it or afford it the complete ignorance it properly deserves. The largely narcissistic celebration of how much cooler/unemployable than you I truly believe I am by virtue of how many albums I’ve managed to listen to in 12 months roles on for another year. There has actually been a rather ridiculous amount of great albums released this year (December 2014- November 2015) so to pick the order that number 2 onwards (backwards??) appeared it was a rather challenging task. The best album of the year was blindingly obvious though, to the extent that if I see any end of year list now that isn’t topped by that particular masterpiece then I can only assume it’s an elaborate and particularly mean-spirited joke cooked up by heathen ignoramuses.

Waaah! There’s sixty one of the bastards yet that one album I liked from this year isn’t even mentioned! What gives?! Well, to put it as delicately as possible, it’s because that album’s fucking shit and you’re obviously an idiot for liking it.

Why the fuck is it sixty one anyway? That seems like a bizarrely arbitrary number to pick, is it a prime or some shit? Sigh, my list was basically fucked up by bastard artists releasing albums in November like fucking idiots. In fact, right now I still haven’t heard the Adele album (10 days before the deadline Ms. Adkins, you’re cutting it really tight) but I’ve reserved a place for it because I fancy writing about it. Could be bottom, who knows?

Wasn’t this nonsense called something different last year? The awards have been renamed the ‘Necessary Evil’ this year, partly because calling them ‘The Palmers’ was almost unbearably naff, and partly because I’m generally curious how many different erroneous spellings of ‘necessary’ I manage to plough through (spelled it was three Ss just now).

Sigh, here we go…