Just for the record

So now it's the best albums of the last ten years (that I own!!!!). This was quite a hard task initially as I thought that there were many that I could include, but when I actually looked at them there were some tracks that I didn't like, so the list was fairly straight forward.

1. Testimony – Neal Morse; a double album from the ex lead singer and keyboard player from Spock's Beard. It tells the story of his life and how he became a Christian, hence the title. It's a complete "prog fest" as well and features Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater on drums, who is the finest rock drummer in the world bar none. Morse has released many good albums since this one  but this remains his finest hour.
   
2. The Crane Wife – The Decembrists: An American rock band from Portland, Oregon, they are named after the Russian uprising of 1825. This was their fourth album released in October 2006 and I first heard of it via the mighty Word magazine. It's a glorious amalgam of indie rock, folk and prog, with each song being well crafted and produced. The subject matter is wide and various ranging from the murder squads in the N Ireland (the Shankhill Butchers), an old Japanese story about a Crane producing incredible silk from its feathers (the Crane Wife) and the 900 day WWII siege of Leningrad (When the War came).
   
3. 12 stops and home – The Feeling; a genuine pop album from this a 5 piece former covers band. Led by Dan Gillespie Sells, who sings and plays guitar, this was their debut album and there's not a bad track on it. It's very 70's influenced with touches of both ELO and 10cc in parts. There is also a Queen influence on some vocal harmonies and the guitar parts as well. It produced three hit singles and never tires from repeat plays.
   
4. OVO – Peter Gabriel; this was the sound track to the show at the centre of the Millennium Dome and was performed twice a day. As well as drawing on many references within our own folk traditions, the music also draws on the cultural origins of the many people's that now comprise contemporary British culture. It layers Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Australian and European elements against a mostly contemporary British backdrop. From 12th century hurdy gurdy to didgeridoo, from the pulsing rhythms of the Dhol Foundation and the nostalgic brass of the Black Dyke Band, from Arab laments over drum and bass to meditative moments with string section - the soundtrack is a really eclectic mix. Gabriel's finest moment to date!
   
5. Outrospective – Faithless: The only dance album in this list, Faithless is the brainchild of Rollo Armstrong, along with DJ/keyboard player Sister Bliss and singer/rapper Maxi Jazz. This was their third album and is their most consistent. It includes hit single "We come 1" and also "Tarantula" a version of which was used by the BBC for its 2002 World Cup theme. Faithless have always featured "guest singers" to support Maxi Jazz and this album includes Zoe Johnson and Rollo's sister Dido, who went on the record two of the decade's UK biggest selling albums as a solo singer. Best played loud.
   
6. The Rising – Bruce Springsteen; Inspired by the events of 9/11 when allegedly shortly after the attacks a passer-by told Springsteen "we need you now". The 15 songs are his response to the horror of the day and to my mind as an outsider, hit the nail on the head as to how he could support those involved or affected by the disaster. It's a full band record with the E-Street band and marks both a reformation with them and a real return to song writing of the highest order.
   
7. Absolution- Muse; A rock trio from Teignmouth in Devon (a less likely sentence to write will be hard to find!); this was their third and lift-off album. 15 songs in all all played with great skill and dexterity. The band is lead by Matt Bellamy, who sings, plays guitar. piano and writes most of the music (show off). Large Queen influences are found together with prog-metal and Rachmaninov type piano pieces. It rocks.
   
8. Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds; Alternative US singer songwriter, this was his second solo album, his previous releases having under the banner of his trio "The Ben Folds Five! His song-writing is excellent and this album cemented that reputation with stand out songs such as "Trusted" and "Landed" His band (which is still a trio if you include him) support him wonderfully, but it is his song-writing and piano playing that make this such a great album.
   
9. Continuum – John Mayer; better known of late as being Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend, Mayer is a brilliant guitarist, who has developed into a main stream song-writer, who also has a jazz trio he tours with as well. An album full of break up/-broken-up songs,. He sings sadness vey effectively!
   
10. Experiments in mass appeal – Frost*; A British prog rock band lead by keyboard player Jed Godfrey (the only rock star to follow me on Twitter!). Godfrey has a parallel career writing and recording jingles and pop songs (he co-wrote Atomic Kitten's "Whole again"). This was the band's second album and while it is a prog rock album it's very much at the heavy end of the spectrum, with also great vocal harmonies and production. Another to be played loud.
    

Happy New Year.

The Film of my life

So now we move on to my top 10 films of the last decade. To be in the list I have to have seen the film, so if you're reading this going what about this film or that film and it's not in the list, it means that I haven't seen it!!! These are (again in no particular order):-

1. High Fidelity – Two of my best friends (who also both read this!) have owned record shops in the past and this film was homage to them. Try watching it & NOT then wanting to do what I'm doing now, i.e. making lists of your favourite things, it's what we men do!
   
2. Love Actually – has its faults but for the "Emma Thompson scene" alone, where she gets the CD instead of the jewellery, worth an entry. I do also like Richard Curtis films and this has stood the test of countless repeats.
   
3. Sideways – A brilliant film about two friends and a road trip they undertake in to the Wine country of California, before one of them gets married. One wants to give his friend a good send off the other wants a final fling! Funny, sad, thoughtful and a good reflection of two men entering middle age with regrets and trying to face up to the future.
   
4. Gosford Park – a glorious "who dunnit" written by Julian Fellowes, based on an idea from director Robert Altman. It stars the cream of British actors playing both the "upstairs" and "downstairs" staff in an English country house in 1932. A murder takes place & the films deals with both the solving of the crime and the many complicated relationships involved as well.
   
5. Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Nick Park's transfer of Wallace & Gromit to the big screen could have been a disaster, but instead he produced an epic comedy, which looked like a proper film i.e. it was well lit and well filmed.
   
6. School of Rock – Jack Black's finest hour in which he plays a failed rock musician who takes a part time teacher post (illegally) and passes his love of rock music onto a class of "posh kids" with hilarious results. The music used is great and any film that recommends a child listens to a Yes album in it will always get my vote.
   
7. Lord of the Rings - Took "epic" film making into a whole new area with CGI of the highest standard which brought this almost "unfilmable" book to the cinema. Made stars of many of the cast and did New Zealand (where much of it was filmed) tourism the power of good as well!
   
8. Atonement – I hadn't read the book so this was a real treat when I watched it. Wonderfully acted and a great recreation of war time England and northern France. There is one 5 minute steady cam shot of the beaches at Dunkirk which was done in four takes as they only had two days to film the scene and the tides would ruin the continuity if they took any longer. The story is one of lies and betrayal over a number of years involving a rich English family and their eldest daughters love for the son of one of their servants.
   
9. Juno – an American film about a 16 year old school girl who gets pregnant and has to deal with all that follows. It stars Ellen Page and she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as she struggles to know, what to do and understand her feelings for the father of the baby.
   
10. Casino Royale – Bond returns in a performance by Daniel Craig that shows the more human side of the main character. Gone is the humour and bedding of as many women as possible. In its place more of the grit and determination from the original books. Craig was praised for his performance and kept many women happy as he emerged from the sea in one now iconic scene. A good return to form for a franchise that was looking one its last legs.
    

So there they are my 10 best films of the last decade. Next....albums.

Book of brilliant things

It's probably 20 years since we solely looked back on the last decade, as ten years ago we were distracted by reviewing the previous Century! This will be the first of three blogs, reviewing my favourite books, films and albums of the last ten years.

I read all the time and have therefore have read hundreds of books since 2000. Many of these have drifted in and out of my life, but some have made an impact and here are my top ten books for the last ten years.

1. The Crusaders - Richard T Kelly: One of three books in this list for which the Books Podcast from the Simon Mayo show on Radio 5 Live is entirely responsible for me reading. It’s a huge book 500+ pages and tells the story of an Anglican Vicar who is sent to “plant” a church on a Newcastle estate. It mixes corruption, gangsters, the miner’s strike and Christianity into a story that flows beautifully and is well told with rich use of language.

2. Salmon fishing in the Yemen – Paul Torday: Another Books podcast entry. This is was a first novel for Torday, who took up writing in 2006 aged 60 having previously worked in industry and engineering . The book is a satire on modern politics and revolves around as the title suggests the unlikely premise of being able to fish for Salmon in the Yemen, which it appears becomes essential for Anglo/Middle-East relations to continue. A middle ranking Whitehall career civil servant is given the job and the book follows his efforts to show everyone, unsuccessfully, how completely unrealistic the task is. It has a love story in it, pompous politicians, Middle East billionaires and Salmon fishing! The book is written in part as an exchange of e-mails and in part as evidence from the resultant public enquiry! A great mixture of politics and gentle comedy

3. Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell: Bell is a hero of mine who runs a “mega-church” in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a rare thing in the American church, a liberal Christian far more at home in the UK than parts of the US. This was his first book and it is sub-titled “repainting the Christian Faith”. It is a series of chapters in which Bell explores Christianity and how he sees its relevance in the post modern age. It is a very “modern” book with its look and printing style having a very “Apple” feel to it! It makes you think but is also a book you can dip in and out of as well.

4. Past Mortem – Ben Elton: One of two of his books to make my list. This is essentially a murder mystery “detective” novel with a love story thrown in. Elton co-wrote the successful BBC series “The Thin Blue Line” which looked at a local police station and starred Rowan Atkinson. This book is its big brother. I like detective novels and comedy and this book is a glorious mixture of the two.

5. How to be good – Nick Hornby: One of my favourite novelists, this is, in my view, his best book of the last ten years. It follows the lives of David and Kate. David starts the book as “the world’s angriest man” but decides to change his life completely and be “good” to everyone he encounters. There then follows a series of amusing events which includes inviting a homeless man to move into the spare room. This is met with incredulity by Kate, who as a Doctor, always considered herself to be doing “good” and the book explores how the two views of “doing good” relate to our modern world. It’s funny, well written and thought provoking.

6. The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly: A well known American crime novelist, who started as crime reporter on the LA Times. This is his 16th novel and was published in 2006. Most of his books are crime novels based around Detective Harry Bosch, but this one is a departure as it features US defence lawyer Mickey Haller, the “Lincoln Lawyer”, so called as he lives in his Lincoln Continental. The story is fairly straight-forward legal drama, but it is Connelly’s writing and storytelling which make this a cut above the rest. The “hero” is down on his luck, but has an ex-wife who “can’t live with him, can’t live without him” and a daughter who dotes on her father, fairly standard legal fare, but Connelly draws pictures of the participants which bring it all to life. The story involves defending a Beverley Hills “rich boy” who beats up a woman, but all is not as it seems!

7. Tell no one- Harlan Coben – Another US Crime novelist, he has sold 47 million books world-wide, which is a good start to his writing career! His first seven novels featured sports agent “Myron Bolitar” (and his best friend Win) and their involvement with crimes which his sports stars get caught up in. This was his eighth novel and the first “stand alone” one. It’s an “everything is not as it seems” book, based on the story of Dr David Beck, whose wife is abducted and murdered while on holiday. Eight years later he receives an e-mail, which when opened shows a picture of his wife, who appears anything but dead! The story then follows his pursuit of “what the hell is going on?” It was also made into a very good French film starring Kristen Scott Thomas, worth seeing for no other reason than she is in it!!

8. Ghost – Robert Harris: This is Harris 6th novel and revolves around an ex-Prime Minister, his memoires and the truth of what really happened when he was in power and in charge of the countries fight against terrorism. (Sound familiar?). The “hero” is a journalist who is drafted in to take over the “ghost-writing” of the memoires after the original ghost writer dies in suspicious circumstances. The ex PM is holed up in a borrowed home on Martha’s Vineyard and that means that the Americans can also keep an eye on what is being written. The story follows the revealing of secrets which mean that the writing of the memoires becomes a matter of life and death!! A great contemporary novel and soon to be a film, starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. Oh and it’s the 3rd Books podcast entry.

9. Exit Music – Ian Rankin: Rankin is a Scottish writer, best known for his series of “Rebus” novels that all feature D I John Rebus, who is based in Edinburgh. This is his 17th Rebus and to date his last. That is mainly as it features Rebus retiring from the Police and while Rankin may use him in the future with him looking after “cold cases” at present he has no plans to do so. Rebus is a hard drinking, divorced, rock loving; loner and his fan love him for it. After reading one or two of the novels, reading a Rebus novel takes on the familiarity of a comfortable pair of shoes. This story involves the last few days before Rebus retires and the death of a Russian dissident, which he believes has more to it. More that is, than his superiors, who are trying to keep a visiting group of Russian businessmen happy, want him to look into? There is a good backdrop of rotten Bankers (RBS thinly disguised???) and Rebus manages to get himself suspended, yet still solves the case.

10. Chart Throb – Ben Elton: Finally another Ben Elton book. This one because it changed the way I watch the X Factor and Simon Cowell must have hated it being published. The story follows the TV series “Chart Throb” (X Factor) and how its judges and production team manipulate the entrants to provide the top ratings it requires. It tells of the fights between the judges (one of whom is a “former Rock star” partially through a sex change operation into becoming a woman”) and builds to the climax of the winner being announced. Along the way you get to meet all human life and it’s all told using Elton’s caustic humour.



So there is my list, it’s not perfect and in reality for at least half of the authors I could have chosen many of their novels. This is also my list of my favourite novels of this century!

Hackett to pieces

I'm some what embarrassed to say that until last weekend I had never been to the Brook in Southampton. This is a music venue in the Portswood part of the City. I guess that it holds c500 people in both a downstairs area and an upstairs balcony. It's in an old pub and therefore has two big bars to keep the audience refreshed.

The diary of bookings is made up of good "past their best" artists, local well known bands, tribute bands and some comedy.

So last Sunday saw my mate Gray & I go to see Steve Hackett and his band there. Hackett will always be known as "ex-Genesis guitarist" Steve Hackett, although he left the group in 1977! Since then he has recorded a substantial back catalogue of his own material and is recognised as still one of the best guitarists in the "prog rock" genre.

Gray had been to the Brook on many occassions (he'd been to see the illeagal Eagles two nights before), so on his advice we got there 30 minutes before the doors opened and were close enough to the front of the queue to secure (again on his advice) a position in the gallery with a perfect view of the stage.

The band appeared on stage about an hour later and were an interesting mixture of players. Hackett himself has aged a bit but still looks good for a man in his late fifties. Accompanying him was his usual band of keyboards, drums, bass, reeds and for this tour a female backing singer (and occasional guitarist) BUT the bass player was no other than Nick Beggs from Kajagoogoo! His stage costume consisted of blonde hair in pigtails, with LARGE can style headphones on top, a leather waistcoat, leather kilt (skirt?), knee high black socks and black DM's!!!!!!! That's him in the centre of the photo. So I've now seen one fifth of Kajagoogoo live! He's a very good bass player and also plays the "Chapman stick" on which he played a solo piece at one point. If you want to know about it, you can here

The concert itself was really good and clearly shows that Hackett knows his audience very well. There was some new stuff - good and shows he's still relevant today. Some older stuff - shows he knows which parts of his back catalogue his fans want hear and love. There was some acoustic stuff - Hackett is a brilliant player of classical spanish guitar music and has recorded two albums with the symphony orchestras. Finally there were the Genesis songs - again well chosen and clearly those that Hackett had a large part in writing. Including the encore it was a two hour, twenty minute set.

The highlight for me was a Genesis song - "Firth of Fifth" which included the full piano introduction from the album, which I've never heard Genesis themselves ever play! The band were very tight and it was clear that having toured together for a number of years, they were a "band" rather than Hackett with backing musicians.

All in all a great evening and I'm already scouring the Brooks website to see who to go and see next!