The second part of Dave's review of the year. To read the first part, 'ave a go here
Career Turnaround Of The Year
Jack Penate
We’d all given up on Mr Penate. Supposedly cast forever in the role of the ‘nice’ indie troubadour, his new album was looked forward to about as much as an evening watching Gavin and Stacey. Instead, Everything Is New confounded expectations and what we got was an album of ecstatic, Balearic-influenced beats and balladry of the highest order. Of course, we all know ‘Tonight’s Today’ and ‘Be The One’, but it was in the more sedate moments like ‘Every Glance’, ‘Pull My Heart Away’ and the epic album closer ‘Body Down’ that Jack displayed the breadth of his talents, as well as a unforeseen lyrical scope.
Single Of The Year
Unlike last year when it was seemingly a pretty straightforward choice between ‘Kids’ or ‘Time To Pretend’, there was no absolute standout this year, though if it had been released as a single ‘Sleepyhead’ would have been...
1: Jack Penate- Be The One
2- Kill it Kid- Lord Send Me An Angel Down
3- Jamie T- Sticks And Stones
4-The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s- Heads Will Roll
5-Arctic Monkeys- Cornerstone
From those opening horns, ‘Be The One’ announced itself as career defining song; a pumped up unpretentious bombast of a tune with one of the most glorious chorus’s to have emerged in years. Perfect for festivals, perfect for parties, it was the soundtrack to this summer.
Songs just missing out on the top 5 included ‘Black and Blue’. ‘Empire State Of Mind’, ‘Crystalised’, ‘Let’s Go Surfing’, ‘Rubber Lover’ and ‘The Walls Are Coming Down’. Special mention also to ‘Zorbing’ by Stornoway.
Bloody Awful Music Award
Little Boots
Arriving in a wave of hype after winning BBC’s Sound of 2009, big things were expected of Ms Boots. Unfortunately this hype was ill-founded as what we got was characterless electro pop, the sort that makes you yearn for Lady Gaga (and thats saying something, though ‘Paparazzi’ is a tune). Thin verses and thinner chorus’s combined with an uneasy stage presence to make everything about her generally pretty rubbish, whilst 'New In Town' would be my choice for Most Annoying Song Of The Year. One album wonder? Lets hope so.
Album Track Of The Year
Skeletons- The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
Gorgeous ballad that sounds like it should be the soundtrack to Braveheart. Huge. So very very huge.
Definitely Would Award
Lily Allen
Although we all fell for Florence and those legs, Lily Allen was surely the fox of the year, especially in that outfit at Bestival. Liked by girls ‘cos she’s sassy and unafraid to speak her mind, liked by boys ‘cos she's fit and says she says she spends ‘ages giving head’ in ‘It’s Not Fair’. Call me Lily.
Surprise Of The Year
Rage Against The Machine getting to Christmas number one
Disregarding the fact that 'Killing In The Name' is actually a terrible song, it surprised one and all by beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry to Christmas Number One. Yes, both songs were making shitloads of money for Sony. Yes, there really is something fishy about the whole situation (Cowell doing the NME interview?). Yes, you can argue that people just jumped on another bandwagon by buying the Rage song. Yes, Rage are cearly a band with a far enhanced view of their and this whole charade's general importance. But the fact it did win proves that the internet is still very powerful indeed, and also, perhaps, that people now want to see a different type of winner from this TV talent show malarkey. Because ,and lets be honest, that Joe is really really rubbish ain't he?
Band Of The Year
Blur
An easy choice perhaps, but a fair one considering the roaring success of their comeback tour. Made us all realise just how great a band they are, how much we want them to do another album and that ‘The Universal’ might just be the best song to end a gig on ever.
Posted In Features, Dec 21 2009.
Words - David