Andy's Top 40 albums of 2014 - Intro

So it's that time of year again when I take a look back through 2014. I'll be putting a blog up here next week about my highs and lows of 2014 but first, here's my traditional run through some of the music that's rocked my proverbial boat this year. Rather like last year, there was a lot of stuff I've listened to either in my job as a reviewer for Pure Rawk or just independently. You can read a few of the mini-reviews here on that website also but in the end the list came to 40 albums (okay, actually 41 - after much deliberation, I axed "Sonic Highways" by the Foo Fighters off the list to chop it down to a nice round number. In the extremely unlikely event that Dave Grohl's reading this, sorry dude).

The criteria for this list was that the albums had to be new material so no re-recordings or live albums. This did lead to another two being disqualified but I'll give 'em a quick summation (with the customary video link) here as they're both well worth a listen.

First, "Lords Take Altamont" by the Lords of Altamont. I've always liked these guys and this was a great little collection of covers of songs by bands who played at the festival which they took their name from. Trust me, it takes a hell of a lot of skill to cover a Stones song from the late '60s/early '70s (when they were at their creative peak in my opinion) and do it justice but hopefully a listen to the version of "Gimme Shelter" below should persuade you that this is well worth a listen.

Secondly, "Re-Licked" by James Williamson. This was a collection of latter era Stooges songs (ie the two years between "Raw Power" and the band's extremely messy demise) which Williamson, the band's guitarist at the time, put together an all star cast to re-work. And credit to him, he did a damn good job of it. Guest vocalists included Bobby Gillespie, Jello Biafra, Mark Lanegan, Lisa Kekaula (the Bellrays) and Alison Mosshart (the Kills). For me though, the highlight was this version of "Open Up And Bleed" featuring the vocal talents of Carolyn Wonderland. Think a soul-based Iggy cover could never work? Prepare to be amazed...

Anyway, let's get on to the main list shall we? Just click here and we'll get started...