Difficult to believe that it's now seven years since that moment where the Bermondsey Joyriders genuinely did feel like the most vital band on the planet for about five minutes. Their second album "Noise And Revolution" saw them well and truly transcend their slide-guitar blues-rock beginnings to deliver a truly angry state of the nation address on how far the country had gone to the dogs under the coalition government (little did we know...) but one with killer tunes and plenty of variety (taking in punk, garage rock and British Invasion-style '60s styles) to create an absolutely killer album. The good times sadly wouldn't last - 2014's follow-up "Flamboyant Thugs" was a good effort but did feel like a little bit of a step down in terms of quality from its predecessor and since then it's all gone a bit quiet although the band are continuing to gig under Garry Lammin's stewardship (though the rest of the line-up from this era have now moved on). But still, this was a deserving winner of my 2012 Album of the Year award and you really should dig it out if you haven't heard it yet.
9. DANKO JONES - "Below The Belt" (2010)
So here's where this list starts to go a bit weird - Danko Jones has won an Album of the Year on this list...but it wasn't with this album, it was with 2015's "Fire Music". Which, let there be no doubt, was a damn fine effort. However...I just think "Below The Belt" is slightly better and it only finished second on my 2010 list by dint of being up against the next album on this one so in it goes. Especially considering that 2008's "Never Too Loud" had been a bit of a disappointment, sunk by poor production, this really was the rip-roaring comeback from the guy that we all badly needed to hear and songs like "I Think Bad Thoughts", "Full Of Regret", "Never Enough", "Active Volcanoes" and "Apology Accepted" were the sound of the guy getting back on top of his game. As well as the aforementioned "Fire Music", Danko put out two other very good albums in the last ten years in 2012's "Rock 'n' Roll Is Black 'n' Blue" and 2017's "Wild Cat" although this year's "A Rock Supreme", while still a good effort, felt like a slight step down quality wise. Then again, given that the last time that happened "Below The Belt" was the result on the next album, hopefully history's about to repeat itself...
8. THE JIM JONES REVUE - "Burning Your House Down" (2010) (Review here)
It's difficult to overstate just how much of an impact the Jim Jones Revue had when they blasted on the scene at the start of the decade. Blending classic '50s greaser rock 'n' roll with a Mary Chain style fuzzed-up distorted sound, their second album proper built on their eponymous debut, adding a bit of nous but keeping the thrillingly feral sound that made it stand out from the crowd very much intact with songs like the title track, "Dishonest John", "Big Len", "Shoot First" and "Premeditated" sinking their teeth into your brain like a hungry Alsatian and making it a deserved winner of my 2010 Album of the Year award. Unfortunately despite building up a huge London following they never quite managed to replicate it outside the capital (they must be one of the few bands where I've seen them headlining Shepherd's Bush Empire then a few weeks later playing the late lamented Harlow Square which was about a tenth of the size) and their third album, 2012's "The Savage Heart" turned out to be their last. Jones and bassist Gavin Jay would move on to the more bluesy swamp-rock influenced Righteous Mind (and you can hear traces of this sort of music moving into the JJR's repertoire) who put out two very worthy albums towards the end of the decade (2017's "Supernatural" and 2019's "CollectiV") but for me, the sheer rush of "Burning Your House Down" is hard to beat.
7. THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING - "Double Negative" (2018) (Review here)
When they first crashed on to the scene with 2010's quickly-renamed "Now That's What I Call Steampunk Vol 1" and 2012's excellently named follow-up "This May Be The Reason Why The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weapons", TMTWNBBFN were great fun but a bit of a novelty comedy band, writing short sharp punk blasts about George Stephenson, Charles Darwin and Isambaard Kingdom Brunel. However, 2015's "Not Your Typical Victorians" saw them start to move into darker waters on songs like "Third Class Coffin" and "This House Is Not Haunted" before "Double Negative" saw them taking the darkness of that album and adding a sharper punk sound to it to brilliant effect and well and truly casting off any novelty act preconceptions. The likes of "Supply And Demand", "Baby Farmer" and "God Is In The Bottom Line" were sharp and vicious although "Obscene Fucking Machine" did add a bit of humour to the equation for anyone worried it was all getting a bit serious suddenly. With the promise of new material hopefully imminent, it's anyone's guess where they go next but it should be well worth going along for the journey. A deserved winner of the 2018 Album of the Year.
6. PETER PERRETT - "How The West Was Won" (2017) (Review here)
Given that in the 37 years between the break-up of the Only Ones and the release of "How The West Was Won", Peter Perrett had released a total of one album, the prospect of seeing one, let alone two (this year saw him release another good effort "Humanworld") new albums from the guy at the start of the decade must've seemed pretty remote. A much more sunny and optimistic affair than most of the Only Ones' output, this was Perrett being glad to be alive and the likes of "An Epic Story", "Man Of Extremes", "Sweet Endeavour" and especially the quite lovely ode to his wife "C Voyeurger" were up there with the best Only Ones stuff - high praise indeed. With Perrett now back recording again, hopefully the new decade will see more material from the guy as he continues to make up for lost time.
5. THE URBAN VOODOO MACHINE - "In Black 'n' Red" (2011) (Review here)
Similar to Danko Jones, the Voodoos won my 2016 AOTY award for the excellent "Hellbound Hymns" but this one only missed out very narrowly to the Eureka Machines and I think would've won it in any other year. As with all the best second albums, it took the best elements of the Voodoos' 2008 debut "Bourbon Soaked Gypsy Blues Bop 'n' Stroll" and built on them nicely to create a strong set of songs, several of which are still in the band's live set to this day - "Go East", "Cheers For The Tears", "Rather You Shot Me Down", "High Jeopardy Thing", "Goodbye To Another Year", "Heroin (Put My Brothers In The Ground)", the hits that should've been just keep on coming here! The group have had something of a tough decade with two members, Robb Skipper and Nick Marsh, sadly no longer being with us but they delivered a killer hat-trick of albums (2014's "Love, Drink And Death" being the third) and with new material looking to be forthcoming in the year ahead, it'll be good to have them back with us.
4. ELECTRIC RIVER - "The Faith And Patience" (2014) (Review here)
Six years on from this album, which deservedly won the 2014 Album of the Year award, I'm still puzzled as to why it just kind of never happened for Electric River. Following on from their "decent enough but no indications of what was to come" debut, 2008's "Radio No Go!", "The Faith And Patience" was described by a few folks as being Britain's answer to the Gaslight Anthem. Except, personal opinion, it was even better. Songs such as "This Garden Will Grow", "Leap Of Faith", "Water Song", "Hold Your Nerve", "Queen Of Hearts" and "Keep The Engine Burning" were the sort of genuine blue-collar ode to the forgotten towns of England that you just don't seem to get anymore and were welded to killer tunes and hooks which had you cueing this one up for listen after listen. Unfortunately it didn't give them the chart success they richly deserved and the group would split in 2016, a truly sad loss for the British music scene.
3. HEY! HELLO! - "Hey! Hello!" (2013) (Review here)
After the rather messy break-up of the Wildhearts at the start of the decade, Ginger announced he was going to concentrate on a couple of new side bands. While Mutation was basically an exercise in wilfully difficult noise rock, Hey Hello saw him hooking up with singer Victoria Liedtke to indulge his love of poppier music and their debut album was an absolute killer with the likes of "Swimwear", "I'm Gonna Kiss You Like I'm Going Away", "Black Valentine", "Feral Days" and "We're Outta Here!" being up there with Ginger's best. Widely acclaimed and even breaching the chart, a full group was assembled to tour the album and it seemed the sky was the limit...until Ginger and Victoria fell out and the latter was ousted from the band. The group brought in Hollis from the Love Zombies for the follow-up but that ended badly as well as she quit the group a week before the album launch tour was due to start and the album had to be taken back to scratch and recorded again. The group battled on with new singer Cat Southall but after all the various headaches, Ginger ended up winding the group up in 2017 and reuniting the Wildhearts. More of which shortly. However, Hey Hello did leave behind two good albums but it's this first one (my 2013 Album of the Year) which is the better of the two with the sheer sugar rush of the songs lending itself easily to repeated listening.
2. EUREKA MACHINES - "Champion The Underdog" (2011) (Review here)
Although my favourite Eurekas album is still the first one (2008's "Do Or Die"), this one does run it hairs-breadth close and was my 2011 Album of the Year. Seeing Chris Catalyst and co at their poppiest, songs such as the title track, "These Are The People Who Live In My House", "Zero Hero", "I'm Wasting My Time Yet Again", "Beginning of the End of the World" and "Professional Crastinator", this really was all killer no filler and deservedly brought the group to national attention. Subsequent albums (2012's "Remain In Hope", 2015's "Brain Waves" and 2018's "Victories") did unfortunately see the law of diminishing returns setting in a little bit although I think that's more down to just how damn good the first two albums were than the others being under-par. Either way, the Eureka Machines are still out there, still kicking arse live and hopefully we'll be hearing more from them in the decade ahead.
1. THE WILDHEARTS - "Renaissance Men" (2019)
Okay so I'll happily admit that the Wildhearts have been my favourite band for the last 25 years or so but when I heard they'd be putting out a new album in 2019, my thoughts were that it could genuinely go either way. The group's two albums prior to their rather messy dissolution in about 2010 or so (2006's self-titled effort and 2008's "Chutzpah!") both had their moments but, especially in the case of the former, quite a bit of filler as well. The early part of the decade saw Ginger putting together several solo projects but towards the end of the decade, he reconciled with Danny and CJ to put the classic WH line-up back together and 'Hearts fans collectively held their breath at the prospect of new material. As it turned out "Renaissance Men" was a truly triumphant comeback, probably the group's best since 1995's classic "PHUQ". In an age where rock had seemingly been swamped with idea-free clone rockers, this was the sound of a band taking their influences apart and putting them back together in a way that made it sound original but also still remembering to rock like an absolute bastard. The title track was pure pop, "Diagnosis" sounded like AC/DC covering the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", "My Kinda Movie" and "Emergency (Fentanyl Babylon)" were proper 200mph white knuckle rides, "Let 'Em Go" had a chorus that seemed to just be waiting for arenas to bellow along to it and "The Fine Art Of Deception" and "My Side Of The Bed" showed that they could let the songs breathe a bit when thoughtful lyrics required it. Quite simply, it's a reminder of everything that makes this group mean so much to so many people and as well as being my 2019 Album of the Year, it (just to say!) makes it as my Album of the Decade as well.
Well, I guess that's it then. As I said before, I hope everyone's enjoyed my deranged music scribblings over the last two decades plus but now it's time to take a much-earned breather. I'm sure there'll be other stuff to write about in this blog in the near future, be it music related or otherwise, but for now this is Andy James Close signing off. Enjoy your New Year folks and see you in 2020.
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