Andy's Top Albums Of 2019 (Part 1 & Intro)

So here we are again. As usual, I've taken a look back at the year in music and decided which cuts rocked my boat in 2019. As with last year, the list eventually came to 60 albums and I'll be posting ten a day with the Top 10 going up on Christmas Eve. Why so early, you ask? Well, because I've got another treat for you all once the festive season's over. But first...

It's traditional at this time of year that I also take a look at the biggest disappointments of the last 12 months but to be honest, I haven't actually heard anything especially awful this year. Although having said that, there were a few normally reliable bands/artists who made what can best be described as creative mis-steps. Hearing Duff McKagan and Jesse Malin making frankly unnecessary excursions into plodding acoustic rock on "Tenderness" and "Sunset Kids" respectively was something I could have done without while at the other end of the noise scale, the much-hyped debut from Amyl & The Sniffers just ended up sounding like a band who'd been rushed in to record their debut album about a year before they'd managed to hone their set properly and Warrior Soul's "Rock 'n' Roll Disease" was an ideas-free drudge which sounded like a bunch of tenth rate AC/DC knock-offs - given that Kory Clarke can be a seriously fierce on-the-point lyricist when he puts his mind to it, it really sounded like he wasn't even trying here. .

Right, this year's instalment of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People now complete, let's move on to the good stuff. A quick reminder of past winners before we do...

2018: The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - "Double Negative"
2017: Peter Perrett - "How The West Was Won"
2016: The Urban Voodoo Machine - "Hellbound Hymns"
2015: Danko Jones - "Fire Music"
2014: Electric River - "The Faith And The Patience"
2013: Hey! Hello! - "Hey! Hello!"
2012: The Bermondsey Joyriders - "Noise And Revolution"
2011: The Eureka Machines - "Champion The Underdog"

Let's get this show on the road then, shall we?...

60. ALVIN GIBBS & THE DISOBEDIENT SERVANTS - "Your Disobedient Servant"

Best known as the UK Subs' long time bass player, the debut album by Alvin Gibbs' new side project the Disobedient Servants saw them mining a more scuzzy '80s glam-punk vein, not dissimilar to the Lords of the New Church or even Iggy Pop in his, well, poppier moments (tellingly, Gibbs was also in Mr Osterberg's band in the '80s). A low-slung slice of sleaze-punk, this made for a surprisingly agreeable listen.

(NB - no videos available unfortunately, sorry folks!)

59. THE SKINTS - "Swimming Lessons"

Following on from 2017's righteous "FM" album, "Swimming Lessons" saw the Skints take a more laid-back mid-paced approach to their sound and, to be honest, it kind of left this album stuck in the shadow of its predecessor a bit. Yet persevere with "Swimming Lessons" and the thoughtful lyrics of old are still there, it's just they don't jump out quite as immediately as they used to. Still a good album then and worth a listen if you're prepared to be patient with it, it just could've been slightly better.

58. GIUDA - "E.V.A." (Review here)

After a three-year break following their previous album "Speaks Evil", "EVA" saw Italian bootboy glam revivalists Giuda taking their sound off in a new direction by adding some synths and a retro-space theme to the mix with the result sounding almost a bit '80s new wave. Too many instrumentals breaking up the pace unfortunately let this one down a little bit but the good bits are definitely well worth a listen.

57. BOB MOULD - "Sunshine Rock"

"Sunshine Rock" showed Bob Mould at his most punchy with the twelve songs zipping by in half an hour. Although if I'm honest, I preferred the more thoughtful approach of "Sunshine Rock"'s predecessor "Patch The Sky", there was still plenty of good stuff in here making it well worth a listen for Bob's fans and those newcomers keen to investigate his output.

56. ROSETTA STONE - "Seems Like Forever" (Review here)

Rosetta Stone were perfectly poised to take up the mantle of goth scene leaders from the Mission and the Sisters of Mercy in the early '90s before the rise of the industrial scene took the genre off in a new direction and left them stranded. With an easily identifiable icy '80s goth sound (drum machine an' all), "Seems Like Forever" wasn't anything you weren't expecting but at least it was done well with enough good hooks to draw you in for repeated listens.

55. FEROCIOUS DOG - "Fake News And Propaganda"

Another band who chose to take the tempo down a notch for their new album in 2019, "Fake News And Propaganda" saw Derby folk-punks Ferocious Dog adopting a more thoughtful approach compared to previous efforts. An album that was more one that bore fruit with repeated listening than grabbed you immediately, there was nevertheless some good stuff on here if you were prepared to be patient with it.

54. BAD RELIGION - "The Age Of Unreason"

As you'd expect with the US continuing to suffer under the "greed and war are good" administration of Donald Trump, Bad Religion had a lot to be angry about in 2019 and "The Age Of Unreason" proved to be another solid offering from these punk veterans.

53. AIRBOURNE - "Boneshaker"

To be honest, I'd pretty much given up on Airbourne after two well below par albums (2015's "Black Dog Barking" and 2017's "Breakin' Outta Hell") but "Boneshaker" did at least show that maybe, just maybe, this band still have something to offer other than decade-old songs off their first album. With a heavier punkier sound, "Boneshaker" might not hit the target every time but it does at least show that this band still have a bit of fight left in them.

52. PHIL CAMPBELL - "Old Lions Still Roar"

Phil Campbell's first offering since the break-up of Motorhead, 2018's "Age Of Absurdity" with the Bastard Sons was a bit of a disappointment all told, a disappointingly generic "modern rock" album. However, "Old Lions Still Roar" was a marked improvement with Campbell calling on an impressive array of guests including Alice Cooper, Rob Halford and Dee Snider and picking songs to perfectly match their talents. Sure, there were a couple of plodding countrified numbers that dragged this down a little bit but overall "Old Lions Still Roar" very much lived up to its name.

51. BACKYARD BABIES - "Sliver And Gold" (Review here)

After an atrocious comeback album in 2016's terrible "Four By Four", a lot of people had written the Backyards off but "Sliver And Gold" saw them, if not quite returning to the form of their imperial "Total 13"/"Making Enemies Is Good" phase, at least take a big step in the right direction with a mostly impressive collection of scuzzed up Scandinavian sleaze just like wot they used to do so well.