IT’S that time of year when we jog your memory about the year’s leading long-players. Not in your collection yet? Where have you been?
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
THE STREETS – A GRAND DON’T COME FOR FREE (679)
Mike Skinner proved the doubters wrong with not only one of the best platters of the year but also the most innovative. This is as much a historical document as it is a music album – don’t ask me what genre you put it into, maybe at the end of the day ‘spoken word’ is your best bet. The curious blend of hip-hop, ska and guitar samples are imaginative, the bullseye poetry is just as fresh. Single Fit (But You Know It) was silly but even the girls were convinced when Dry Your Eyes Mate – an anthem for England’s Euro 2004 failure – came out. Inspired stuff.
COMPILATION OF THE YEAR:
NORMAN JAY – GIANT 45 (REACT)
Carnival master Norman Jay has a series of decent compilations to his name but he outdid himself in August with the Giant 45 collection. A fantastic mix of soul, funk, disco, jazz and pop, the thinking clubber’s DJ sorts the men from the boys. Tom Clay’s majestic What The World Needs Now sits comfortably alongside a blissful cut of Nitin Sawnhey’s Falling. In between there are doses of Aretha, Marvin and Barry White.
The best of the rest:
INDIE: THE CONCRETES – THE CONCRETES (Licking Fingers)
ALWAYS the hardest category to choose. How can you overlook the downright brilliance of The Killers, the breakthrough hope of The Features and The Kaiser Chiefs? And what about the comeback attempts of The Thrills and Embrace who re-appeared with some half-decent tunes. Franz Ferdinand were fortunate Mercury winners and although they did well at Glastonbury, they soon became boring.
It’s the band that hits you with something different which makes you sit up and take notice, and this year it was The Concretes who rocked Grooves’ world. A fantastic live act, a punked-up debut album – it is only a matter of time before more see the light.
(Last year – The Strokes, Room On Fire)
DANCE: THE SUNBURST BAND – UNTIL THE END OF TIME (Zr)
Forget the one-off hits like Eric Prydz’s Call On Me and the endless re-workings of I Just Can’t Wait ‘Til Saturday – them tunes are rubbish. Look instead to the warm disco of The Sunburst Band who re-appeared under the guidance of Joey Negro this year to too few plaudits.
(Last year – Moloko, Statues)
POP: JAMELIA – Thank You (Sony)
SO it turned out that the reality TV contestants weren’t all bad. Most of them were, but not all. Girls Aloud turned in some catchy singles, as did the one that didn’t make their line-up, Javine Hylton. Lemar went from soul chump to soul champ. But there was no looking beyond Jamelia when it came to the cheesy pop charts. Her album Thank You needed a re-release with the single See It in a Boy’s Eyes but once given a chance, turned heads. It’s worth the cash alone for title track Thank You, a gem of a song which will still be sought-after in years to come.
(Last year – The Darkness,
Permission To Land)
JAZZ/ROOTS: OZOMATLI – STREET SIGNS (Real World)
IT may be stretching the category but you can’t go wrong with Ozomatli. A rootsy Latin-crossed base with a hip-hop sheen, the band sum up what’s good about live music. Latest album Street Signs brings in new influences, a bit of Bollywood, a bit of north Africa, a hint of the Middle East and isn’t that the Prague Symphony Orchestra joining in for good measure? Someone once called it Latin reggae – not sure about that but the bottom line is they always hit the mark.
(Last year – Kanda Bongo Man, Swalati)
HIP-HOP: TALIB KWELI – THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE (Universal)
A MUST for any hip-hop aficionado, Talib Kweli could be rapping about anything and it would still sound good. As it is his lyrics are powerful without ever resorting to the guns and girls gangsta culture. Mary J. Blige, Common and even that other rap hero from 2004 Kanye West help out to make The Beautiful Struggle an instant classic.
(Last year – 50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’)
TURKEY OF THE YEAR:
SCISSOR SISTERS – SCISSOR SISTERS (POLYDOR)
AFTER reading every other muso’s end of year poll, Grooves is even more fatigued by the Scissor Sisters than ever. Listen now: They are not that good and there are no cool points for saying you like them. Vacuous nonsense which fails to justify the hype, reviewers have inexplicably described the band as innovative – clearly blind to the fact they borrow heavily from so many that have gone before.