Album Of The Year & 2014 Review

It's that time of year again and we're looking back over the 12 months of 2014. We've enjoyed a good year as we moved to hosting the show weekly on Phonic FM, which has meant more output than ever before.  And of course as well as bucketloads of quality tunes from the nineties there has been a steady stream of great new music from both established names and new artists alike.

We promoted our first ever gig (former Geneva singer, Andrew Montgomery) which was a fantastic night.  As well as Andrew I've been fortunate enough to attend gigs by a number of Britpop bands including Suede, Dodgy and former Bluetone Mark Morriss and the Gene re-issue launch party but the undoubted highlight for me was seeing Speedy perform live for the first time in 17 years as their debut album finally got its release.

It's also been a pleasure to interview so many people this year for the show, from new unsigned bands to the legend that is Sir Bernard Butler.  

These are just some of the people we had on the show in 2014:

• Nigel Powell (ex The Unbelievable Truth)
• Richard McNevin-Duff of The Space Monkeys
• Jason Applin (ex Bennet)
• Speedy
• Johnny Dean of Menswear
• Mike Heaton from Embrace
• Jake Shillingford of My Life Story
• Matt James (ex Gene)
• Andrew Montgomery (ex Geneva)
• Simon Eugene (ex Out Of My Hair)
• Sonya Madan of Echobelly
• Nigel Clark of Dodgy
• Rick Witter of Shed Seven
• Will from CUD
• Bernard Butler (ex Suede, McAlmont & Butler, The Tears)
• Andy Watts (ex The Seahorses)
• Mark Morriss (ex The Bluetones)

I'm already drawing up the a list of potential names for 2015!

One of the bands I want to get onto the show is our New Band Of The Year... Superfood.  A fantastic new band with a sound that owes a clear debt to the nineties without sounding like a pastiche. Their debut album Don't Say That was released in October to rave reviews and they've been nominated for Best New Band at the NME awards (though they'll undoubtedly be more chuffed with getting the nod from us!)

And now to our Album Of The Year. Last year it was Suede's magnificiant comeback, Bloodsports but with none of Britpop's big names in the studio this year, what will take the honours?

Album Of The Year - 2014

1. Speedy - News From Nowhere

2. Manic Street Preachers - Futurology

3. Superfood - Don't Say That

4. Mark Morriss - A Flash Of Darkness

5. Andrew Montgomery - Ruled By Dreams

Yes,  perhaps no surprise this one given the fact that we played this album before anyone else and played a (very minor) part in helping to get it finally released.  A time capsule of classic 90s indie-pop from a band who were always on the edge of something big but never quite made that final step, News From Nowhere is the missing piece of your Britpop record collection.

Album Of The Year... Speedy - News From Nowhere

You can listen to our review show here:

Britpop Revival Show #94 Christmas 2014 by Britpop Revival on Mixcloud

Our Albums Of The Year 2013

I know that on our shows we play a lot of old music but we've always got one ear open to new releases.  This year has seen encouraging signs that guitar music is starting to come to the fore once again and as well as some exciting new artists we've also seen some great new material from more established bands.  

Hell even David Bowie came back in 2013, and it was good!  Not quite good enough to make our top 5 releases of the year though.  So here are our, highly subjective, top 5 albums of the year.  We limited it to British artists, seeing as how our shows are all about British music.  And yes, perhaps there is something of a bias towards older bands but I'd like to think that through our new band of the week feature we give at least a little bit of exposure to bands who are coming through.

So our top 5 albums are:

1. Suede - Bloodsports
2. Arctic Monkeys - AM
3. Sulk - Graceless
4. Primal Scream - More Light
5. Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart

And whilst there may have been much debate over here at Britpop HQ about what albums should make the top 5, the number 1 spot was never in much doubt.  It is fair to say that Bloodsports was much anticipated here coming as it did after an 11 year recording hiatus and following on from 2002's disappointing A New Morning.  It did not disappoint.  From the free download teaser of Barriers and throughout the album there is not a duff track.  An album that sounds contemporary and yet sparkles with the Suede swagger and grandeur of old.  Truly a compelling return to form and a worthy choice for our album of the year.