Top Ten of 2015

I got lazy last year and never got around to writing a review for my top ten albums, maybe I just got tired writing detailed reviews for each album or maybe it wasn’t a very inspiring year for music. I thought it was time to post both my 2014’s and 2015’s top list. It seems fitting putting those two years together in one blog since a few of those albums from Sam Smith, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran crossed over and could be on either list.

Best Albums of 2015


1.“Paper Gods” Duran Duran: The boys are like a very fine wine, they only get better with age. This album is not as cohesive as their predecessor “All You Need Is Now”, but it is one hell of an album, from the opening anthem “Paper Gods” it is superbly recorded and produced. The album is much more modern sounding then anything they done in years, from the vinyl groove of “Pressure Off” produced by legend Nile Rodgers to the best cut “Last Night in the City” which makes you want to never leave the dancefloor. For those wanting the classic “Duran” sound “Face For Today” and the “Save A Prayer like”, “What Are The Chances” fit the bill. The album’s opus “You Killed Me With Silence” with its “Chauffeur” like atmosphere, and odd verses against the chorus is one of their best. One of my favorites “Sunset Garage” is the first time I’ve seen Duran channel the Motown sound and to suburb effect, I could have easily seen the Temptations covering this. “Butterfly Girl” is kind of an odd track but it’s heavily drum sounds give it a bit of “Power Stations” feel. Yes there are a few missteps like “Dancephobia” with Lindsey Lohan, and the album kind of loses steam at the end but it still a very fine wine.

2.“Rebel Heart”—Madonna”: At 19 songs I find the album a bit long, but pruned down to about 12 tracks, it’s her best album since “Ray Of Light. From the singles “Living For Love” to “Ghosttown” which should have been huge hit, this album puts Madonna in ripe form. Best tracks include the autobiographical “Joan Of Arc”, Devil Pray” and the title song, this is the direction Madonna should take, the song “Rebel Heart” is her most heartfelt and endearing ever. “Body Shop” is a cute retro style “True Blue” song that only Madonna can pull off. I’m not a fan of tracks like “Bitch I’m Madonna” "Iconic"or “Holy Water” but then some would argue that those are more like “Madonna” the the rest.


3.  “No Place In Heaven”—Mika: Excellent album from one of the most underrated pop musicians. Best tracks include “Good Guys”,  the hilarious poppy “All She Wants” about a mother longing more for her son and the dancefloor track “Staring At The Sun”. The album has it’s tragic but beautiful storytelling with the Freddy Mercury inspired “Last Party” and the superb title track. If you haven’t checked out Mika please do so.“

4. Made In  The AM”-One Direction: Manufactured or not they make good pop records, with every album they seem to grow up just a bit. Lead single “Drag Me Down” written by their songwriting team of Julian Bunetta and Jamie Scott is one of their finest singles. Unfortunately, they chose 2 of the worst tracks to follow up, “Perfect” and “Infinity” are OK but they don’t compare to what follows. “If I could Fly” or “History” could have easily replaced them. All members of the group seem to have their hand in co- writing most of the songs. They channel a retro Fleetwood Mac groove on the fab “What A Feeling” and just as lovely is “I Want To Write You A Song”. Two of my favorites, the totally different “Never Enough” and the Harry Style co-written beatle-esque “Olivia” could have put the group in another league above the typical boy band.

5. “X”--Ed—Sheeran: A funky rhythm and soul album that infuses rock, pop and rap. Ed knows no boundaries; he does everything to perfection from the emotional ballads of “The One”, “Photograph” and “Thinking Out Loud”, to his beautiful falsetto and craftsmanship as a musician.  I prefer Ed when he gets down with the tracks like “Sing” and “Don’t”, it’s hard to believe that a ginger white guy is this funky.
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6.“L’orchestre Symphonique De Montréal”—Mika: Team up one of the most underrated pop stars with Montreal’s incredible Symphonic Orchestra and you get one of the most fabulous sounding albums. This project proves just how talented and what a great songwriter Mika is, even odd chosen tracks like francophone “Boum Boum Boum” are perfect.





7. “Unbreakable”—Janet Jackson: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis return to produce her best album in over two decades”. On the title track they turn Janet’s velvet vocals and sprinkle their magic slow jam groove that moves throughout the record. Janet uncannily channels her brother Michael on the fabulous “The Great Forever”. Favorite tracks include “2 B Loved”, “Shoulda Known Better” and the retro “Jacksons 5/Escapade” “Gon' B Alright”.






8. "1989"--Taylor Swift: What can I say about this album that hasn’t been said. Like it or not it’s a pop juggernaut. From the solids hits “Blank Space”, “Shake It Off", “Style” and “Wildest Dreams”, producer Max Martin and Swift made a blueprint to the perfect pop album and put the music industry back on it’s feet. The one misstep is the childish nursery rhyme “Bad Blood” whom without Swift's name and billion buck video, in my opinion, would have never hit #1. My favorite is still “I Know Places” co-written with Ryan Tedder.



9. “Get Up”—Bryan Adams: Produced by ELO’s Jeff Lynn, Bryan puts out another fantastic album. Opener “You Belong To Me” is a rockabilly Traveling Wilburys type record, but the rest of the album is all Adams. The retro sounding rock anthems “Go Down Rockin’” and “That’s Rock And Roll” could have easily followed up “Reckless” back in 1985. “We Did It All” could be up there with some of his biggest hits as well as lead single “Brand New Day”. “Don’t Even Try”, feels like a long lost early Beatles record. In case you want to hear what the some of the song would sound like without Lynn’s production, Adams give you 4 acoustic tracks.

10.“All American Boy”-Steve Grand: One of the biggest Kickstarters campaigns, Steve Grand delivered a great album to his fans and backers. They dubbed him the “gay country singer” but I would place him more in the Bryan Adams area of music. The title track was one of my favorite songs a few years ago and he follows it up with superb tunes like “Stay”, “Say You Love Me”, and “Time”. A bit out of place on this album but my favorite, is the dance anthem “We Are The Night”, maybe he can one day do a full hi NRG album. Looking forward to hearing what Steve does next.



Best Singles of 2015

1. “Marvin Gaye”--Charlie Puth and Meagan Trainor
2. “Ghost”—Ella Henderson
3. “Drag Me Down” One Direction
4.  “Ghosttown”—Madonna
5.  “One Call Away”--Charlie Puth
6. “Living For Love”—Madonna
7. “Last Night In The City”—Duran Duran featuring Kieza
8. “Pressure Off” Duran Duran featuring Janelle Monae and Nile Rodgers
9.  “More Then Silence” Culture Club
10. “Sugar”—Maroon 5
11. “Sing” Ed Sheeran
12. “Uptown Funk”—Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

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Top Albums of 2014

1. "50 St. Catherine's Drive" Robin Gibb

2. “Sweet Talker”Jessie J.

3. “In The Lonely Hour” Sam Smith 

4. “High Hopes” Bruce Springsteen 

5.  “Xscape” Michael Jackson

6. “Kiss Me Once” Kylie Minogue 

7. “Songs Of Innocence” U2

8. “Never Been Better” Olly Murs 

9. “Four” One Direction 

10. “3” Take That  

 
Top Singles of 2014

1. Alan Freeman Days--Robin Gibb
2. Love Never Felt So Good--Michael Jackson
3. Stay With Me—Sam Smith
4. Let It Go-Idina Menzel
5. Take Me To Church—Hozier
6. Masterpiece—Jessie J.
7. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)—U2
8. Night Changes--One Direction
9. Up-- Olly Murs & Demi Lovato
10. I’m Not The Only One—Sam Smith
11. Into The Blue-Kylie Minogue
12. Wrapped Up-Olly Murs

2012 The Year In Review

For a year with a lot of “pop music” I actually found it difficult to choose the ten best. There were many good albums but nothing really blew me away.

I flip flopped back and forth with the #1 position any of my top 5 could have filled the bill but I believe that the Scissor Sisters and Mika produced superior products and interesting outputs. A few albums surprised me like Lionel Richie’s country “Tuskegee”, which become one of the top ten selling albums of the year in the USA, and Kylie Minogue’s “Abbey Road”, I did not think I would like either of them.

A few albums missed my top ten like Taylor Swift’s “Red” which had some great tracks but I found needed more pruning, The Wanted’s North American EP, and One Direction who had two albums chart at #1, “Take Me Home” could have made my list but I thought their first effort had better tracks. The most surprising is two of my favorite divas not making my list. The first is Madonna, I originally liked “MDNA” but it quickly wore off, she really needs to rethink her music for her next album. Then there’s Celine Dion who French album “Sans Attendre” just didn’t cut it for me despite the great single “Parler A Mon Père”.

The single charts were much more interesting than the albums charts, they were ruled by Riahnna, Marron 5, Fun, Gotye (who topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs of the year), Taylor Swift and Canadian Idol Carly Rae Jepsen (who didn’t cover “Call Me Maybe”), unfortunately I found her full length album really disappointing. There were great singles by the Scissor Sisters, Mika, One Direction and Ke$ha.

Top Ten Albums of 2012

1) Magic Hour—Scissor Sisters

Their best effort since their debut album the “Sisters” keep delivering solid, exciting and fabulous music, from Jake’s plead to his lover on the sultry “Baby come home” to their Calvin Harris collaboration “Only The Horses” one of the best dancefloor tracks of the year, so much better than “We Found Love” which Harris gave to Rihanna.  “Inevitable” produced by Pharrell Williams for the Neptunes is lush and gorgeous, Jake’s falsetto evokes memories of the BeeGees at their best, while “The Year Of Living Dangerously” feels like a James Bond theme, maybe they could replace Adele next time.

The album is a bit of a mixed bag “San Luis Obispo” is a typical Spanish/Island flavoured ditty but hey if Madonna could do it why can’t they? While never boring some of the tracks like “Keep Your Shoes On”, and “Shady Love” which I find mildly annoying especially Jake’s attempt at Hip Hop, are kind of hit and miss, but a “Sister” miss is still better than a chart hit by any other. 

“Self Control” turns to the house beats of the 90’s, while the average “Best In Me” is kind of forgotten by the end of your listen. Luckily the last 2 songs get back on track with the beautifully haunting “The Secret Life of Letters” and “Somewhere” the Pet Shop Boys-esque dance jam that is pure bliss, this song should have been a single.

Then there’s “KIKI”, who would have thought that this would be the song everybody including Hollywood’s stars would be clamoring about. The little Ms Matronic jam, with nothing but pulsating drums over her complaints about having her “par-tee” closed down even took the TV show Glee by storm, yet despite all that the Sisters have yet to produce a hit single in the USA.

2) The Origin Of Love—Mika

When you open a Mika album you never know what you are going to get, but melody and lots of fun are a given. This album his 3^rd, feels a little more grown up and less sugary pop, but he hasn’t lost his sense of wonder, poetry or joy. Many collaborate with him including some of the industry’s best. Nick Littlemore from the Australia dance duo Pnau lends a hand for a many of the songs including the fabulous title track whose melody and lyrics “Love is a drug and you are my cigarette, love is addiction and you are my Nicorette”, “sticks in your head like glue, but once the breakdown/guitar verses kicks in, its bliss, this song has everything from pulsating drums, a double chorus “to the one I love…”, too bad it’s too unique for radio. “Lola” is a fun synth 70’s bass line romp but following it is my favorite track “Stardust” produced by Benni Benassi, a fantastical dance floor pulsating jam over Mika’s fab falsetto. “Make You Happy” whose video was filmed in Montreal, has a beautiful synth and string arrangements melded over an auto tuned muffled chorus which produces a really nice effect. “Underwater” is a stunning and haunting piano electro ballad, a song begging to be a big film score. “Kids” sound like an old familiar 70’s classic tune but updated to our time, while “I Love You When I’m Drunk” is a fun take on his love life. “Step with Me’ is a bit too formulaic for me but I give two thumbs up to the track “Popular Song” with Priscilla Renea, both authors give a big “middle finger” to their haters in high school with a cheeky silly synth song.

“Heroes” is a heartfelt and bittersweet song especially in this time of civil war around the world, “fighting someone else’s’ war” Mika’s sing “Your blood on me, my blood on you”, “Heroes aren’t meant to survive”. The moment doesn’t last long as Mika breaks up the sombre tone with Pharrell Williams for “Celebrate” a Madonna-esque dance floor anthem perfect to dust off the sadness.

Included is Emily the English version of his fabulous French song “Elle Me Dit”, whose friends tells him to stop wasting his life, get off his ass and do something with his life, write a song, make a million dollars, while he might not be making millions or having many hits, he and I are having lots of fun, eh Emily?

3) Elysium—Pet Shop Boys

Nobody does smooth electronic dance music like the boys, from the opening track “Leaving”, you feel like you are covered in a warm and fuzzy blanket of beats. We aren’t talking about hit you over head like Guetta or Calvin Harris but soothing melodies. A departure and less “pop” then their previous effort “Yes” this album takes a few listens to get into. Unfortunately it starts off in my opinion with a few week tracks. “Invisible’ is a little too low key for me. The single “Winner” picks it up a bit and it only gets better from there.

I love how the boys they both don’t take their status too seriously, they get cheeky and make fun of themselves with the inspired story “Early Stuff” about a cabbie who chats them up on a ride “You've been around but you don't look too rough, And I still quite like some of your early stuff” Neil sings “Those old videos look pretty funny What's in it for you now, need the money?"They say that management never used to pay, honestly you were ripped off back in the day”. Then there’s “Ego Music” at first listen I found the song annoying, but I think that was the point, this song most likely about Kanye West and his rapper buddies “Ego music, it’s all about me” , sense of entitlement…” How ironic that the boys hired Andrew Dawson (Kanye’s album engineer) to produce the album.

“A Face Like That” and “Hold On” bring us back to the old PSB’s, I love the latter whose choir like atmosphere are matched along with the cheeky lyrics “Hold on hold on or the world will end today”. "Breathing Space" and "Give It A Go" are just middle ground but the album really shines with 2 songs buried at the end. “Memory Of the Future” is a Pet Shop Boys opus, Neil sing “It’s taking me all of my life to find you” his voice surrounded with swirling magical, melodic synthesizers, covering him in a warm blanket of pure bliss. “Requiem in Denim and Leopard skin” is like finding an old Pet Shop Boys gem that was lost in a vault, unfortunately the song sounds like a happy “goodbye” from the boys, let hope this is not the case.

4) Up All Night—One Direction

Only Simon Cowell can turn five unknown twinks, into the world’s biggest superstars. It might not last long but he knows how to get what he wants from the best in the business. From the brilliant debut single “What Makes You Beautiful” the album is filled with great slick and fun produced pop songs, almost any song could be single material. “One Thing” is just as good as it’s predecessor and the title track was screaming to be released “Katy Perry’s on a plane, she’s on a plane” they sing over a thumping beat as good as any of Perry’s hits. “More Than This” and “Taken” fill the slots for pretty ballad which don’t sound kiddy but grown up band.  “Tell Me A lie” penned by Kelly Clarkson” is a rocking rolling dance gem along with the Beatles/Take That sounding “I Want”. Even the songs they co- write like “Everything About You” holds up to the other tracks. The album ends off with 2 of the best tracks “Save You Tonight” and "Stole My Heart" which is  one the best dance songs of the year, I don’t understand why they released a 2^nd album so quickly instead of releasing this as a single, a wasted opportunity.

5) Overexposed—Maroon 5

Inspired by their mega hit “Moves Like Jagger” the new album produced by hit maker Max Martin (Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson,  and many others), venture the boys into a pop infused dubstep album, from the opening reggae influenced song “One More Night” which spent 9 weeks at #1 to their previous single “Payphone”, the album is jammed packed with winners. “Daylight”, “Lucky Strike” (with Ryan Tedder) and “Love Somebody” with its clever synth 80’s hook are future hits in the waiting. “The Man Who Never Lied” is a sly rocking thumping dance romp with Adam trying to convince himself it’s OK to not tell the truth.  “Ladykiller” is olf Maroon 5 with a funky baseline,  less production and more vocals, but “Fortune Teller” and “Tickets” goes right back into dubstep. Favorite track is the Shellback produced “Doing’ Dirt” which feels like a long lost 70’s disco gem crossed with the Sugababes “Red Dress”. Could Maroon 5 be the crowned kings of the dancefloor? Maybe so. 

If you get the deluxe edition be sure to check out their fabulous jazzed up version of Prince's "Kiss".

6) Tuskegee—Lionel Richie

The idea of Lionel Richie doing a country album might confused the average music listener, but if you were more attentive you would see that his songs like “Stuck On You” and “Deep River Woman” are pure Country, not to mention the mega hit “Lady” which he penned for Kenny Rogers. For this project Lionel got some of country’s best singers and musicians to duet with him. When I first heard snippets of the album I was a bit disappointed but after hearing the full LP I love it.  R&B staples like my favourite “You Are” with Blake Sheldon are just as good if not better, this guitar flavoured version only adds to the song without taking away any of the original magic. “My Love” with Kenny Chesney, “Sail On” with Tim Mcgraw and “Stuck On You” with Daruis Rucker are perfect. “Deep River Woman” with Little Big Town, in my opinion rivals the original sung with Alabama back in 1986 on his “Dancing On The Ceiling album”, the harmonies here are gorgeous, this song needed this production. A song that should have been a bigger hit “Just For You” is another stand out with Billy Currington. “Hello” with Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland, is an interesting mix but I’m not sure their vocals work well together while “Easy” with Willie Nelson sounds like it could have been written for him.

I only wish it was less of a Greatest Hits list, “Dancing On The Ceiling” and “All Night Long” do not translate into country, Lionel what were you thinking? Even Rascal Flatts couldn’t country-fi “Ceiling”. “All Night Long” gets saved by going more island flavoured then country with the help of Jimmy Buffet and some cool Hawaiian like steel drums. “Say You Say Me” with Jason Aldean is another oddity that doesn’t translate well.  I read all about the lengths Lionel went through to get Shania Twain to record “Endless Love”, but I don’t think their vocals match well plus did we really need another version? I never liked the Mariah Carey Luther Vandross one, nothing compares to the original with Diana Ross. Speaking of vocals, despite the guest list nobody sounds as good as Lionel singing his own songs, his voice still sounds great, unlike Kenny Rogers who’s losing it, I would have preferred a solo version of “Lady” instead.

7) Good Morning To The Night—Elton John VS Pnau

What happens when you take a modern electronic Australian duo and give them Elton John’s early classic masters to play with? You get this little ingenuous piece of heaven. I’ve never like sampled music, but this album is a whole new ballgame. Elton actually hired the duo Pnau when he heard their previous recordings and fell in love with their music. These are not remixes but total reconstructions of his songs. I find that remixers have gotten quite lazy, Pnau have definitely set the bar high. Every song has a familiar feel but sounds shiny and new, Pnau have created a certain atmospheric charm, unlike modern remixes which seem to only hit you with bass and sound and no melody. Trying to figure out which parts of what song they used is also part of the fun, they didn’t used his most famous material, the title track, a UK dance hit, borrows from 'Mona Lisa' and 'Mad Hatters' and 7 other tracks. “Sad” feels like a long lost disco classic, it doesn’t sound like a remix but rather a sophisticated new song. “Black Ice Stare” feels like a lost reggae classic, while “Foreign Fields” is a fantastic take on Elton “High Flying Bird”, “Telegraph to the Afterlife” slows down to a Beatlesque acid trip and “Phoenix” take on Elton’s “Grey Seal” to new heights. Only 8 tracks long the album leaves you wanting more.

8) The Abbey Road Sessions—Kylie Minogue

I thought I was going to be disappointed, after all who needs a jazzy acoustic album of Kylie’s dancefloor classics? Kylie is not known for her vocal prowess, but this album definitely delivers. While some songs are misses, “On A Night Like This” just doesn’t have enough melody to work, and who needs “Slow” slower, really? Opening track like “All The Lovers” proves how good a song really is. “Better The Devil You Know’ is fab but we’ve heard this version in concert before same goes for “I Believe In You and “I Should Be So Lucky”. “Never Too Late” is absolutely fabulous, a forgotten gem that translates well, same goes for “Finer Feelings”, interesting how most Stock Aiken and Waterman tracks work well into many mediums and genres proving that a good melody counts. While I think that “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” should be banished to never be heard or recorded again, I actually love this version, the strings/violins are beautiful. Love At First Sight is cute. I was worried that we would get the snooze jazzy version of “Locomotion” but luckily we get a somewhat upbeat version. Having Nick Cage record his vocal for “Where The Wild Roses Grow” was a definite delight, but the true gem is the only new song “Flower” a fan favorite which up until now was only sung in concert, the sad song (as most fans speculate), about her longing to have a child, is emotional and poignant.

Too bad songs like “Spinning Around” which sounded fabulous when she sang it at the Proms concert was not included and “Wow” and “In My Arms” were only bonus tracks on certain editions. I would have preferred less of a hit package and more lost classics that suited the genre.


9) Take The Crown—Robbie Williams

After a return to Take That greatness Robbie delivers another solo album, he claims this is the album he wanted to do instead of “Reality Killed the Video Star” which I actually liked. While “Take The Crown” it’s no “Sing When You’re Winning”, or “Escapology”, it’s a valiant effort. “They said the magic was leaving…” he sings on the opening track, “Be A Boy”, he still has some magic with the #1 saccharine sweet cutesy UK hit “Candy”, and the synth 80’s inspired “Shit on the Radio” which reminds me of Queen’s “Radio Gaga”. “Gospel” sounds a bit like early Robbie rebel but it doesn’t come close to anything on his first 2 albums. “Different” the required power ballad is likable enough like “Feel” or Come Undone”.  The next 2 tracks are probably my favorites, “All That I Want” is an 80’s funky electro sounding piece that could make a good single and “Hunting For You sound more authentic than anything else on the album, Robbie’s vocals and falsetto really shines. “Into The Silence” could be another power rock ballad but it tries too hard and sounds overproduced. “Hey Wow Yeah Yeah” is just filler in my opinion, I don’t get it. “Not Like The Others” is a bit of return to form, the music reminds me of good old Robbie but after 3 to 4 songs I’m getting tired of lyrics about his sex life.

The bonus track “Eight Letters” originally written and sung by Take That proves that Robbie should just stay with the group who are producing better pop songs and albums.

10) Ke$ha—Warrior

My guilty pleasure of the year. A Dr. Luke/Max Martin production I was actually expecting more, but it’s Ke$ha, trashy, brassy and fun. “Die Young” is the catchiest pop song of the year, “I hear your heartbeat, to the beat of your drums…”, Ke$ha definitely goes to the beat of her own drum and she sings, raps and vomits glitter all over the dancefloor. I almost wish she would give up the silly raps and autotune, the fabulous country pop track “Wonderland” proves that she can sing and write a great song, but unfortunately the other stuff has become her signature.

Highlights are the catchy guitar driven “Crazy Kids” (wishing she would of deleted the awful rap parts) , and the unusual garage/rock duet with Iggy Pop “Dirty Love”, who can’t like a song that name checks Rick Santorum and cockroaches and how they “do it”, no auto tune here. Her voice sounds great on “Thinking Of You”, a big “f*ck you” to her ex, is as good as any mad Taylor Swift song but much more fun. “Whenever You Are” could be another single with it brassy baseline and catchy chorus. So many tracks could be singles including “I Only Wanna Dance With You” a collaboration with The Strokes, “Supernatural” with it’s beautiful haunting verses and a brassy pounding chorus, and “All That Matters (The Beautiful Life)” a thumping 90’s Ace Of Base like track. The regular edition album ends of with a haunting Phil Collins like ballad “Love Into The Light”, another testament that she is more than just a silly pop singer.

Best Singles of 2012

1.    Only The Horses—Scissor Sister

2.    What Makes You Beautiful—One Direction

3.    Glad You Came—The Wanted

4.    Sad—Elton John VS Pnau

5.    We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together—Taylor Swift

6.    Flower—Kylie Minogue

7.    Parler A Mon Pere—Celine Dion

8.    Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen

9.    Memory Of The Future--Pet Shop Boys

10. Origin Of Love—Mika

11. Little Things—One Direction

12. Troublemaker—Olly Murs

13. Celebrate-Mika

14. One Thing­­--One Direction

15. Die Young—Ke$ha

16. Let’s Have A Kiki--Scissor Sisters

17.  Live While We’re Young-One Direction

18. Chasing The Sun—The Wanted

19. Baby Come Home-Scissor Sisters

20. Diamonds--riahnna

Top Albums and Singles of 2010

2010 the year in music review

In a year where pop music was back it was unusual hard for me to find 10 top albums, as usual a flood of releases came in at the end of the year. The year was packed with great pop dance singles while albums kind of suffered. In North America The chart were ruled by Eminem, Rihanna, Justin Beiber, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Kei$ha, Lady GaGa continuing from last year, and the cast of a little musical show called Glee. Who would have thought that their acapella version of “Teenage Dream” would rival its creator's Perry.

In The UK Robbie Williams shocked fans by reuniting with his boyband Take That, Kylie Minogue was back on track with her dance Opus Aphrodite, and a new electronic group “Hurts” reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys came onto the scene.

The Scissor Sister came back into form with the Stuart Price produced “Nightworks”, Stuart produced 3 albums on my list . Swedish electronica/dance artist Robyn wowed us with not one or two but three albums and showed us she does beats and melodies better then most of her contemporaries.

By the end of the year all things came full circle. The Beatles came back into our heads and hearts as their catalogue was finally available on Itunes, and just before the year's end Michael Jackson's estate released an album of unreleased songs. The debate will go on forever, for or against releasing the material, but let's face it most us fans were curious and wanted to hear it.

Top Albums of 2010

01 Aphrodite—Kylie Minogue 

Her album “X” was criticized for being un-cohesive, (I loved it and don’t get all the fuss) for her 11th studio production “Aphrodite” Kylie enlists the help of dance music wizard Stuart Price (Madonna, The Killers, Scissor Sisters) to produce a tightly woven piece of dance floor heaven. The album opens up with one of Kylie’s most hypnotic songs “All The Lovers” and like the video it places her at the top of her game, like the Goddess of music amongst her adoring fans.

From there on the disc doesn’t stop from the soon to be smashes “Get Out Of My Way” and “Put Your Hands Up”. Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters fame offer the frisky “Too Much” and Stuart does a great job on the heavenly “Looking For An Angel” and “Better Than Today”. The less successful tracks are the slower “Everything Is Beautiful” and “Illusion” I would have replaced both with the Xenomania produced songs “Mighty Rivers” and “Heartstrings” which ended up as bonus songs on Itunes and the latter on the Japan version of the album. Best tracks are the title song with it’s African flavoured drum beats, and anthem “I’m fierce and I’m feeling mighty, I’m a golden girl, I’m an Aphrodite Alright.. alright!”, and the last song tucked away at the end “Can’t Beat This Feeling” which sums up the album.

“Aphrodite” is up there with her best albums “Light Years” & “Rhythm Of Love” and dare I say better then “Fever”. 9/10


02 Body Talk--Robyn

3 times the charm for Robyn who released 3 records this year. Part 1 & 2 of this EP trilogy only wet our appetites for more. The Final Body Talk compilation has produced one of the finest albums of the year. From the Grammy nominated dance anthem “Dancing On My Own”, to the other singles “Hang With Me” and the beautiful orchestrated “Indestructible” make this Swedish Pop star Queen of da beats. Robyn can take the best of the old school groove and mix it with a new twist; she has a style all her own and doesn’t mince her words like most throw away modern pop stars. Songs like "In Your Eyes" has multiple layers of rhythms and grooves that give it a full large band quality to it. She can go all out pop for “Time Machine”, dip into reggae with the delightful "Dancehall Queen", or dish it out with Snoop Dogg on "U Should Know Better" (“then to F*ck with me”). “None Of Dem” and “We Dance To The Beat” strips her sound down to the essential primitive beats, a beat all her own but enticing enough to make you just want to jump in and dance. The only song missing to make the perfect record would have been the track “Cry When You Get Older” from Body Talk Part 1. 9/10


03 Progress--Take That

The first six tracks is the start of a solid album. It open's up with the mega single “ The Flood”, one of the few songs that make them sound like a full fledge arena rock group. On track two Robbie and Mark vocals blend perfectly as they rock the dancefloor on their urgent cry “ S.O.S”...“Liberate your son's and daughter, some are G_ds some are monsters”...this is no longer the sugar sweet boyband of he 90's who made it's success on ballads by Gary Barlow. Williams and producer Stuart Price head this ship. Price who has produced albums for The Killers, Madonna and Scissor Sisters gives it an overall electronica feel which you can hear on tracks like the bubbly but not sweet “Happy Now” and “Wait”. The best track is the Mark and Robbie political protest song “Kidz” , Stuart's bleeps and blobs make it border on Depeche Mode mixed with Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation, unfortunately due to the recent student protests in the UK this favoured 2nd single was pushed to 3 rd place in favour of S.O.S . Despite Robbie's stalker-ish lyrics the Beatles-esque melody “Pretty Things ” is a nice slice of synth-pop.

Unfortunately the album looses steam on the latter 5 tracks where each member takes a stab at singing solo. “Affirmation” is a clever little tune lyrically reminiscent of Darren Hayes and Savage Garden but Howard Donald has really weak vocals and he can't seem to hit the notes on the refrain. Mark Owen's “ What Do You Want From Me” is no where near as good as his contributions to previous albums. Robbie's steampunk electro rockin' “Underground” and Gary 's cute “Eight Letters” which samples Ultravox's “ Vienna ” are just OK. Oddly my favourite solo is Jason Orange's hidden track “Flowerbed”. A valiant effort, my only complaint is that their best new composition, the Gary and Robbie duet “Shame” was used on Robbie's recent Greatest Hits and not saved for this album. 8.5/10


04 Michael--Michael Jackson

I thought I would like a song or two but I’m blown away at how a set of unreleased demos can rival most modern releases. The album doesn't really have a theme or concept but these ten tracks are superbly produced and carefully made to sound like a Michael Jackson record. Producers Teddy Riley, "Tricky" Stewart, Akon and others did a superb job piecing together the tracks to create a finished product.

The opener Hold My Hand a duet with Akon, the only song not penned by Michael was recorded in 2007 and just completed; proves that Michael can have had a modern hit. Hollywood Tonight is very reminiscent of the Dangerous era and has all the Jackson signature vocal beat boxing groove. Keep Your Head Up High is a lush gorgeous inspirational ballad that could easily be his new Man In The Mirror. On (I Like) The Way You Love we hear a bit of his genius, a rare recording of Michael explaining how he wants the song to sound imitating the drum beats and instrumentation with only his vocals. It goes right into the full lush production making this beautiful Motown style groove sound magical. Monster another song about the pitfalls of Hollywood, while not the best track on the album it still gets you grooving. I could have done without the 50 Cents rap cameo but apparently Michael had wanted to work with him on his new record. Best Of Joy sound eerily familiar like a long lost 80’s R &B ballad that could easily be part of his Greatest Hits. “Everybody wants a part of Michael Jackson” he sings on Breaking News, making fun of how media would tear him apart, but the urgency of the beats suggest he was more then just laughing. I Can’t Make It Another Day teams up Michael with Lenny Kravitz to produce a heavy rock “Dirty Diana” groove. The last 2 track were taken from around the time of “Thriller”. Behind The Mask is a haunting robotic dance groove that sample’s Japanese Electropop pioneers Yellow Light Orchestra’s song of the same name, “Who Do You Love?...Where is your soul, where did it go?” Michael screams with his signature Hee-Hee’s. The closing track Much Too Soon is a beautiful country style ballad reminiscent of Gone Too Soon, I don't understand why it was never used. it could have been a huge hit.

To the reviewers who slammed the album saying it's just slim pickings from someone who was a perfectionist, and Michael would have never released them … well Michael's slim pickings is miles beyond the drivel that gets released as a record these days. 8.5/10


05 Happiness--Hurts

Hailed as the new Pet Shop Boys, UK duo Hurts debut "Happiness ” is not a stomping dance music album but a sophisticated electronica soundtrack, think Depeche Mode which they channel on the single "Better Than Love” . From the opener "Silver Lining” to the beautiful orchestrated ending track “Water” they deliver a delightful atmospheric sound with emotional lyrics and pretty melodies reminiscent of the 80's new wave movement. The dark but hopeful "Wonderful Life” reminiscent of the Jimmy Stuart X-mas film has a character contemplating suicide; the track is without a doubt one of the best singles of the year. "Blood Tears & Gold" channels a bit of Erasure, while the track "Sunday" leans on U2 . The album never gets boring with the gospel tinged choired “Stay” and "Devotion" which features pop princess Kylie Minogue. Lead singer Theo Hutchcraft's vocals are glorious and soar on tracks like "Evelyn" and "Water" . Their music isn't as sweet, danceable or happy as the likes of Ke$ha, Katy Perry or Lady GaGa but it's well crafted and sophisticated which will unfortunately will keep them off the radio in North America. 8/10


06 Nightwork--Scissor Sisters

After a disappointing sophomore album Scissor Sisters get back to basic as their 3rd album “Night Work” takes its influence from Giorgio Moroder and the late 70’s early 80’s dance grooves. From the Robert Mapplethorpe cover butt shot to the bright magenta colours this disc is unmistakably gay. Produced by dance wizard Stuart Price (Madonna, The Killers, Kylie Minogue), is a tight album with only the lead single “Fire With Fire” feeling out of place. Not sure why it was chosen, but it does have an Elton John quality to it, not unlike their previous mega hit, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing”. Best track is “Invisible Light” the Pet Shop Boys-esque fabulous six minutes of disco trance heaven with special guest Ian McKellen, (think of Vincent Price’s part in Thriller) the song was chosen as a buzz song before album came out, a real mistake not to release it as an official single.

Other fun grooves are “Any Which Way” a 70's flavored R & B Jam, the title track which sound like a cross between the Cars and Flashdance's "Manic", “Something Like This”, and “Running Out” which sounds eerily familiar to The Cure. Ana Matronic’s sultry vocals take the lead on the electronic 80’s sounding “Skin This Cat”. There’s no doubt the disc with songs like “Skin Tight” which segues right into “Sex And Violence” were influence by lead singer Jake Shears trip to Berlin Germany, where he “cut loose” after suffering from burn out.

The only thing missing from this set is a real killer commercial single, but then the Sisters have never been main stream, and remain a cult favorite in North America. 7.5/10


07 A Christmas Cornucopia--Annie Lennox

I never thought a Christmas album would ever grace my top 10 list but this is the best Annie Lennox has sounded in a long time, her voice is absolutely glorious on tracks like “Angels From The Realms of Glory” and haunting on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” which is quickly becoming my favourite version. Annie didn't pick the typical sweet saccharine X-mas songs and her arrangements are refreshing and superb. Annie enlist the help of the incredible African Children's choir on more then half the album, and she gives track like “Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Song)”, and “As Joseph Was A Walking” an African rhythm makeover, For those looking for original material the last track “Universal Child” is a beautiful song written by Annie herself. 7.5/10


08 Flesh Tone--Kelis

Taking a completely new direction Kelis drops her mainstay of Hip Hop for an electronica synth house celebration to produce some of the best dancefloor anthems of the year. The short 9 track album is just perfect, from the first song it grabs you right in for 37 minutes of pure ecstasy and bliss. This isn't a sweet pop record but something you would hear in a hard core dance club, while her vocals are not soaring like most Diva's her husky voice blends just perfectly with the music.

The album grooves and grinds to the 22th Century with the help of French producer David Guetta on the fabulous first single “ Acapella” a dance floor rhythmic anthem written for the birth of her son and “Scream” dealing with emotions of her splitting with hubby Nas. She spouts fireworks with Italian dance king Benny Benassi on the “ 4th of July”, and Emancipate . On “Home” she takes us to another universe of lights and blinding beats of desire. The album ends with the poignant and most commercial track “Song For The Baby” . Unfortunately this project will probably alienate her older fans and is not made for American radio, but as she sings in “Brave” “I'm super cool, but now I'm super strong, I've got nothing to loose”. 7.5/10


09 Katy Perry--Teenage Dream

“Don’t bore us get to the chorus” is the mantra of Perry’s album producers Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) and Max Martin. Luke is the new superstar songwriter who has produced mega hits for the likes of Kelly Clarkson (Since You’ve Been Gone) and Pink. Martin reigned supreme in the late 90’s and produced the magic behind The Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. You would think that somebody like Perry would be right down my ally but my problem with Perry is that she doesn't come off as genuine; it feels like she is going through the motions, doing what will make her popular.

The songs stick in your brain like a bad toothache with hits like “Teenage Dream”, “Last Friday Night” and the summer anthem “California Gurls”. The best track is the faux rock Heart sounding song “Circle The Drain” it’s one of the few track that seems genuine, the lyrics actually sound like Perry wrote them from personal experience of a lover who falls victim to drug abuse. "Fireworks" is a cute dancefloor tune, while “Peacock” with its cleverly hidden subject matter has one of he most annoying choruses in over a decade. “The One That Got Away” is the last good song on the album. The rest is kind of weird “E.T” sounds like Russian faux lesbians T.A.T.U., her pronunciation of the title makes her sound drunk. She tries to be arty with “Pearl” but it doesn’t quite work. “Who Am I Living For?” seems like filler and "Hummingbird Heartbeat" sound like “Teenage Dream” part two, or is it the other way around? Why must producers always program a boring ballad at the end of an album like “Not Like In The Movies"? Snooze…

Interestingly Luke said that the # 1’s “Teenage Dream” and “California Gurls” where last minute additions to the album and he had to convince the label to halt the release till those 2 songs were completed. I wonder how big the album would have been without them. 6.5/10

 

10 Natasha Bedingfield--Strip Me

She's a young, hip, has a unique voice, doesn't need auto tuning and always has something interesting to say, but Natasha seems to have a hard time keeping success. For her 4th outing Natasha works with an array of producers like John Shanks, Ryan Tedder, and Andreas Kleerup of Robyn fame. I must admit on the first listen I was a bit disappointed. Her last album “A Pocketful Of Sunshine” was fabulous, this album is well polished but it seems to be missing something especially that one huge radio single that could propel it. The album runs like marathon of upbeat female empowerment, at her best she rock off with Kevin Rudolf on the dancable “All I Need”, and make's you smile on the catchy pop Ryan Tedder collaboration “Neon Lights". Ryan's other song, the title track and 2nd single is a great anthem but like most of the songs it sounds like something we've heard before. I love Natasha's signature vocal tone and lyric delivery which can be heard on songs like “Weightless” and the fabulous dancefloor single “Touch” , unfortunately even with the benefit of being the star of a big commercial campaign for Nevea it still bombed on the charts. “Run Run Run” and “No Mozart” are cute but tracks like “Can't Fall Down” , “Try”, “Break Thru” and “Recovery” seem more like filler. 6/10

Singles of the year 

1. All The Lovers--Kylie Minogue
2. Shame—Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow
3. Facing A Miracle—Taylor Dayne
4. Release Me—Agnes
5. Get Outta My Way—Kylie Minogue
6. Hang With Me—Robyn
7. Teenage Dream—Glee Cast
8. Gave It All Away—Boyzone
9. Acapella—Kelis
10. Dancing On My Own—Robyn
11. Higher -Taio Cruz featuring Kylie Minogue
12. Better Then Love—Hurts
13. Fireworks—Katy Perry
14. Lights Out—Rick Astley
15. Wonderful Life—Hurts
16. Hold My Hand—Michael Jackson featuring Akon
17. All You Need Is Now—Duran Duran
18. I like It--Enrique Englesias Featuring Pitbull
19. Bulletproof—La Roux
20. Touch—Natasha Bedingfield
21. Break My Heart—Taio Cruz
22. Dynamite--Taio Cruz
23. Better Than Today—Kylie Minogue
24. 4th of July—Kelis
25. Just The Way You Are--Bruno Mars