Tom Dunne's review of 2020: The C-word dominated, but we still got some fantastic music
Tom Dunne's highlights of 2020 included Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers and Mick Flannery.
Typical! The year vinyl finally sees off its old enemy, the CD, something else knocks the story off the front pages. 2020, unusual as it was, was a year of great music.
No pandemic was going to stop the rise and rise of Phoebe Bridgers. For a while it looked like she might not eclipse the wonder of her collaborations - Conor Oberst and the 1975 - but with Punisher she exceeded all expectations. Plus, her version of Fake Plastic Trees with Arlo Parkes, might be the Cover of the Year.
Albums released before ‘the event,’ have a strange ethereal quality. They don’t seem quite of this time. Many are excellent (Caribou, Tame Impala, Cornershop) but this shimmers. Katie Crutchfield had been building to it for over five albums. The songs are beautiful but the voice – uniquely beautiful - is key.
One of the first to roll up his sleeves and start performing online when live music disappeared Mick has been prolific in 2020. He released a wonderful Live album (Live at Cork Opera House) but the series of EPs with vocalists such as Anais Mitchell and Susan O’Neill have been stand out, their voices just highlighting the utter strength of his song writing. Cometh the hour.
To little fanfare, income from recorded music has been back in growth since 2015. That growth is being driven by streaming and yet an artist of the stature of Mercury Music Prize nominated Nadine Shah (34) was forced this year, due to pitiful streaming income, to move back in with her parents! When the dust settles, this must be fixed.
So, in 2016, various members of AC/DC faced permanent hearing loss, possible murder charges and dementia. And yet, in 2020, minus their beloved Malcolm, they delivered one of the best albums of their career. That is a comeback of biblical proportions. Some might say the album is just AC/DC by the numbers. Other, wiser heads, might point out that in this year of all years, that is what is so unbelievably joyous about it.
In a year that saw Prince’s Sign of the Times and Lou Reed’s New York get wonderful re-issues it might seem odd to pick a Dublin band over them. However Revelino’s debut, on vinyl at last, seemed to burn even brighter now than it did 26 years ago. The unreleased tracks added on an additional yellow vinyl disk did beg one question though: How did a band as good as this not ‘make it?’
This is a treasure throve. Featuring early recordings and live performances you will marvel at the passion and musicianship on offer here. Christy is on fire, the material sensational and the performances often never to be equalled. A band performing these songs with that passion now would conquer the world.
Produced by James Vincent McMorrow and featuring the incredible talents of Denise Chaila God Knows, MuRli and Sorcha Richardson, this is, aspiring songwriters take note, what a hit sounds like. Denise is generally tipped for superstardom, but honestly, they are all so AMAZING!
Gal Gadot’s version of Imagine was an early front runner – and god that was bad- but somehow Jon managed to eclipsed even her ‘rich people in empty mansions’ pathos. He’d already been having a bad 2020, his live steamed gig, performed in a front of a life sized poster of himself (WTF!) was ill advised but this…this is a war crime. The changes to the lyrics, the mad voice, the way he says ‘Galway!’ Unparalleled awful.
Timing was everything. As we sat glued to our Tiger King screens, C***d all around and fear in the air a voice came from the radio. It reminded us that once, at America’s darkest hour, with JFK gunned down and the nation afraid, the Beatles, and pop culture, had come to hold their hands. It was oddly hypnotic and reassuring and, right at that moment, exactly what we needed. God Bless you, Bob, keep safe, for all of us.
