{"id":4388,"date":"2020-12-13T13:41:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T13:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/?p=4388"},"modified":"2020-12-31T13:14:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T13:14:13","slug":"2020-the-sleeve-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/2020-the-sleeve-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"2020: The Sleeve Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"979\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21-979x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21-979x1024.png 979w, https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21-768x803.png 768w, https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21-769x804.png 769w, https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-13-at-13.38.21.png 1450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 979px) 100vw, 979px\" \/><figcaption>Sherwood shed, since demolished, November 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 1988, we\u2019ve sent out best of year cassettes since 2000, CDs) to friends around the globe. In 2019 we added a Spotify playlist. I\u2019m not going to put that up until this set of daily sleeve notes is complete. However, this year I intend to extend the playlist so that, in addition to the twenty songs on the CD, there\u2019s another twenty things there wasn\u2019t room for. It\u2019s been a very good year for music, if little else, so let\u2019s celebrate that. In another year, The Big Moon, Loudon Wainwright III, Drive-By Truckers (two great albums!), Courtney Marie Andrews, Cowboy Junkies, Moses Sumney, James Taylor, Hen Ogledd, Richard Dawson, Maria McKee, Bill Callahan, Jason Isbell, Georgia, Nadia Reid &amp; sophomore albums from YUNGBLUD, Rolling Blackouts CF and Fontaines DC would have featured, but part of our tradition is being forced to make hard choices and forge them into a sequence that holds together. So, without any further ado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li><strong>Future Islands \u2013 Plastic Beach <\/strong>A song so good, Gorillaz named their new album after it. The band have dismissed their last album <em>The Far Field<\/em> as a rushed affair, but the new <em>As Long as you Are<\/em> is terrific, tunes that are full of self-doubt yet moving, even uplifting, with great synth hooks. Great driving music. Not that I\u2019ve done much driving lately.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-08-Plastic-Beach.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. The Chicks &#8211; Gaslighter<\/strong> I have a penchant for moody female singer-songwriters. Or, if Sue were to describe them: mawkish &amp; depressing. She&#8217;s placed an absolute ban on Lucinda Williams for instance, and there are a couple of people on this year&#8217;s CD who I wasn&#8217;t sure I&#8217;d get away with. In rejecting some acts from the first draft, however, she insisted I added this catchy, divorce song by the newly renamed Chicks (formerly <em>Dixie<\/em>) and I&#8217;m not arguing. You could argue that <em>gaslighting<\/em> has been an over-used term lately, but when the (current) US President and UK PM keep doing what it describes to their entire countries, the subject remains pretty pertinent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-01-Gaslighter.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Cornershop &#8211; One Uncareful Lady Owner <\/strong>Normally, an album is limited to one track and one CD on our best ofs, but I snuck \u2018No Rock Save in Roll\u2019, a December drop, onto last year\u2019s best of CD and I\u2019m certainly not going to miss Cornershop off this year\u2019s CD. <em>England is a Garden<\/em> is, after all,  our most played CD of the year. It came out before lockdown and was already in heavy car rotation. Since then, it\u2019s always been there if we need cheering up. Been a fan since <em>I Was Born for the Seventh Time<\/em> in 1997, but never seen them (they long since stopped playing live). The new album is their best to date. Choosing which track to put on was tricky. Initially we went with \u2018St Marie Under Canon\u2019 which kicks off the album at pace. We ended up choosing a deeper cut that\u2019s in a more traditional Cornershop vein: catchy, kind of melancholy, cut through with their distinctive humour. Enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-One-Uncareful-Lady-Owner.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Laura Marling &#8211; Alexandra<\/strong> &#8216;Song for Our Daughter&#8217;, the new album by the child-free singer\/songwriter was the first of several Covid &#8216;sudden-drop&#8217; albums (haven&#8217;t got round to the second Taylor Swift one yet but, who knows, a track from it may end up on the part two playlist). It&#8217;s another very strong Marling album. First saw her at the Rescue Rooms, when she was 18, last saw her in an arena, supporting Neil Young, and just bought an LP of her livestream from earlier this year. She wears her influences proudly, but always makes something unique and memorable from them. Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen are the most obvious examples, and the title of this song could be read as a tribute to the latter (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S-V9UvJZKIY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here&#8217;s why<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01-Alexandra.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Billy No Mates feat. Sleaford Mods &#8211; Supermarket Sweep<\/strong> My favourite debut album of the year and the first of her <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iKcbSOjIzjQ\" target=\"_blank\">two top collaborations with the Mo<\/a>ds. Supermarkets and key workers belong on this year&#8217;s CD and Tor Marie (from Leicester via <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2020\/aug\/01\/one-to-watch-billy-nomates\" target=\"_blank\">Bristol and Bournemouth<\/a>) has a distinctive, soulful way to capture that world. Corking, catchy commentary. The whole album&#8217;s excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/05-Supermarket-Sweep.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jarv Is &#8211; House Music All Night Long<\/strong> A stonking song whose title we nicked for this year&#8217;s best of. Jarvis has said &#8216;\u2018It\u2019s a straightforward love song about someone stuck alone in the house whilst the object of their affections is out dancing to House music at a rave.&#8217; But, clearly, it has taken on other nuances this year, when we&#8217;ve need music to &#8211; how else can I put it &#8211; keep us sane. Early in lockdown, I listened to a lot of Gallery 47 to chill out to, with Cornershop and Vampire Weekend to cheer us up. I&#8217;d watch recorded live shows while on my exercise bike (Springsteen at Hyde Park took most of a week). Then the livestreams started to arrive. T<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6z1jF8RQOu0\" target=\"_blank\">he launch show<\/a> for the Jarv Is album, from Peak Cavern, Derbyshire, was &#8211; for us &#8211; the best musical (near) livestream of the year. The best play stream was a terrific version of Friel&#8217;s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oldvictheatre.com\/whats-on\/2020\/old-vic-in-camera\/faith-healer\" target=\"_blank\">Faith Healer from the Old Vic<\/a>, with David Threlfall, Michael Sheen and Indira Varma (see also my previous blog about the <a href=\"https:\/\/nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk\/whats-on\/playhouse-panto\/\">Playhouse panto<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/04-House-Music-All-Night-Long.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. Romy &#8211; Lifetime<\/strong> Yep, it&#8217;s the dancey part of the CD. Have to confess we haven&#8217;t heard the Kylie album (it&#8217;s on Sue&#8217;s Christmas list). Still, couldn&#8217;t miss off this soaring advance track from the first solo album by Romy (Madley Croft) of The xx. The single doesn&#8217;t seem to have bothered the charts, so maybe people prefer her in chill out indie soul mode. Be interesting to see how the album does. By the way, reviewing The xx, when my friend Mike Atkinson was taken ill, was what got me started writing for the Nottingham Post, over eleven years ago. Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/2009\/10\/the-xx-live-at-the-bodega-social-nottingham-71009\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the review<\/a>, of the original line up (the closing lines ring true. When they next played here, it was at the Arena, which I figured was way too big for them, so I skipped it). The days of real live gigs still feel a long way off but I hope the Post will continue to commission reviews. A big shout out here to my long time editor, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EG_Editor\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Wilson<\/a>, who left The Post during the pandemic. Thanks for letting me me write about so many great gigs, many of which I&#8217;d have otherwise missed, mate, and for occasionally letting me correct those reviews online &#8211; mostly before anyone noticed (OK, there was that time when I messed up the members of De La Soul). All the best for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-28-Lifetime.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. Adrianne Lenker &#8211; Zombie Girl<\/strong> It took me a while to &#8216;get&#8217; Big Thief. Went to see them at the Rescue Rooms in a slimmed down version (the guitarist had recently split with the singer, Adrianne, and took a sabbatical), then again at Green Man last year, when I was impressed, but not blown away. Last year&#8217;s two albums, especially &#8216;Two Hands&#8217; and a gig at Rock City, not long before lockdown, made me a fully fledged convert. Now Adrienne&#8217;s third solo album (a double, made in a trailer during lockdown: read this fine <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2020\/10\/19\/adrianne-lenkers-radical-honesty\" target=\"_blank\">Amanda Petrusich<\/a> interview for more) is also a thing of beauty &#8211; a fragile, haunting set of songs, of which this is the most memorable. They came on early at Rock City, and were over by twenty to ten, so my nephew Michael and I were able to head to The Golden Fleece for a full set by the next act, including the debut performance of the song he&#8217;s singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08-zombie-girl.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9. Gallery 47 &#8211; Change in the Weather<\/strong> I&#8217;ve just got a book by Jeff Tweedy titled <em>How To Write One Song<\/em>, which seems serendipitous because I have written precisely one song, or at least the words for one. Here it is. In 2018, fine singer\/songwriter Jack Peachey aka Gallery 47 asked me if I was interested in writing with him, which, of course, I was. However I was also bereft of time and inspiration, so I sent him my 2001 Glastonbury novel <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.co.uk\/FESTIVAL-Glastonbury-Novel-David-Belbin-ebook\/dp\/B00D4OUGLM\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=belbin+festival&amp;qid=1608392048&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\">Festival<\/a><\/em> which contains partial lyrics to several songs I&#8217;d made up for a fictional singer\/songwriter not unlike Jack, including one complete one that I was rather pleased with. Jack&#8217;s used part of that lyric in a song that hasn&#8217;t come out yet. Then, in late summer 19, when we were staying at a friend&#8217;s remote place in France, I remembered a lyric that I began when I was in my late teens and hadn&#8217;t completely given up on playing music myself. Turned out I had no musical skills and could barely hold a tune &#8211; or I might have pursued it further. I only had a couple of couplets but I knew how the whole thing sounded in my head, a bit like Gerry Rafferty in his Stealers Wheel days. Then Gerry started a solo career and the B side of his first single, &#8216;Baker St&#8217;, was called &#8216;Big Change in the Weather&#8217;, so I forgot about it for the next 40 years. Until, one afternoon in France, when I had the house to myself and had finished reading UNESCO applications, so decided to have a go at finishing the lyric. When I got home, I sent it to Jack and, just over a year later, here it is. Jack&#8217;s tune sounds nothing like Rafferty and I would never have imagine putting a riff at the heart of the number, but, you know what, it works. See what you think and, if you like it, please buy the album (one of four he&#8217;s released this year &#8211; the others are <em>East Street<\/em>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/4u16HIf3aoAqzNkc4iOinK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Terminal Rules<\/a><\/em> and <em>Saturation<\/em>), <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/albums\/B088R1XWXG\" target=\"_blank\">Bye and Bye<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/04-Change-in-the-Weather.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> <strong>The Strokes &#8211; The Adults are Talking<\/strong> Amongst the things I wasn&#8217;t expecting this year, one was a cracking comeback album from The Strokes, the quality of whose output faded rapidly from their second album onwards. But here they are, with a track that&#8217;s up their with the songs on their debut. OK, they don&#8217;t keep this standard going throughout the new album, but it&#8217;s all very listenable. And the album&#8217;s title, <em>The New Abnormal<\/em>, turned out to be pretty prescient too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01.-The-Adults-Are-Talking.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>11. Phoebe Bridgers &#8211; Kyoto<\/strong> I first came across Bridgers on the drive to Green Man in 2018. Henry had made a playlist of all the acts appearing and when she came up, I was instantly interested, so went to see her in the intimate walled garden space. An instant convert, I bought the album from the Rough Trade stall while I was still there and played her debut album &#8211; which is full of beautifully crafted, articulately self conscious, memorable songs &#8211; to death. <em>Punisher<\/em>, her new one, is the breakthrough &#8211; grammy nominated, in everybody&#8217;s top five etc. Inevitably, while it shares the same qualities, I don&#8217;t yet like it as much as the first. But then, her songs have a way of creeping up on you, so in six months&#8217; time, I may think it&#8217;s better, but if you like this one, do check out <em>Stranger in the Alps<\/em>. I chose this song because it has a great pop hook, an earworm even, and because it reminds me of being in Kyoto three years ago, making me wish I could be back there, or, indeed, anywhere else. Also, it&#8217;s on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/2020\/12\/listen-to-barack-obamas-favorite-music-of-2020-playlist.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Barack Obama&#8217;s end of year playlist<\/a>, so it must be great, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/03-Kyoto.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>12. Eels &#8211; Anything For Boo<\/strong> One of my favourite bands. Missed them at Rock City last year but that was because I was travelling back from Green Man, where I&#8217;d seen them the day before, leaning against the bar at the front of the stage. That was a rocky Eels incarnation, whereas the latest album, <em>Earth to Dora<\/em>, with its more poppy, Todd Rundrenesque feel, harks back to E&#8217;s pre-Eels solo albums, and none the worse for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01.-Anything-For-Boo.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>13. Bruce Springsteen &amp; the E Street Band &#8211; Ghosts<\/strong> Bruce&#8217;s first album with the E Street Band for nine years. I last saw them eight years ago, from front standing at the opening night of Leeds Arena. The new <em>A Letter To You<\/em> might have some reworked old songs and a couple of throwaways but is actually a lot better than the album he was touring then, <em>Wrecking Ball<\/em> (none of those annoying faux-Irish bits for a start) . This song is memorable and anthemic. Instead of an MP3 to stream, why not <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UYW-DIG-CV4\" target=\"_blank\">watch th<\/a>is<\/span> video of them performing it in public on Saturday Night Live earlier this month, Bruce&#8217;s first public appearance with the E street band in quite a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>14. Waxahatchee &#8211; Fire <\/strong>Wasn&#8217;t sure I&#8217;d get away with this one, because she has a funny voice and Sue kicked off far more conventional songs by Bill Callahan and Courtney Marie Andrews. But this song is a corker which reaches parts other songs don&#8217;t connect with &#8211; it&#8217;s even been nominated for Tom Ewing&#8217;s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomewing\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup of 2020<\/a>. The album <em>Saint Cloud<\/em> is great, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/03-Fire.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>15. Fleet Foxes &#8211; Can I Believe You?<\/strong> The fourth FF album, <em>Shore<\/em>, is  Robin Pecknold on his own, but maybe, in a sense, they always are. The first time I saw them, the drummer did a support set as a wimpy acoustic balladeer. He re-emerged a couple of years later as Father John Misty. I also saw them at Green Man last year, where the big band&#8217;s lush sound made for a gorgeous Saturday night closing set. <em>Shore<\/em> is, I think, up there with their best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/03-Can-I-Believe-You.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>16. Haim &#8211; Man From the Magazine<\/strong> Another band who I should have seen this year (reviewing them at the Arena for the Post), from their thoroughly enjoyable third album, a short song reflecting on fame. They also did a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jHRINgBk3YA\" target=\"_blank\">mildly amusing update<\/a> of the Waitresses <em>Christmas Wrapping<\/em>, which is officially the second best Xmas song of all time (Darlene Love won Tom Ewing&#8217;s poll. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QDXZsydJU2c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My favourite<\/a> is also from the Ze Christmas album).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-Man-From-The-Magazine.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>17. Frazey Ford &#8211; The Kids Are Having None of It<\/strong> If you&#8217;d asked me back in February, when I got Frazey&#8217;s album and booked to see her at Glee in June, I&#8217;d&#8217;ve said this song was a shoo in for song of the year and title track of the CD. A catchy, slurred slow builder, it&#8217;s my favourite number on a seductively soulful album with country roots (while her roots are alt countryish, FF recorded her previous album with Al Green&#8217;s backing band). My sense then was that my generation and those directly around it (ie 50-75 year olds, which I&#8217;m right in the middle of) have fucked up the world so badly that we really ought to step aside and help those who are inheriting our mess sort it out in the best way they can come up with. Instead&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/07-The-Kids-Are-Having-None-Of-It.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>18. Sault &#8211; Wildfires<\/strong> Choosing just one track from this year&#8217;s two Sault albums is tricky, especially as I only discovered them and their 2019 albums, V &amp; VII, in the second half of this year, so I&#8217;m still absorbing them all. This is from their first 2020 album &#8216;Untitled (Black Is)&#8217;. Good luck finding a physical copy. Not listened to &#8216;Untitled (Rise)&#8217; yet, but about to buy it <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/saultglobal.bandcamp.com\/album\/untitled-rise\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/05-Wildfires.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>19. Bob Dylan &#8211; Black Rider<\/strong> It&#8217;s now clear that the five LPs he made of Sinatra covers, while they divided even the most hardcore fans (note: I come a Sinatra loving family and bought them all on vinyl) were preparing us for Dylan&#8217;s next phase, just as <em>Good As I Been To You<\/em> and (the superior) <em>Good As I Been to You <\/em>back in the 90s prepared us for the great sequence beginning with <em>Time Out of Mind<\/em>.  <em>Rough and Rowdy Ways<\/em> is his best album in well over a decade and also his most penetrable for a wide audience. You wouldn&#8217;t want to listen to &#8216;Murder Most Foul&#8217; too many times and it&#8217;s right that it gets its own disc, but boy, was it a treat to get it in the first month of lockdown. &#8216;Black Rider&#8217; is right towards the end of the album, and is one of its least discussed tracks. It feels right to put it in the penultimate slot here, too. It&#8217;s a sombre song. No need to explain who the Black Rider is, because he&#8217;s coming for us all. Eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-05-Black-Rider.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>20. Keith Jarrett &#8211; It&#8217;s a Lonesome Old Town<\/strong> I discovered Keith Jarrett in 1980, the year I graduated. Dave Mann&#8217;s music shop on the Alfreton Road had three second hand LPs in and I bought the cheapest, <em>Facing You<\/em>. This was quickly followed by the triple set <em>Concerts<\/em> and the double <em>Koln Concert<\/em>. Each was paid for out of my dole cheque. I transferred all of <em>Concerts<\/em> onto a C120 and used to use it as backing music while I endeavoured to write my first novel. 33 years and about fifty more Jarrett recordings later, I got to see him play a solo show at the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/2013\/02\/eject-the-photographers-keith-jarrett-at-the-royal-festival-hall\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/2013\/02\/eject-the-photographers-keith-jarrett-at-the-royal-festival-hall\/\" target=\"_blank\">Royal Festival Hall<\/a>, a fantastic concert which, sadly, has not been officially released. This year I discovered that a pair of strokes in 2018 have <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/21\/arts\/music\/keith-jarrett-piano.html\" target=\"_blank\">left him unable to play piano<\/a>, which is tragic for him. For the rest of us, there is so much of his music out there that you can spend a lifetime catching up with it. His last shows were in 2017 and his latest released recordings from the year before. The Budapest concert was released this year, and concludes with a tune I know from <em>Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely <\/em>(one of his very best). It&#8217;s a melancholy way to end the CD but an appropriate one in a year full of personal and public tragedy. I listen to Jarrett&#8217;s beautiful performance and am reminded of the eerie sensation of cycling around our city&#8217;s vast, deserted market square during the first lockdown. Thanks for the music, Keith. Thank you for reading. Best wishes for 2021 to our friends around the world from this fucked up, failed state. Look at how we&#8217;ve destroyed our democracy and, please, learn from our mistakes. Not that we will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-09-Its-A-Lonesome-Old-Town.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since 1988, we\u2019ve sent out best of year cassettes since 2000, CDs) to friends around the globe. In 2019 we added a Spotify playlist. I\u2019m not going to put that up until this set of daily sleeve notes is complete. However, this year I intend to extend the playlist so that, in addition to the twenty songs on the CD, there\u2019s another twenty things there wasn\u2019t room for. It\u2019s been a very good year for music, if little else, so let\u2019s celebrate that. In another year, The Big Moon, Loudon Wainwright III, Drive-By Truckers (two great albums!), Courtney Marie Andrews, Cowboy Junkies, Moses Sumney, James Taylor, Hen Ogledd, Richard Dawson, Maria McKee, Bill Callahan, Jason Isbell, Georgia, Nadia Reid &amp; sophomore albums from YUNGBLUD, Rolling&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4485,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions\/4485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}