The Ineligibles

These couldn’t qualify for the main list for one reason or another, but I bought them this year and they deserve some recognition:

Jeff Buckley
Grace

2005 was the year I finally understood why people liked Jeff Buckley. I had heard his stuff before and never really got it, but my taste must now have changed. Grace is almost a perfect album, start to finish, the man has such a truly wonderful voice and can play guitar in a way I’d love to be able to even approach. For pure awe factor, the Live at Sin-é set shows off his amazing talents to the fullest, simply because the whole show is just him with a guitar and his magic lungs. For all round experience though, Grace is hard to beat. I know I am a late arrival at this particular party, but now I feel I can join with everyone else in saying: what a loss he was…

Monotonic
Electralux

Sorry, couldn’t find an image for this one! It’s been deleted by Amazon (idiots), and nobody else seems to care about it either. I bought Electralux on eBay for £1.75 including postage, and it turned out to be one of the best albums I bought all year. It came out in 1997, by the way. Got it because the listing said they were like Amplifier, and for that money I was willing to see if that was true. It isn’t really, other than that they are also a rock band who think somewhat outside of the box. Monotonic have more mellow elements, such as piano on many songs and a more chilled overall sound. As far as I can tell, this was their only release and it was totally ignored by everyone. Such a shame, because they capture the post-grungy sound of ‘97 perfectly, whilst adding more progressive elements to create a more durable collection of songs than the majority of their peers. Inventive and intelligent rock, clearly of its time but with more than just nostalgia to offer. “I don’t like to feel stupid.” No, Monotonic, nor do I…

The Prodigy
Their Law (The Singles: 1990-2005)

One of those bands I always respected, but never liked enough to buy albums by, this has been great fun for me. I once borrowed Fat of the Land for like, six months, and found that aside from the singles I wasn’t that keen. I loved ‘Girls’ from their newest album, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned, but again when I heard the album itself, I wasn’t impressed. A singles compilation then, is ideal for me. Like a dance/rock crossover Goldilocks, this amount of The Prodigy is for me, just right. The classic singles have stood up to the test of a decade or so, and ‘Breathe’ is still one of my favourite individual tracks of the 90s. Exactly what was needed, and about time too…

Seafood
When Do We Start Fighting…

Not sure what made me buy this 2001 release, but I’m so happy I did. Seafood are, I suppose, ‘prog-indie’, or rock with some progression but not too much and lots of nice mellow bits. God, I’m not sure what it is actually. They mix it up, occasionally going for sexy female vocals over piano and other times bordering on full blown metal. Seafood are an inventive, if slightly confused, bunch of very clever people. Why had I not heard of them before? Kinda like a cross between Super Furry Animals and Tool. But not…

Amplifier
The Astronaut Dismantles HAL

Obviously ineligible, as an ep and not an album, the second Amplifier release, despite being great, has to be classed as a disappointment. Of course, seeing as how the debut had become my favourite album ever, this stood no chance: either it had to be my favourite release ever, or it would inevitably be a disappointment. Tough criteria for success.

There are 5 tracks on show here, four of which are amazing, and one of which is really quite poor. Unfortunate, then, that Amplifier decided to put the turkey first on the ep. Bad idea. ‘Everyday Combat’ is perfect Amplifier, and is the only track here to challenge the album itself. Overall, certainly very enjoyable, and this hasn’t dented my view of the band: they were clear that this was a stop-gap ep before the new album due in May. As such, all of the best new songs have been saved for that, whilst the ones they had left over were put out early to keep people like me happy. It shows. However, considering the nature of this release, it must be applauded: most bands try their hardest and get nowhere near this quality. If it had qualified for the list I think it would have come in my top 5. Not bad for a stop-gap.

Mixed feelings, then. All of which means that they will stand or fall based on what happens in May. Here’s hoping…