Finding joy in the small things - My Top 15 Albums of 2023

1.???? Peter Gabriel: i/o

Just as I finished my year-end list of the best albums of the year, the great Peter Gabriel delights the world with his first album of new songs in 21 years and it's a late-career masterpiece to boot. The first thing you notice is that Gabriel's voice still sounds flawless and powerful despite his age of 73. In addition, there is not a single weak song on this album - on the contrary: Gabriel adds a few of his best songs to his impressive oeuvre, such as the gorgeous 'Playing For Time'. The music by his trusted trio (Tony Levin on bass, Manu Katché on drums and David Rhodes on guitar - and Brian Eno also steps in occasionally), is once again sublime on this album and unparalleled in terms of production. The album comes in 2 mixes (bright mix / dark mix) but the differences are subtle. In the bright mix, the voice and guitar are more prominent, and in the dark mix the strings, piano and drums are more prominent. A great album that will definitely make my 2024 Wrapped on Spotify.

2.???? Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Council Skies

After some adventurous sonic escapades, Noel returns to his success formula: melodious and catchy songs resulting in the brightest and best collection of songs in quite some time.? In addition to some of his strongest melodies since the turn of the century, the lush orchestration (strings and horns) that accompanies most of these songs take this album to the next level.

3.???? The National: The First Two Pages of Frankenstein

After overcoming a 2-year writer’s block and depression of singer Matt Berninger, The National returns with their best collection of songs since ‘Boxer’ and ‘High Violet’, their top albums from well over a decade ago. With contributions by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens, this 9th album is The National at its peak and a testimonial to what has made this band so great – and popular – across 2 decades.

4.???? Sufjan Stevens: Javelin

Recovering from a debilitating disease that condemned him temporarily to a wheelchair and after overcoming further personal loss, Sufjan Stevens returns with an album going back to what he does best: folky music enriched with electronic accents and poetic lyricism centered around acoustic guitar and piano and multi-layered vocal harmonies.? The songs sound deceptively simple but are ingenuously constructed. Another masterpiece from a commercially underappreciated artist.

5.???? Trevor Rabin: Rio

34 years (!) after his last solo record with vocals (Rabin has spent the last 3 decades being a very successful movie-soundtrack composer), the man largely responsible for Yes’ greatest hit ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ returns with a larger-than-life album in which he almost plays all instruments (except drums and some backing vocals) while going through a huge variety of styles: dynamic and melodic art rock with injections of Americana, South-African rhythms and stadium anthems, pitch-perfect production and complex sophisticated arrangements make this an intense but very satisfying listening experience.

6.???? Foo Fighters: But Here We Are

This album emerged out of the wreckage of two devastating losses: that of their beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl’s mother.? In addition to his guitar contributions, Grohl took his place behind the drumkit and lead the band through a series of heartbreak songs dealing with these losses.? This all results into a beautiful grungy collection of healing songs about loss, grief, friendship and family – easily their best album of the last 15 years.

7.???? The Rolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds

Not as superb as most English publications want to make us believe (‘best rock’n’roll album of the last 4 decades’ according to The Telegraph), ‘Hackney Diamonds’ is nevertheless the best Stones album since 1981’s ‘Tattoo You’.? Jagger and Richards kicked out a series of awesome rock songs working against a self-imposed deadline.? The guitar riffing by Keef and Woody and Mick’s vocals sound like a band in peak condition and having Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman also contributing in the most famous Stones line-up in one song next to contributions of Paul McCartney, Elton John and Lady Gaga only add to the party. If this would end up being the final Stones album, it’s one incredible swansong.

8.???? Caroline Polachek: Desire, I want to Turn Into You

As a kind of fusion of Kate Bush and a contemporary Joni Mitchell, Caroline Polachek’s ‘Desire’ is an infectious album filled with sparkling adventurous pop music constructed around great vocals, instantly likeable melodies and supported by creative production and guest appearances by Dido and Grimes.

9.???? Steven Wilson: The Harmony Codex

This album is multi-instrumentalist and super-producer Wilson’s most ambitious and eclectic work to date: a tour de force with echoes of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Noel Gallagher and jazz-rock and yet it all comes together in a unique original blend.? Special bonus: the bass-solo in the last track ‘Staircase’.

10.? Olivia Rodrigo: Guts

Olivia Rodrigo’s second album is a witty, funny album with instant appeal full of cheeky pop-punk kicker-songs filled with killer one-liners, mixed with power-ballads.? An early coming of age-album of the (still only) 20-year old artist who shares her life experiences in an unfiltered way (resulting in about half of the songs getting an ‘Explicit lyrics’-rating ??).? While the ballads sometimes still remind a bit of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, in the rock songs, Olivia Rodrigo has found her own mark which bodes well for the future.

11.? boygenius: the record

The temporary ‘supergroup’ consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus came out this year with a full-fledged album, 4 years after the release of the boygenius EP.? This album is certainly bigger than the sum of the 3 ‘parts’: amazing to hear how their different writing styles blend to a unique collection of awesome songs and how well their voices sound together in harmony.? The recently released EP ‘the rest’ unfortunately seems to indicate that the life expectancy of boygenius as a band has already come to an end.

12.? Gaz Coombes: Turn the Car Around

This is the finest achievement as a solo-artist of the former Supergrass-frontman to date.? A record rich in melody and arrangements with subtle influences of early Radiohead, Beck and Bowie, yet all coming masterfully together into his own incarnation of multi-layered melodic songs showcasing what a great songwriter and performer Coombes truly is.

13.? Depeche Mode: Memento Mori

The remaining duo reflects on the unexpected loss of founding member Andy Fletcher. A lush buffet of intriguing electronic sounds and textures, their 15th album is a reminder that Dave Gahan and Martin Gore continue to survive everything resulting in one of the best albums in their long and rich career.

14.? dEUS: How To Replace It

Perhaps influenced by a bit of Belgian chauvinism for this album to make the Top 15 as it is not topping their best work but but dEUS’ first new record in 10 years holds enough good songs (and one or 2 great ones) to remain on my Spotify playlists for quite some time.

15.? Paul Simon: Seven Psalms

At the age of 81, Paul Simon issues a collection of songs that deal with his past, present and (perhaps) future, with Simon briefly looking back at some regrets in life and also reflecting on the sad state the world is in today.? The 7 songs are packaged as one long continuous song (no breaks) with a beautiful recurring theme and exquisite vocal support of his wife Edie Brickell.

Honorable Mentions:

CMAT: Crazymad, for Me

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Weathervanes

BC Camplight: The Last Rotation Of Earth

The Lemon Twigs: Everything Harmony

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?