New old has dominated for me this year. Best of all, John Phillips, Wolfking of LA. A brilliant country rock gem. Ronnie Lane's 70s folk/country albums also hit the spot. Nick Lowe and Tom Petty also provided many hours of listening pleasure. Also the highways and byways of British folk rock inspired by the brilliant Electric Eden. My best year for music in donkey's years and just 3 new new albums bought all year.

Take A Picture: Margo Guryan - alovely slice of 60's west coast poppy fun. A one shot at glory for a Beach Boys inspired breathy voiced chick that came to nowt so she gave it all up.

The Skylarking reissue as well as XTc in general.

I have whiled away many an hour listening to Teardrop Explodes this year. Never paid much attention to them before but Kilimanjaro would be in my top twenty albums ever now.

Here is the obligatory link :)

The first album at least.

My big rediscoveries/discoveries this year have been:

The Bee Gees - Worked my way through their entire catalogue in chronological order and am now convinced they are one of the greatest groups popular music has ever seen.

Poco - The band the Eagles could have been

Sidney Bechet - A master reeds player

Young Fresh Fellows - 1980s power-pop from the Pacific North-West

Always steered clear of Willie in the past, but following Glastonbury I did some digging - helped by a nudge in the right direction from Graeme Thomson and others of the parish. Recommend Graeme's book 'The Outlaw', by the way.

I also went on a massive Fairport binge in the lead up to (and following) my first trip to Cropredy this year. It's not all for me - some of it is a touch too hey-nonny-nonny for my tastes - but when it's good, it is very good indeed.

I've become inordinately obsessed with Traffic and all things Winwoodian.

Both this year's "Midnight Souvenirs" and the brilliant "Sleepless" from 2002, both very highly recommended, here he is with an old pal

Cold Wave from the 1980s mainly. Linear Movement and Absolute Body Control, that sort of stuff. It's awesome.

by Pastor T L Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir.

...it's just beautiful.

Paul Simon - 4 from his back catalogue
Bob Dylan - another 4 from his
Louis Armstrong - greatest hits /best of type things
Tom Petty - replaced 3 vinyl with CDs
New Orleans music - 3 compilations and another 4 CDs of local NO jazz bands.

Also loving *Essential* Jimmy Cliff and The Vanguard Years by Junior Wells.

Only discovered them back in October and I am fair smitten. The track Champaign,Illinois off their last album is fantastic.As a result I tracked down their best off collection and a customer in America kindly sent me over a copy of Fight Songs - another of their great albums. Cant believe they are never mentioned over here.

Apart from that Dar Williams, some older John Mellencamp stuff and Amorphous Androgynous whose compilations have really cheered me up on many a long drive.

Dirk Wears White Sox, the extended cd is probably the disc that has given me most pleasure this year. I have also enjoyed 'remembering' the Breeders' first two albums and various Throwing Muses tracks.

Peter Cases first 2 or 3 albums from early eighties are storming and certainly worth tracking down. I got them from Amazon USA - You can find them over here but quite expensive the last time I looked.

I have an extreme fetish for this mob of traditional heads down, straight ahead meet you at the bend rockers via a whim the other week on Acnefy™, they has me zipped up, hooked and spanked into submission!

Fever Ray is also pushing and pulling me in most pleasurable areas.

apart from those two meh.....

edit:
putting together a CURVE compilation for John Simpson (of this parish) has got me turned onto their dense whirling noise again

Miller's new album is a decent enough record whose arrival prompted me to re-visit and hugely enjoy several albums I hadn't played in a while: "Sailor," "Children of the Future" and "Fly Like An Eagle" especially.

I got tired of Zappa a few years ago... don't know why... but I've been dipping into the catalogue recently and there are some crackers in there.

This year I've purchased (for the first time) material by Elvis Costello, Richard Hawley, Half Man Half Biscuit, Deaf School, The Sundays, Joanna Newsom, XTC and Fairport Convention.

Discovery of the year for me though has to be Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. I Started off with 'Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus' (which is probably my album of the year) before adding 'The Boatman's Call', 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!', 'The Good Son', 'Henry's Dream', 'Let Love In', 'Murder Ballads' and 'Tender Prey' at various intervals throughout the year.

HMHB and Richard Hawley would come a very close second and third. I'd eventually like to get some more HMHB (in addition to CSI: Ambleside, This Leaden Pall, Achtung Bono and Back in the DHSS) but it's impossible to know where to start.

Accounts for probably 75-80% of all music purchases this year.

Some of the OLD discoveries of 2010:
Jimmy Webb
The Band
Richard & Linda Thompson (specifically I want To See Bright Lights Tonight)
inspired by this site

J J Cale
Brian Eno
heard some, never owned any

Willie Nelson
Alan Parsons Project
HMV Sale

and many other CD replacements for vinyl-only stuff

2010 has been a year of Old - and I haven't hit a duffer yet (although Alan Parsons came close, but I gave it another 3 or so listens, and it sunk in)

I finally dipped my toe in Neil Young with "Decade". We're still getting to know each other but the bits I like, I like a lot.
I bought "Revolver" and "The White Album". The former is ace, the latter is a difficult customer which I am still wrestling with.
Two of my favourite new songs of the year are a million years old: "Someday" by Dave Bartholomew and "How's The World Treating You?" by Elvis Presley.
But what was best of all was the record the massive turned me on to: XTC's "Apple Venus Vol 1". I love it so much that "Wasp Star" is wrapped and under my tree waiting to be played on Christmas morning. Can't wait!

Tom McRae's first two albums

Ray - First Light (is anyone else a Ray-o-phile? I should have posted them on the 'Artists you like whom no-one else you know likes' thread)

Mary Lorson and Saint Low - Tricks for Dawn

and, almost obsessively, The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Definitely my favourite Joni album - Shades of scarlet conquering is my all time fave song of hers.

25 o'clock

How I'd never heard it before I don't know.

While I like Psonic Psunspot I think I still prefer 25 o'c. What In the World? and Mole From The Ministry are both stunningly good.

by the various threads in which they've been mentioned this year? :-)

Audience and developed an unhealthy obsession with Michael McDonald era Doobie Brothers.

by The Zombies.

A real lost classic (although, of course, it's not lost anymore).

Simon & Garfunkel, all of whose albums I got in a nice little box for about a tenner on Amazon. Not sure if it's still there at such a great price.

It reached the point where I was having to self-restrict my playing of some tracks (esp America and Only Living Boy) a bit like you slow down reading a book you can't bear to finish.

Sure, I knew quite a few of their tracks but didn't have any, and certainly didn't realize just how deeply wonderful many of them are. Lyrics-wise, compared to most stuff, Paul Simon's on another plane.