RORY GALLAGHER STATUE AT THE ULSTER HALL
SIOBHAN GARRIGAN - HOME IN A TIME OF HOMELESSNESS - 4 Corners festival 2025

STOCKI'S FAVE 50 RECORDS OF 2024

50

 

50 - MARY COUGHLAN - REPEAT REWIND

That blues Irish voice always delivers and this time we get the special treat of Brian Wilson's God Only Knows.

 

49 - VAN MORRISON - DUETS AND NEW ARRANGEMENTS

Oh some won't like some of the rejigs but the voice is still cutting it and he does Janice and ny song Someone Like You with Joss Stone!

 

48 - ELBOW - AUDIO VERTIGO

No my favourite Elbow arrangements but you can't Hide Guy Garvey's voice and poetry. 

 

47 - DEA MATRONA - FOR YOUR SINS

Those Northern Irish young women make a rockin' little debut record. Check the acoustic versions ep too.

 

46 - FONTAINES DC - ROMANCE

Ireland's finest pump it out with a little more sophistication.

 

45 MORGAN HARPER JONES - UP TO THE GLASS

This woman makes a great debut with a lot of help from Iain Archer.

 

44 - WAXAHATCHEE - TIGER’S BLOOD

She'll be higher in lots of other Best of the Years 

 

43.  WILLIE NELSON - LAST LEAF ON THE TREE/ THE BORDER

The man is in his 90s and realised both these records in 2024. I put them both at the same number. Check out the cover of Warren Zevon's Keep Me In Your Heart on the former and the latter's title track written by Rodney Crowell.

 

42. MAGGIE ROGERS - DON'T FORGET ME

More good songs from a wonderful songwriter.

 

41 - PAUL WELLER - 66

State of the man message at his age in every genre he has ever played.

 

40. GILLIAN WELSH/DAVID RAWLINGS - WOODLAND

This might have been higher had I got more familiar.

 

39. DAVID GILMOUR - LUCK AND STRANGE

Never a Pink Floyd fan but I like a good David Gilmour record and Luck and Strange is a good...

 

38. A LAZARUS SOUL - NO FLOWERS GROW IN CEMENT GARDENS

Dublin band that Christy Moore is covering these days. Gritty Dub poetry in a sound between The Pogues and The Sawdoctors!

 

37. STARLESS - RETURNING HOME

Orchestrated Scottish pop from Paul McGeechan who played keyboards with Love & Money and can cajole the like of Paul Buchanan, Julie Fowlis and Chris Thomson to be his voices.

 

36. NORAH JONES - VISIONS

A lighter quirkier underfoot for another enjoyable Norah record.. 

 

35. JAMES MCCARTNEY - BEAUTIFUL NOTHING

Paul son gets a lot of grief but he can play guitar and then with an artists bent he can collage melodies and skilful playing into what might be one of his dad's experiential "McCartney" projects.

 

34. DAWES - OH BROTHER

Goldsmith can write a thoughtful  song and the band can deliver.

 

33. PHIL MADEIRA - FUNKY COVERS

Madeira is a sought after session player, a maker of Emmylou's Red Dirt Boys. Here he takes some of our favourites and shifts there arrangements with tasty impact.

 

32. THE PEARLFISHERS - MIX TAPES FOR GIRLS

Glasgow's Davy Scott delivers more Beatles meets Beach Boys pop with underlying social observations. Makes you wonder who you made Mix Tapes for!

 

31. LAURA MARLING - PATTERNS IN REPEAT

Laura in a quiet thoughtful record of mother hood and that certain age. 

 

30. RICHARD HAWLEY - IN THIS CITY THEY CALL YOU LOVE

That smooth deep voice with 50's guitar twang on songs all about his hometown Sheffield, if Sheffield was located somewhere between Memphis and Nashville.

 

29. THE SECRET SISTERS - MIND, MAN, MEDICINE

Those sisters with the harmonies and songs are growing up and the works grows stronger by the album.

 

28. THE BREEZE - THIN GROUND

Northern Irish supergroup trawl the inspiration of their Neil Young fandom.

 

27. JIM CUDDY - ALL THE WORLD FADES AWAY

Canadian and half the Blue Rodeo songwriting team turns out a strong set of songs, finely honed.

 

26.SKERRYVORE - TEMPUS

Stepping into the Runrig gap with aplomb, my daughter grew up in a house called Skerryvore. The music lived up to its place in our lives.

 

25. CHRISTY MOORE - A TERRIBLE BEAUTY

His best in a while, taking on as he does every political issue around Ireland with a poignant compassion for the humane.

 

24. DAVID C CLEMENTS - THE GARDEN

Took awhile for young Clements to squeeze out his sophomore record. With his melodies and that voice it was of course worth the wait.

 

23. THE 4 OF US - CRESCENT NIGHTS

The Newry brothers with a strong collection of songs about the heart, their heartland and beyond.

 

22. RAY LAMONTAGNE - LONG WAY HOME

Like the beautiful and peaceful  sounds of Woodstock, Van and The Band. So close to the early 70s vibe to almost be gazing into law suits.

 

21. LONE JUSTICE

Unfinished Maria McKee songs of the 90s, recorded by an unfinished band from the 80s and sounding right here in 2024. Band members Etzioni and Hedgecock put it altogether beneath that Maria McKee voice. 

 

20. HOZIER - UNREAL UNEARTH UNENDING

Sometimes Hozier is just too much and cluttered for me but oh my when he hits the spot as on Too Sweet oh he really hits it.

 

19 T-BONE BURNETT - THE OTHER SIDE

Great to have this man back recording his own stuff, instead of making the world's finest film soundtracks. God haunted too. Nice.

 

18. GAVIN FRIDAY - ECCE HOMO

Like a magnum opus where Friday blends cabaret and disco and Nietzsche and the Bible with all that Cedarwood Road artistic muse. 

 

17. MARTYN JOSEPH - THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SAY

Always thought provoking for head and heart and soul. More humane songs in a world losing its.

 

16. BRIAN HOUSTON - BELFAST TROUBADOUR

I loved these Houston songs that had this amazing blend of 50's cowboy songs with a futuristic twist. Yippy Ky Yay for instance! Catchy as anything you'll hear this year.

 

15. CARA DILLON - COMING HOME

Cara writes poetry and spoken words it over some lovely tunes. All about growing up in the north west of our wee place. There's a book too!

 

14. BEN GLOVER - AND THE SUN BREAKS THROUGH THE SKY

The Glenarm boy in Nashville with another sublime collection of songwriting, some with Mary Gauthier and Gretchen Peters.

 

13. DANA MASTERS - REAL GOOD MOOD

One of my favourite voices debut. Gentle jazz meets gospel with the mighty Cian Boylan on piano and co-writes.

 

12. CONCHUR WHITE - SWIRLING VIOLETS

Incredible debut full of ear worm melodies and all kinds of human emotions.  From Portadown for goodness sake.

 

11. AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT - GLORY

More great songs of feeling and guitar fascination from the extraordinary human that is Mikel Jollett. His own Thunder Road and the title track are good places to start.

 

10. MICHAEL KIWANUKA - SMALL CHANGES

Kiwanuka shifts pace and mood for an album that I described as “Bill Withers meets John Martyn”.

MY REVIEW HERE

 

9. BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN - KEEP ME N YOUR MIND/SEE YOUR FREE

A favourite band of mine recorded this one in a west Cork pub and they are not even Irish. Anais Mitchell gets me every time and this is her best outlet.

 

8. VILLAGERS - THAT GOLDEN AGE

My spiritual song of the year was I Want What I Don’t Need that surprised me on RTE’s Culture Night and that led me back into the understated wonder of Conor O’Brien’s social and soul observations.

READ MY REVIEW

 

7. SNOW PATROL - THE FOREST IS THE PATH

First record without Jonny and Pablo is littered with stadium anthems and clever word work from Gary Lightbody who we are proud to call one of our own. Green vinyl for the Irish!

MY REVIEW HERE

 

6. JOY OLADOKUN - OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM

Interesting album about the deconstruction of faith without letting it go but finding something, somewhere... and doing is so creatively.

MY REVIEW HERE

 

5. COLDPLAY - MOON MUSIC

Feel uncool having Coldplay in my top 10 but justice demands it. It would only be prejudice not to. From the collaborative rhythms of We Pray to the classic ballad of All My Love (watch the video with Dick Van Dyke) with all kinds of Moon Music moods in between...and even the hopefulness of Maya Angelou... 

MY REVIEW HERE

 

4. OISIN LEECH - COLD SEA 

The first solo record from the Lost Brothers’ man, took him to the beautifully wild Donegal and he captured the rugged refreshment of that sense of its otherness stupendously.

MY REVIEW HERE

 

3. MADELEINE PEYROUX - LET’S WALK

Spent the summer listening to these subtle grooves of spiritual rhythm. Peyroux throws the Gospel, politics, race and environment into her jazz folk blender and even adds heavy sprinklings of humour.  

MY REVIEW HERE

 

2. NICK CAVE - WILD GOD

God’s spokesman for the generation, finding joy in sorrow and creating amazing music that only Cave can imagine and summon.

READ MY REVIEW

 

1.BLUE ROSE CODE - BRIGHT CIRCUMSTANCE

My act of the year. Thank you Doug Gay for sending me a video of Don’t Be Afraid and Stuart Dennis for tipping me off to Edina. Caledonian Soul with magnificent writing and as main man Ross Wilson described it, “The biggest theme that’s emerged (by accident) is one of Faith with a capital F”. 

MY REVIEW HERE

 

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