The Best Albums 2015

best records 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time to look back on the last 12 months in music and as tradition goes, this involves the unveiling of our 25 Best Albums Of The Year.

– as always, it has been a struggle, we have fought and bled and finally agreed on the 25 best records of 2015. The ones we’ve played most, that has gotten us most excited or are just too good to ignore. We, as you can see, listen most to music in the, so called, roots oriented genres. However, we do listen to all kinds of music, it’s just that there aren’t that many good albums (in our views) in the other “genres” this year.

What did we get wrong? What did we miss? Well, nothing of course, this is THE list. No, just kidding, this is our view of the year in music, and as we have said many times before, we only write about the stuff we like and we can not reach everything.

Head over to Born To Listen and check out our list

The 5 Best Music Books 2015

720x405-'Bob-Dylan_The-Story-Behind-Every-Track'

When we read about music, we listen to the music we read about. A good red wine in the glass, or a good cup of coffee and the music playing in the background. The artist’s catalogue (and bootlegs) should be available to us, so that when we read about a concert or a record, we can listen to exactly that music when reading. It is not always possible, but very often it is. We need to set the mood.

We don’t look at the year of release when we buy music books, but we do buy interesting new releases.

We’ve plowed through about 40 books about music this year between us, most of them old books about music history (blues, country or certain albums), these are The Five Best Music Books of 2015:

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The 5 Best Music Videos 2015

bob-dylan the night

I like when music videos are made as short films, not just as promo clips to sell the music. I look at the cinematography, the acting, the writing and, of course, how the music fits the images.

We have chosen these 5 videos as the best of the year 2015.

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Bob Dylan: Desolation Row, Birmingham, UK 1998

bob dylan birmingham 1998

 

They’re selling postcards of the hanging
They’re painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they’re restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Nice version giving us 6 out of the original 10 verses, and putting the “Einstein verse” after “The Agents”.

NEC Arena
National Exhibition Center
Birmingham, England
24 June 1998

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