Nite Songs Top 50 Albums of 2023 - Part 4 (20-11)

 

20.    DEXY'S - "The Feminine Divine"

Since he resurrected Dexy's a decade or so ago, Kevin Rowland has been on a good run of form and The Feminine Divine continues this purple patch. Slinky and soulful, it sees Rowland getting to grips with the passing of time, making peace with his past and celebrating the women in his life while sounding as if he's genuinely loving life to the maximum. The sound of a man who's happy with his lot and making the most of every passing day. 

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19.    THE HANGMEN - "Stories To Tell"

Now in their fourth decade of existence, it’s to the Hangmen’s immense credit that Stories To Tell stands up with their best stuff - 33 minutes of the sort of lean, fat-free rock ‘n’ roll that there’s depressingly little of in this day and age. Simple straightforward scuzz-punk howling at the moon on a lonesome night outside some dive bar, this is the sound of a band on top form.

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18.    DUNCAN REID & THE BIG HEADS - "And It's Goodbye From Him"

The final album from Dunc and his band, And It's Goodbye From Him at least shows the Big Heads going out on a high with the usual blend of sunshine-soaked power-pop that can't help but put a smile on your face. The likes of Funageddon Time and It's All Going So Well would have been hits in the hands of a more commercially fortunate artist in days by. As Duncan puts his feet up, he can rest easy in knowing he's more than earned his downtime.

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17.    BOYGENIUS - "The Record"

A supergroup in the loosest possible sense, this collaboration between Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus actually ends up being so much more than just the sum of its parts. A joint project in the purest sense, there's no sense of egos jostling each other for space here, rather this is a collective where everyone is given an equal chance to shine and all three of the participants play to each others' strengths as evidenced on the haunting likes of True Blue, Leonard Cohen, Satanist and the ultra-raw closer Letter To An Old Poet.

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16.    WINGMEN - "Wingmen"

Another "supergroup" of sorts, Wingmen are a collaboration between the Stranglers' Baz Warne, the Damned's Paul Gray, Leigh Heggarty from Ruts DC and Marty Love from Johnny Moped and this album sees all four of them playing to their strengths with mixture of dark melodies and a wry sense of humour in the lyrics - the likes of Louis Smoked The Bible, The Brits and The Last Cigarette are fine stuff indeed. Similar to Boygenius above, a collaboration which does well to become more than the sum of its parts.

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15.    SPARKS - "The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte"

Well of course Sparks were going to be in here - they've been a regular presence in my end of year lists in recent years. The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte was another fine effort from the Mael brothers, belying their advancing years with the usual surrealist humour and sparky creativity with the likes of Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is and The Mona Lisa's Packing, Leaving Late Tonight being well worthy of a place in the canon of Sparks classics.

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14.    BLACK SPIDERS - "Can't Die Won't Die"

Sometimes there's an argument for keeping things simple and straightforward and Sheffield Britrock veterans the Black Spiders are definitely following this on their fourth album. The likes of Hot Wheels, Alright Alright Alright and Another Weekend have the sort of hooks and licks that a million and one Johnny-come-lately NWOCR hacks would give their last Led Zeppelin album to own and the whole thing leaves you with a grin on your face a mile wide.

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12.=    GINGER WILDHEART - "Teeth"

With the Wildhearts on hiatus, Teeth allowed Ginger a bit of time away from the more sedate country sound of his Sinners project to unleash his more vitriolic side. Crashing through 16 songs in 26 minutes in the best Napalm Death/Discharge style, this is the sound of the G-man at his heaviest yet the likes of Straight To Hate, Happy John and the excellently titled Tubular Bellend have an undeniable way of sinking their hooks into you and not letting go. Great stuff.

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12.=    CJ WILDHEART - "Split"

CJ Wildheart has a habit of putting his best material together when he's got something to rail against and Split, seemingly taking its lead from the messy break-up of his former band, sees him railing against injustice with a real venom as evidenced on the likes of Butterfingers, All The Dough and Bad Decision although the more melodic likes of Victoria allow a bit of the trademark sunshine to break through and the whole thing has the sort of tunes and big chantalong choruses that have become CJ's calling card down the years. Recommended.

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11.    RYAN HAMILTON - "Haunted By The Holy Ghost"

The saying goes that often you don't realise what you've got until it's gone and with Ryan Hamilton announcing that he would be stepping away from the music business for the foreseeable future after numerous clashes of heads with record companies, there's a certain sadness to his final album Haunted By The Holy Ghost. Yet even when he's at his most downbeat, Ryan still can't help but throw some bright sunshiny pop into the equation on the likes of the title track, Asshole and Paper Planes and it's this which combined with the darkness of the likes of Sad Bastard Song and Broke My Heart, Fixed My Vision that lends an air of pathos to this album. We'll miss ya dude.