Nite Songs

  Getting close to the top of the chart now as we enter the alliteratively alluring Nite Songs' Top 20 albums of 2020. Some crackers in here and no mistake. 20. SPARKS - "A Steady Drip Drip Drip" ( Review ) Scary to think that Sparks are now almost half a century into their careers. And scarier still that they're still putting out albums as great as A Steady Drip Drip Drip  way after most of their contemporaries had given up the creative ghost. Taking in the group's formative glam stomp as well as excursions into everything from samba rhythms to music hall stylings to pure pop, this is just as much of a joy to listen to as ever. Great stuff. *** 19. DIABLOFURS - "Neon Satellites" ( Review ) With controls firmly set to the new wave era of the early '80s. Nottingham glitter merchants Diablofurs came up with one of the best debut albums of 2020 mixing Tubeway Army style electronica with pure power-pop sensibilities to great effect on tunes like Rival Gr...

  Bob Mould is of course somebody who should need no introduction on here and in recent years the former Husker Du and Sugar man has been in a supremely prolific run of form with Blue Hearts  being his third album in as many years. Hand on heart, while I enjoyed 2017's dark Patch The Sky , I found last year's Sunshine Rock , while a much more upbeat album than its predecessor, to be a bit anonymous compared to Mould's best stuff. Blue Hearts  though is a much fiercer album which sees Mould railing against the state of the US in 2020 with the doomy anti-war Heart On My Sleeve  lulling you into the album gently before the ferocious Next Generation , urging the youth of America to stand up for themselves before it's too late, hits you with a real gut punch to kickstart things in earnest and is followed by the ferocious American Crisis  which really doesn't hold back in its anger, almost harking back to the sheer vitriol of early Husker Du with Mould sounding as if ...