<< #25   |   #23 >> Here’s another song by a band whose introduction came by way of a sampler. Yes, they really did work! Back in the latter months of 1994, I was living in a basement apartment just north of Toronto while attending my second year at York University. Although it was definitely a shorter commute from that apartment than it was in…

Here’s a good long Apple Music playlist that could get you through an afternoon of chores, painting, or cooking. Perhaps a road trip from Toronto to Montreal. Or keep you company on a flight from North America to Europe. I’ve done a few playlists over the years on this blog but never any that focused on the music of a particular year in the past.

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.) Artist: The Clientele Album Title: Music for the age of miracles Year released: 2017 Details: standard black vinyl The skinny: Returning back to my series, spinning all of The Clientele’s long players from my collection, I thought it pertinent to quote part of the post (with some updates) I wrote when I shared the band’s sixth studio album as…

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the 'piles' of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

<< #78    |    #76 >> Song #77 on my Eighties' best 100 list is Morrissey's fourth solo single, "Interesting drug". Stephen Patrick Morrissey was quick in releasing his first solo album, "Viva hate", less than a year after the dissolution of The Smiths. "Interesting drug" was released the following year in 1989 as a non-album single, though it would be included on the 1990 compilation "Bona drag".

<< #32    |    #30 >> If you’ve been following along with this list, as I know a bunch of you might be, you’d know that I came across a bunch of the covers on this list by way of compilation albums, many of which placed focus on cover songs. I had a bunch of these on my CD shelves before I started culling my collection and a good portion of them were tracked down in the mid- to late- 2000s.

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.) Artist: The Clientele Album Title: Bonfires on the heath Year released: 2009 Year reissued: 2017 Details: standard black vinyl The skinny:

Well, here we are. We’ve finally made it to the last full day and hence, the last post of the year and exactly as planned, we’re going to be talking today about my favourite album of 2025: No Joy’s "Bugland". Originally formed as a duo in Montreal, Canada in 2009 by Jasamine White-Gluz and Laura Lloyd, No Joy has gone through a number of personnel compositions over the years but is these days, for all intents and purposes, the musical vehicle for White-Gluz.

I trust that those of you who celebrate had an enjoyable Christmas holiday. I passed a great couple of days with my lovely wife but now I'm back to continue this countdown of my fave albums of the year. So let's go. Seven years ago I fell in love with an album. It was called "Shadow people" and it was by this band that I’d never heard of before: The Limiñanas.

<< #7    |    #5 >> Where were you when you first heard that OJ was acquitted? When the challenger shuttle exploded? When Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use? When the first plane crashed into the World Trade Centre? History is filled with these big transcendental moments that ‘everyone’ vividly remembers and inevitably remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about it, saw it on television, etc.

Looking back over the pages on this site, I’ve come to realize that Pulp hasn’t gotten near enough love on this blog*, especially given how much I’ve listened to them, sang along with them, and danced to their tunes over the years. Back in 2018, I did publish some words on my top five favourite tunes by the band and in that post, explained how my first time listening to the group in earnest was when I saw them opening for Blur at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre back in the fall of 1994.

Honestly, I didn’t plan it this way at all. If you read the post on my fifth favourite of 2025, Suede’s "Antidepressants", you might recall that their previous album, "Autofiction", hit the same mark on my Best albums of 2022 list. Well, in a weird twist of fate, Wet Leg’s amazing self-titled debut was my number four album three years ago and now, their sophomore record "Moisturizer" is number four as well!*

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.) Artist: The Clientele Album Title: God save The Clientele Year released: 2007 Year reissued: 2017 Details: 10th anniversary reissue The skinny:

Here we are sliding into my top five favourite albums of the year and it’s a band that is no stranger at all to these pages. Indeed, they last appeared care of a post back in September on a song for my best tunes of 2013 list, a track called "It starts and ends with you" from the first of what is now a litany of five great reunion albums.

<< #16    |    #14 >> True story: Back in 2006 or 2007, when this newfangled thing called the Facebook was still a relatively new concern*, I joined a Facebook group called "Shoegaze" and promptly forgot all about it. And then at some point early in 2013, I started receiving a barrage of updates in my "News Feed" from this very group, which both surprised and delighted me.

Hello again! The calendar has rolled over to December 1st and that, to me, means that the countdown to Christmas and the end of the year begins in earnest. It used to be an unwritten rule that this was the date that Christmas songs started being trumpeted in the stores and decorations were brought out and trees put up at home and at the office, etc, but that date has been steadily pushed forward over the years.

<< #79    |    #77 >> Some people might think that I've gone daft with my pick for song #78 and moreover, its inclusion on this list at all, but I really do love A-Ha's 1985 single, "The sun always shines on TV". To this day, A-Ha is still Norway's biggest ever musical export and while they have enjoyed continued success in Europe, especially in their native Norway, their album releases have all but been ignored here in North America.

I know most people are not a fan of Mondays, given that it's the start of a new work week and all that that entails, but I like the idea of new starts and all of the potential they bring. And what better day than a Monday to start a new series… and one that celebrates another year of great music at that.

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.) Artist: The Clientele Album Title: Strange geometry Year released: 2005 Year reissued: 2016 Details: standard black The skinny: More Clientele vinyl hitting my turntable this week, this one a warm and long overdue reacquaintance.