The Best of 2004

Singles of the Year

The rules of engagement are these:

1) The top four songs from any given act qualify for the long list.
2) Only one song per act in the Top 50 or the Honourable Mentions list.
3) Judgement is entirely subjective, and completely at my whim.

The Top 50

We start with a brief run-through of positions 50-21.

50 British Sea Power - Remember Me
Waves his branches about like a madman.

49 Bi-2 & BrainStorm - Slippy Roads
In which Reynars and the lads team up with a group to sing in Russian.

48 Alistair Griffin - Bring It On
With PI2 winner Alex Parks working on her second album, her bridesmaid takes the floor.

47 Jewellers - Kiss On My Lips
Refreshingly classic reggae.

46 Rammstein - Amerika
See, the Germans really do have a sense of irony.

45 t.A.T.u. - Zaschischatsia Ochkami
Probably the last song that Antan Decski will record.

44 Wilson Phillips - In My Room
The re-union covers album ends with this Beach Boys track.

43 Martha Wainwright - BMFA
This one's still growing on me. I'll either be raving about it till June or quietly let it drop.

42 Starsailor - Four To The Floor
An unexpected rock-dance crossover.

41 Belle & Sebastian - Books
The standout single from their umpteenth album.

40 Incubus - Talk Shows on Mute
Living with the sound turned off.

39 Julie and Ludwig - On Again Off Again
A jolly little Eurovision entry.

38 Ludovico Einaudi - Stella Del Mattino
Chanced upon this on a classical station, and another hit for serendipity.

37 Vanilla Ninja - When The Indians Cry
The Swiss vocal group's breakthrough. Next stop: Estonia.

36 Bomfunk MC's - No Way In Hell
The flying Finns strike back.

35 Keane - Somewhere Only We Know
A song that everyone knows by now.

34 Brian Wilson - Good Vibrations
"Smile" finally shipped, and this is good enough to be a number one single.

33 Lisa Miskovsky - Lady Stardust
Appeared on a similar list to this compiled by the Sunset Times last year. Good call.

32 Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
Three straight years in the top 50.

31 Melissa Ferrick - Anything Anywhere
She's better live.

30 Ephemera - On The Surface
The leading Norwegian trio continue their close vocal harmonies.

29 Gabriela Kulka - Sail Away Sweet Sister
Rocks in a way that Queen's original doesn't quite manage.

28 Agnetha Faltskog - If I Thought You'ld Ever Change Your Mind
The former ABBA member came back with a (er) Cilla Black cover.

27 Reamonn - Strong
The biggest band from Germany had another great year.

26 Emmylou Harris - Lost Unto this World
A song of hope from someone who never gave up her own.

25 Alcazar - Physical
Londonbeat in "appeared on a good record" shocker!

24 Juliet Turner - Vampire
Nods to Rob for this, a spooky little number about unfaithful lovers.

23 Fefe Dobson - Don't Go (Girls & Boys)
Somewhere between pop and soul lives this cheery number.

22 Killers - All The Things That I've Done
Which Killers track should it be? Just about this one over Mr Brightside, purely because it got played less.

21 Bonnie Raitt - Angel of Montgomery
OK, it's an old record, but I first heard it this year, and that's what counts.

The Top 20

And more detail of positions 20 to 1.

20 Gretchen Peters - Tomorrow Morning
Another song of hope and optimism, albeit couched in the sound of despair. Slightly better live than on the album "Halcyon", but that would be bragging.

19 Nightwish - Nemo
I've been quietly watching this lot since hearing a soprano performing Iron Maiden. Nothing much has changed, the group still pump out ice-cold heavy tunes, of which this is the leader of the album "Once".

18 Noise Next Door - Lock Up Your Daughters
Yes, yes, having a band made up from triplets who look a bit like each other is a complete gimmick, and one that probably won't stand more than about two singles. If the other one is as good as this belter suggesting that resistance is useless, we'll remember them with a nod.

17 Zutons - Don't Ever Think (Too Much)
Which track from "Who Killed the Zutons" would make the top end? It had to be the one with the most anthemic opening of the year. The first sixteen bars of this song may be the greatest start to any song, though the rest pales a little beside such genuis.

16 Modest Mouse - Float On
For those who miss the Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, relief was at hand with the new slacker album. "Good News From the Next World" is, as the name suggests, full of good tracks.

15 Jennifer - Ma révolution
I'm not sure whether she came out of Star Academy or Popstars, but when faced with a singalong chorus to lift the heart, it doesn't matter. From the album "Le Passage"

14 Original Broadway Cast - Popular
From Schwartz and Holzman's musical "Popular," the re-telling of the prequel to Oz, the moment when Galinda is being awfully nice to Elphaba, in the way that only someone who is being nasty by pretending to be nice can do.

13 Wonderwall - Touch The Sky
Perhaps the biggest absence from the pop scene is the new Bangles - a female band that can do both hard-nosed and more tender songs. This German outfit have the market covered, and the "you can do it" attitude of their second album "What Does It All Mean?" is typified by this track.

12 Jam And Spoon - Butterfly Sign
As a rule, I don't much like dance music. But I've always had time for Jam and Spoon, a production duo who push the boundaries of dance above and beyond their usual limits. So it is for this song, featuring a rousing vocal, and showcasing "Triptomatic Fairytales 3003" to its best.

11 Embrace - Ashes
It's all very well having That Bloke Out Of Coldplay to write your comeback hit, but what do you write next? You write something better than Coldplay ever made, something that's going to be your new singalong anthem for years to come. From the album "Out of Nothing"

10 Rosenstolz - Willkommen
There's something completely indefinable about this track, and if I tried to say why I liked it, it might stop. From the album "Herz"

09 RX - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Thanks to Gaba for this tip; it's the U2 track, redone by taking soundbites from the speeches of the new muppet, Bushy, and auto-tuning them to fit the tempo and melody. From audiostreet

08 Lena Philipsson - Delirium
And the Scandi-pop continues! The biggest thing to come out of Sweden in the last five minutes has made a new-disco record that set dancefloors across the country burning. High-energy pop from "Det gör ont en stund" and for the masses.

07 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
The band who crept in through the side door at the end of 2003, took up residence in your favourite armchair, and told you enough stories and did enough housework that you don't want them to leave. It could have been "Matinee", but it was the anthem of the year that cemented their place atop every critic's poll.

But not this one.

06 McFly - Obviously
Drawing inspiration from the Monkees and the Beach Boys, drawing kudos from Busted, and drawing plaudits from anyone prepared to take off their cool and say "Yes, this was the pop sensation of the year." Another week, I might have preferred their breakthrough hit "Five Colours In Her Hair", but this is the song to remember.

05 Ruslana - Wild Dances
At least seven of the top fifty acts have had some connection with Eurovision over the years, and we may as well wrap up with the contest winner. Ruslana brought the house down - quite literally - in Turkey, and used her national hero status for good works.

04 Scala - With Or Without You
A single play on Xfm opened up a world of possibilities. Take sixty young ladies, train them to sing in a classical style, then cover pop tunes to make a fun(d)-raising disk called "On The Rocks". U2's original was a bombastic mess; this has style and panache and a wit absent from the original.

03 Kimberley Locke - Eighth World Wonder
Booted off Pop Idle Youess purely because Simon Cowell is a wally, the Locke responded with the album "One Love," and an uplifting tune that works in the disco, and when strummed on a guitar, and probably when played on a church organ. That's the hallmark of a great song, if no-one can mess it up.

02 Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel - My Secret Place
Another of those tunes I found by chance, this time on VH-2's short-lived "This Is Americana" slot. The meeting of an aging British prog-rocker and an aging hippychick perhaps shouldn't have worked. The result is a song that lets imagination and nostalgia run riot, moving through time and geography like nothing on earth. From the album "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm," which should give you further hints.

01 Annie - Chewing Gum
Sometimes Popjustice is right. Take one Norwegian lass with a corker of a song. Add top-notch production, simmer to taste, put on the album "Anniemal", and unleash in September. One listen and this was stuck on my memory like - well, like gum to a shoe. It sounds like disposable pop, but there's something of a hook in there that keeps one coming back, and back, and back again.

Was there anything else?

The Next Best

Those tracks that were mightily fine, but not quite fine enough to make the top 50.

A Teens - I Promised Myself
Alex Parks - Cry
Alison Krauss & Union Station - Restless
Anne Hvidsten - Need to know
Avril Lavigne - my happy ending
Barlow - Perfect Wave
Bonnie Tyler feat Kareen Antonn - Si Tout S'arrete
Busted - Who's David
Calogero et Passi - face a la mer
Christian Ingebrigtsen - Take Back Yesterday
Delays - Long Time Coming
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - I Love You Coz I Have To
Dschungel Stars - Ich bin ein Star, holt mich hier raus
Finger Eleven - One Thing
Graham Coxon - Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery
Graham Idle - Fuck the FCC
Jeanette - No Eternity
Jess Klein - Willing To Change
Julia Savicheva - Believe Me
Julian Berntzen - Girl From Town
Katie Melua - The Closest Thing To Crazy
Kenickie - It Started With A Kiss
Maria Arredondo - Mad summer
Marijonas Mikutavicius - As Mires
Mark Owen - Making Out
Mousse T - Right About Now
Mull Historical Society - How About I Love You More
Nellie Mckay - Dog Song
Northern Heights - Look At Us
Papa Garcia - Natalie And Nucy
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
Rasmus - In the Shadows
REM - Wanderlust
Ryan Adams - So Alive
Snow Patrol - Chocolate
Sparks - What Are All These Bands So Angry About
Steve Martland - Principia
The Real Tuesday Weld - The Ugly And The Beautiful
Tim Christensen - Right Next to the Right One
Wheat - I Met A Girl

The Long List

And, just for the hell of it, the remaining tracks in the long list. All are recommended.

Air - Alpha Beta Gaga
Alcazar - This Is the World We Live In
Alexandra and Konstantin - My Galileo
Alexander - Here I Am
Antique - Time to say goodbye
Ash - Renegade Cavalcade
Auf der Maur - Real A Lie
Avion - Seven days without you
Avril Lavigne - Don't Tell Me
Badly Drawn Boy - Year of the Rat
Barenaked Ladies - Maybe Katie
Basement Jaxx - Good Luck
Belle & Sebastian - I'm A Cuckoo
Bertine Zetlitz - For Fun
Beverly Knight - come as you are
Bic Runga - Get Some Sleep
Big and Rich - Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)
Blink 182 - Down
Blue Lagoon - Break My Stride
Bob Schneider - Come With Me Tonight
BoDeans - If It Makes You
Bonnie Tyler et Kareen Antonn - Si demain (Turn Around)
Brian Wilson - Wonderful
Britney Spears - Toxic
Busted - Hurra Hurra, die Schule brennt
Butterfly Boucher - another white dash
C21 - She Cries
Carbon Leaf - Life Less Ordinary
Carpark North - Wild wonders
Charizma - waiting(here for you)
Chorale - Dirlanda
Chungking - Following
The Divine Comedy - Come Home Billy Bird
Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love
David Sneddon - Baby Get Higher
Deepest Blue - Is It A Sin
Denkmal - Wir sind Helden
Delays - nearer than heaven
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence - Reinterpreted
Diana Krall - Temptation
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping
Easyworld - 'till the day
Ephemera - Saddest Day
Ephemera - Hey (nanana) ReFraîched chillmix
Ephemera - Happy, Grateful, Aware
Erik Faber - Century
Evanescence - Everybodys Fool
Flogging Molly - Within A Mile Of Home
50 Foot Wave - Clara Bow
Franz Ferdinand - Matinee
Frou Frou - Let Go
Gabriela Kulka - Run of the Mill
Goo Goo Dolls - Give a Little Bit
Guano Apes - Break the Line
Gus Black - Dry Kisses
Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For
Hanson - Penny and Me
Hillary Duff - So Yesterday
Hillary Duff - Come Clean
HIM - And Love Said No
Hope of the States - The Red, The White, The Black and the Blue
If I Were You - Candee Jay
Interpol - slow hands
Israel Kamaka We'wohole - Over The Rainbow
Jam and Spoon featuring Rea - Set Me Free
James Fox - Hold On to Our Love
Jann Arden - if you loved me
Jeanette - Rockin' on Heaven's Floor
Jem - Maybe I'm Amazed
Jess Klein - Open Me
Jim Brickman feat. Mark Schultz - Till I See You Again
Joan Osborne - I'll Be Around
Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - coma girl
John Fogerty - Déjà Vu (All Over Again)
Jojo - Leave (Get Out)
Jonatha Brooke - Emmanuel
Jonny Lang - red light
Jonsi - Heaven
Junebug - Bitches
Junior Jack - Stupidisco
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot
kd lang - Helpless
Keane - Everybody's Changing
Kelly Clarkson - Low
Kent - FF
Kerli - Beautiful Inside
Kings Of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
Korni - Vika
Kotiteollisuus - Minä olen
Kym Marsh - Sentimental
Les Connards - Comme des Connards
Lisa Germano - It's Party Time
Live - We Deal in Dreams
Living Colour - Glamour Boys
Lou Reed - Satellite of Love (remix)
Ludovico Einaudi - Luce dei miei occhi
Ludovico Einaudi - Le onde
Luka - Galvok, Ka Darai
Mania - Looking For A Place
Marijonas - Pakeliui namo
Marillion - Don't Hurt Yourself
Mark Joseph - Fly
Martin Kesici - Angel Of Berlin
Martina Mcbride - Independence Day
Masha Qrella - i want you to know
McFly - That Girl
McFly - Five Colours In Her Hair
Melanie C - melt
Melissa Etheridge - This Moment
Melissa Etheridge - Breathe
Mew - 182
Morrissey - Irish Blood English Heart
Natasha St Pier - mourir demain
Nelly Furtardo - Forza
Nelly Furtado - Try
Nick Drake - Magic
Nightwish - Wish I Had An Angel
Ordinary Boys - Week In Week Out
Original Broadway Cast - the wizard and i
Orlabel - Before This Time
Outkast - My Favourite Things
Pat McGee Band - Beautiful Ways
Pet Shop Boys - Miracles
Peter Docherty & Wolfman - For Lovers
Pilate - Melt Into The Walls
Placebo - Twenty Years
Pop! - Can't Say Goodbye
Queen Latifah & Al Green - Simply Beautiful
Rascal Flats - Mayberry
Rasmus - In the Shadows
Razorlight - Stumble and Fall
REM - Final Straw
Re-Union - Without You
Rooster - Come Get Some
S Club Juniors - Dreaming
Sara Löfgren - Starkare
Sarah McLachlan - Fallen
Scala - Perfect Day
Scala - I touch myself
Shaznay Lewis - Never Felt Like This Before
Simple Kid - Truck On
Snow Patrol - Run
Speedway - Can't Turn Back
Speedway - In and Out
Steriogram - Walkie Talkie Man
Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts Now
Sugababes - Caught In a Moment
Summer Matthews - Little Miss Perfect
Susan Tedeschi - Alone
Texas - I'll See It Through
The Beautiful South - Just A Few Thing That I Ain't
The Crash - Star
The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
The Killers - Mr Brightside
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
The Poppyfields - 45RPM
The Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
The Trews - Not Ready To Go
The Wildhearts - Top Of The World
The Zutons - Pressure Point
Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire
Thirteen Senses - Do No Wrong
Tie Break - Du Bist
Tim Christensen - Whispering at the Top of My Lungs
Turin Brakes - Five Mile (These Are The Days)
U2 - Vertigo
V - you stood up
Vanessa Carlton - White Houses
Wilson Phillips - Go Your Own Way
Within Temptation - Running Up That Hill
Wonderwall - Silent Tears
Old 97s - Won't Be Home
Zas-Mandarinai
Zeljko Joksimovic & the Ad Hoc Orchestra - Lane Moje