You want a timeless song, I wanna change the game

So, having got to the end of The Guardian's Top 50 albums of 2020, what have I learned?  

Me?  Learning something?!?  Never!

My main reason for tackling this list was to spare me from the endless repetition of 60s and 70s US bilge that Rolling Stone had been force-feeding me (although I'd have to say things have got slightly better on that front recently) and it certainly did achieved that aim.  I generally enjoyed the exercise - I don't for one second actually think these are the top 50 albums of 2020, but that's the thing about subjective lists - they're subjective.  However, it was certainly nice to listen to some new music - I'd only listened to 4 of the albums beforehand, so that just shows how very much not down with the kids I am.  There were also some pleasant discoveries and surprises in there which made the whole thing very worthwhile.

I'd say there were no obvious omissions from the list - although looking at some of the other end of year lists, I'm quite surprised Megan Thee Stallion and The Weeknd didn't make The Guardian's list.  I also suspect evermore, Taylor Swift's second album of the year would have made it on there if she'd got a shuffle on and released it before December.  Personally, I would have liked to see Mel C's latest album on the list - I've always had a soft spot for her, but it has some great tracks on it and got some good reviews when it was released.

A further vague selection of my opinions about the albums I endured for this exercise.

Best 5

Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa
Women in Music Part III - HAIM
Miss Anthropocene - Grimes
Róisin Machine - Róisin Murphy
Color Theory - Soccer Mommy

A clean sweep for the ladies for me and I think I could have gone quite a lot further down the list before a male voice would have troubled the jury - I suspect J Hus would have come in about #10.

I was intrigued by The Guardian's (and many others') selection of Fiona Apple at #1 - I feel I must be missing something because it just didn't hit the right notes for me at all.  It's either that or music critics are all a bunch of self-amplifying voices who don't like to have the emperor's new clothes pointed out to them - and that can't be it now, can it!?!  If I had to declare a #1, I think I'd give it to Dua Lipa - it's a very listenable album and the one I've gone back to most out of all of them - with HAIM a close second for their very grown-up album.

Worst 5

I think I'm going to hold off giving a "Worst 5" - very few of these albums are what I'd actually describe as bad.  The ones I liked least were either not to my taste or I couldn't really see the point to them - although there were a surprising number that fell into the latter category where I just ended up thinking "Why did you bother doing this?".

I do feel that The Necks album deserves a special mention though - it was far and away the one that I had to struggle to get through the most.  In its defence, it has to be said it features huge amounts of skilful playing throughout but 10 minute avant-jazz pieces are very much NOT MY THING.

Best new discoveries

Color Theory - Soccer Mommy
Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee
Sawayama - Rina Sawayama

All ladies again - two from the US and one from the UK - who I will be making an effort to discover more about.

Albums that I enjoyed most from initially low expectations

Rough And Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan
Folklore - Taylor Swift

Two big US artists that I don't generally think all that much of, but both albums were pleasantly not terrible - and I actually liked Taylor's effort.

I will be taking a break from new music for a bit to concentrate on obscure, influential albums that no-one normal has ever heard of (probably), but I suspect that may quickly drive me insane (or more insane, some may argue) so I suspect I'll be back sooner rather than later!

Thank you to everyone for reading and for your comments - I'm always interested in other people's opinions.

#1 - I don't see it myself