Not a shaman or a showman, ashamed that I was selling the rights

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's 50 best albums of 2025.

#17 : Headlights - Alex G

What constitutes integrity? Working for love or money? Freedom or obligation to others? On his first album for a major label, standing at a new frontier of success, Alex G weighs these existential questions in appropriately vast, beautiful indie-rock epics, some breathless with anxiety (Spinning), others sardonic (Real Thing) or severe (Headlights). Despite the very contemporary, very Alex G touches – take the sprite-like voices and distortion of Bounce Boy – there’s a comforting solidity to this record that makes it feel as though it’s existed for ever, sharing the same spooked twilight as the best of Yo La Tengo and REM. 

Well if The Guardian are going to compare him to the best of R.E.M. then obviously I'm going to be interested (and undoubtedly disappointed). 

Hmmm. I kinda see what they're going for and I guess they just about get away with it by saying they share the same space. But it's going to have to be a helluva big space especially since Alex's voice is nowhere near as good as Michael's. I'd say I was more reminded of something like Bright Eyes - I didn't mind it, but I did somewhat struggle to remain engaged.

It saw some minor chart here with #52 in the Album Sales chart being as exciting as things got for it. The album's Wikipedia entry tells us this is his tenth album - apparently the press release told us that he is "unassuming cultural figure" which, in itself, seems like a pretty presumptuous claim to me. Critically, it was pretty well received and it actually properly charted in the US, getting to the dizzy heights of #166.

#16 : More - Pulp

The anticipation of a reunion album rarely measures up to the often dismal results. Perhaps the key is to spend a solid chunk of years playing together again, as Pulp did, before risking putting anything down on record. “I exist to do this / Shouting and pointing,” Jarvis Cocker sang on comeback single Spike Island; anyone who’s seen Pulp in recent years can attest that he has lost none of his calligraphic physical flair. Nor, as the magnificent More proves, has his gimlet eye for the grubby disappointments of middle age diminished. Life apparently feels no less of a charade at 62 than early adulthood did back in the 90s, a fact he sells as both anticlimax and a weird kind of comfort: if that’s the case, the unvarnished love songs and heartfelt stands against commodification suggested, you might as well stick it all on the line.

The eleventh album I've previously heard on the list and the fifth one I've already written up - when I met it I said I liked it but I doubted I'd listen to it again and that both is and isn't true because I heard a load of the tracks when I saw them live on a very enjoyable evening out. I gave it a quick flick through again for this post and "I liked it but I doubt I'll listen to it again" remains accurate.

This debuted at #1 and managed to stay in the charts for five whole weeks, which is pretty much a lifetime these days. The Wikipedia entry appears to have added very little since my original write-up but does include a critical review that I suspect Jarvis would appreciate with The Irish Times declaring that the album "isn't entirely a disaster: it won't ruin your memories of Pulp's glory days". It's also appeared on a fair few year-end charts with both Mojo and Uncut declaring it the best album of the year (which feels somewhat generous). Commercially, it did pretty well in Europe making the top twenty in most places and #1 in Croatia.

#15 : Never Enough - Turnstile

Is it hardcore punk or not? As this dull debate brewed on comment sections and Discord servers, the rest of the world got on with the business of just enjoying the uncomplicated thrills on Turnstile’s latest. Certainly, Seein’ Stars sounds like 90s Duran Duran, the epic title track could be played as NFL teams run on to the field and even the hardcore-paced Dull and Solo have a sheen to them. But for every frowning punk purist, you had 10 more lining up to pile into the pit with smiles a mile wide..

The twelfth album I've previously heard on the list which was met as a new entry (in the same week as Pulp) about which I expressed some admiration ("quite well done") but I wasn't sure how to describe it ("heavy dance-pop?") and had no idea what to do with it. And having listened to it again, I stand by my comments - and no, The Guardian, this is not hardcore punk.

It only managed one week on the chart but did get to a surprisingly high #11. The Wikipedia entry tells us it's their fourth album, but their first without founding member Brady Ebert - and that's pretty much your lot. Critically, it was well reviewed and commercially, it did even better in the US than it did here, getting to #9 - it got to #5 in Australia.

Three pretty well done but not exceptional albums for me here - with Pulp obviously being the easy winners, if only for the great gig.

#20-18 - Three VERY different albums
#14-12 - Another easy winner