Struggled to find enough new albums that I had given sufficient 
listening-time to in order to properly rate them. Most of  my spare time 
in the latter part of the year was spent trying to rebuild my student 
music collection (with a fair bit of success too).  So I've been 
listening to Holly and the Italians, The Lurkers and Slaughter and the 
Dogs more than any new stuff.  And the best song of the year, for me, 
was "Rule The World" by Take That - go ahead and shoot me, the song is 
still fantastic.  Anyway - here goes:

Albums:
1
	Kelly's Heels
	"Neither Use Nor Ornament"
	More cracking songs from Gentleman Bob.  Fill yer boots.
2
	Ash
	"Twighlight Of The Innocents"
	Ash's career seems to be on a downward slope, but this was maybe my 
second favourite album of the year
3
	The Mellowmen
	"Tomorrow's Sound Today"
	Best live band I saw all year. Fantastic front man.
4
	Albert Hammond Jr.
	"Yours To Keep"
	Like an uber-poppy version of  The Strokes with better singing
5
	The Undertones
	"Dig Yourself Deep"
	Second best gig of the year and a much better album than I expected
6
	The Nines
	"Gran Jukle's Field"
	Got this one late - it seems almost like a series of tribute songs to 
various inspirational bands, but still has great tunes
7
	Farrah
	"Cut Out And Keep"
	Their best album so  far, much more grown-up songs than before
8
	1990s
	"Cookies"
	Sassy Glasgow pop from chums of Franz Ferdinand
9
	Ray Davies
	"Working Man's Cafe"
	This was a very pleasant surprise, especially since he gave it away 
free with the Sunday Times.  Good on yer, sport!
10
	The Sadies
	"New Seasons"
	Very Clarence White era Byrds-sounding
11
	Paul McCartney
	"Memory Almost Full"
	A decent effort from Macca, he's not completely spent yet
12
	Monkeeman
	"Jumping On The Monkey Train"
	Modern German power-pop, nothing radical but great songs
13
	The Clientele
	"God Save The Clientele
	Lush soft-pop, not my usual cuppa tea, but I enjoyed this
14
	Myracle Brah
	"Can You Hear The Myracle Brah"
	A bit of a return to form for Andy Bopp's outfit, I didn't care much 
for the last couple.
15
	Spoon
	"Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
	Another one I should have listened to more, but when I did listen, it 
sounded pretty groovy
16
	Super Furry Animals
	"Hey Venus"
	This  one should maybe have been placed higher - a real melodic gem, 
smothered in Welshness
17
	Mika
	"Life In Cartoon Motion"
	Most played album in the Hutton household (mostly by my daughters)
18
	The View
	"Hats Off To The Buskers"
	One of my daughter's favourite songs last year was "Same Jeans", so 
this is here for her
19
	Zombies Of The Stratosphere
	"Well Mannered Look"
	One I read about on the AbsolutePowerPop blog site - a great 
recommendation  too.
20
	The Smithereens
	"Meet The Smithereens"
	Ah, what the heck - it was a toss up between this and their Xmas 
offering, so I plumped for this one.

	
	
	

	
	
	

	Disappointments
	
	

	New Pornographers
	"Challengers"
	Hardly listened to this, it seemed so dull compared to their last 
album, "Twin Cinema"

	Fountains Of Wayne
	"Traffic And Weather"
	Nothing stuck with me from this one - they seemed to be going through 
the motions

           
Best Reissues:
E.L.O.
	Out of  The Blue (30th Anniversary)
The Rolling Stones
	Rolled Gold (Plus)
The Traveling Wilburys
	Volumes 1 -  3
The Scars
	Author! Author!


Best Compilations:
The Spongetones
	Always Carry On
Dirty Looks
	Dirty Looks/Turn It Up
The Rubinoos
	Everything You Always Wanted To Know
Various Artists
	Jackie The Album