Best of 2011: Albums, Songs and Live Acts.

This is a new start of the decade for Rock Music and it could not have been any better.  Last year was grim seeing how many excellent albums failed to chart and come into the limelight (My list for 2010’s album and songs of the year respectively: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html and http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-25-songs-of-2010.html) but this year saw the release of many commercially and critically successful albums with Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Coldplay emerging as clear winners. Not only this, all the major live acts successfully entertained the audiences all year long.

Top 10 Albums of 2011

It is tough to choose among so many anticipated releases and the fact that most of them lived up to their expectations makes it even more difficult.
Somehow managing to come up with Top albums we have the following:

#1 Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (Review: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/05/wasting-light-by-foo-fighters.html)

#2 Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

#3 Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto (Review: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/10/mylo-xyloto-by-coldplay.html)

#4 Radiohead - The King of Limbs (Review: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/02/king-of-limbs-by-radiohead.html)

#5 Wilco - The Whole Love

#6 Bon Iver  - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

#7 Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

#8 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

#9 Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials

#10 PJ Harvey  - Let England Shake

Top 15 Songs of 2011

This category stems from the fact that even few disappointing albums (read “I’m With You by Red Hot Chili Peppers” Review: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/09/im-with-you-by-red-hot-chili-peppers.html) had songs which were memorable and following is the list for it:

#1 Walk – Foo Fighters

#2 Us Against The World – Coldplay

#3 Think You Can Wait - The National

#4 Codex - Radiohead

#5 Piledriver Waltz - Alex Turner

#6 Under Cover of Darkness – The Strokes

#7 St. Peter's Cathedral - Death Cab For Cutie

#8 Love is a Laserquest – Arctic Monkeys (Album Review: http://www.the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/05/suck-it-and-see-by-arctic-monkeys.html)

#9 Discoverer - R.E.M.

#10 Holecene - Bon Iver

#11 Jump Into The Fog - The Wombats

#12 Stop The Clocks - Noel Gallagher

#13 Vaccines - Blow It Up

#14 This is Why We Fight - The Decemberists

#15 Brendan's Death Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Top Live Acts of 2011

Huge festivals with the likes of Glastonbury, T in The Park, Lollapalooza made this an eventful year with headliners creating immense impact along with other Rock acts who made their presence equally felt. Following comprises the best among them:

#1 Coldplay

#2 Arcade Fire

#3 U2

#4 Foo Fighters

#5 My Morning Jacket

#6 The Flaming Lips

#7 Beirut

#8 LCD Soundsystem

#9 The Kills

#10 Portishead

Post in your Top Album, Songs and Live Acts in the “Comments” section. 

Fallen Empires by Snow Patrol

Fallen Empires. (Snow Patrol)

They are not jumping in the elite league with this but do manage to keep their heads above the ordinary level.

Album Rating: *** (3/5)

Often referred to as “Celtic Coldplay”, Snow Patrol try hard to break this mould and eventually end up drawing comparisons to U2 and their Zooropa era in their latest offering “Fallen Empires”. Produced by Jacknife Lee, who holds a reputation of pouring in unnecessary emotions especially in lyrical context, this album won’t do a great deal to change that.   

The intentions were quite clear after the release of “Just Say Yes” in their ‘Best of’ series “Up To Now”. They were trying new things in the studio, particularly in the electronica section.  Bringing synths seems to be the new trend but it equally backfires fast enough if it misses the attractiveness that great pop songs over the time have succeeded in achieving. This is exactly the case with few songs on the record as it stretches to their lengthiest effort yet, spanning for almost an hour.  But there are moments on the album that jump out and become memorable although most of it remains groovy and safe, much to the pleasing of casual listeners. 

 “Fallen Empires” starts off in a rather unimpressive manner with “I’ll Never Let Go” which seems like a rip off from the latest “Tron” soundtrack and is easily forgettable.  The lead single, “Called Out In The Dark” is a danceable track with four-to-the-floor beats and enjoyable rhythm overall with Gary declaring “This is your life, This is your time”. With “Weight of Love”, Snow Patrol enter the familiar territory with bass line that ran throughout their entire previous albums and they try to get epic with gradual build up to a choir laden ending. One of the major complaints lodged against the band has been a lack of soul that U2 have and this song does nothing to change that perception. But the respite comes in the form of second single “This Isn’t Everything You Are”.

Retaining their trademark sound, Lightbody indulges in self-pity and one can easily make out the “Here-comes-the-heavy-chorus” moment by the epic melancholy of piano chords that recur like a symphonic motif. With a major uplifting hook and heavy bass similar to “Crack The Shutters”, this song remains their best work in the record and a deserving single. Bringing in some vintage (and by which I refer to pre Final Straw era) element, Gary creates imagery of innocence and simplicity with nostalgic reference to the river, church and setting “The Garden Rules”.  Backed up by a powerful female backing vocal, this song provides for a lighter side before the guitars come crashing in the album title track “Fallen Empires”. Impressive and urgent bass runs through the entire song which samples the band’s dramatic guitar rock and heavily produced affair, two terms that can describe the entire record.

“Berlin” is a short, sweet and simple filler featuring hymns before “Lifening” enters with a start almost identical to the second single but gradually creates its own impression with beautiful lyrics (“Ireland in the world cup, either north or south”). In the song writing department, Snow Patrol have rarely penned anything noteworthy and most of it is straight forward confession of feelings but perhaps that is what distinguishes them from bands like “Arctic Monkeys” and this song is a step forward in the same direction. Gary’s bruised voice commences “New York”, a track full of sparkle, warmth and inspired use of trumpet making it emotionally stirring. 

“In The End” is very generic and doesn’t leave any impression whatsoever on the listener. It is a testament of the fact that they have stretched the record unnecessarily. (“We lost the magic that we once had”). Have they? If the next song is to suggest then “Yes” because “Those Distant Bells” though boosting of some strong vocals mostly lacks luster that binds up a great acoustic song.  

Missing dance tracks? Enter “The Symphony” with sublime pop and charming sing along, a new refreshing take on their usual approach to such songs, it doesn’t build up to something epic, a welcome change. “The President”, relegated to the end of the album seems like a solo effort but Gary’s tragical voice fits surprisingly well with the lyrics (“It’s broke before you know it, before you knew what it was for”) after which an instrumental brings the album to a close. 

With this record, they might not decrease their chance of ending up on credits of Grey’s Anatomy. Clear inspirations from LCD Soundsystem and Elbow combined with many writers block that Gary had, “Fallen Empires” is plagued with absence of songs that can be generally classified as “great” as most of it is nice, sweet and simple. The band itself tries to be bigger without the presence of catchy hooks, doesn’t leap forward heavily but relies on subtle tweaks to their style just for the sake of bringing something “new”. Sticking too rigidly to their formula (anthems) and the large duration of the record might be a downside but they have put in a spirited effort which should be complemented for.  Sadly, the praising stops here.

Key Songs:  This Isn't Everything You Are, Lifening, Fallen Empires. 

Tracklisting: 
1. I'll Never Let Go (4:44)

2. Called Out In The Dark (4:01)

3. The Weight Of Love (4:17)

4. This Isn't Everything You Are (4:58)

5. The Garden Rules (4:29)

6. Fallen Empires (5:20)

7. Berlin (2:05)

8. Life-ning (3:53)

9. New York (4:01)

10. In The End (4:00)

11. Those Distant Bells (3:17)

12. The Symphony (6:07)

13. The President (4:35)

14. Broken Bottles From A Star (Prelude) (1:30)

Do leave in your comments and reviews.

Poll Results.

Here are the results for the poll conducted for the previously reviewed albums:


I'm With You by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Votes: 20


Average Reader Score: 3



Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay

Votes: 27

Average Reader Score: 4.29


Thanks everyone for voting!