Absolute Christmas/Absolute Scrooged: Driving Home For Christmas

           

Driving Home for Christmas was first released as a B-side because the now late Chris Rea thought Christmas songs were novelties, and he didn’t want to draw attention to it. Perhaps it may be an atypical song for him, nevertheless. it’s a perfect song that had endured and captures the nostalgic feeling of Christmas since. 

Stuck in traffic on the A1, where the late Chris Rea found himself in Christmas 1978, his wife behind the wheel of her Mini, he beside her as they tried to get from Abbey Road Studios in London to their home in Middlesbrough, 220 miles away. He wrote the song on a whim, scribbling down the lyrics whenever passing headlights illuminated the car interior, then put it away with his other unfinished scraps when he got home. 

Eight years later, he paired his lyric with some jazzy chords he'd written and then a song was born. At first, he shoved it on a B-side, but in 1988 he re-recorded it for a compilation, put it out as a single, and nothing fantastic happened, it was not an instant hit, it was more like a slow burner that went from radio playlists and department stores into people's hearts throught the years.

It was a slow burner because it’s not grand, just a common track not packed with magnificent of the contemporary Christmas hits at the time, not a tremendous lyrics it's just about being trapped in the A1 and trying to get as much as possible home on Christmas eve, not other emotion or tenderness, just about being there sitting and awaiting in traffic, looking forward to getting home.

When the track was released during Christmas 1988, "Mistletoe And Wine" by Cliff Richard was the Christmas No.1 and then nothing else but others related songs and "Driving Home For Christmas" was at 53, and there you go, nothing happens and the song was there as another useless attempt to capture the No. 1 for Holiday Season, in fact, I never heard about this track until Christmas 2019 and curiously I was trapped in traffic too trying to get home as soon as possible, but inmeadiately caught my attention because it sounds older maybe vintage, like the way Christmas songs used to be and doesnt sound like this anymore, and here's the key part of everything.

"Driving Home For Christmas", is a common Christmas song but not a one that impose and use the usual sounds many Xmas songs use and do like sonic bells, whistles, Santa's Ho Ho, and even thought the song emerged in the late 80s., it's not dated because it was created to sound like that, nostalgic and in some ways tender and magic cause it alludes a common thing everyone of us have experienced once in while, being sat in an unmoving car for Christmas as a way to comfort us and make our stance easy and less complicated just like the way it was 35 years when were kids and Christmas had a different meaning, and that's why this anthem hits hard, not only because Chris' death but also because captures the season's true spirit as no other song do.

In Memoriam: Rock And Blues Singer-Songrwriter "Chris Rea" Dies Aged 74

Iconic Middlesbrough-born musician Chris Rea, who had hits with Driving Home for Christmas, On the Beach and The Road to Hell, has died at the age of 74, a spokesperson for his family said.

 

The statement said that he died "peacefully in hospital … following a short illness". 

 

Rea blended blues, pop, soul and soft rock on 25 studio albums, featuring hits including The Road to Hell, taken from a UK No 1 album of the same name; Driving Home for Christmas, a perennial seasonal favourite; and tracks such as On the Beach and Josephine that earned popularity in the Balearic dance scene. He sold more than 30 million albums.

 

He was born in 1951 in Middlesbrough to an Italian father and Irish mother, and had six siblings. "To be Irish Italian in a coffee bar in Middlesbrough – I started my life as an outsider," he later said. As a young man he dabbled in music while working labouring jobs, including in his father’s ice-cream factory, and considered being a journalist. He eventually joined a band aged 22, Magdalene, which had previously featured David Coverdale (later of Deep Purple). He then joined another band, the Beautiful Losers, but struck out solo when offered a record deal, releasing his debut single, So Much Love, in 1974.

 

His first flush of success came in the US, where his 1978 song Fool (If You Think It’s Over) reached No 12 and earned him a Grammy nomination for best new artist. He struggled to match that achievement for some years – likening industry machinations in this period to a big manure heap of bubbling stuff. I had no control over it, I didn't know what to do – though the 1985 album Water Sign was a hit across Europe and helped to turn his fortunes around.

 

The late 1980s were his most commercially successful period: finally embraced in the UK despite often sitting outside the dominant trends in pop, 1987's Dancing With Strangers began a run of six UK top 10 albums, two of them reaching No 1.

 

The 1988 compilation album New Light Through Old Windows contained his biggest hit, Driving Home for Christmas, originally recorded in 1986. It made little impact on its first release, but the gentle, sentimental song about the communal pleasure of its title has continued to grow in popularity ever since, reaching a chart high of No 10 in 2021. Rea originally wrote it at a low ebb when he was without a manager, out of a record contract and actually banned from driving – he had to be driven home by his wife from London to Middlesbrough because he couldn't afford the rail fare. He wrote the lyrics on the car journey, but didn’t complete the song until a few years later.

 

Rea's chart success waned somewhat in the 2000s, when, beginning with 2002's Dancing Down the Stony Road, Rea turned away from pop and back towards the Delta blues that had originally inspired him. 

 

Appropriately, given he often fixated on cars and roads in his songs, Rea was a motor racing enthusiast who raced models by Ferrari and Lotus, and participated in the 1993 British Touring Car Championship. For the 1995 Formula One season, he joined the Jordan team as a pit mechanic. "I really didn't want to do the VIP thing, so I was in charge of Eddie Irvine’s right-rear tyre," he later said.

 

Rea suffered a number of health issues during his life. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and eventually had his pancreas removed along with parts of his stomach and small intestine in 2001. The procedure caused him to become diabetic.

 

He had a stroke in 2016, which he described as a  "very scary moment … I got it into my head that my perception of pitch had gone with the stroke. And it took a lot of convincing from people saying there’s nothing wrong with what you're playing." In 2017, he collapsed on stage during a concert in Oxford, and was taken to hospital to recover.

 

Rea is survived by his wife Joan, whom he began dating aged 17, and their daughters Josephine and Julia, both of whom Rea named hit songs after.

The List: The Best 50 Albums Of 2025

01. Suede   "Antidepressants"   (BMG)

 

their 10th studio album Antidepressants via BMG. The album is a milestone achievement that sees the band at the top of their game which has been described as a post-punk and gothic rock with themes such as mortality and modern disconnection, and it is intended to be the second in a trilogy of "black and white" albums, starting with Autofiction (2022)The album explores themes such as paranoia, death, and disconnection in the modern age. While the overall result is dark, both in tone and in subject matter, the lyrics often employ a more optimistic perspective. Definitely a truly intense album, a courageous one to reclaim the band's place with a truly powerful and inspired sound, a matured one and of course we cannot forget the lyrircs and impecable voice of Anderson well-accomplished here.

 

02. Pulp   "More"   (Rough Trade)

 

the band's first solo album in nearly 24 years since their last "We Love Life" in 2001, and their first without beloved bass/guitarist Steve Mackey "Freaks" in 1987 who died in 2023, Mackey is credite as a songwriter on two songs. More is an elocuent affirmation of all the features that made of Pulp what it is now, they moved away britpop nostalgia and instead keep reaching new artistic summits in a time in which everybody seems to talk again about britpop, but Pulp don't appeal on that, they appeal for its place in music as a complete band in all senses

 

03. Florence + The Machine   "Everybody Screams"   (Polydor) 

The album was created during and inspired by a time of healing and discovering the body's limits for Welch, who underwent life-saving surgery during 2023's Dance Fever Tour. Because of this, she feels Everybody Scream is her most personal Florence and the Machine album to date. She also mentioned the project's title coming from the idea of celebratory screaming and her exploration of why people would be screaming and the emotions and reasons associated with such a physical and emotional act. Dedicated to finding strength in release from physical and psychological inhibitions with its traditiona arena-pop baroque, horizon-spanning anthems of resilience furnished with cinematic strings, gargantuan drums, and, yes, the occasional scream. While touring Dance Fever in 2023, Welch underwent life-saving surgery, which she's now revealed was due to massive internal bleeding caused by an ectopic pregnancy. The trauma of miscarriage is evident in the fury that fuels Everybody Scream:  "Sometimes my body seems so alien to me,” Welch sings over the steady chug of "Kraken," sounding despairingly numb before transforming into a creature of wrath. On "The Old Religion," she dreams of immateriality, yearning to be free of her physical self so long as it means relief from pain.

04. Saint Etienne   "International"   (Heavenly)

 

After Saint Etienne's 35-year excursion through pop, International is their final album-length statement. A dreamlike drift with friends and collaborators, International features cameos from the higher echelons of pop — 80s chart heroes, electro, acid house and all points in-between — from Vince Clarke to Nick Heyward, Confidence Man to Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Doves and Xenomania, through to the lesser known, but equally exhilarating Augustin Bousfield and Flash Cassette. Saint Etienne are the 90s band who never left us, never imploded, and never adhered to clichéd excess. They are a testament to getting along, getting on with creating something new and, of course, getting away with it.

 

05. Sparks   "Mad/Madder"   (Transgressive)

 

Sparks, brothers Ron and Russell Mael, are back with their 28th album MAD!, their first release with Transgressive Records. Most acts, by their seventh decade in the biz, would have slowed to a crawl, creakily playing their past hits on the heritage circuit and releasing nothing more than the occasional Greatest Hits collection. This is not the case for Sparks, who have triumphantly returned yet again, proving their resilience and relevance in a modern world with a fresh record and summer world tour to accompany it. MADDER!, a four-song companion piece to the album, is for everyone who isn't yet MAD! enough. We hope these new songs will take you to an even MADDER! place.

 

06. Squid   "Cowards"   (Warp)

 

Cowards is about evil, nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma, and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong. Cowards is Squid's most courageous album: simultaneously growing in scope and returning to basics. Cowards has been described as both post-rock and art rock, with influences from a diverse set of other genres, including electronica, folk music, and psych rock. The album was seen as a continuation of the band's distancing from their earlier post-punk sound

 

07. Doves   "Constellations For The Lonely"   (EMI North)

 

Constellations For The Lonely, a new, intense, filmic, yet classic Doves album. Featuring ten new tracks of enkindled, future-facing, meticulous manipulation of mood from the Manchester trio. described by the band as a "dark" album, guitarist/singer Jez Williams. with its songs of disconnection and reconnection in a volatile world, is an emotionally powerful listen that packs an authentic punch matched by its widescreen sonic beauty. Despite many obstacles thrown in their path, Doves seem to never fail to impress when they return and this album is no exception

 

08. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke   "Tall Tales"   ( Warp)

 

Tall Tales showcases Pritchard’s mastery of archaic machines that he had previously unearthed in synthesizer archives, guiding the music down unexpected and experimental paths. Yorke meanwhile delivers a haunting and expansive vocal performance, evoking Radiohead’s OK Computer-era digital FX while delving into dark, introspective storytelling. Also central to the project, visual collaborator Jonathan Zawada’s artistry enhances the project with his hyperreal environments that blur the line between the organic and digital, juxtaposing uneasy landscapes of natural beauty with the brutal aesthetics of a dystopian world. Through Yorke’s lyrics, Pritchard’s atemporal compositions and Zawada’s visuals, Tall Tales questions where our insatiable appetite for ‘progress’ might have landed us. 

09. Brian Dunne   "Clams Casino"   (Missing Piece)

 

The New York singer poses life’s big questions in the form of exuberant, classic pop-rock. His new album sounds like it could’ve been made any time in the past 45 years Dunne, across his album, is preoccupied with the haves and have-nots. He’s at home watching too much TV, scrolling on his phone, and ordering takeout. He’s dreaming of taking it to “the sore winners up on top of the hill.” He’s anxiously talking too much on a boring conference call. He’s turning inward and wondering what it says about him that he’s not satisfied. Even at his most bothered, there’s no malice. Clams Casino is funny, sweet, and often wise and poetic, too. You’ll find yourself rooting for its protagonist, sympathizing with him and bearing grudges on his behalf. It’s a good time for anyone who may be teetering on a bad time—a winner’s album for the losers

 

10. Deftones   "Private Music"   (Warner)

 

Deftones have always defined boundless creativity in the music space. Across nine prior studio albums, they have carved out an unmistakable sonic identity — ferocious yet dreamlike, while making space for constant refinement and surprise Meditating on the beauty and peril of nature, the challenge of cultivating a positive mindset, and visions of a journey beyond the physical realm, private music showcases Deftones at their most evolved. At once a psychedelic voyage and a skull-rattling wallop, it’s the latest peak in a catalog filled with immersive, emotive triumphs.

 

11. Cate Le Bon   "Micheangelo Dying"   (Mexican Summer)

 

Cate Le Bon’s seventh record Michelangelo Dying usurped the album she thought she was making. The product of all-consuming heartache, her feelings overrode her reluctance to write an album about love, and in the process became a kind of exorcism. What emerges is a wonderfully iridescent attempt to photograph a wound before it closes up — but which in doing so, picks at it too. Musically, there is a continuation and expansion of a sound — a machine with a heart — that has taken shape over her last two recordsAn exercise in the viscerality of life, of love, of humanity for both listener and artist, Michelangelo Dying knows what it is to hold, to be held, and to be exquisitely, profoundly alone. “The characters are interchangeable” concludes Cate, “but at the end of it all, it’s me meeting myself.

 

12. Geese   "Getting Killed"   (Partisan) 

 

Geese return with their 3rd album, Getting Killed. They tracked the album with Kenneth Blume in 10 fast-paced days. With scant time for overdubbing, what emerged is a chaotic comedy, shambolic in structure but passionately performed, informed by an exacting vision. Big riffs are layered on choir samples; hissing drum machines pulse softly behind screeching guitars. They balance a disarming tenderness with an intensified anger, trading their love of classic rock for a disdain for music itself. The new album,  incorporates the New York band’s art-jazz and prog tendencies, definitive structures and recurrent motifs are readily employed; soundscapes unfurl more as shamanic palimpsests than flux-y improvs. In terms of songcraft and delivery, singer Cameron Winter draws from his solo 2024’s album Heavy Metal; joined by his bandmates – Emily Green, Dominic DiGesu, and Max Bassin – however, his idiosyncratic vocals and memeish lyrics take on added relevance and urgency. You have here a project that frequently sweeps the listener into a trance, ruptures that trance, and then reestablishes it

 

13. The Charlatans   "We Are Love"   (BMG)

 

The Charlatans are back with their highly anticipated new album, We Are Love. Their first studio album since 2017, this eleven-track collection marks a significant return for the band. We Are Love sees The Charlatans pushing their sonic boundaries, featuring exciting collaborations with the acclaimed Dev Hynes and renowned producer Steven Street, promising a fresh yet unmistakably Charlatans sound. A welcome return to form from this iconical band and proving they're still worth attention, celebrating their history throught this album and creating formidable and important music in the process to make of this album a must-have. 

 

14. Franz Ferdinand   "The Human Fear"   (Domino)

 

Produced with Mark Ralph, who previously worked with them on their 2013 album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, the album showcases Franz at their most immediate, upbeat and life-affirming, unashamedly going for the pop-jugular in classic Franz style. The 11 songs on The Human Fear all allude to some deep-set human fears and how overcoming and accepting these fears drives and defines our lives. Ever since their beginnings, throwing illegal parties in condemned Glasgow buildings, Franz Ferdinand have been defined by a fresh, unfading, forward-facing outlook, a transgressive art-school perspective, but with a love of a big song and The Human Fear undoubtedly continues in this tradition; distinct yet new, musically, and creatively it’s a record eager to push forward. The first studio album to feature members Audrey Tait and Dino Bardot, the record also sees Julian Corrie step forward to collaborate with Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy on songwriting and creative duties. 

15. Richard Ashcroft   "Lovin' You"   (Richard Ashcroft/Virgin)

 

Ashcroft returns with his new solo album Lovin’ You, his first new material since 2018's Natural Rebel. Lead track 'Lover' was written by Richard and, for the first time since his recording of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, incorporates elements of one of Richard's favourite works:  Love and Affection’, written by Joan Armatrading. Joan was approached before recording and loved the arrangement  

 

16. Manic Street Preachers   "Critical Thinking"   (Columbia)

 

The Manic Street Preachers return with their most urgent album in years. This is a record of opposites colliding - of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with the cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield) which look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs.

 

17. Mark Springer/Neil Tennant/Sacconi String Quartet   "Sleep Of Reason"   (Sub Rosa)

 

The album is planned for release in April 2025 and consists of three major pieces inspired by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya: a piece for solo piano, a string quartet and a quintet for voice and strings. Mark Springer plays the piano, The Sacconi Quartet perform the quartet and they are joined by Neil Tennant on vocals for the quintet. Speaking about the album, Neil said: "I bought a book of Goya's print series Los Caprichos which had inspired Mark's music and saw that the artworks were a satirical, cruel, nightmarish portrayal of the politics, corruption and culture of his era, exploring his dreams - or nightmares - while exposing the double standards of the ruling establishment

18. Ashes And Diamonds   "Are Forever"   (Cleopatra)

From the creative minds of Daniel Ash (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets/Tones On Tail), Bruce Smith (Public Image Ltd/The Pop Group) and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade/Sweetback) comes a darkly glittering new musical project that marks a huge evolutionary step in these storied musicians incredible careers!The album, recorded over the course of six years, contains sonically compelling, powerfully melodic music with mixing and engineering duties held by Robert Adam StevensonA prefectly crafted and arranged album, a genuine record that impressed since the beginning 'til the end with a haunting and magnificent finished, no doubt cause this is the work of a truly band with real music genius or veterans that come from the 1980s, and one of the most refreshing albums of the year.

 

19. Emma-Jean Thackray   "Weirdo"   (Brownswood)

Known for defying musical boundaries, Thackray's latest work is a deeply personal and utterly original exploration of selfhood, grief, and gratitude. Drawing on an eclectic mix of influences - grunge, pop, soul, p-funk, and jazz - Weirdo is a triumphant celebration of survival and individuality. Written, performed, recorded, mixed, produced and arranged entirely by Thackray in her South London flat, the album stands as a testament to her extraordinary musicianship and fearless self-expression. 

20. Matt Berninger   "Get Sunk"   (Concord)

 

Matt Berninger's second solo album, Get Sunk, is not an autobiographical album, but the narrator is processing how he became himself. Who is he compared to the kid on that sepia-toned farm? What is his idea of happiness? What the hell are we all searching for? Get Sunk is an ode to the infinite. The others that make us who we are; the possibilities our paths can take and the abyss of both misery and bliss. 

 

21. Sharon Van Etten And The Attachment Theory   "Sharon Van Etten And The Attachment Theory"   (Jagjaguwar)

 

Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go. The result of that liberation is an exhilarating new dimension of sound and songwriting. The themes are timeless, classic Sharon – life and living, love and being loved – but the sounds are new, wholly realized and sharp as glass. Reflecting on this new artistic frame of mind, Van Etten muses. 

  

22. Haim   "I Quit"   (Polydor)

 

Written primarily by Haim and Rostam Batmanglij, with production by Batmanglij and Danielle Haim. The album radiates the raw energy of seasoned performers whose deep reverence for classic rock shapes songs that are built for live performance. The album features previously released album tracks “Relationships” and “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out,” which were both met with critical praise, a return to the sleek genre-hybrid sounds of classic Haim.

 

23. The Chameleons   "Arctic Moon"   (Metropolis)

 

Arctic Moon sees them propelling forward musically while retaining the essence that originally made them iconic. The band's first full-length album since the release of 'Why Call It Anything?' in 2001. There is an obvious maturity to the songwriting on this record, and anyone familiar with our past work will hear that this is a positive step forward. While we're proud of the band's legacy, we really wanted to forge something fresh while retaining that profound and imaginative quality we're known for. We think that we have managed to do that and deliver a very strong record!.

 

24. Throwing Muses   "Moonlight Concessions"   (Fire)

 

Moonlight Concessions goes back to basics, a return for Throwing Muses to their esoteric off-kilter best courtesy of Kristin’s pin-sharp sketches and their suitably abrasive musical arrangements. The album follows their acclaime. Produced by Kristin Hersh at Steve Rizzo's Stable Sound Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Moonlight Concessions is a collection of snippets from everyday life writ large - think Raymond Carver Short Cuts, overheard conversations, recounted happenings and telling one-liners, all sewed together to illustrate the times as they slowly mature, fully peppered with original Muses’ vim and vigour.

 

25. Bon Iver   "Sable, fABLE"   (Jagjaguwar)

 

Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE was a prologue mired in darkness, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book that follows. Where SABLE was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era. On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE

 

26. Shame   "Cutthroat"   (Dead Oceans)

 

Cutthroat is Shame at their blistering best. An unapologetic new album with producer John Congleton at the helm; it’s souped up and supercharged. It’s exactly where you want Shame to be. Stamped throughout with Shame’s trademark sense of humor, the album takes on the big issues of today and gleefully toys with them. Casting a merciless eye on themes of conflict and corruption; hunger and desire; lust, envy, and the omnipresent shadow of cowardice. Musically, too, the record plays with visceral new ideas. Making electronic music on tour for fun, Coyle-Smith had previously seen the loops he was crafting as a separate entity to the things he wrote for Shame. s an album that revels in the idiosyncrasies of life, raising an eyebrow and asking the ugly questions that so often get tactfully brushed

 

27. The Weather Station   "Humanhood"   (Fat Possum)

 

One of the most intense, invigorating and poignant recording ever made by The Weather Station, "Humanhood" written during one of the most difficult periods of Lindeman's life and rendered with a rock band just as she began to recover by reckoning with a awful truth, well you know, sometimes, life simply tries to dismantle us, no matter how good everything may seem, and we must accept that in order to survive. According to band, this album was performed by the six musicians who improvised alive in two sessions at the end of 2023, the whole concept was molded by the band itself in terms of form, arrangements, mood and feeling, obviously, Lindeman remians in the spot light as a singer and main composer, but the band play a key role here.

 

28. Nation Of Language   "Dance Called Memory"   (Sub Pop) 

 

On Dance Called Memory, the band once again collaborated with friend and Strange Disciple producer Nick Millhiser. They imbued Dance Called Memory with a shifted palette — sampling chopped-up drum breaks on “I’m Not Ready for the Change” for a touch of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine or smashing all of the percussion of “In Another Life” through a synthesizer to cast a shade of early-2000s electronic music.

 

29. Miki Berenyi Trio   "Tripla"   (Bella Union)

A new chapter, a new-line-up, a newly minted sound; Miki Berenyi Trio's debut album Tripla is a landmark record for its three creators: Miki Berenyi, KJ 'Moose' McKillop, and Oliver Cherer. The album's richly layered, imaginative, and uniquely slanted strain of dream pop is an often euphoric and sometimes melancholic mix of guitars and electronica, fronted by Miki's instantly recognizable vocal. Overlaid with an often profound and sometimes abrasive or yearning view of the world, Miki Berenyi Trio, or MB3 for short, is named after its lead singer - a direct way to convey the presence of the former singer/co-guitarist of Lush, and one of the most instantly recognizable faces of the '90s. 

30. Panda Bear   "Sinister Grift"   (Domino)

 

The first solo album in five years, Noah Lennox has returned with another statement that feels equally cumulative and unprecedented in his catalog. While his solo records have ranged from starkly intimate expressions of grief to colorful, electronic opuses, his music has never before sounded so warm and immediate. Their disarmingly laid-back approach marks Sinister Grift as his least experimental and most accessible record in the Animal Collective career., you definitely love it at the first listening, is catchy and not complicated

 

31. Wolf Alice   "The Clearing"   (Columbia)

 

The album marks their departure from Dirty Hit, the label under which they released their first three albums, and is set to be released through RCA and Columbia. The Clearing  has been described as "a classic pop/rock album", drawing influence from the 1970s while remaining "rooted firmly in the present.". The announcement compared the project to "something close to if Fleetwood Mac wrote an album today in North London". This record represents that moment of clarity and peace, and leaving your youthful turmoil behind, it’s a record that moves it forward in an assured, accomplished way that can only be achieved with time and experience, and this band has it for sure

 

32. Deafheaven   "Lonely People With Power"   (Roadrunner)

 

Deafheaven again confound expectations, piling element on element, and towering towards the sky with their most ambitious release yet. Tracked at EastWest Studios, Lonely People With Power includes additional vocal contributions from Jae Matthews of Boy Harsher and Paul Banks of Interpol.

 

33. Blondshell   "If You Asked For A Picture"   (Partisan)

 

The 2nd album from Sabrina Teitelbaum, aka Blondshell, is a no-skips, triumphant record that captures the unresolved process of figuring out who you are, too wise to suggest that it has a definitive answer. The album brims with an urgency, ambition, and devastating potency hinted at on 2023’s self-titled debut–the specificity, self-examination, and nonchalant humor of which turned her into one of the most lauded new artists in recent memory.

 

34. Sophie Ellis-Bextor   "Perimenopop"   (Decca)

 

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s much anticipated 8th studio album Perimenopop is a playful celebration of where Sophie is at in her life, knowing exactly who she is and embracing the joy and empowerment that brings. Featuring previously released tracks ‘Freedom of the Night’, ‘Relentless Love’ and ‘Vertigo’, it is the record Sophie was meant to make 7 studio albums into her 25-year career, seeing her confidently return to her iconic dance-pop sound. 

 

35. Yeule   "Evangelic Girl Is A Gun"   (Ninja Tune)

 

After their breakthrough sophomore album in 2022, Glitch Princess, Nat Ćmiel crystallised their place as alt electronica luminary with their boundary-breaking 2023 album, softscars. Both albums were named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork with the latter lauded as a “riotous, high-energy journey” by the Guardian. With Evangelic Girl is a Gun, the artist proves it's her most unrestrained and emotionally baring work yet, as they grapple with ideas of a self-destructive identity burning through the canvas of post-modernity. Through the album’s hypnotic melodies, they present a portrait of the tortured artist trapped within an image, as Ćmiel’s haunting vocals act as an emotional chokehold atop dance beats. 

 

36. The Kooks   "Never Knows"   (Lonely Cat)

 

The 11-track offering, self-produced by Pritchard, was born out of a mission to reconnect with The Kooks' original creative drive. Speaking about the album's impetus, Pritchard said "It's not about going back to the first album’s sound, but to the roots of our influences and asking,  'What is the identity of this band?". The whole thing was to just forget that the past had happened, he says. But to truly move forward, they had to reflect: “What kind of music do we want to make, and how do we make it feel natural?. Never/Know puts on show some of Pritchard’s most simple, yet expressive lyrics to-date. The songs are filled with witty one-liners and endearing nicknames for his children and loved ones, which resonate on the surface, yet carry a deeper, more personal significance.  Sonically, an intoxicating cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Arrow Through Me" is the clearest indication of the band’s influence, while the album’s closer, the moody "Talk About It" puts on show an appreciation for classic soul. 

 

37. Big Thief   "Double Infinity"   (4AD)

 

Produced, engineered, and mixed by longtime Big Thief collaborator Dom Monks. "How can beauty that is living be anything but true?" Adrianne asks as she drives nose against the future with childhood mementos on  "Incomprehensible". She understands, everything I see from now on will be something new. The silver hairs on her shoulders are new as well. Yet fear of aging is cracked by proof. If a life is shaped by living,  Let gravity be my sculptor, let the wind do my hair. Being born, then staying a while, remains the greatest mystery.

 

38. David Byrne   "Who Is The Sky?"   (Matador)

 

His first new album since 2018's acclaimed and award-winning American Utopia, via Matador Records. The album was produced by the Grammy-winning Kid Harpoon. I suppose I do that to give an anthropological view of life in New York as we know it,” says Byrne. “Everybody lives, dies, laughs, cries, sleeps and stares at the ceiling. Everybody’s wearing everybody else’s shoes, which not everybody does, but I have done. I tried to sing about these things that could be seen as negative in a way balanced by an uplifting feeling from the groove and the melody.

 

39. Sombr   "I Barely Know Her"   (Warner)

 

The Global alt-pop phenom sombr releases his highly anticipated debut album, I Barely Know Her, poised to catapult the 20-year-old artist into superstardom status. I Barely Know Her was written entirely by sombr and co-produced by sombr alongside esteemed, legendary producer Tony Berg. It follows a string of hit singles released this year; “back to friends” and “undressed” and more recently, “12 to 12,” his biggest single debut to date.

 

40. Sam Fender   "People Watching"   (Polydor)

 

This album is  easily Sam’s best body of work to date. Partly because it doesn’t need the big singles in the same way. His songwriting has become much stronger and more consistent over the past few years, and that rising tide lifts all tracks equally, to the point where it’s hard to find any filler wherein the record starts to lag. It’s also because the album feels like it’s making a conscious step away from that sound 

 

41. The Last Dinner Party   "From The Pyre"   (Island)

 

A full collection of stories and the concept of album-as-mythos binds them. "The Pyre" itself is an allegorical place in which these tales originate, a place of violence and destruction but also regeneration, passion and light. The songs are character driven but still deeply personal, a commonplace life event pushed to pathological extreme. Being ghosted becomes a Western dance with a killer, and heartbreak laughs into the face of the apocalypse. Lyrics invoke rifles, scythes, sailors, saints, cowboys, floods, Mother Earth, Joan of Arc, and blazing infernos. We found this kind of evocative imagery to be the most honest and truthful way to discuss the way our experiences felt, giving each the emotional weight it deserves. And album that feels a little darker, more raw and more earthy; it takes place looking out at a sublime landscape rather than seated an opulent table. It also feels metatextual and cheeky in places, like a knowing look reflected back at ourselves.

 

42. Circa Waves   "Death & Love"   (Lower Third)

Circa Waves release their double album Death and Love via Lower Third. Death and Love Pt.1 was both terrifying and liberating to write, and is the first installment of urgent, 9-track hits of cathartic guitar-pop, serving as a powerful coping mechanism to help process frontman Kieran Shudall's near-death experience. The album sees supreme indie hits including a nice big slab of Strokes-y dancefloor destruction of "Like You Did Before" to its first offering "We Made It", as well as the extremely topical and longing "American Dream".Death and Love is an incredibly powerful snapshot in time - a reflection on a moment of true terror, and the joy of coming through the other side. It's a brave and remarkable next step for a band in the finest form of their career. 

43. CMAT   "Euro Country"   (Cmatbaby)

 

It's almost inconceivable that it's only five years since the arrival of CMAT, as she approaches the release of her third album, EURO-COUNTRY. Country music has always been a lynchpin for CMAT, but this is country in an augmented, reimagined way. Mixed with classic indie and affirmative soul-pop, it resists the music industry's desire to pigeonhole artists as one genre. Not only is there a palpable tonal shift, EURO-COUNTRY also feels like a huge step-up creatively. There is a sense of determination, of urgency, of 'gather round and listen up'. From re-evaluating where you come from (geographically, metaphorically) and the impact of economics on a small country, to the attention that comes with increased fame (not all of it good) and being a woman in the music industry. 

 

44. Arcade Fire   "Pink Elephant"   (Sony)

 

It's music album composed of 10 new tracks and clocks in at 42 minutes. It is produced by Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, and Daniel Lanois. When experienced in its entirety, Pink Elephant invites the listener on a sonic odyssey – a quest for life – that exists within the perception of the individual, a meditation on both darkness and light, the beauty within. The layers of this condensed epic unfold to reveal new dimensions with each successive listen

 

45. Japanese Breakfast   "For Melancholy Brunettes (And Sad Women)"   (Dead Oceans) 

 

Zauner finds space enough inside it for glimmers of hope. They are the consolations of mortals that poets before her have called out to and that poets after will continue to rediscover: love and labor, and though they run like tonic resolutions through the record’s many episodes, they sound most saliently on its final song, “Magic Mountain,” an engagement with Thomas Mann’s famous novel of the same name. For her, making any work feels like scaling a mountain, but from the perch of For Melancholy Brunettes, she surveys the future.

 

46. Viagra Boys   Viagr Aboys"   (Shrimptech Enterprises)

 

Viagra Boys is the fourth studio album from Viagra Boys. It's another masterpiece for a band that only deals in masterpieces. Featuring single "Man Made of Meat", the LP sees VB turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP Cave World behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense, and surprisingly tender, Viagra Boys shuts out the noise to find that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you is equally big and stupid.

 

47. Say She She   "Cut And Rewind"   (Drink Sum WTR)

 

Led by the powerhouse vocal trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham, and Nya Gazelle Brown, the group channels progenitors like Minnie Ripperton, Charles Stepney, Liquid Liquid, and Raw Silk to create a groove-forward, psychedelic soundscape of pulsing disco beats, heavenly whistle tones, and soaring three-part harmonies. Cut and Rewind is protest music dressed up as a sweat-dripping, hip-shaking, mind-expanding good time

 

48. Stereolab   "Instant Holograms On Metal Film"   (Duophonic UHF Disks / Warp Records)

 

The first Stereolab album in 15 years, unsurprisingly sounds like nobody but Stereolab. And yet that target has moved even farther during their absence, suggesting that they’ve bookmarked their place on their ever-expanding sonic continuum. The bright pop-art colors and typography on the album’s cover suggest the group’s aesthetic remains intact, as does their playfully disorienting John Cage bubblegum titling taxonomy

 

49. Robert Forster   "Strawberries"   (Tapete)

 

On his ninth solo album, "Strawberries", Forster once again knits together the ordinary and the remarkable, furring the edges with a craftsman's dexterity As a straight-up personal song, this album is a bit of a red herring in the context of this new album that deals almost exclusively in observational character studies or, as the author would have it, "story songs"

 

50. Bryan Adams   "Roll With The Punches"   (Bad)  

 

Roll With The Punches is his sixteenth album and the first on his own label, and inmeditately if you were a truly follower of his career will associate the sound just like in the days of "Cuts Like A Knife/Reckless" thing. Not a bad album, indeed it's an accessible record and it's enjoyable, definitely the Man is pointing his fans that definitely will love this, cause there's a lot of familiar sound from his back catalogue but in a freshly renovated way.

The List: Videos Of 2025

           

1. Hot Chip "Devotion" Director: Will Kindrick) 

           

2. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke "Back In The Game" (Director: Jonathan Zawada) 

           

3. Florence + The Machine "Everybody Scream" (Director: Autumn De Wilde) 

           

4. Kula Shaker "Good Money" (Directors: Laurie Peters/Crispian Mills) 

           

 5. The Moonlandingz "Sign Of A Man" (Director: Jeanie Crystal/Farry) 

           

6. White Lies "In The Middle" (Director: Andreas Nilsson) 

           

 7. Sorry "Echoes" (Director: Asha Lorenz) 

           

8. Saint Etienne x Confidence Man "Brand New Me" (Kyle Platts) 

           

9. Sparks "Porcupine" (Director: Fred Rowson) 

           

10. Pulp "Got To Have Love" (Director: Jarvis Cocker)

The List: Compilations & Reissues Of 2025

Now's the chance to check the best compilations and reissues of 2025, featuring remastered classics and especial collections to bring alive classic and timeless tunes, hidden tracks, and interesting rare stuff, hope you love our annual selection: 

 

1. Happy Mondays   "The Factory Singles"   (London Records)

 

Celebrating 40 Years of one of Britain’s most iconic and era-defining bands, The Factory Singles is the definitive tribute to a group that reshaped the sound of UK music. This fully remastered 2CD collection brings together their landmark singles from 1985–1992, capturing the raw energy, innovation, and fearless creativity that made them a cornerstone of the Factory Records and Madchester legacy. From underground club anthems to crossover hits, every track showcases their unique fusion of attitude, electronic experimentation, and dancefloor-ready grooves. These singles not only defined an era but also laid the foundations for the alternative dance and indie scenes that followed.

 

2. The Style Council   "Café Bleu Especial Edition Box Set"   (UMC Polydor)

 

When The Style Council's debut album Café Bleu was released in 1984, Weller and wing-man Mick Talbot unveiled a cosmopolitan blend of jazz, soul, and pop that felt effortlessly sophisticated and daringly fresh. Café Bleu was more than a debut—it was a statement of intent, redefining what British pop could sound like in a new decade. The Café Bleu Special Edition is a treasure trove for Style Council devotees and music lovers alike - an immersive journey into one of the most inventive eras of Paul Weller’s career. This lavish release unveils a wealth of previously unheard material, including early demos, alternate takes, and unreleased songs that showcase the band’s restless drive for experimentation and evolution.

 

3. NOW   "Yearbook '89"   (Now Twic)

 

NOW Music proudly presents 60 more essential singles from the magical year of Pop that was 1989. This final Yearbook for the decade we like to call ‘the Eighties’ starts with Queen's ‘I Want It All’ and ends with Band Aid II’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ (the ‘unofficial’ Band Aid single according to a revisionist Bob Geldof!). In between are 76 other tracks including hits from Simple Minds, Soul II Soul, Neneh Cherry, Fine Young Cannibals, Kylie, Jason, Holly Johnson, New Order, Bros, Transvision Vamp, Roachford (“there’s no fog!”), The Beautiful South, Living in a Box, Tears For Fears, R.E.M., Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, The Cure, Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians, Sam Brown, The Bangles, Simply Red and many more. 

 

4.  Bryan Ferry   "Bête Noire"   (BMG)

 

Bête Noire was the follow up to 1985’s Boys and Girls and was co-produced with Patrick Leonard. Johnny Marr was amongst the contributors to Bête Noire, whose singles were ‘The Right Stuff’, ‘Kiss and Tell’ and ‘Limbo’. Only ‘The Right Stuff’ troubled the UK top 40, peaking at No 37 For the 2025 reissue Bête Noire is released as a 2CD deluxe edition and on purple vinyl. The second disc of the 2CD set offers remixes and edits from the original singles. 

 

5. NOW That's What I Call An Era   "Such A Good Feeling 1980-1995"   (Now Twic)

 

NOW Music proudly presents the latest release in the Now That’s What I Call An Era series - Such A Good Feeling: 1988-1995 - a celebration of a truly transformative time in music, when dance culture reshaped the mainstream, soundtracked a generation, and lit up the charts across the UK and beyond. This 4CD dive into the golden years of house, rave, and club anthems features 82 essential tracks spanning the late '80s to the mid '90s, bringing together the biggest hits and most iconic names that defined the era. 82 tracks across four discs - An unforgettable journey through the sounds that defined an era - NOW That’s What I Call An Era - Such A Good Feeling: 1988-1995 — the definitive celebration of a golden age of dance music.

 

6. Danny Wilson   "Complete Danny Wilson 5CD Box Set"   (Cherry Red) 

 

Complete Danny Wilson' is a 5CD boxset bringing together the group's two albums as well as all their b-sides, mixes and a complete live show (some of which has never been heard before). The band have been involved in all aspects of the release and have been interviewed extensively for the booklet providing an insight into their history.

 

7. James   "Nothing But Love: The Definitive Best Of"   (UMC-Mercury)

 

Nothing But Love – The Definitive Best Of is a comprehensive, career spanning highlights collection from James. The release documents the band’s journey through their singles as well as fan favourites and selections made by the band. The 3CD takes fans on a chronological journey from the beginning of the band’s releases up until the present day. The deluxe set features two new tracks, "Wake Up Superman" and  "Hallelujah Anyhow". Additional highlights include "Laid", "Sit Down",  "She's A Star" and "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)" as well as tracks from James’ most recent number 1 album, Yummy. The 3CD includes an accompanying booklet which contains exclusive track commentary from members of James.

 

8. Hot Chip   "Joy In Repetition"   (Domino)

 

Joy In Repetition is the first ever anthology of some of the best of Hot Chip. It covers the band’s work, from their landmark EMI/DFA debut, The Warning, and traces their artistic evolution up to the present day. Packed with stone-cold bangers from across their career: "Ready For The Floor," "I Feel Better," and "Flutes," to name a few. Alongside, new track, "Devotion", which sees the band in full voice, merging pop hooks with their unique dancefloor mentality. Joy In Repetition highlights the consistency of their stellar career so far and cements their status as one of the most important British groups in the last two decades. To complement this, the album comes housed in a cover designed by legendary British pop artist Sir Peter Blake, mastermind behind the iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band artwork. 

 

9. Simply Red   "Recollections Box Set"   (Music On Vinyl)

 

Simply Red celebrate four decades of music with 'Recollections' - 40 glorious, newly recorded versions of their classic songs. Produced with long-time collaborator Andy Wright, the collection delivers beautiful yet faithful takes on timeless favourites including "Money's Too Tight To Mention," "Holding Back The Years," "Stars," "Fairground" and many more. Mick Hucknall explains: "As a way of celebrating 40 years of Simply Red, we thought it apt to release these takes. Andy Wright set about capturing the atmosphere and sonics of the originals and has done a magnificent job. This has enabled us to come full circle and celebrate our 40 years with you."

 

10. Pet Shop Boys   "Disco 5"   (Polygram UK)

 

Disco 5 is the latest instalment of Pet Shop Boys’ continuing ‘Disco’ album series, which started in 1986. The 12-track collection features ten Pet Shop Boys’ recent remixes of songs by artists including Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Tina Turner, Claptone, Wolfgang Tillmans and more, as well as a remix of their own track ‘Dreamland’ featuring Olly Alexander.  

The List: Books Of The Year 2025

Another year has come to an end, and now it's time to take a look back at our favourite books of the 2025, according to us, the most captivating, notable, brilliant, an exciting in terms about music, photography, art, & fashion statement; we hope you love 'em: 

1. Mike Joyce   "The Drums"   (New Modern)

Mike Joyce, the last member of the band to release their autobiography and this is his no-holds-barred story of what it was like to play the drums in the Smiths. Throughout his honest and witty reflections, Mike answers the question he and bassist Andy Rourke used to often ask each other: ‘Where did it all go right?.  In The Drums, Mike Joyce finally gives us the perspective of the self-confessed biggest Smiths fan in the world who from the start was just some lad from the suburbs of Fallowfield who played the drums. This book truly conveys what it felt like to be a member of the Smiths.

 

2. Scott Schuman   "The Sartorialist MILANO"   (Taschen)

 

Fashion’s original social media master Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist, hits the streets of one of Europe’s most stylish cities for this tailor-made collection of Milano’s visually charismatic people. Schuman, who now calls Milano his home, combines portraiture with dazzling cityscapes and revealing reportage.

 

3. Paul McCartney   "Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run"   (Allen Lane)

 

This is the story, in their own words, of a band that came to define a generation. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run tells the madcap history of Paul McCartney and his newly formed band, from their humble beginnings in the early 1970s to their dissolution barely a decade later. Drawn from over 500,000 words of interviews with McCartney, family and band members, and other key participants, with a cast of characters including John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jagger and more, Wings recounts the musical odyssey taken by a man searching for his identity in the aftermath of The Beatles’ breakup. Soon joined by his wife – American photographer Linda McCartney – on keyboard and vocals, drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Denny Laine, McCartney sowed the seeds for a new band that would provide the soundtrack to the decade. 

 

4. Paul Vallely   "Live Aid: The Definitive 40-YearStory"   (New Modern)

 

For the first time, Vallely gives his full eye-witness account of those 40 years. The book, which has a foreword by Bob Geldof, is crammed with stories of how pop, poverty, politics and power are interwoven in the Live Aid story. Geldof encounters presidents, prime ministers and popes as well as the pop heroes who adorned his bedroom wall as a boy. Bob drinks late-night whisky with Margaret Thatcher, is forced to write a grovelling apology to Bill Clinton and meets Vladimir Putin on a boat in the Mediterranean. He pressurises The Who, sweet talks Pink Floyd, and is awestruck by Bowie. Is Bob Geldof a bully or a charmer, saint or ‘white saviour’, or simply a force of nature?   

 

5. Jonathan Gould   "Burning Down The House: Talking Heads And The New York Scene That Transformed Rock"   (Mariner Books)

 

New Yorker contributor Jonathan Gould offers an authoritative, deeply researched account of a band whose sound, fame, and legacy forever connected rock music to the cultural avant-garde. From their art school origins to the enigmatic charisma of David Byrne and the internal tensions that ultimately broke them apart, Gould tells the story of a group that emerged when rock music was still young and went on to redefine the prevailing expectations of how a band could sound, look, and act. At a time when guitar solos, lead-singer swagger, and sweaty stadium tours reigned supreme, Talking Heads were precocious, awkward, quirky, and utterly distinctive when they first appeared on the ragged stages of the East Village. Yet they would soon mature into one of the most accomplished and uncompromising recording and performing acts of their era.

 

6. Charlie Burchill, Graeme Thomson & Jim Kerr   "Our Secrets Are The Same: Friendship & Fame At The Heart Of Simple Minds"   (Constable)

 

A candid, moving and kinetic story of self-realisation through the power of music, Our Secrets Are The Same is the remarkable joint memoir by Simple Minds' founder members, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. It not only reveals the inner workings of one of the most innovative and successful British bands of the past half-century, but the deeply personal tale of an extraordinary friendship which powered teenage dreams into visionary action 

 

7. Dan Jennings   "Paul Weller: Dancing Through The Fire"   (Constable)

 

Across musical history, certain artists have transcended their craft to become cultural icons, leaving an indelible mark on the world of sound and style. Paul Weller, the legendary British musician, singer and songwriter, stands among the select few whose influence spans generations. His enduring popularity, traversing the explosive energy of The Jam to the sophisticated sounds of The Style Council and a prolific solo career spanning over thirty years, underscores the timeless appeal of his work. Weller also holds a unique position in music history: he shares the rare distinction with Lennon and McCartney as one of the few artists to achieve Number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Dancing Through the Fire explores the fascinating narrative of Paul Weller's musical career, weaving together never-before-told stories, intimate insights and perspectives from the man himself and those who have been integral to his remarkable journey. 

 

8. Debsey Wykes   "Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Played In A Band"   (New Modern)

 

Debsey Wykes was the bass playing singer in the first all girl punk group Dolly Mixture. Thrown into the musky, misogynistic, male dominated world of the UK music industry in the late 1970s, they enjoyed unlikely #1 success alongside Captain Sensible of The Damned on1982’s even unlikelier cover version of ‘Happy Talk’, whilst fame and success on their own individual terms alluded them. Debsey went onto greater prominence with Saint Etienne with who she has performed since 1992, whilst in 2025, desirable Dolly Mixture reissues sell out around the world as quickly as they are printed.

 

9. Hans Werner Holtzwarth   "Georg Baselitz"   (Taschen)

 

From existential paintings and motifs painted upside-down to rough-hewn wooden sculptures and remixes of earlier paintings—the art of Georg Baselitz is consistently challenging. With 400+ images from 1960 to the present, this updated monograph presents the full range of his work in stunning depth and detail. 

 

10. Evan Dando   "Rumours Of My Demise: A Memoir"   (Faber & Faber)

 

Rumours of My Demise is Evan Dando's story - raw, wild, unfiltered and straight from the source. A privileged kid who snuck into gigs and crashed on whatever floors he could find. A stunningly gifted rocker who propelled his high school band into the highest reaches of indie fame. The industry's favourite 'alternahunk' until he wasn't, who all the same burned through the 90s like he owned them. A guitarist and singer who racked up struggles punctuated by some striking successes in the internet hashtag decades that followed, before making a wholly new home and life in Brazil.