Best of 2021 thus far

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Wow. It appears there is already a lot I have missed. Which is actually exciting. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

9 hours ago, Jez said:

It's as close to pure Westcoast as you're ever gonna get and one of the best of it's type for a very long while. I totally understand it not being for everyone, but i personally love this style of music.

Hoo, boy! I need to add this to tomorrow's playlist. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Ronnie Atkins for sure!

Arion made a real nice return to form!

Timecop1983

WOLFCLUB

[nyoilers]

On 5/5/2021 at 12:40 AM, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Ronnie Atkins for sure!

Arion made a real nice return to form!

Timecop1983

WOLFCLUB

You're still missing the top release 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

2 hours ago, nyoilers said:

You're still missing the top release 

Forgot about Todd LaTorre. Thanks for the reminder. 

[Tabe]

I'm updating my vote - Robbie Lablanc's "Double Trouble" is definitely the best album from 2021 that I've heard so far.

[nyoilers]

6 hours ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Forgot about Todd LaTorre. Thanks for the reminder. 

What a jokester !

Sweet Oblivion for the win !!!

 

[Geoff]

Favourite thing I've heard this year is this EP - First & Forever     -    Let This Love Lie Dead. 

For the albums, can't really pin down a top 5 yet, but theres 17 excellent releases already, imo, and they are these;

Ronnie Atkins     -    One Shot
Chez Kane     -    Chez Kane
Maverick     -    Ethereality
W.E.T.     -    Retransmission
Holding Absence     -    The Greatest Mistake of My Life
Robin McAuley     -    Standing on the Edge
The Night Game     -    Dog Years
W O L F C L U B     -    Just Drive - Part 1
Issa     -    Queen of Broken Hearts
Creye     -    II
Levara     -    Levara
Diamante     -    American Dream
A Day To Remember     -    You're Welcome
Rivals     -    Sad Looks Pretty On Me
Paris     -    50 / 50
Out Of This World     -    Out Of This World
Jakob Samuel     -    CoExist

[Aordave89]

9 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Favourite thing I've heard this year is this EP - First & Forever     -    Let This Love Lie Dead. 

For the albums, can't really pin down a top 5 yet, but theres 17 excellent releases already, imo, and they are these;

Ronnie Atkins     -    One Shot
Chez Kane     -    Chez Kane
Maverick     -    Ethereality
W.E.T.     -    Retransmission
Holding Absence     -    The Greatest Mistake of My Life
Robin McAuley     -    Standing on the Edge
The Night Game     -    Dog Years
W O L F C L U B     -    Just Drive - Part 1
Issa     -    Queen of Broken Hearts
Creye     -    II
Levara     -    Levara
Diamante     -    American Dream
A Day To Remember     -    You're Welcome
Rivals     -    Sad Looks Pretty On Me
Paris     -    50 / 50
Out Of This World     -    Out Of This World
Jakob Samuel     -    CoExist

Despite the stick it is getting, new ADTR is awesome. Great album. 

[Geoff]

4 minutes ago, Aordave89 said:

Despite the stick it is getting, new ADTR is awesome. Great album. 

Is it getting stick from their hardcore fans because it's basically an AOR album? lol, obviously not that extreme, but there's barely a scream on it, if I recall correctly (been jamming to my 1986 playlist for the last couple of months so 2021 a bit hazy at the moment). But yeah, I agree, it's great. They're always very good. 

[lettard]

17 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Jakob Samuel     -    CoExist

Yeah its very good indeed,tad expensive but was worth it,as near a Poodles album as we're gonna get.

[Glen]

7 hours ago, Geoff said:

Favourite thing I've heard this year is this EP - First & Forever     -    Let This Love Lie Dead. 

For the albums, can't really pin down a top 5 yet, but theres 17 excellent releases already, imo, and they are these;

Ronnie Atkins     -    One Shot
Chez Kane     -    Chez Kane
Maverick     -    Ethereality
W.E.T.     -    Retransmission
Holding Absence     -    The Greatest Mistake of My Life
Robin McAuley     -    Standing on the Edge
The Night Game     -    Dog Years
W O L F C L U B     -    Just Drive - Part 1
Issa     -    Queen of Broken Hearts
Creye     -    II
Levara     -    Levara
Diamante     -    American Dream
A Day To Remember     -    You're Welcome
Rivals     -    Sad Looks Pretty On Me
Paris     -    50 / 50
Out Of This World     -    Out Of This World
Jakob Samuel     -    CoExist

didn't like ISSA or McAuley tbh and whilst Night Game has 3 excellent songs overall the album doesn't hold up, but on hols tomorrow so will check out these which I haven't heard :

holding Absence

Diamanté

A Day to Remember

Rivals

Out of this World

& Jacob Samuel....but wasn't huge on the 2 singles

[Geoff]

41 minutes ago, Glen said:

didn't like ISSA or McAuley tbh and whilst Night Game has 3 excellent songs overall the album doesn't hold up, but on hols tomorrow so will check out these which I haven't heard :

holding Absence

Diamanté

A Day to Remember

Rivals

Out of this World

& Jacob Samuel....but wasn't huge on the 2 singles

Didn't expect anything from McAuley if I'm being honest, but I was really pleasantly surprised. Reminded me a lot of the Moratti album from was it last year, or this one too? Must have been last year or it would have been in this list. Neither is mind blowing, but each album is extremely consistent and high quality, imo, of course. Just when you think they've used up their quota for good songs on the album they drop another. Nice stuff.

Agree that The Night Game is propped up by the incredible high quality of a few songs, but I do enjoy most of the rest of it. It's definitely not as good as the best it offers, but I really enjoy the album. 

Holding Absence - don't know if many will like this, but I absolutely love these guys. Mentioned their debut a couple of years ago on the forum, I think. It was actually a pretty average album overall, but possessed one of my favourite songs in recent times. This album is much more consistent and a much better album. This is the tune from the last album-

Diamanté - very good female fronted hard rock. Consistent, reliable band.

A Day to Remember - more of the same from these guys (which is always top notch) except this time there's a lot less screaming and it's their most commercial effort yet. 

Rivals - as with Diamante, just high quality female fronted hard rock.

Out of this World - solid ensemble of musicians offer up a surprisingly good album. Not a world beater, but worthy of the personnel involved. 

Jacob Samuel - as noted, it's just another Poodles album, but with a handful of really cool songs that jack up the overall enjoyment. I do get the impression this guy's a mad PC lefty dude and it shows in his lyrics on this (and the last Poodles album), but if you treat it like a christian album and ignore the lyrical content it's cool - and not that overbearing, to be fair. Just a few things I pick up here and there... 

[The Rocker]

No one has mentioned Temple Balls. An Absolute killer album.

[whiplash1972]

A few additions to my previous post...

Robin McAuley - Standing on the Edge (not as good as last year's Black Swan release, but still VERY enjoyable!)

Damon Johnson & the Get Ready - BattLessons 

Todd Michael Hall - Sonic Healing

W.E.T. - Retransmission 

Good year so far  

[AlphaMale]

2 hours ago, The Rocker said:

No one has mentioned Temple Balls. An Absolute killer album.

Yeah. It's a good one for sure.

I don't see Sweet Oblivion on anyone's list except whiplash and the Tate nutsucker.

Overrated!

[Aordave89]

3 hours ago, The Rocker said:

No one has mentioned Temple Balls. An Absolute killer album.

 

On 5/2/2021 at 11:16 AM, Aordave89 said:

W.E.T, Temple Balls, Chez Kane, Creye, Ronnie Atkins, Wig Wam and Evergrey so far for me. 

  Seriously awesome album!

[Glen]

temple balls is ok but still second division HEAT IMHO 

gonna try to put together a top 10 for mid year but need to hear Midnite City & Lebrock first

 

[heavyharmonies]

May favorites are XXX XXXXXXXX and YYYYYYY, although ZZ ZZZZZZZ ZZ ZZZZZZZ is pretty darned good too.

(Heck no, I'm not giving away who my favorites are!  )

[Geoff]

Temple Balls is a very good hard rock album. Definitely in my top 30 or so. Plenty of good albums this year outside the ones I mentioned above. 

[CureTheSane]

My  stand outs so far are...
Myles Kennedy - The Ides Of March
Electric Boys - Ups!de Down
The L.A. Maybe - Dirty Damn Tricks
Walk The Walk - Walk The Walk
Pop Evil - Verstile
 

[whiplash1972]

2 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

My  stand outs so far are...
Myles Kennedy - The Ides Of March
Electric Boys - Ups!de Down
The L.A. Maybe - Dirty Damn Tricks
Walk The Walk - Walk The Walk
Pop Evil - Verstile
 

I’ve got that Myles Kennedy in order! 👍

[Glen]

7 hours ago, Geoff said:

Temple Balls is a very good hard rock album. Definitely in my top 30 or so. Plenty of good albums this year outside the ones I mentioned above. 

I disagree.

as with most years the quality drops off a cliff outside the top 15 or so aside from a few songs here and there.

massive amount of average albums out there. Thank God for Spotify 

[CureTheSane]

15 hours ago, whiplash1972 said:

I’ve got that Myles Kennedy in order! 👍

I like this one more than anything else he's done.
Really good album.

[Geoff]

17 hours ago, Glen said:

I disagree.

as with most years the quality drops off a cliff outside the top 15 or so aside from a few songs here and there.

massive amount of average albums out there. Thank God for Spotify 

Yeah, I'm not saying they're instant classics, but I think there's a good stack of good albums this year. Admittedly, in the scheme of things (a lifetime of music) it's probably pretty average stuff, but I've found it to be a pretty good year in music so far. 

5 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

I like this one more than anything else he's done.
Really good album.

Didn't like it at all to be totally honest.