Here we go with my contribution to the endless lists of Top Ten releases of the year. They will be popping up everywhere. And I love it, because every year it leads me to some great new music that I missed along the way. Here’s my list, starting out with a few singles and an EP, and then on to my honorable mentions, and then my top ten LP’s, leading up to my favorite record of 2023!
SINGLES & EP’s:
AMERICAN JETSET – BLACK COAL FOR XMAS, HELL’S OUT TO GET YA, LOVE KILLS EP
I just love this band out of Baltimore, Maryland. They are playing a melodic, throwback brand of metal and doing it extremely well. They have released several great records, but 2023 brought us only some singles and an EP. All of it is great, especially Black Coal for Xmas. Love Kills is a 4-song EP with three great rockers and one average ballad. Notably, these guys have been regularly going out west to play shows at The Whiskey with bands like Faser Pussycat and L.A. Guns.
TORPEDOHEAD – NOTHING TO DECLARE
This German band epitomizes the straight ahead rock n roll with a bit of a punk edge and some ‘70’s rock thrown in that I love. Reading that description back, it sounds weird, but I’m going with it. There’s a good video for this one. Look it up. Time for a new full-length, boys.
TERRY ANDERSON – CHAINSAW REPAIR SHOP
Colin Gawel has raved about Terry Anderson & the Olympic Ass Kickin’ Team forever. I have finally latched onto them and become a big fan. This new single has the signature Terry Anderson brand of humor. It’s a good one.
JEREMY PORTER & THE TUCOS – FIVE FOOT THREE AND TIGER EYES b/w WHILE YOU SPIRAL
The A-side is a fantastic new original written by Jeremy Porter. The B-side is a cover of a Detroit band called The Waxwings. Read about it here: Record Review: Five-Foot-Three and Tiger Eyes by Jeremy Porter and The Tucos — Pencil Storm
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Mega-Honorable Mention: THE REPLACEMENTS – (TIM - ED STASIUM MIX)
Before you get all bent out of shape, of course this record is better than any other one in this entire piece. It ain’t even close. But this record isn’t really truly a 2023 record. The new mixes are so outstanding however, that I am including this as a way of telling the Pencil Storm world how much I love it. Jeremy Porter wrote about it here: The Replacements Tim: Let it Bleed Edition Box Set - The Pencil Storm Review — Pencil Storm
Now let’s get to my list of brand new LP’s from 2023.
Honorable Mention #5: THE ROLLING STONES – HACKNEYED DIAMONDS
Well, this certainly came out of nowhere. I’m not the biggest Stones fan, but I like many of their songs, and I absolutely love the entire Some Girls record. But Some Girls was made like forty-five years ago. Shout out to my friend Dave for pointing me to this one. We were both shocked at how good this is, this deep into their career. And shame on Ricki C for drawing attention to the fact that their tour for this new record is sponsored by AARP. Ouch!
Honorable Mention #4: THE FAGS – I’M WITH HER
As I understand it, this record is old recordings and mostly or all cover songs. Assuming that’s true, I gotta say, I don’t recognize many of the songs. I recognize one though---”Black Concert T-Shirt,” by none other than Watershed. It’s a good record with the signature Fags sound. I dig it. It’s odd to me that I cannot find one shred of information about this release anywhere online. It simply appeared on my favorite streaming service out of the blue.
Honorable Mention #3: KURT BAKER – ROCK N’ ROLL CLUB
Kurt Baker has a bunch of good records, but they kind of have a bubblegum feel to them. This one brings a little harder edge. I suspect the title of the record is supposed to be a hint that he’s bringing in the rock n roll for this one. If that’s what he set out to do, he succeeded. I don’t love every song, but I like eight out of eleven tracks, and that’s pretty damn good.
Honorable Mention #2: LOUISE POST – SLEEPWALKER
I am a huge fan of this woman. I totally love Veruca Salt. Pretty much anything she’s been part of seems to be pretty great. She was a guest on some songs by Skating Polly that are great. There’s something about her voice, maybe. Anyway, Sleepwalker is her first solo effort that I know of, and I like it, a lot. It’s less rocking than Veruca Salt, but rocking enough. It’s well worth an honorable mention. Check out “Guilty” and “Killer.”
Honorable Mention #1: LYDIA LOVELSS – NOTHING’S GONNA STAND IN MY WAY AGAIN
This is another great record from a truly gifted artist. It should probably be squarely in the top ten, and it would be if I was a music critic. But I’m not. I just like rock n roll and I lean toward the harder stuff. Having said that, “Toothache,” “Poor Boy” and “Sex and Money” all lean to rock more than country. This is a great record.
TOP TEN
Number 10: MORGAN WADE – PSYCHOPATH
I have very similar feelings about this record as I do for the Lydia Loveless release. It is a truly excellent record, and it has some rockers. Meet Somebody, Losers Look Like Me and Domino are three of the best tracks, but there are several other strong ones as well. Morgan and Lydia are essentially in a photo finish for me. Read more that I wrote about Morgan Wade here: All Things Morgan Wade — Pencil Storm
Number 9: THE STRUTS – PRETTY VICIOUS
When these guys first started out, I liked their debut record and I saw them in a tiny club with a capacity of 300 people. I continued to follow them for a couple of years and saw them two more times, at progressively larger venues. Then I completely soured on them. I wasn’t fond of a couple of their latest releases and I totally lost interest. But 2023 has brought about a record that I honestly think is the best one they’ve ever done. Good stuff from The Struts.
Number 8: THE MARVELOUS 3 – IV
Butch Walker is a brilliant musician who was in South Gang early in his career banging out metal. After that flamed out, he formed The Marvelous 3 and they made three outstanding rock n roll records. Then that burned out and he has been a successful solo artist and music producer for decades. While I love much of his solo output, he has been steadily declining in my opinion, in terms of the music he is making. The lyrics remain brilliant, but the vibe is way too mellow for me anymore. But then a few M3 reunion shows led to a whole new record this year, and it’s a return to form for sure. Long live rock, Butch!
Number 7: MOTHER MAY I – PEOPLE JUST WANNA HEAR THE HITS
I wrote about this record in detail here: Record Review: People Just Wanna Hear The Hits by Mother May I — Pencil Storm Long story short, it’s a new record from a band that has not been active for twenty years, and they’ve barely missed a beat. I encourage you to read up and listen up.
Number 6: FAKE NAMES – EXPENDABLES
Fake Names is a punk rock “super group” which includes Brian Baker, my favorite guitar player. Their debut record absolutely blew my doors off, and while this release is not quite there, the bar was simply too high. This record is another brilliant blast of sonic energy with plenty of hooks and melody. Love it.
Number 5: TRU FAX & THE INSANIACS – ARTIFAX PT. 1
Tru Fax & the Insaniacs are a D.C. band that played every little club throughout DC/MD/VA when I was in high school in the late ‘70’s and early 80’s. I absolutely loved them. They really never recorded too much and what they did release back then just didn’t do them justice. They announced that they had re-recorded their old songs and made some new ones and that they would release a 2-cd set to be called Artifax. It took them what felt like ten years to finally get something out, and still it’s only half of it, but it’s damn good. The old songs finally sound like they’re supposed to, and the new songs are just great. Led by the multi-talented Dianna Quinn, this band is so much fun. Good luck hunting down a copy (Hint: find Dianna on social media and contact her). Tin Girl is a particularly great song.
Number 4: THE HANGMEN – STORIES TO TELL
Any year in which The Hangmen release a record is a year that The Hangmen will appear in my top ten. They just can’t make a record that is less than amazing. Their previous effort, called Cactusville is amongst the best of their career. This one isn’t quite that good, but it’s damn good. If every song was as killer as Sinister Purpose and Bayou Moon, it would be right there. Highly recommended.
Number 3: THE BITES – SQUEEZE
Well, I just wrote about this one too: Cool Band Alert! Listen To The Bites, You Won't Regret It — Pencil Storm. I feel like a bunch of the best for 2023 all came out late in the year. For those that don’t want to follow the link, this is ten songs, all rockin’ fun stuff. No deep lyrics, just ‘70’s influenced sex, drugs and rock n roll.
Number 2: GIRLSCHOOL – WTFORTYFIVE?
I wrote all about this record here: Record Review: WTFortyFive? by Girlschool — Pencil Storm. What a great effort this one is, recapturing the days of their glory, so to speak. This is British Wave metal sounding crisp from a legendary band. This record and Number 1 below both impressed me with how good a band over forty years into their career can be.
Number 1: THE DAMNED – DARKADELIC
I think it’s okay to call this a bit of a “comeback” record. The Damned have made many excellent records, but they’ve made a few that weren’t great, and anyone who saw this coming was way ahead of me. I had no expectation of a release this good at this point in their storied career. This is my favorite for 2023, today at least…
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital. He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio. At this point he still listens to a steady diet of punk, power pop, metal (Faster Pussycat=Yes, Megadeath=No), alt country and anything that has plenty of good guitar and drums. Oh, and he has an ever-growing collection of about 150 vintage skateboards.