CD album of the year 2011

We have just been to see the marvellous St Agnes Fountain again and bought the new Best of... double-CD (2011). See post from last year
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2010/12/st-agnes-fountain-concert.html

Of course, CD purchase is a bit archaic. Increasingly, I am prompted to listen to music, old and new, on Spotify or YouTube - and often it will be listened to once only. A CD purchase is more often where we have seen a live act, and most likely it is not on Spotify at all.

I have been tempted by the Pink Floyd re-issue mega-box-sets but the opportunity to listen to a live performance of Darkside of the Moon for a limited period on their website meant I could satisfy my curiousity and save my money.

The surprise this year for big-act output was the joyous variety of Superheavy - which is a purchase deserving of frequent listening in the car. I also bought the excellent Adele 21 chuffed at my 2008 prediction that she showed more potential than Duffy. REM's Collapse into Now, billed as a return to form, is good but falls short of providing some distinctive new sounds from REM.

My choice for CD this year comes from Broadstairs Folk Week:

Runner up is Robb Johnson - two topical offerings Man Walks into a Pub (2010) and Some Recent Protest Songs (2011),

but my album of the year goes to... "young alternative folk quartet, from Manchester" 4Square's new album Chronicles (which is a play on chronic Les). Talent!

So much music goes unheard - and I knew none on this list, but the internet makes search, listening and finding commentary and background information so much easier. See

BBC Music Writers' Top 25 Albums of 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmusic/2011/12/bbc_music_writers_top_25_album.html

I liked the Drive-By Truckers.