Albums of the Year 2023: Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better Than You

Just like our current government, I’m terrible at long termism. Fortunately, my inability to know what the future holds doesn’t cost lives as it largely concerns fashion, paint colours and music. Over the decades, there are songs I’ve loved with a huge passion that now totally give the proverbial ick the minute their opening chords strike up.

There are others that I’ve thought disappointing on first listen but are now written on my heart. There are others that I’ve played to the point of near extinction that still thrill me each and every time. There seems no logic to the souring or soaring of music. 

I tend to worry specifically about the longevity of music that veers towards the spoken word. Rap is fine, for some reason, and I can sing along to the same lyrics a thousand times but when a line is delivered with as a laconic monologue, I anticipate annoyance further down the line. So I’m pleased to report that Baxter Dury’s I Thought I Was Better Than You is still on heavy rotation six months on (as are Sleaford Mods’ excellent UK Grim and Róisín Murphy’s sadly marginalised Hit Parade) – but this just pips them at the post.

On reflection, while the narrative is as cleverly constructed as you would hope, it’s the music that elevates this long player. It is endlessly melancholic in the most arresting of ways. These are melodies that haunt and – I can attest – really get under your skin. Sinister, smoky, claustrophobic but ultimately engrossing, it creates a distinctive vibe unique to this “really budget nepo baby”.

Music experience of the year

It was illuminating to witness how different two (more or less) identical sets performed a week apart could be so incredibly different. Arctic Monkeys’ Emirates show on the 16^th June was an absolute triumph. Their third shot at Glastonbury had the same ingredients yet fell flat. Chalk and cheese. I don’t think this stems simply from performing to different audiences – diehards fans versus diehard festival-goers. There seems to be a large shoulder chip present here. A hangover from their pretty disastrous debut in 2007, perhaps? Nothing went wrong, the songs were still great, the delivery pretty perfect but it was somehow soulless and came across as utterly arrogant.

Two more essential albums of the year

Sleaford Mods – UK Grim

Róisín Murphy – Hit Parade

Track of the Year

Django Django featuring Self Esteem – "Complete Me"

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