ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
50 BRITISH LION
The Burning PARLOPHONE
Eight years after the promising self-titled debut, Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris returned with his ‘other band’. The Burning suggests that touring has allowed British Lion to grow into exactly that – an actual band. Our review said it was “vastly more punchy and powerful than its predecessor”, adding that British Lion had “evolved into a fiery and characterful ensemble with a strong identity of their own”. DL
Killer track: City Of Fallen Angels
49 GREEN DAY
Father Of All Motherfuckers REPRISE
The sleeve revisits the hand-and-grenade of 2004’s American Idiot. And while Billie Joe Armstrong and co. haven’t displaced that career high with Father Of All Motherfuckers, there’s enough quality on it to take the edge off the 2020 shit-show. Don’t come looking for envelope-pushing, high-concept punk opera; do come for pogo-ready smashers like Oh Yeah! and Sugar Youth, played with an energy that puts most middle-aged punks to shame. HY
Killer track: Sugar Youth
48 THE LEMON TWIGS
Songs For The General Public 4AD
There’s high camp afoot in The Lemon Twigs’ 70s-style power pop, which is perhaps inevitable given that Brian and Michael D’Addario, brothers from New York, have a background in musical theatre. On Songs For The General Public, their third album, The One is a bubblegum anthem akin to a lovesick Wombles, but there’s some weightier stuff too, including punk-rock swagger in Leather Together and dark beauty in the emotional finale Ashamed. PE
Killer track: Ashamed
47 CATS IN SPACE
Atlantis HARMONY FACTORY
A change of lead vocalist is always a potential risk for any band, and the fourth album from Cats In Space introduces their third frontman. Fortunately Damian Edwards is a startlingly gifted addition who besides ticking each of the band’s original boxes also opens up all manner of exciting new possibilities. Atlantis presents the Cats in full Technicolor, sounding even more bombastic, melodic and 70s-tastic than ever before. DL
Killer track: Revolution
46 BROTHERS OSBORNE
Skeletons SNAKEFARM
Following 2018’s more sedate Port Saint Joe, the Nashville-based Osborne brothers decided to beef things up for album number three, Skeletons, and chucked a whole load of funky guitars, toe-tapping tunes and countrified good vibes into the pot while they were at it. The result is the sort of record you want to hear played live, in its entirety, with a drink in hand and your favourite people at your side. PG
Killer track: All The Good Ones Are
45 BON JOVI
2020 VIRGIN EMI
Similar to the way in which post-9-11 Bruce Springsteen approached The Rising, 2020 sees Jon Bon Jovi, post-Trump, mixing his day job as a stadium rocker with man-of-the people spokesman for America’s disadvantaged. At its best, 2020 movingly and effectively addresses school shootings and gun laws, military vets suffering with PTSD, the covid pandemic itself and the impact of George Floyd’s murder. An unexpectedly powerful record. NJ
Killer track: American Reckoning
44 THE OUTLAWS
Dixie Highway SPV
Eight years after their previous studio album, Henry Paul’s Outlaws released one of the finest southern rock albums of 2020. A work of quiet, determined dignity, sits firmly on the same page as the group’s career-defining records from the 1970s. “I hope that it reinforces the notion that The Outlaws still matter,. Mission accomplished.
