#509: Nothing but the Beast!

It's That Time again. Barring any further miracles, here R the winners of the 2nd Annual TAD Awards 4 the Best Music and Books of 2011. These awards go 2 the stuff that impressed me the most over the past year, no matter how old it is....
I know you've bn waiting 4 this, so let's get right 2 it....
* BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR -- Easy: The Beach Boys' SMiLE SESSIONS. Gorgeous, timeless music, beautifully produced & assembled, without a single let-down track. Absolutely not an anti-climax, totally worth the 44-year wait. 2 bad it's really from 1967....
* BEST CURRENT ALBUM OF THE YEAR -- I guess by default it's Florence + the Machine's CEREMONIALS, even tho I wasn't knocked-out by every song. But I don't think I listened all-the-way-thru 2 NEthing else that was current all year long, so....
* BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR -- Also easy: Andrew Foster Altschul's DEUS EX MACHINA. Brilliant & vivid & involving from the 1st pg -- even funny -- with just a slightly weak last couple of pgs 2 mar the story. If you've ever bn wrapped-up in any kind of "Reality TV" show, you'll probly love this book. I had a brief infatuation with SURVIVOR & LOVED ROCK STAR/INXS, so....
* SONG OF THE YEAR -- Florence + the Machine's "Shake it Out," the only song all year that made me laff & cry & clap my hands & shout along. The lyrics R brilliant, the performance is amazing.
* SONG OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP'S -- Kelly Clarkson's "I'm Already Gone," great vocals, haunting lyrics; Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain," ditto, her whole career's bn worth it just 4 this; The Launderettes' "Red River," the 1st 45-rpm vinyl single I've bought in YEARS; Sara Bareilles's "Love Song," love the choruses & the way she weighs the words "You'll see" at the end....
* BEST MUSIC BOOKS (tie) -- Will Romano's MOUNTAINS COME OUT OF THE SKY and Mark Powell's PROPHETS AND SAGES. Romano's book is beautiful 2 look at & features a pretty solid, detailed history of progressive rock with just a few minor errors. But there R a lotta people included who I wouldn't call prog (much late-'60s British Folk), & there R areas I wished were in a lot more depth. Hope Romano gets 2 write a sequel. Powell's PROPHETS is a goldmine of data on obscure & overlooked prog albums -- but it's FULL of typographical errors in what seems 2 B Bcoming a British Prog tradition. I hope Powell gets 2 write a sequel 2 -- & I've already offered 2 help him proofread it....
* BEST REVIEWS -- John Clute's 4 books of science-fiction book reviews: STROKES, SCORES, LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE and CANARY FEVER. Great, wide-ranging, cosmic, funny.
* BEST BIOGRAPHY -- Julie Phillips' JAMES TIPTREE JR.: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF ALICE SHELDON. Tho a little thin on the last 10 years of Tiptree/Sheldon's life, this is an amazing portrait of 1 of the top SF writers of the '70s, a woman pretending 2 B a man, trying 2 get her amazing stories written any way she could.
* BEST REFERENCE BOOK -- Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002, a goldmine of pop-music chart trivia.
* BEST REISSUES (tie) -- WALL OF SOUND: THE VERY BEST OF PHIL SPECTOR 1961-1966 and BE MY BABY: THE VERY BEST OF THE RONETTES. The Spector collection is crammed full of timeless classics, from The Crystals' "He's a Rebel" 2 Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" -- I just wished there were MORE. The Ronettes' best-of isn't all timeless classics, but you can't do without "Be My Baby" & "Baby I Love You," & some of the other trax DO have some of the same massive impact -- especially the wondrous "I Wonder." RUNNER-UP: Neil Diamond's THE BANG YEARS. I bought this just 2 hear the great "Love to Love," which I hadn't heard since about 1974. The package also includes a dozen classic early hits from back when Neil was Really Good, from "Solitary Man" & "Cherry Cherry" 2 "Shilo," that have appeared previously on Neil's GREATEST HITS (on the Bang label), DOUBLE GOLD and CLASSICS: THE EARLY YEARS (on Columbia), which I've already worn-out a coupla copies of. Great stuff, & I'm still a sucker 4 "I've Got the Feeling (Oh No No)."
* MOST OVERPLAYED/MOST OVERRATED -- Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." I know why the rhythm locks this song in2 people's heads -- it locked in2 my head after the 1st couple of listenings & I don't even LIKE it. 4 me, the best thing here is Adele's background singers (which might B Adele herself) chanting "You're gonna wish that/You had never met me...."
* MOST POPULAR POST -- Good Lord, "Back to the Roots!" has 2wice as many viewings as NE other post I've ever done here at the Back-Up Plan. Ghod knows why....
* MOST POPULAR RECENT POST -- "Hot August Night 2!," I guess cos that's what Reality is like, sometimes.... Either that or there's a whole bunch of Neil Diamond fans out there....
...Management reserves the right 2 change these results if something really earth-shaking should alter my consciousness during the last 5 days of the year....