#619: 3rd Annual TAD Awards

OK, we made it thru the End Of The World, but can we make it thru the end of the year? That Fiscal Cliff is looming & we're all about 2 plunge screaming over the edge.
& meanwhile, in the Midwest the Sun has been sucked in2 a black hole & states from Nebraska 2 Wisconsin have been buried in 2 feet of snow. Just ask my buddy Crabby....
But let's let all that go & get down 2 Business:
Barring any further miracles, here R the winners & losers of the 3rd Annual TAD Awards 4 the best & worst Strange Music & Books of the past year. It should B noted that this was all new-2-me stuff, unless noted otherwise.
I didn't think 2012 was a very good year, but consider this an early Xmas present anyway. Just without a big bow on it. Or the fancy wrapping paper. Or the annoying relatives who never leave....

BIGGEST MUSICAL DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR (locally) -- Seattle's KMTT-FM "The Mountain" drops LITTLE STEVEN'S UNDERGROUND GARAGE.
BEST MUSIC-RELATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR -- Rob Sheffield's great musical memoir LOVE IS A MIX TAPE; Simon Reynolds' Xcellent post-punk history RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN. Also very good: ALWAYS IN TROUBLE, AN ORAL HISTORY OF ESP-DISK by Jason Weiss; WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN: THE WHO FROM LIFEHOUSE TO QUADROPHENIA by Richie Unterberger; & A WIZARD/A TRUE STAR: TODD RUNDGREN IN THE STUDIO by Paul Myers.
WORST ALBUMS -- Against a LOT of heavy competition, the losers R ... Borbetomagus's (1st), screaming punk-jazz from 1980 without a single recognizable melody ... & Pat Metheny's ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SILENCE, 45 mins of screaming electric-guitar feedback. No melodies here, either.
MOST DISTURBING ALBUM -- Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK/ORGASM (1969). Thanx a LOT, Crabby....
BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR -- Love's FOREVER CHANGES (1967), The Kinks' VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (1968), Nick Drake's PINK MOON (1972). FOREVER CHANGES is mostly gorgeous psychedelia. VILLAGE GREEN is acoustic small-town British nostalgia, with some great songs. PINK MOON is pretty great 4 an album that's perceived as a sort of suicide note; it's as good as anything Nick ever did.
BEST SONGS OF THE YEAR -- Porcupine Tree: "The Sound Of Muzak." The Jam: "That's Entertainment." Sandy Denny: "The Simple Joys of Brotherhood." Left Banke: "She May Call You Up Tonight." Cocktail Slippers: "Keeps on Dancing."
WORST TREND -- I spent a lot of $$$ & time last Winter & Spring trying-out new-2-me music -- Butthole Surfers, Cramps, Wire, Gang of Four, & MANY others. It was mostly not worth the trouble. But I'm still open 4 suggestions, anything that will jolt me out of my ongoing musical boredom....
BEST AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- BETTER TO HAVE LOVED, Judith Merril & Emily Pohl-Weary. The 1st 2/3rds of this is gripping, as young SF fan Judy Merril goes to NYC in the '40s, marries writer Frederik Pohl, & befriends most of the world's most famous science-fiction writers. Later the story narrows down, but it's still a great self-portrait....
MOST DISAPPOINTING BIOGRAPHY -- Ray Coleman's LENNON. Not much new here....
MOST DISAPPOINTING MUSIC-RELATED BOOK: Andrew Hultkranz's FOREVER CHANGES. It's not based on much. Which is 2 bad, because the album it's about is GREAT....
BEST JOKES -- Keith Altham, THE PR STRIKES BACK. Altham zings Jagger, Townshend & dozens of other music stars in a book only a former publicity guy could write.
BEST NOVEL -- I only read 2 new-2-me novels all year. Shocking. It takes a lot 4 fiction 2 hold my attention these days. Both novels were by Max Barry. SYRUP is slightly funnier, with lotsa laffs, & with its non-stop jokes & 1-sentence chapters it's perfect 4 people with short attn spans. Like me. & its subject -- marketing & consumer society -- we're stuck up 2 R necks in.... Barry's JENNIFER GOVERNMENT is well worth yer time, 2. But it's even scarier....
MOST READ POSTS -- #523 "Laundry-doin' music" became the most-viewed post in the history of the Back-Up Plan, thanx 2 a link from the good folks at KindaKinks.net. That post included a review of the Kinks' VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY. "Laundry-doin music" has about 100 more views than "Back to the Roots," which is now far behind in 2nd place. #582 "The Best!" included a LONG list of capsule reviews of the best Strange Music albums I've heard all the way thru.
WORST SONG OF THE YEAR -- Adele: "Someone Like You." Hey, didn't she win this award LAST year? Well, there's nothing in the rules that sez that can't happen....