BEST OF 2014 - ALBUMS

Best of 2014. The list has 35 albums, like the previous year.

17 albums from Europe: 4 from Italy, 2 from Ireland, 2 from Germany, 2 bands based in Spain (Basque Country and Catalonia), 1 from Austria, 1 from Belgium, 1 from Denmark, 1 from France, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Sweden, 1 from the UK and 1 from Ukraine

11 albums from North America: 8 from the USA and 3 from Canada

1 album from South America: Brazil

1 album from Africa: South Africa

2 albums from Australasia: Australia

2 albums from Asia: 1 from Indonesia and 1 from Japan


Remarks

1) As usual, this post is titled as “the best of”. However,  this is not  a competition, but a sort of a game. Remember that I give neither points, nor stars to the albums that are reviewed. I’d say that, IMHO,  this is the list of the most enjoyable albums of 2014.  It's a party!

2) This list is subjective, but not unfair: it covers the albums that I have enjoyed. Other lists are being posted on other sites and they'll be different. And I feel that diversity is good.

3) Important: Please remember that it’s a list of albums, not a list of bands.

4) I've tried to be coherent. Everybody should know that I prefer original material to over-exposed standards.

5) Please remember that I'm only a fan. Maybe some albums are technically or musically better than others. I have taken into account catchy songs, fresh approaches, originality and maybe I've given priority to raucous sounds rather than to polished sounds

6) Yes, this is a Celtic Punk e-zine. Then priority has been given to Celtic punk bands, but you'll also find quite a few Celtic rock and folk punk bands.

7) Only the albums that have been received for review/airplay purposes and/or that have been shared for free by the bands have been rated. Other recordings were released in 2014, but unfortunately no copy was submitted. Anyway, I feel that this is not biaising the list.

8) This Best of 2014 covers the albums that have been released from December 2013 to November 2014.

9) Neither Live albums, nor only covers albums have been taken into account. The same applies to compilations.

10) To be at the bottom of the list doesn't involve that an album is rather poor. The difference between the 5th place and the 20th place would be a tiny nuance. The same applies to the places going from 21st to 35th.

11) A lot of songs from these albums have been added to the streaming radio along the year and they are regularly played.

http://www.radionomy.com/es/radio/celtic-folk-punk/index

http://celtic-folk-punk.playtheradio.com

12) To the fans: feel free to share your comments below.

13) To the bands: it’s extremely difficult to rank every recording and I guess that some people won’t be happy. However, I really appreciate and respect the hard work by every single band. The quality of all of the recordings has been very high!


Albums 2014

01 - Bastard Bearded Irishmen "Rise of the Bastard"    Review
02 - The Ramshackle Army    "Letters from the Road Less Travelled"    Review
03 - Creeds Cross    "Gods & Fighting Men"    Review
04 - Uncle Bard and The Dirty Bastards    "Get the Folk Out!"    Review
05 - Craic    "Amongst the Mischief and Malarkey"    Review
06 - The Black Tartan Clan    "Scotland in Our Hearts"    Review
07 - Paddy Murphy    "CoffinShip" Review
08 - Finegan's Hell    "Drunk, Sick and Blue"    Review
09 - Rovers Ahead    "Always the Sinner, Never the Saint"    Review
10 - Mosche di Velluto Grigio "In te ho sognato, in te spero morir"    Review
11 - Roughneck Riot    "Out of Anger"    Review
12 - Whiskey Wagon    "Somewhere Under the Table"    Review
13 - The Fighting Jamesons    "Every Day Above Ground" Review
14 - Drink Hunters    "Lurking Behind the Woods"    Review
15 - Lugh    "Quando os canecos batem"    Review
16 - The Clan    "The Clan"    Review
17 - Fiddler's Wage    "A Needle Pointing North"    Review
18 - The Wages of Sin    "Queensbury Rules"    Review
19 - The Mahones    "The Hunger & The Fight Part 1"    Review
20 - Firkin    "Finger in the Pie"    Review
21 - Celkilt    "On the Table"    Review
22 - O'Hamsters    "Kiev, Dublin, Alcohol"    Free Download
23 - The Sunday Punchers    "The Sunday Punchers"    Review
24 - Blood or Whiskey    "Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil"    Review
25 - McOnak    "Piraten Matxinada"    Review
26 - Kilkenny Knights    "Brady's Pub Tales"    Review
27 - Craic the Lens    "The Cannon"    Review
28 - Auld Corn Brigade    "Rebels till the End" Review
29 - Jay Wars    "Carry Me Home"    Review
30 - Homeland    "The Show" Review   
31 - Kitchen Implosion    "Pretty Work Brave Boys!"    Review
32 - Charlie's Rum and The Chaplin  "Ballad of Motherland" Review
33 - Birmingham Six    "Move On"    Review
34 - Kilt the Messenger    "Hero Punk"    Review
35 - 16 Tons with Ally    "Safari"    Review

Honorable mention:

Remember, no compilation albums are elegible for the list. But this album is really amazing:

VA "Wind from the Foreign Land - An Indonesian Celtic Punk Compilation"  WLRV Records Review

Thanks to all the bands for sending their stuff to be reviewed. Special thanks to Drink Hunters for stating my name on the "Thanks" section of their album!

Enjoy!