It is time for our annual deep dive into 10 year album anniversaries, as we enter the musical time machine to review the year of 2014.
It was the year that gave us a Scottish independence vote, the first same sex marriages took place in England and Wales, and Band Aid 30 united to fight the Ebola crisis.
In the world of Sport, Germany claimed World Cup glory in Brazil, Prince Harry launched the Invictus Games, the Winter Olympics headed to Sochi, and David Moyes was sacked as Manchester United manager.
There were also two landmark occasions up north, with the Commonwealth Games heading to Glasgow and the Tour De France starting in Leeds.
Elsewhere, Transformers: Age of Extinction was topping the box office charts, while Pharrell Williams‘ smash hit, “Happy”, dominated worldwide airplay. Kate Bush also performed for the first time since 1979!
So what albums were we listening to 10 years ago? Let’s take a journey through 2014…
Scottish rock legends, Mogwai, got the year off to a flying start with the release of their eighth studio album, “Rave Tapes”, and they were followed a week later by fellow compatriots, Young Fathers, who released the Mercury-winning debut, “Dead”. You Me At Six also returned in January with “Cavalier Youth”, which they will celebrate on tour this year before calling time on a stellar 20-year pop punk career.
The following month played host to the release of Bombay Bicycle Club‘s fourth record with “So Long, See You Tomorrow”, spawning popular singles “Carry Me” and “Luna”. It would be the band’s final album before a short hiatus. February also saw St. Vincent release one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2014, with her self-titled Grammy-award winning effort.
Northern indie stalwarts, Elbow and Kaiser Chiefs, were two of the big March releases. “The Take Off and Landing of Everything” and “Education, Education, Education & War” were the respective LPs. Elsewhere, Metronomy‘s “Love Letters” and Foster The People‘s “Supermodel” landed in our ears, but the month belonged to The War on Drugs who released the incredible “Lost in the Dream”.
Canadian indie enigma, Mac Demarco, kicked off April in style with the release of his second studio album, “Salad Days”, on the first day of the month. And two weeks later, an equally enigmatic character of indie music returned with his third record, “Caustic Love”. We would need to wait another eight years for Paolo Nutini‘s follow-up, but his outstanding 2014 chapter was enough to savour with huge hits, “Scream (Funk My Life Up)” and “Iron Sky” included.
The Black Keys had the tricky task in May of following up the iconic “El Camino” record (2011), but “Turn Blue” impressed again on May 12th. It was followed four days later by Coldplay, whose “Ghost Stories” album featured hit single, “A Sky Full Of Stars”, and was another global success for Chris Martin‘s pop powerhouse.
American punk rock opened June as Parquet Courts‘ “Sunbathing Animal” was released, quickly followed by Kasabian‘s excellent “48:13” record, featuring the likes of “Eez-eh”, “Bumblebee”, and “Stevie”. And there was also time for two huge UK pop albums in this month, as Ed Sheeran‘s incredible “x (Multiply)” dominated the airwaves, along with the debut album from a certain George Ezra with “Wanted on Voyage”.
One of the stand-out albums of 2014 was also released in June, as Lana Del Rey returned with the critically acclaimed, “Ultraviolence”. And the packed month only continued, with Jack White releasing his incredible solo project “Lazaretto”, First Aid Kit returning with their third LP, “Stay Gold”, and The Klaxons signing off with their final release, “Love Frequency”.
A busy June was followed by the return of Welsh rock legends, Manic Street Preachers, in July, who unveiled their twelfth studio album, “Futurology”. Jungle then announced themselves to the music world with their self-titled debut, which was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. And the first of two “former Smiths” records was released in this month, as Morrissey‘s tenth solo record, “World Peace Is None of Your Business”, landed.
Two outstanding debut albums surfaced in August, with FKA Twigs releasing “LP1”, and Royal Blood‘s self-titled breakthrough propelling the Worthing duo to the forefront of UK music. Middleton’s finest also returned as Courteeners‘ “Concrete Love” arrived. It featured live favourites “Small Bones” and “Summer”, and is a criminally underrated offering from the Mancunians.
It was a good run for rock duos, as Royal Blood were followed up by the second album from Death From Above 1979, “The Physical World”. Across the border, Interpol released their fifth studio album, “El Pintor”, and closer to home U2 invaded everybody’s iTunes with “Songs of Innocence”. September also saw two stellar indie releases from Alt-J and Catfish and the Bottlemen, with “This Is All Yours” and “The Balcony” respectively topping many indie fans’ album of the year.
In October, Caribou released the incredible “Our Love”, which featured the infectious single “Can’t Do Without You”. Johnny Marr made it two “former Smiths” releases in 2014 with his “Playland” album, which included one of his biggest solo hits in “Easy Money”. Jessie Ware‘s sophomore “Tough Love” also arrived, followed by two big hitters in “Run the Jewels 2” and pop royalty, Taylor Swift‘s iconic “1989” album.
November and December provided the usual quiet wind-down towards Christmas, but there was space for two more big releases. Foo Fighters‘ eighth studio album, “Sonic Highways”, was the pick of the bunch in November, followed by Charlie XCX‘s “Sucker” album, which featured one of the biggest pop hits of the year in “Boom Clap”.
So there is our annual nostalgic trip to visit albums 10 years in the past. Have we missed anything? Have your say!
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