It’s always easier to write one great hit song rather then one great album. Writing great albums means putting together at least 10-12 songs of which: 4-5 of them really good, a couple should have the potential to become anthems of the future and the rest should enable to link all the great songs filling the empty bits with enjoyable music. Not an easy task right? That’s why we see so many times one-hit band disappear, you need to be able to write music to write great albums.
We notice as well that very often, in today’s music business the debut album is the best piece of music that bands will write in their career, examples are all around us: The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, MGMT. Why this? Our answer is that nowadays bands spend 2-3 years playing together and writing music before issuing one album that capture the industry attention. During this time they experiment, glue together, they write good and bad songs, they play live and scrap the bad ones so that by the time they get to sign the contract and issue the first album some kind of natural selection has already happened. After the success of the debut-work they are rushed into writing a second album in order to milk their success and they skip all this process of writing and scrapping. They gather 12 songs and rush into the studio to record. Not a good thing right?
That’s why in a year where the major players of the indie rock scene (MUSE, The Killers) have issued disappointing albums (in our opinion at least) the Liberation Top 10 of the Best Albums from 2012 is filled with punchy rocky debut albums (Tribes, Howler, Jake Bugg, CITIZENS!) two major confirmation with second albums that don’t follow what I just wrote above (The Vaccines, Two Doors Cinema Club) and some pearls from major artists from our times: Jack White, Blur and Spiritualized.
Some might say that charts are silly, at the Liberation we actually love them! Not all the albums are equally good and from time to time is actually good to stop, look back at the past 12 months and rationalize about what was the infatuation of the moment and what was real good rock’n’roll that might last in the next years.
So without further due, please see the list of the Top 10 Best Albums of 2012 as selected by The Liberation!
- The Vaccines – Come of age – when the singles are as good as No Hope and Teenage Icon it’s no surprise that the album is our favorite!
- Jack White – Blunderbuss – Everything he touches turns into gold
- CITIZENS! – Here We Are – Is there a better visit card then their debut album to start a career?
- Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg – He saved UK from X-factor, that’s enough for us to get in the chart, the young fella has a bright future in front of him
- Howler – America Give Up – Howler’s album was the first one we fall in love 12 months ago and we still cannot kick them out our playlists and DJ sets
- Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light – In a year where the experienced players of the rock scene decided to disappoint they decided to deliver another confirmation of their talent
- Tribes – Baby – “When My Day Comes” and “Corner Of An English Field” will stay around for a long long time
- Blur – Parklive – I couldn’t join the gig unfortunately and hearing this live recording made me even jealous of the lucky one that got the tickets!
- Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon – We are still debating if it’s better than the first work or not, some of us wanted it higher in the ranking, we all agree that it was an easy pick for the Top 10 though.
- The Enemy – Streets in the Sky – Simply their best album so far, if you have a though crowd, simply play “Get Up and Dance” and enjoy the results!
We are waiting for your emails and comments of threats and insults for missing your favorites! Don’t forget to tell us who did we miss!
Dont’ forget to listen to our playlist of the top 20 songs from 2012! Click Here to listen on Spotify
Hey Hey My My, let’s see what 2013 will bring us, in the meanwhile, keep on rocking in a free world
Supersonik
The Liberation 
I can’t say that I really agree with this list. In my opinion, there was a lot of albums realeased this year that are way better. Like: Beak, Tinderstick, Father John Misty, Quakers, Swans, Liars, Clinic, GY!BE,…
Thanks for your reply. You know, in the end we write these kind of lists in order to generate some reactions and enlarge our musical horizons! We will give a listen to your recos! Keep on following the liberation!
I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do !