Influential Music of 2020

This has obviously been a very difficult year, with the arts suffering very badly.

Musical experiences have been few and far between. When it comes to new releases, these are the five I have listened to the most.

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Jah Wobble remained very active during 2020, putting out lockdown tracks with impressive regularity. He (together with the Invaders of the Heart) was one of the very few people I saw 'live' this year. The timing turned out to be extremely fortunate.

Jah put his new material out on two strictly limited CDs (just 100 of each). I have even more admiration for his work now than ever before.

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Reissued material from Iggy Pop's 'Bowie Years.' In fact it was a good year for Iggy Pop releases, with two more significant compilations: You Think You're Bad, Man? - The Road Tapes 73-74 and From K.O. to Chaos - The Complete Skydog Iggy Pop and The Stooges Collection.

The songs and their delivery provide a timely reminder of the important of resilience, defiance and energy.

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This was a surprise. Get Back Into The World is by the Sensible Gray Cells. They are The Damned's   Captain Sensible and Paul Gray, together with Johnny Moped drummer Marty Love.

The humour is impish; the songs catchy. There is also a decent amount of observational material.

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Stray Cats at their best. This album features tracks from various nights of their excellent 2019 tour. I reminder of how things were - giving rise to the desire for a return to normal as soon as possible.

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'Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back again...'