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Can: spot on for the top spot in our 30 Best Archive Issues of 2021
Thank you, Uncut, for another exceptional end-of-year round-up. Your Top 30 reissues were spot on – Can, Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Alice Coltrane and Laura Nyro! Who could argue with that lineup? I suppose the Top 75 new albums is more subjective. There were a lot of records absent from your list that I would have chosen – but what I appreciate, year in and year out, is the sense of discovery I get from your Top 75.
Thanks to Uncut, I was up to speed with many of them – but I’ve spent a very happy few weeks since my subscriber copy landed not bothering too much with what wasn’t included but instead enjoying a load of new music that, for whatever reason, passed me by when it came out. Arooj Aftab is a great discovery – and amazing she’s been nominated for two Grammy awards! Likewise, the Mdou Moctar and Elephant9 albums are absolute keepers.
Dana McGill, Aberdeen
…Regarding your Best Of 2021, surely there’s some mistake. You’ve no room for Flying Dream 1 by Elbow, Tricks Of The Trade by Malcolm Holcombe, Busy Guy by Stephen Fretwell, The Future by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats or Steve Earle’s tribute to his late son Justin? Now at a push, I could possibly forgive you for this oversight. However, the biggest glaring omission is The Million Things That Never Happened by national treasure Billy Bragg. It’s too simplistic to just call it his “lockdown” album. Several of the tracks are as good as anythinghe has written, and the lyric “I just can’t believe what this has doneto my health/So don’t judge me too harshly, I can do that myself” resonates extremely strongly with me.