How many times were we told in 2019 that democracy was dead? Well, here we are again to fly in the face of that weary world view. With the generous help of a carefully (hastily) assembled panel of record shops, labels, festival organisers, musicians, producers, writers and a couple of unscrupulous music PR types, this is Long Live Vinyl’s very own people’s vote; 365 days of musical output sent to the country to decide on their favourite albums of 2019. All that was left once the votes were in was for the Long Live Vinyl crew to empty the ballot boxes, discount the spoiled papers and declare our winner. You’ll have to turn the pages to find out who won, but we’ll say here that it was heartening to ask 40-odd different experts and get 40-odd different answers – a true sign of a musical landscape in rude health. Also pleasing is the fact that of the top 10, five are female or female-led acts. The genre spread is pretty wide, too, while young bands continue to underline that not everything was better “back in the day”. Thanks again to our panel for taking the time to vote. And once you’ve reached the end, fear not, you can carry on straight into the Top 20 Reissues of 2019, Record Shop Of The Year and Hi-FiGear Of The Year features. What a time to be alive…
The panel
Gareth Murphy, Simon Raymonde, Rob Haywood, Steve Harnell, Laura Barton, Laura Williams, Liz Quigley, Chris Parkin, Rich Walker, Huw Baines, Felix Rowe, Giacomo Lee, Annette Lee, Ben Wardle, Duncan Jordan, Paddy Davis, Kate Price, Frankie Davison, Megan Page, Phoebe Scott, Colleen Murphy, Gary Tipp, Gary Walker, John Earls, Wyndham Wallace, Sam Willis, Tim Dellow, Dan Biggane, Glen Bushell, Noam Klar, Tom Dalgety, Simon Taffe, Sound It Out Records, Jumbo Records, Resident Records, Friendly Records, Sister Ray, Rough Trade West, Union Music, Tallbird Records, Gatefield Sounds, Longwell Records