This year I was very focused on recording what I listened to so I could accurately know at the end of the year what I’d been listening to. I thought it would help when the time came to compiling my top 5 albums of the year list. But this year I unfortunately didn’t hear a lot of new stuff. Having done the history of rock university course through coursera I ended up with a lot of older stuff downloaded that I wanted to have a listen to and as I set up my playlists to play ‘recently downloaded’ as a priority my ipod went through a lot of that older stuff instead of other new albums.
This year I listened to 15223 songs (not counting some radio and background music when out around the place) but definitely over 15000 of my own music. A number one album was very easy for me to choose this year as it’s something I loved immediately and highly recommend to anyone reading this if you haven’t heard it already.
My most listened to artist in the last year was Duke Ellington, after that are The Everly Brothers, Brenda Lee, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys - a great top five most listened to but not helpful when trying to figure out my top albums of the year. The highest position taken by a more recent artist is Katy Perry in 5th place and her last album is great but it wasn’t really 2014 so it can’t be on my list.
2014 seemed to be the year of Taylor Swift. Looking through all the ‘best of’ lists of the year she seems to be on most, if not all, of them. Critics lists, readers lists, her album 1989 is well loved this last year. I heard it for the first time last week after seeing it on all this list and it’s alright, but it’s not on my list.
The rest of my top ten most listened to consists of Eddie Cochran, Billy Holiday, Belle and Sebastian, The National and The Eels. And then, finally, in 11th place is the band that is my number one album of the year but we’ll get to that shortly.
Compiling my list this year was a lot harder as I have discovered a lot of stuff has come out that I just haven’t had a chance to listen to. I made a list and was going to have a listen to a few things over the last week or two but I haven’t had time, and also I lost the list anyway…
So this year my list is mainly in no particular order as I haven’t had a chance to figure which I love and which I love more so positions 5-2 are in no particular order with a clear number one definitely my favourite. So, the four that make up the bottom part of my list, in no particular order are:
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
Anna played this a lot this year and maybe it just grew on me a lot, or maybe it is actually good. I think it’s probably both of those things. Worth a listen.
Avi Buffalo - At Best Cuckold
A recent discovery. Will be checking out any earlier albums as soon as I get the chance.
The War On Drugs - Lost in a Dream
A band that I hadn’t really listened to before until they were announced as playing at Meredith. And yes, they sound like Dire Straits but is that really a bad thing? Really really nice music.
I’m In Your Mind Fuzz - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
It was hard picking a 5th album for this top 5, but this is the one I came back to. I even considered Taylor Swift while listening to her album again. But this album is great. I don’t even own it yet, but I will. Good rock that is very listenable. Can’t wait to check these guys out live when I get a chance.Oh man, I'm such an idiot... just went to link videos to this post and I discovered my number one album of the last year was actually released in 2013. But for me there was no other big standout so I'm keeping in my list and at number one. That explains why I didn't see it on any of the other best-of lists I was looking at. Anyway, the album is Muchacho by Phosphorescent - an amazing album that I wish I had discovered sooner.
What was your top album of the year?
The library is designed in such a way that the windows are angled so there is never direct sunlight shining through them, but there is still plenty of light. The outside of the building is supposed to symbolise a rising sun, with the planetarium (top picture, left) symboling the earth. The planetarium was closed when we were there.
This library charged people to go in so we didn't stay too long. We got as far as the part where you needed to have tickets and then left. We got in for a second though before we were asked for our tickets that we didn't have. I got a sneaky photo of it but it is out of focus so I didn't put it up here. The photo above though was before the main part of the library so we were allowed there. To see how great it is inside, have a look 
The library in Berlin was undergoing renovations, or some sort of work that required a big banner to be put up in front of it that shows what it would look like if it had a huge ad covering most of it. I really didn't see the point. But the interesting thing about this photo is the courtyard. This is where many many books were burned during the war. I can't remember if this is the Berlin Library, or a University library, or if it only used to be. But it definitely held a lot of books during the war. The library below may be the proper Berlin Library.
We didn't spend too much time in this library. Had a quick look at the catalogue but couldn't understand much of it due to my not knowing any German.
This was our hostel located between a library and a record store, which you'd think would be great. But it was a terrible, terrible hostel. Great library though. I didn't get any photos inside. But they had board games! What a great idea!
This library is easily my favourite so far of my world tour of libraries. We spent a lot of time here as Liz was applying for a job in Scotland and was making use of the free internet quite a bit. You didn't have to sign up or book in to use the computers so that was handy. This library had more dvds than a dvd store, more cds than a cd store, and I think they had some books too! They also had so many computers that no one ever had to wait. More than I have seen in university libraries. They also had a nice little cafe with newspapers from all over the world, and any magazine you'd ever want to read (but the coffee was not that great).
Yes, it was a little windy on this day. This was a pretty awesome place to visit, inside they have original and handwritten writings from all sorts of people from history- Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Captain Cook, old maps, and even some Beatles lyrics written on the back of coasters and plenty more interesting stuff to check out. To get into the proper part of the library you need to be a member, to be a member you need to be researching something.
We were in only in Glasgow for a weekend so this library was closed. Looked nice though. Around the corner was this...
This library was closed also. Didn't look as nice or as interesting as the Mitchell Library, just a door in the wall.
We didn't go inside this library. We didn't have a lot of time in Edinburgh. Although, we did get a chance to see the place the first Harry Potter book was written and some of the places that inspired it. We also saw Dolly the sheep in the museum, and the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.
We only popped into this library for a minute to check if they had free internet, which they didn't. But around the corner we found...
Library Street! Our hostel was on this street and down the end of this street was the...
Library Bar! The night we went to the library bar it was pretty much empty except for us. In fact most of Belfast seemed empty (and also closed) the whole time we were there. I thought the library bar would be full of rowdy librarians, but there was nothing! I hope their libraries aren't this quiet!
The Chester Beatty Library houses an amazing collection of writing, books and art from all over the world. The work on display encompasses many different regions and religions. All of it is very old and very very interesting. Well worth a visit if you're ever in Dublin. Unfortunately photos were not permitted. It also has a very nice roof top garden with nice views of the surrounding area.
This small library was in the middle of the hidden away part of the music festival we went to. They had some good books here, and they somehow survived the rain on the first night.
#20. Xaghra Library, Gozo, Malta.
This library was only open about three days a week, in the mornings. I went back another day and checked it out. It was the most bland library I've ever seen. But it was great that this Village had a library at all. I wish I'd gotten a photo or two of the inside.
