Let hands be shook, champagne poured...

It seems to be awards season again, and that sounds like a flimsy excuse for me to fling in a self-indulgent look at 2006 In Music, while I'm trying to work out what to say about Number 24. Of course, I could try to falsify a proper Top 20 singles and albums in order, but all the proper music bloggers did that two months ago, so I'm going to award the Golden Pottos 2007 in the following categories:

Best Breakthrough Single By A Band Who Turned Out To Be Rubbish:
The Feeling 'Sewn' (from Twelve Stops And Home)

Worst Single From A Band Who Are Usually Really Good:
The Charlatans 'NYC (There's No Need To Stop)' (from the otherwise not at all bad Simpatico)

Most Underrated Hit Single:
Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright 'Set The Fire To The Third Bar' (from Eyes Open)

Best Single That Probably Shouldn't Have Been Released Because There Had Already Been So Many From The Album:
Maximo Park 'I Want You To Stay' (from A Certain Trigger)

Most Pointless Bonus DVD:
Snow Patrol Eyes Open

Most Idiosyncratic Pronunciation Of The Word "Obviously":
Paolo Nutini 'Jenny Don't Be Hasty' (from These Streets)

Best Single That Mentions A Monkey:
Hot Chip 'Over & Over' (from The Warning)

Band I Most Wanted To Like But Haven't Quite Convinced Myself About Yet:
Guillemots (album: Through The Windowpane)

Worst Editing:
Gene John Peel Sessions

Most Interesting Juvenilia:
Pulp's 1981 John Peel Session (released on The Peel Sessions

Best Compilation That I Couldn't Justify Buying Because I Already Had Most Of It:
The Wedding Present Search For Paradise: Singles 2004-2005

Best Compilation I Was Glad I Didn't Already Have All Of:
Andy Partrige Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Box

Best Compilation That Features A Member Of My Family:
Various Artists Cd86

Best 7" package:
Graham Coxon 'I Can't Look At Your Skin'/'What's He Got?' (double single)

Best B-side:
Graham Coxon 'Livin'' (from 'Standing On My Own Again')

Overall Achievement Graham Coxon

Sadly Missed:
Grant McLennan (The Go-Betweens)



And slightly more seriously, here are ten of my actual favourite singles, but in alphabetical order:

Arctic Monkeys 'When The Sun Goes Down' (from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Belle And Sebastian ''Funny Little Frog' (from The Life Pursuit)

Franz Ferdinand 'The Fallen' (reworked from You Could Have It So Much Better)

Gnarls Barkley 'Crazy' (from St. Elsewhere)

Richard Hawley 'Just Like The Rain' (reworked from Coles Corner)

McAlmont & Butler 'Speed' (digital and 7" only).

Massive Attack 'Live With Me' (from Collected)

Peter, Bjorn and John 'Young Folks' (from Writer's Block)

The Raconteurs 'Steady, As She Goes' (from <Broken Boy Soldiers)

Thom Yorke 'Harrowdown Hill' (from The Eraser)

The Hit Parade reserves the right to change any or all of the above. We're like that sometimes.