Jim’s Gems 2006: Ten best albums of the year, including Amy Winehouse and Bob Dylan

Jim's Gems 2006: Cork music aficionado Jim Comet selects the best albums marking their 20th anniversary.

It was a landmark year for social media which saw the launch of Twitter and the huge expansion of Facebook and YouTube, but by the middle of the first decade of the new millennium, the music industry was an entirely new landscape. Manufactured boy bands and second-rate karaoke acts ruled the charts thanks to the rising popularity of reality TV talent shows. 

Away from that glossy facade, however, 2006 still managed to be an incredible year for music. Here’s my pick of the best 10 records:

While the Londoner’s first album was a lighter, jazzy coming-of-age record, for the second album, Winehouse took it more to the dark side. With the addition of Mark Ronson on production, and the Dap-Kings as a studio band, the sound was completely changed. It had obvious influences from the early New York girl groups like The Shangri-Las and The Crystals, which she now absolutely devoured. 

The songs deal quite openly with her struggles at the time. A major relationship had ended and she couldn’t see past that. It became the theme of the whole album. She was also dealing with addiction problems and an eating disorder, and she was only 23. 

Winehouse lays it all out for all to see on the record. “I stay up, clean the house, at least I’m not drinking,” is a line that still gives me shivers. I hope Winehouse is remembered for her amazing talent and for making possibly the greatest record of the 21st century as opposed to the macabre soap opera that contributed to her untimely demise in 2011.

His 32nd album and the third in that incredible creative run that began with Time Out Of Mind in 1997. While it treads the same American roots platform as its predecessors, musically it takes a much more subtle approach. The band sounds like they’re tiptoeing through songs like Thunder On The Mountain and The Levee’s Gonna Break, with the acoustic guitar and jazz drums doing most of the work. Less is definitely more in this case. 

Vocally, it’s one of Dylan’s strongest performances. He had just qualified for his bus pass at the time, and his distinctive voice had matured accordingly, adding further gravitas to this extraordinary collection. There are two stone-cold Dylan classics here: Nettie Moore and Workingman’s Blues #2, which I saw him perform live in Thomond Park in 2010.

I fully expected Zero 7 to either disappear or have a by-the-numbers career after the excellent Simple Things in 2001. How wrong was I. On this, their third and best record, they seriously push the boat out musically to create an album that’s steeped in jazz, electronica, chill out and, bizarrely, 1970s folk rock. Someone’s obviously been at the Fairport Convention records. Sia provides the vocals, as does Jose Gonzalez, and they shine throughout this incredible journey that channels artists as diverse as CSN, David Axelrod and our own Gilbert O Sullivan.

4. Madeline Peyroux, Half The Perfect World

Originally from Athens, Georgia, Madeline Peyroux moved to Paris at age 11 when her bohemian parents divorced. Raised on a diet of jazz, she was singing on the Parisian streets by the time she was a teenager. Imagine a hippy version of 1940s and ’50s jazz and easy listening, with bits of Astrud Gilberto and Françoise Hardy thrown into the mix. Similar to Billie Holiday, she has a limited but effective vocal range. On this, her third album, she includes original material, as well as covering Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Charlie Chaplin’s beautiful Smile.

Current 93 are a musical collective founded by former Psychic TV member David Tibet. Originally concentrating on electronic and industrial music, the group veered towards a gothic folk style, drawing its influences from the occult, Christianity and the film The Wicker Man. This strange but very compelling album features nine different versions of the same song, an old Appalachian tune called Idumaea. Vocal contributors include Marc Almond, Will Oldham, Anohni (Antony & The Johnsons), and Chris & Cosi from Throbbing Gristle. Definitely an acquired taste but well worth checking out.

6. Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

I remember the excitement that surrounded this album. A real band with real people who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments. A welcome respite from what was going on in the pop charts. They were seen by many as the saviours of rock music, which didn’t really need saving. The Sheffield lads, however, seemed to take it all in their stride. In Alex Turner, they had one of the best upcoming songwriters and frontmen of his generation. They didn’t break any new musical ground. The Smiths, The Fall, and The Wedding Present had trodden these boards before, but this was a refreshing take, and the tunes were great.

There was a time in the mid-noughties that you couldn’t throw a stick in Ireland without hitting an angst-ridden singer-songwriter. They were everywhere and the quality could vary. I always felt Fionn Regan was a bit different. He initially reminded me of a younger Dylan with a bit of Nick Drake and Elliot Smith thrown in. 

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