The closing tracks on the best albums of 2023
Inside The Old Year Dying... and the rest.
Last year, we looked at a selection of closing tracks from significant albums from 2022
This year, we’ve not covered a 2023 album. That will change in early 2024, but for now, I will count down Acclaimed Music’s top 10 albums of the year and the final tracks on each.
Blur’s The Ballad of Darren is a surprise album that few would have expected before the announcement that it would be released alongside their tour dates in the summer. ‘The Heights’ is in a similar vein to the rest of this comeback album, much warmer and more immediate than 2015’s The Magic Whip. ‘The Heights’ delves into themes of ambition, longing, and the temporary nature of success. The lyrics depict a journey towards achieving one's goals and the emotional investment involved, focusing on the abundance of life's possibilities and the struggle to recognise them amidst life's monotony. The song conveys hope and determination, suggesting a shared journey towards success, and highlights the fleeting nature of such achievements, emphasising the importance of appreciating these moments. For anyone who has seen Blur play this year (Which I did at Wembley), I think it is fair to say that the reactions of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree to the crowds show that they are embracing the meaning behind this post-Britpop (think Embrace or The Verve) lament which can also act as a “thank you, see you again” to the fans as it fizzes and frazzles out.
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is the first album combining ANOHNI and backing band The Johnsons since 2010’s Swanlights and ANOHNI’s first since 2016. Like Blur’s, the album is warm and immediate full of blue-eyed soul. The short and muted final track, ‘You Be Free’, gives us the album’s title and surely references This Bridge Called My Back, a collection of writings by radical women of colour published in 1981. The song focuses on longing for freedom and release after much struggle, sacrifice and personal fortitude. It lacks some of the bravado and soulful backing of other songs on the album, but rather than being a slight supplement, it is a fitting kiss-off to the album.
‘A Noiseless Noise’ wraps up PJ Harvey’s tenth album, I Inside the Old Year Dying. The song starts with Harvey, accompanied only by her electric guitar, poignantly singing about the "falling reddening." This serene beginning is soon engulfed by a burst of dynamic drumming and a chaotic blend of background sounds, conjuring the imagery of an unexpected storm. Unsurprisingly, the song has closed out recent live shows with the Pixies’ loudQUIETloud dynamic so prevalent in her early work on Dry and Rid of Me. There’s something about Harvey's enduring skill in utilising guitar feedback effectively when the moment demands. The track is driven forward by the resonant jangle of guitars and the flutter of a snare, leading it towards a powerful crescendo. As the song progresses, it gradually strips down to Harvey alone, guiding the album to a gentle and thoughtful close.
In an album absolutely jammed with bangers, Olivia Rodrigo concludes GUTS with a slow piano ballad. It reflects on growing up in the spotlight, a theme echoed in her earlier song ‘brutal’, and we advance from 18 to 20 this time. In an interview with Laura Snapes in The Guardian, she discussed the pressures of early fame:
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