Of the various theme weeks I cover on the blog, I think my favorite is the Decades series. That’s where I dive into the same year across four decades (1972, 1982, 1992, 2002, for example) and write about noteworthy album releases.
I like it because it gives me a chance to both highlight some of my personal favorites and dig into albums I missed along the way. And jumping ahead a decade at a time allows me to explore different popular music movements.
But enough patting myself on the back… let’s get to the latest installment. Most recently I’ve covered 1971, ’81 and ’91, which brings me to 2001. As always, I’ll count down my ten favorite albums from the year before writing about ten critically and/or commercially popular albums I don’t know.
At #10 is the short-lived band Witness with their sophomore album Under the Sea, a stellar collection of Americana, country-rock and pop songs, a highly unlikely mix given the band’s roots in Northern England.
I’ve written a couple of times about how I first heard this album when it was playing in a record store and bought it on the spot. A serendipitous discovery.
Witness split up just a year or so later, never releasing another album, though lead singer Gerard Starkie continues to record as a solo act.
I don’t know where it’s going
It’s not something I labour on I’m a follower
There is a place we can go now
Knock on the door and they’re open
Well thanks for the offer but not tonight my friend
We all need a cure
Let’s take comfort in that
I went there lord and now I’m coming back
My time alone here is not detached from you
Every thought I have I want you to think it too
I need your angle
To balance what I see
My time alone it gets too much for me
We all need a cure
Let’s take comfort in that
I went there lord and now I’m coming back
Yeah, we all need a cure
Let’s take comfort in that
I went there lord and now I’m coming back
The elements corrode the colours on the mast
I knew that they would fade
But I didn’t know it would be this fast
I feel too old to run the final mile
But I can fake a smile
We all need a cure
Let’s take comfort in that
I went there lord and now I’m coming back
Yeah, we all need a cure
Let’s take comfort in that
I went there lord and now I’m coming back
Looking forward to this next installment in the Decades series.