Discover the selection of the best albums of 2024 according to the readers of Rolling Stone France, whose choices are close to those of the editorial staff.
Find this Rolling Stone readers’ best of 2024 in full in our weekly n°180, available via our online store.
David Gilmour – Luck and Strange
His last studio album was almost ten years ago. Way of reminding us that the ex-Pink Floyd likes to take his time doing things, approaching them with perspective, including when it comes to explaining them or discussing other more sensitive subjects, such as of his relations with a former “partner”…
What do we really expect from a guitarist’s album other than that it delights its audience with solos, especially if at least a few of them bring back memories of predecessors? Good thing, this is exactly what Luck and Strange has to offer, track after track, some seeming to “just” lay the groundwork – the runway? – solo audit. “Take my arm and walk with me once more”, whispers Gilmour on this “Scattered” which closes the debates. Let’s not refuse the invitation.
The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
Songs of a Lost World, the new album from The Cure, is an event in more than one way, well beyond the sixteen years of studio silence that it breaks. All the more reason to go through it title by title, with the best accompanying guide there is: Robert Smith himself! In absolute terms, the “components” of Songs of a Lost World will not so much surprise the most loyal section of The Cure fans: many of the pieces that appear there have already experienced a “first life” on stage in recent years. years. In a way, the interest of the album – and the fascination it inevitably exerts – lies in the way its eight chapters exist together, complement each other, sometimes respond to each other, in a suffocating darkness more often than in his turn.
Tears for Fears – Songs For a Nervous Planet
A curiosity, and that’s nothing to say! Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, AKA Tears For Fears, have finally released their very first official live album, Songs For a Nervous Planet. Better yet, in this new disc they mix classic concert titles and no less than four new songs. Inspired by Matt Haig’s book, Notes on a Nervous Planet, a reflection on modern life and the way it fuels our anxiety and helps us live better lives, this live/new release is surprising in more than one way. From sophisticated melodies to innovative electro-pop arrangements, the link between new pieces and old classics is established easily and the pieces captured in the studio integrate easily into the best of in public recorded in 2023, in the United States at Franklin , in Tennessee, as part of The Tipping Point tour.
Nightwish – Yesterwynde
In nearly thirty years of career and now ten albums, Nightwish has not only established itself in its environment, but exerted considerable influence within the metal scene. Nevertheless, the desire for renewal remains a constant of their identity and Yesterwynde is no exception – “Yesterdayspecifies Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist and leader of the group, is a neologism that I found with Troy [Donocley, multi-instrumentiste], because I couldn’t find a word that encompasses the emotion I wanted to express on this record. It formulates a connection to the past, to the stories it tells us, and to human mortality. Yesterwynde sums it up…”
Bruce Springsteen – Best of
Released in April, this eighth Boss compilation attempts to summarize nearly half a century of career in 18 pieces for its physical version and 31 for its dematerialized version. There we find the timeless “Born To Run,” “Hungry Heart” or even “Dancing in The Dark,” old titles such as “Growin’ Up” or more recent ones like “Letter To You.” » An admittedly non-exhaustive summary, which still manages to cover a wide spectrum of the Boss’s repertoire.
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
50 years are worth celebrating! Thus, the Genesis classic is released in a new edition featuring a remastered version of the album, a new Dolby ATMOS mix, a complete concert from the 1975 tour, three new demos and a 60-page book with notes from Alexis Petridis. Enough to dive back into this monument of progressive rock.
U2 – How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
What if we had this as U2’s last “convincing” album? We will leave the question open to focus on this reissue, starting with this… extraction from the sessions of the time of around ten pieces coming to compose what is presented on the second of the seven vinyls in the box set as an album in its own right. , called not without mischief How to Re-assemble an Atomic Bomb, and where titles like “Evidence of Life”, “Happiness” or “Are You Gonna Wait Forever?” would have deserved a better fate due to the sap that emanates from it.
Nick Cave – Wild God
The instrumental alchemy of the text of the title track is almost witchcraft as well as the fraternal complicity established between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis make Wild God’s performance one of the most accessible in recent years. These elements trace a straight line from the symphonic flights of the abundant double album Ghosteen (2019). “This world is beautiful,” chanted Cave, whose desire to transcend death and loss continues while digging his mystical explorations to the core, even returning to the scene of the crime of “Jubilee Street,” point d organ of Push the Sky Away (2013).
Jack White – No Name
In less than three quarters of an hour, Jack White and his influences as multiple as they are sharp navigate between blues and alternative rock, exploring all eras of amplified music without ever lowering the multimeter. We thus find ourselves with an explosion of feeling on the heady “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking),” a real surge of energy on “Bless Yourself,” without forgetting the supple and solid groove of “Archbishop Harold Holmes. » Careful without being sanitized, the artist also manages to preserve just enough imperfections to produce a completely authentic work.
Elvis Costello & T-Bone Burnett – The Coward Brothers
In the 1980s, Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett, for fun, invented the Coward Brothers and released a single, called “The People’s Limousine.” » More than forty years later, Christopher Guest – to whom we owe Spinal Tap! – has the idea of putting on a play/mockumentary on the long absence of these “Cowardly Brothers”. Everything about this record is delicious, from the brilliant idea of resurrecting two fictional characters to the impeccable production. A mischievous, intelligent concept album full of dreamlike nostalgia.
The editorial staff
