At the time of writing, I have reviewed 84 albums released in 2023 and a couple more historic releases (this will be an increasingly important feature of the website in 2024). I have enjoyed every single one. It is an immense privilege to write about the music I love and for so many talented artists to kindly send me the outcome of their intense labours to write about for you. I am a lucky man.
2023 has been full of great music. Readers of my website know that it is vital that we avoid falling into that curmudgeonly trap of believing that only music of a certain vintage is any good.
As ever, I shy away from the “top ten/twenty” album of the year list. I find them not only difficult to complete, but also somewhat tiresome. So, the second of my Lazland Awards (go to the Archive section for 2022) continues the theme of that year in that some are “serious” awards, some are playful, and others are a personal commentary, remembering, of course, that it would be impossible to mention everyone & everything written about in the year.
On this site, the artist is the paramount concern of all my musings, and I urge all readers to continue to support independent artists directly and avoid the corporate streaming trap wherever possible.
Lazland will continue to be advert free in 2024. I hate the bloody things. I will be hoping to continue to develop my radio work in the forthcoming year, including some aural interviews I have planned. The site will continue to be focussed on intelligent music, no matter what the genre. When I hear something worth passing on to my very loyal band of readers, I will do so.
To close this introduction, there are many people who I should thank for making 2023 so wonderful, but there is only limited space and time. So, Mrs Lazenby gets the “without whom” award for putting up with me and my interminable listening sessions; Caron Jones for his wonderful friendship; Anne-Claire Rallo for being her lovely self and doing such a great job of promoting artists; Graham Harfleet an extra special thank you for allowing me to guest on his wonderful Progzilla Radio show every Sunday and opening me up to the intriguing possibility of doing more such work in 2024; Thomas Szirmay for continuing to be an inspiration and a great friend; all of you who read and listen to my words; last, but definitely not least, the artists. You know who you are!
TRACK OF 2023
I reduced this to nine potential winners, and in a year of such musical delight that was difficult enough, but then choosing between them was challenging, to say the least.
There is a standout, though, and one so good that the vocalist also wins my Performance of the Year Award.
Nine Skies – The Haunted from The Lightmaker. Embedded above, this is a track which makes the hair on the back of the neck stand up, a symphonic rock classic for our times. Bramald crackles with emotion.
Debut album of 2023
There have been a host of exceptional debuts, and this has been a very difficult category to judge. In the end, I couldn’t decide between the two, and as this is my website and I make the rules, this one is a shared award between:
Massimo Pieretti – A New Beginning.
Ruby Dawn – Beyond Tomorrow.
Life Affirming Award
Music is about far more than technical brilliance. It must move the listener. As an artform, it should have a noble purpose.
This award is for those artists and their works which take you to a different plane, and not just, by the way, because of worthy causes or stories. The music itself must move you, and the winners of this shared award demonstrate this.
Glen Brielle (the outlet for former Abel Ganz member, Hugh Carter) Still, a work dripping with emotion and telling the story of how to overcome life threatening adversity. Simply essential.
Nova Cascade, The Navigator, proceeds from the sale of which went to pancreatic cancer research in honour of their fallen comrade Eric Bouillette. An album for all time, not just our time.
Nine Skies The Lightmaker, a stellar and essential release.
Galahad – The Long Goodbye (title track). About as moving as it gets, a song about a most terrible disease.
Should have been a smash hit of 2023
An award for a song which, in a brighter, kinder world would be all over radio and the charts. We don’t live in that world, excepting in this wonderful little progressive community of ours, which is very special. The award goes to:
Fish on Friday – Jump This Wall from 8mm.
Pleasant Surprise of 2023
I did seriously think about awarding this to Yes for Circles of Time from Mirror to the Sky, a simply beautiful piece of music. However, there was an extended piece of music which, to these ears, was so unexpected, and dripping with such intelligence and thought about mortality and the cultural backstory of what it means to be a Jew, I could only possibly go for:
Paul Simon – Seven Psalms, an absolutely essential piece of music for the end of life days.
Artwork of 2023
Progressive rock is very well known for its sumptuous covers, and this year has been no exception to high class artwork. There is, though, a clear winner in 2023, and that is:
The Emerald Dawn – In Time by Tree Stewart.
Lying Bastards Award
Dedicated to politicians of all hues everywhere, tracks where our beloved artists make it clear just how many porkies are provided to us on an almost daily basis.
I reduced this to nine contenders, but having listened to them all again tonight, there is a clear winner from a band this website loves:
The Round Window – Parabellum from Everywhere & Nowhere.
Title of the Year
Half Shell – Prometheus in the Flesh from The Great Truth. Alternative pop at its best and very catchy.
Camel Ride Award
An award dedicated to western music’s continuing fascination with anything reminiscent of the Middle East, usually involving clear references to either Zep’s Kashmir or Camel’s Rajaz.
Ruby Dawn – Into the Sun from Beyond Tomorrow.
Instrumental Track of 2023
Another virtually impossible category to judge, but I had to recognise three clear favourites this year, namely:
Inner Prospekt – A Wordless Fable from Canvas Three. Originally written for Samurai of Prog, this featured on my Progzilla Radio slot.
Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate – The Requisitioner and the Wonder from The Light of Ancient Mistakes.
Hackberry – Solitary March from Breathing Space.
Instrumental Album of 2023
I think this album is wondrous, a work of genius.
Nick Fletcher – Quadrivium.
Collective performance of 2023
Beatrix Players – Living & Alive, every single track a joy, so well performed, and the sum a nigh on perfect listen.
Bloody Shame
My first review of 2023 was the eponymous EP by Maltese outfit, Pyramid Suns. Less than a year later, they had split up. A great shame because it was rather good.
We’re Doomed, Doomed I Tell Ye!
Named in honour of Private Fraser, this testament to the glass half empty view on life this year goes to Overhead, who released Telepathic Minds in 2023. It is a very good album from the Finnish outfit, but, by God, it is not light listening. War, pestilence, cities blown to kingdom come……
Stand against inequality.
Damanek – Noon Day Candles from Making Shores. If we can send people and robots to the Moon, why can’t we feed our children?
The band also win this year’s You Shouldn’t Give A Fuck When It Was Released for your Best Of Lists Award
The band’s January 2023 release, Making Shores, remains an absolute highlight of 2023 and one of those essential purchases of the year. Humans, being humans, and especially music critics, tend to have relatively short attention spans, so this came too early for many of them to remember in their traditional “best of” end of year lists. Fear not, chaps! Lazland has a slightly longer attention span, and I still love it.
Epic of 2023
This award is for those tracks longer than ten minutes, but short of the twenty minute mark. My initial list for this award ran to twelve pieces of music and, in all honesty, this could have gone to all of them.
I have made this in the end a triple award, because all three exemplify all that is so good about the music we love. They are:
Ruby Dawn – Into the Sun from Beyond Tomorrow.
The Emerald Dawn – Timeless from In Time.
Nova Cascade – The Navigator from the same.
Tales from Topographic Oceans Award
Named after the much-loved or much loathed (delete as appropriate) double album from Yes which gave punk rock an excuse to exist. Qualification is a piece of music at least twenty minutes in length.
There were some very strong contenders for this, but I had to award it to an extremely warm and important piece of music which was the live highlight for me this year as well.
Karnataka – Requiem for a Dream from same.
Rishi Sunak Short Trousers of 2023 Award
Dedicated to “da yoof” of prog, and named after a Prime Minister who is a billionaire, and seemingly incapable of getting a tailor to make him a pair of trousers that bloody well fit.
I am not going to separate two simply wonderful and exciting acts here.
Half Shell
Vamoosery
Non-English Language Album of 2023
It goes to Italy.
Capside – Ladyesis.
Find of the Year
The award dedicated to someone or something I had not come across before but undertook to explore more. There was a clear winner here. Ana Patan’s Spice, Gold and Tales Untold remains a regularly played album, which I headlined as a treat for inquisitive minds. It is a delight; she is a huge talent and a lovely human being.
Ian Anderson Spoken Word Award
One can only hope that Jethro Tull release another album in 2024, thus allowing Mr Anderson the honour of a triple success in this category. No other contender comes anywhere near close enough to RökFlöte. Congratulations, sir! May the gurgling continue long into the night!
Harold the Barrel Award
A clear winner, this being Materialeyes with their wonderfully quirky Eric Upon Tweed from Inside Out.
Lyric of the Year
Land of Chocolate – “Drink it in and piss it out like it was something new” from Helpless on Your Finest Hour.
Return of 2023
Advent Horizon – A Cell to Call Home
Best Gabriel Album in 22 Years………………………
Erm, HOW long?