2004: Tenth Anniversary Retrospective

2004. I was young. I was naive. I had just discovered the joys of music. Ten years later I look upon that year as a stand-out year for brilliant album releases and for fresh new artists. It was my first year of actively paying attention to the musical world and the start of my ever growing need to collect new music and new artists. Here I began. Is my view on the year 2004 biased due to my nostalgia and the furious, over-zealous attention I paid that year? Or was it actually a great year? I guess a retrospective would not harm.

I hereby declare 2014 as the International Year of Retrospective Analysis Of The Musical Out-Put Of 2004.

A bit clunky, but you get the idea.

As well as reviewing new releases, I will be delving back to a collection of albums from that year that were, for better or worse, rather memorable. I will try to highlight forgotten and under-rated gems; over-rated and heavily dated duds; and dwell nostalgically on some rather guilty pleasures.

Ten years later. Will 2004 still be as important a year for me in retrospect?

Let us see.