#459.3: 2015 Year-End Lists, part 3 – LeBrain!

GETTING MORE TALE #459.3:
2015 Year-End Lists, part 3 – yours truly, LeBrain!

Unlike my companions in rock, Tom and Uncle Meat, I’m going to be a bit more verbose here with my top lists of 2015.

I thought I had my top five albums down.  I didn’t expect any changes, but then a couple respected writers started praising the new Def Leppard album.  I decided, against my better judgement to go ahead and buy it.  What can I say?  Those reviewers were right.  It’s a good album.  Def Leppard 2015 cracked my top five list, necessitating a top six.

LeBRAIN’S TOP SIX(!) ALBUMS of 2015

6. Def Leppard – Def Leppard
5. Stealth – …listen
4. Queensryche – Condition Hüman
3. The Darkness – Last of Our Kind
2. Faith No More – Sol Invictus
1. Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls

2015

LeBRAIN’S TOP FIVE TV SHOWS of 2015

I actually watched enough TV this year to make up a list!

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
4. The Big Bang Theory
3. Star Wars: Rebels
2. Better Call Saul
1. American Dad!

BIG BANG

LeBRAIN’S TOP MOVIES of 2015

As far as I know, only one movie came out this year, right?

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

FORCE

2015 IN SUM

The high quality of new albums by returning bands continues to amaze me.  The last band I expected a quality album from this year was Def Leppard.  Of course, on the flip side of that, we have Bon Jovi who choked to death on pop dreck.  Given what was coming out this year, and what the stakes were (a possible final album from Iron Maiden, the first Faith No More CD in 18 years), you couldn’t have realistically hoped for better than we got.  Meanwhile on the new music front, it is hard to find a better debut than …listen, by Stealth.  Not rock in any way, but more mind-expanding than anything else I heard in 2015.

And talk about high stakes on the movie front!  The most anticipated movie of all time is going to be the most successful movie of all time, thanks to it pushing all the right buttons while moving the story into its next phase.  Because of my wife’s health condition (epilepsy) I don’t go out to movies very often, preferring to wait for the blu-ray.  Age of Ultron and Ant-Man pleased me immensely.  But worth more than just an honourable mention is Mad Mad: Fury Road.  Unlike Star Wars, Mad Max rebooted while going off into a startling new direction.  It was probably the most impressive film of the year…but even so, my 2015 was only about Star Wars.  Just trust me — see Mad Max: Fury Road.  See it many times.

Finally:  Rest in peace Lemmy Kilmister, Philthy Animal Taylor (that’s 2/3rds of the classic Motorhead lineup, wiped out), Scott Weiland, Chris Squire, Ornette Coleman, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge, A.J. Pero, Andy Fraser, and of course, B.B. King.

Happy New Year, everybody!

 

fnm

 

57 comments

  1. Fan-freakin’tastic.

    Yes to all of these! Great post. Agree fully. And we both nailed Maiden at #1!! Woohoo!!

    So glad you got Stealth in there too. Familial ties aside, it’s a total album. Fully. Completely. I listened to it for a week straight and I still go back for more!

    I still need to hear the FNM. Can you imagine?

    And I laughed out loud at the Star Wars. Only one movie. You’re bloody frickin’ right!

    Also: That last image, with yer face in it… I nearly spit my wine. Damn you, LeBrain!

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    1. HHAHA! I’m glad you liked it. That is actually a redux of the picture. Originally my face was in colour but it looked SO CREEPY that I couldn’t look at it anymore, so I tried putting me in black and white! Now it looks amusing and much less creepy. LOL

      I agonized over Stealth. “Everybody will think it’s on here because of my family!” But I listened to both it AND Def Lep yesterday morning. In a row. And I could exclude neither. Wouldn’t be fair.

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        2. There ya go. And now I have a confession: I forgot to add it into my own post! It’s in an early draft right here in my textedit, but isn’t in the final! I’m headed over to the KMA to correct this OVERSIIIIIGHT right now. Holy crap I can’t believe I did that!

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  2. Well Well in the Sixth spot is Leppard….!
    Here is DeKEs Top 5 for 2015! Now as is tradition I post my top 5 here at Mikes first and if you want to read my explanations on each album you can head over to my site! Thanks Mike! Happy New Year!

    1-Iron Maiden Book Of Souls
    2-Rush-R40
    3- Harem Scarem/ Live At The Phoenix
    4- Van Halen/Live At The Tokyo Dome (tie) The Circle/At Your Service
    5- Def Leppard/Def Leppard (tie) Europe War Of Kings

    There Ya be….another year in the books…..

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    2. Fuck yeah, Deke! I didn’t include live albums this year, but I like how you had ties for some of these ones! Circle vs. VH…a tie!

      I couldn’t include live this time, because I have not played Rush OR Flying Colors yet. So it’s not fair to do live albums on my list.

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      2. Me and Aaron were chatting last night and I told him I’m waiting for midnight as I Betcha MIkey drops his lists! Hahaha…once i seen yours …I posted my stuff at your site than hit mind!

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  3. Great list Mike couple there I need spend mor time with but otherwise lots of agreement here too :) And YES to Star Wars and YES to Mad Max went into both those hoping for something and got LOTS, my two favorites this year aalso…

    Loathe to post mt top5 until have our local top5 bash in the new year (prying eyes and al ;) so will list the swag of this year’s candidates in no particular order (and yes I have selected the 5)…

    PARADISE LOST The Plague Within
    EUROPE War Of Kings
    SEVENDUST Kill The Flaw
    SYMPHONY X Underworld
    CIRCLE II CIRCLE Reign Of Darkness
    AMORPHIS Under The Red Cloud
    IRON MAIDEN Book Of Souls
    QUEENSRYCHE Condition Human
    UGLY KID JOE Uglier Than They Used To Be
    BONFIRE Glorious
    SAXON Battering Ram
    W.A.S.P. Golgotha

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    1. ANOTHER VOTE FOR EUROPE! Nice one Wardy. ANd I think I might make WASP the first album by them that I have bought since the disappointing Neon God(s). Good to see Ryche here, too!!

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        8. I wouldn’t call it a disability, just a nice problem to have! But I do giggle when you buy something and then find out there’s a better/different version and have to buy it again. Cruel? Probably. Funny? Yup! :)

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        9. Absolutely. And I’ll be the first person to make fun of myself. In fact I think I may have mentioned, I think I have some Tull and Purple remasters available to donate.

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        10. You did mention that! And I believe I said at the time that the AAAA always accepts donations if they’ve got nowhere else to go! Don’t want anyone out in the cold! ;)

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  6. Better Call Saul was definitely a highlight show for me. I also watch BBT too, but feel there were shows I enjoyed way more. Daredevil, for one, Doctor Who, and this last season of Survivor was great.
    Happy new year!

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    1. Sadly I CAN talk about Survivor because I saw about 1/2 of that one. Didn’t see any Who or Daredevil this year. (Or SHIELD, Gotham, Jessica Jones, etc.) Survivor is one of those things that when it’s on…well shit, you get addicted to it. I think Jeff really, really loves his job. He travels the world to these tropical paradises, staying in hotels, and he seems to love the competitions and contestants.

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  8. Nice to see Kimmy Schmidt make an appearance – such a dark premise, but hilarious! I find myself laughing about the Daddy’s Boy character frequently and the line from Kimmy’s friend to him, “your references aren’t universal!”
    Happy New Year Mike!

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    1. HAH! Another Kimmy fan! Yes Geoff I was startled that they turned such a dark subject into such a frankly hilarious comedy. I would say, this is the smartest comedy in a few years, not quite Arrested Development level but close.

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  9. Here are the albums that I listened to to and enjoyed the most:

    5. Look What You Started by Continuing – Collective Soul

    4. Last of Our Kind – Darkness

    3. Book of Souls – Iron Maiden

    2. Condition Human – Queensryche

    1. War of Kings – Europe

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  10. I’ve only heard those top two albums of yours. Sol Invictus has impressed me most – reveals itself with every listen and, dare I say, is my favourite Faith No More album. Just incredible.

    TV: I reckon Daredevil was my favourite. Better Call Saul a close second …

    … and there was a Star Wars movie last year!? ;)

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    1. So well said about Faith No More, J. So well said. I always said that Faith No More should not just put out a new studio album “just because”. It had to mean something. And it does!

      By this time next year, I hope Star Wars Rogue One is on my best of list!

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        1. No. The last time I saw the band was when they opened for Priest in 2005, and it was a great show by both. I would like to see the new version though. I really hate to say this, but I prefer Todd La Torre’s voice now.

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    2. Thanks so much for the comment! I really love Condition Human. It’s not an instant love, but boy it sticks with you. The title track is a monster! In fact because of this comment I’m going to go play it again.

      Cheers!

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