You may want to sit down, I have some bad news

It has come to the attention of the Senior Leadership Team that the Junior Content Creator for our barrel-scraping product “An Acute Case” (do we really publish this? I’ve never seen it) has fouled up. Instead of taking a hiatus while on holiday, Employee #0221 used up all their reserved reviews.

This is strictly against company policy (6.3.1, Think Before You Publish). It means future reviews get rushed, standards drop, we come under scrutiny, get bought by a private equity firm that re-engineers the company for maximum profit and legs it with our money, and we have to burn out P45s for heat this winter.

Consequently, “An Acute Case” will not run as usual this week. Fortunately (for someone, I suppose) it will return next week.

In the meantime, Employee #0221 has furnished us with a list of their “Best Albums of 2022 So Far”. Apparently, they already had this knocking around. Rest assured, we will be reviewing their productivity data.

They asked that we add caveats about this being a working list, the likelihood of places shifting, non-reviewed albums being omitted, blah blah blah. But frankly, we’re unmoved to do as they ask.

Anyway, here it is. Needless to say we disagree with all of it, suspect half the names are made up, and think the real album of the year is by that nice man from Oasis.

1.      Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents: The Price Of Life
2.      Miranda Lambert: Palomino      
3.      Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You 
4.      Wet Leg: Wet Leg        
5.      Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time 
6.      Lalalar: Bi Cinnete Bakar          
7.      Selo i Ludy Performance Band: Bunch One (2019)
8.      Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela
9.      Water Damage: Repeater         
10.   Slum of Legs: Slum of Legs (2020)
11.   ROSALÍA: MOTOMAMI
12.   Buck 65: King Of Drums
13.   Morgan Wade: Reckless (2021)
14.   Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill 
15.   Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud: James Brown as Reimagined by Stro Elliot           
16.   Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
17.   Drive-By Truckers: Welcome 2 Club XIII
18.   Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man           
19.   Nova Twins: Nova Twins EP (2016)
20.   DJ Maphorisa X Kabza De Small: Scorpion Kings (2019)
21.   Freakons: Freakons
22.   Fimber Bravo: Lunar Tredd (2021)
23.   Yard Act: The Overload
24.   Billy Woods: Aethiopes 
25.   Bob Vylan: We Live Here (Deluxe) (2021)
26.   Weakened Friends: Quitter (2021)
27.   Pusha T: It's Almost Dry
28.   Kady Diarra: Burkina Hakili (2021)
29.   Rokia Koné & Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (2021)
30.   Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home   
31.   Tank and the Bangas: Red Balloon       
32.   CoN & KwAkE: Eyes In The Tower        
33.   Saba: Few Good Things
34.   K.O.G (Kweku of Ghana): Zone 6, Agege          
35.   Hailey Whitters: Raised
36.   Anansy Cissé: Anoura (2021)
37.   Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Girl Talk: Full Court Press
38.   Superchunk: Wild Loneliness
39.   Lyrics Born: Mobile Homies Season 1   
40.   Corb Lund: Songs My Friends Wrote     
41.   Nova Twins: Who Are the Girls? (2020)
42.   Sinead O'Brien: Time Bend and Break the Bower           
43.   Kae Tempest: The Line Is A Curve        
44.   Shenseea: ALPHA       
45.   RXKNephew: Slitherman Activated (2021)
46.   Imarhan: Aboogi
47.   Squid: Bright Green Field (2021)
48.   Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Georgia Blue (2021)
49.   Benny The Butcher: Pyrex Picasso (2021)
50.   Various Artists: Ocean Child: The Songs of Yoko Ono