2007 - A good year for new albums?

I'm looking forward to a number of album releases in the coming year.

If you look at my last.fm page (which charts all the music played on my computer) you will find that my top five most listened-to bands are:

1. Queen
2. Spacehog
3. Marillion
4. Heart
5. Fish

(Chart as of today, it changes with time). Actually, it was only a binge-listen to Heart a couple of months back that pushed them above Fish on the list. I fully expect Fish to move up the chart again in the future.

At least three of the five are certainly working on new albums. And I really hope the other two are too.

Queen
Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen recently let slip in a radio interview that they have been writing and recording in the studio with Paul Rodgers. Its now 12 years since the last Queen studio album 'Made in heaven' and 16 years since the last album of all new material, 'Innuendo'. Brian and Rodger have both released two proper studio albums (not counting soundtracks, etc.) since the death of Freddie Mercury, but none of them have approached the quality of a real queen album. Here's hoping they can get some of the old magic back.

Spacehog
Sadly Spacehog split up several years ago. But three of the four members of Spacehog have formed another band called 'Arckid' and have been recording some tracks for an EP, so hopefully an album will be along sooner rather than later.

Marillion
No, Marillion didn't end in 1988 when everyone thought they did. Yes, they parted company with charismatic frontman Fish, but got a new lead singer and have produced nine albums - ranging from merely 'good' (Holidays in Eden, Radiation) through to 'fantastic' (Brave, This Strange Engine, Anoraknophobia) - in the past couple of decades. Their 10th studio album since Fish left is due for release in March and will be called 'Somewhere else'.

Heart
Heart are the only band on this list that I don't know if they are planning another album. Their last album, Jupiter's Darling, is still my favourite album of the decade so far, despite having been released in 2004. If the follow up was even half as good, it would still be worth a listen. However, 11 years passed between the release of the last two heart albums, so I'm not going to hold my breath on this one.

Fish
And last but not least, Fish is back in the studio working on his 9th studio album since leaving Marillion. This one is to be called 'The Thirteenth Star' (being his 13th studio album including his Marillion ones) and should be released in about October. The tour starts before then, so chances are I'll have heard quite a few tracks before the CD lands in my player.

So, all in all, 2007 could be a very good year for music. Especially if the music in question has its roots way back in the 70s and 80s.