In the virtual absence of the maker’s of ’85s best two LP’s (the Pogues and Mary Chain) the return of Elvis Costello was more welcome than ever. Given the choice of one artist to produce two albums a yare it would have to be old Napoleon himself – not since Newton and his physics has England produced someone of such breadth and brilliance.

A less universal choice is Morrissey and his Mar(r)vellous Smiths – the title track from ‘The Queen Is Dead’ was the year’s best and ‘Panic’ the top single. At 6 mine 23 and 2 mins 19 respectively, that’s the long and the short of it. For pure immediacy and freshness REM’s ‘Life’s Rich Pageant’, for all Michael Stipe’s vocal encoding and impenetrable sleeve designs, earned my commendation as Long Player of the Year. The stringbacked soundscapes of the Triffid’s ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ meanwhile are less immediate but promise great things from Australia.

Including songs first released in ’83, the Redskins’ ‘Neither Washington Nor Moscow’ was a welcome almost Greatest Hits collection. Similarly but altogether more up to date was the Housemartins’ four-single special ‘London 0 Hull 4’ which, despite doffing its cap in the direction of Derry and Tie The Boy, boasted twelve flawless tracks. It can only be hoped that ’87 brings similar success for Martin Stephenson and his Daintees – on the evidence of ‘Boat To Bolivia’ they deserve it. Also from the north of England but well before my time was the NME/Kent northern soul compilation tape ‘Feet Start Dancin’. This might be difficult to obtain now but is well worth the outlay and effort.

Slowest growth of the year was That Petrol Emotion’s ‘Manic Pop Thrill’ but once you realise a new guitar sound has been born between the grooves of the record, it’s a wrench taking it off the turntable. Joint top single was Colourbox’s rousing ‘Official Colourbox World Cup Theme’ while their album featured three beautiful (there is no other word) tracks – ‘Say You’, ‘The Moon Is Blue’ and ‘Arena’. The year’s most ignored track was ‘Really Hard’ on James’ ‘Stutter’.

On the dance floor ‘Kiss’ and ‘Sledgehammer’ defied words. The Real Thing’s ‘You To Me Are Everything’ was a brilliant record to waltz to. Post-punk ‘Rise’ (PIL) and ‘America And Me’ (Red Guitars) were awesome. And Strummer and Jones kept our packers up with ‘Love Kills’ and ‘Beatbox’. The Icicle Works dispelled all notions of wimpishness with the rollicking ‘Understanding Jane’. And the Weather Prophets shambled supremely with the sublime ‘Almost Prayed’.

First released in ’85 and revived this year to similar criminal neglect were Psychic TV’s homage to Brian Jones ‘Godstar’ and two of the best political songs of the eighties – Latin Quarter’s ‘No Rope As Long As Time’, a lyrical iron fist inside a musical velvet glove, and Ruefrex’s anti-rebel yell ‘Wild Colonial Boy’.

On the home front, Dublin outreleased Belfast by about 100 to 1 (a conservative estimate) in the vinyl stakes with Blue In Heaven’s ‘Explicit Material’ (alternatively titled ‘One From The Groin’) finding most favour in this house. The independent record scene up here seems exhausted which sadly means the best may never come to fruition.