Great music has come from just about every corner of the musical map this year, and 2014 has had some fantastic albums so far. Coldplay with the brilliant “Ghost Stories”, Sam Smith with the illustrious “In the Lonely Hour”, the now-grown-up Kaiser Chiefs with 
“Education, Education, Education and War” and the man that can do no wrong in the music industry, Pharrell Williams with “G.I.R.L.”. But as we move into the final third of the year are there still some more great albums to look forward to?
The Kooks – Listen
(Release date: 1 September)
The Kooks release their eagerly anticipated new album “Listen” on 1 September on Virgin/EMI. Produced by Luke Pritchard and young hip-hop pioneer Inflo, it showcases a new direction and sound for the multi-platinum-selling UK act. The Kooks have already laid down the gauntlet with swaggering first taster “Down” and second single “Around Town”, released back in June.
“To me,” Luke says, “this album is about pure expression. Even the way we made the album felt fresh. Rather than us just being a band in a room, playing our guitars with the vocal over the top, which is what we’d always done before, we were really listening to what was going on around us, picking up ideas. The whole thing was much more natural.”
“Listen” is made up of 11 tracks (the Deluxe has 15) with highlights including the street-smart garage rock of “Bad Habit”, the powerful and haunting “See Me Now” and the incandescent joy of “Are We Electric”.
The Script – No Sound Without Silence
(Release date: 12 September)
What do you do to top sold-out shows, hit singles and multi-platinum albums? If you’re a much-celebrated band from Ireland, you follow it up with more of the same. And if the unveiling of The Script’s first single from their much-anticipated fourth album, “No Sound Without Silence”, is any indication, it looks like more of the same ol’, same ol’…
As with their prior top-selling albums – “The Script” (2008), “Science and Faith” (2010) and “#3” (2012) – “No Sound Without Silence” features the trio’s insightful songwriting and rich melodies. And given the proven ability of “Ireland’s biggest band since U2” to scorch the charts with hit singles – including “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved,” “Breakeven (Falling to Pieces),” “For the First Time” and the five-million-copy-selling “Hall Of Fame” – there’s no reason to believe that The Script won’t mine platinum once again with their latest effort.
Pink Floyd – The Endless River
(Release date: TBC but should be towards the end of October)
Pink Floyd have officially announced “The Endless River” on their website. According to their announcement, “The Endless River” is “an album of mainly ambient and instrumental music based on the 1993/4 Division Bell sessions which feature David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright”.
Roger Waters, who left the band after 1983’s “The Final Cut”, will reportedly not be involved. Unfortunately, that’s about all the information I can gather on this album as they’re keeping things pretty hush hush at the moment.
