It’s a dubious business, calling any band empirically ‘great’. But perhaps one indicator of greatness might be the amount of controversy and whingeing generated when a ‘Best Of’ tracklisting is announced.

After last week’s fairly hapless dip into the mainstream (Marina & The Diamonds, incidentally), a more familiar-looking list this week – though there are still a couple of less-than-great albums lurking in this lot among the marquee new entries.

If the accelerating success of Animal Collective in 2009 was weird enough, the level of anticipation surrounding their projects for 2010 must be astronomical, following the placing of “Merriweather Post Pavilion” at Number One in so many end-of-year polls.

Not so much a preview, this one, since I believe “The Glorious Gongs Of Hainuwele” may have come out the best part of a year ago. Forgive the tardiness, anyhow: this pretty amazing album has only just showed up on my radar, shamefully.

A startling amount of responsible journalism behind this week’s playlist: we’ve had a bit of a session getting up to speed on a bunch of mainstream 2010 tips; discovered Lil Wayne should’ve probably stuck to hip hop; tried again to stay awake through the Midlake album and generally done our jobs more or less properly, I suppose.

A bit unusual actually blogging about someone who sits in the same office, but a lovely reissue to start off today: the solitary EP by Apple Boutique, out for the first time on CD and pretty much unavailable since 1987.

Can't pretend I pay too much attention to Animal Planet at the best of times, so many thanks to Mike for tipping me off about this fairly amazing clip.

Early days with this Bill Fay CD as yet, and I can’t help thinking that two or three listens is in no way enough to get an angle on, what, 43 songs spread across two CDs. “Still Some Light” consists of a bunch of full band demos from 1970-71, plus a home album (“Still Some Light” itself) recorded last year.

First off, a tremendous and very worthwhile London gig to plug next month. A Requiem For Jack Rose takes place at Café Oto in Dalston on February 16, with a neat bill of Rose friends; Hush Arbors, Heather Leigh, Rick Tomlinson, Michael Flower Band and C Joynes. More details about the show here at No-Fi.

Pricktease time here, I’m afraid. A truly amazing album arrived this week which I’m absolutely certain will be among my favourites of 2010, but due to various covert record company operations and so on, I’m not at liberty to reveal what it is just yet. Negotiations continue: I’ll write more – lots more – as soon as I can. Hold off on trying to post speculation, if you can, so I can keep this under wraps for a few more days.