his year we feel like we should all reach out and touch someone, given such contentious climate of unrelenting hostility. What better way to do this than with trashy pop music? We're tempering the experimental and the country-roots sounds a bit, and turning up the sweet pop.

We start off with 'Radio Prague' because that city made a big impression on us when we spent some time there earlier this year. The OMD album from which it is taken, Dazzle Ships, is a great, albeit overlooked, masterpiece from 1983. The international flavour continues as this year's mix contains two tracks in Afrikaans, one in German, one in Portuguese, and one in Spanish. For those still keeping track, the following fifteen languages have appeared in our annual compilations so far:
Afrikaans
Czech
English-Scots
French
Finnish
Gaelic
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Japanese
Korean
Mandarin
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

2017 was such a dumpster fire of a year. All our worst fears from back in June and November 2016 were confirmed, and in fact, it's actually even worse. It's going to get worse. What to do? Call your Congressmen. Call your MPs. Spread the word; go call the police; go call the governor; go call your loved ones. Tell them to vote responsibly. Just say, 'Moshi-moshi, bitches. Look, we need to work...' Hopefully our artwork will inspire communicative vibes. We had earlier posted a picture from Britney's Blackout photo session in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of that incredible release. Recorded as she drifted in and out of pharmaceutically-induced stupor and between stints in rehabs and court dates during her annus horribilis, that almighty magnum opus is one of the best pop albums ever produced, as it contained all bangers, no fillers, no ballads, and no bullshit. As a testament to the formidable talent of Ms. Spears's enormous team of producers, writers, musicians, stylists, and handlers, we're saluting them with two tracks taken from her latest record Glory. Not to be outdone in the glitz department, Ms. Lana Del Rey also brings back this year her retro big hair beauty queen glamour in the form of her lush 'Love.'

Let's talk about Ms. Brandy Norwood. We've always been down with Moesha since 1994, but ever since she killed someone with a Range Rover on the 405 freeway awhile ago, we kind of lost track of her career, and hence the release of her underrated and overlooked aftermath record Human from 2008. We're finally rectifying that injustice with two tracks taken from it, one of which ('Long distance') was written by no less a pop figure than Mr. Bruno Mars.

Let's now talk about Kraftwerk. Why do we include a 26 years-old remix of a 41 years-old track? Because firstly, it's always cool to incorporate Kraftwerk in anything. Secondly, it's the German version (since robots sound better auf Deutsch), and we're still in a Teutonic frame of mind here as we've been spending a considerable amount of time in the German-speaking part of the world lately. We sometimes include songs that somehow spoke to us in a profound way sometime during the calendar year, no matter how ancient the tune may be.

Let's now talk about Ms. Kesha Sebert. We can't believe that it's been three long years since we've last seen her here. Now that she's freed from the evil clutches of Dr. Luke, we're celebrating her return with two tracks from her latest opus, and by including the new spelling of her name without the dollar sign.

Notice that there's actually two tracks from the idiosyncratic films of director Ben Wheatley, whom we were very enamoured of this year. For the first time, a television theme tune also made it to our compilation, in the form of Johnny Flynn's 'Detectorists', which is a programme we really enjoy. Mr. Flynn joins Ampie here as part of this year's South African contigent.

Finally, we get to the very sad bit. When we dropped last year's compilation, we did not have the chance to acknowledge the passing of George Michael on Christmas Day 2016. His music and sense of visual style have had an enormous impact on our lives for over 30 years, and we're honouring him with one of our favourites, sung perfectly in Portuguese. We are still grieving, for he has been loved.

For your convenience again this year, a m3u playlist file as been included in the zip package to ensure easy proper sequencing for the mp3 tracks. As usual, remember to click on each image displayed here (or right click for images below) for its corresponding full-sized version.

Don't forget to also download the images above for your digital music player. (Click on each image for its corresponding full-sized version.) Finally, the track listing of the compilation is as follows:

1. OMD - Radio Prague (01.21)
2. OMD - The Punishment of luxury (03.27)
3. Britney SPEARS - Do you wanna come over? (03.22)
4. MAJOR LAZER (featuring J Balvin and Sean Paul) - Buscando huellas (02.51)
5. KESHA (featuring the Dap Kings Horns) - Woman (03.16)
6. RAG 'N' BONE MAN - As you are (03.49)
7. Sam SMITH - Too good at goodbyes (03.20)
8. TEXAS - Can't control (03.43)
9. Lana DEL REY - Love (04.51)
10. SAINT ETIENNE - Lonesome (03.25)
11. Johnny FLYNN - Detectorists theme (02.06)
12. Jim WILLIAMS (featuring Richard Glover) - Lady Anne Bothwell's lament (Baloo my boy) (02.39)
13. SAINT ETIENNE - Stormtrooper in drag (05.27)
14. P!NK (featuring Eminem) - Revenge (03.46)
15. Calvin HARRIS (featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, Big Sean) - Feels (03.43)
16. Charlie PUTH - How long (03.17)
17. BRANDY - Camouflage (04.00)
18. Taylor SWIFT - Getaway car (03.54)
19. STEALING SHEEP - Sequence (03.14)
20. MAROON 5 (featuring SZA) - What lovers do (03.14)
21. Rita ORA - Your song (03.00)
22. Calum SCOTT - Dancing on my own (03.29)
23. PORTISHEAD - SOS (03.29)
24. KRAFTWERK - Radioaktivität (The Mix 1991 version) (06.51)
25. AVICII (featuring Rita Ora) - Lonely together (03.01)
26. AMPIE - Sugar mammie (03.15)
27. OK GO - Obsession (03.08)
28. The NATIONAL - Turtleneck (03.00)
29. KESHA - Hunt you down (03.18)
30. Alison KRAUSS - Windy city (03.16)
31. SHAKIRA (featuring Blake Shelton) - Medicine (03.18)
32. Dan SEALS - Headin' west (02.58)
33. AMPIE - Ons was jonk (02.30)
34. AVICII - Sunset Jesus (04.25)
35. P!NK - Secrets (03.30)
36. TEXAS - Midnight (03.18)
37. George MICHAEL (with Astrud Gilberto) - Desafinado (03.11)
38. Britney SPEARS - If I'm dancing (03.24)
39. BRANDY - Long distance (03.46)
40. EMINEM (featuring Beyoncé) - Walk on water (05.03)

ou can now explore other years' pop survey compilations and their respective liner notes and artwork by hovering over the artwork displayed to the left-- this will identify the year of the compilation of each corresponding image. Clicking on each image will take you to that year's dedicated page.

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