British rockers Keane have landed the number one spot in Q Magazine’s annual poll.

The trio’s LP, their first since 2005’s Under The Iron Sea, topped Britain’s Q Magazine and Q Radio’s best releases of the year (08) list.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds came second, with U.K. electro-folk group Goldfrapp taking the third spot on the coveted poll.

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My dislike of Keane is well documented on this blog. I don’t know why I don’t like ‘em, but like Paul McCartney I have an irrational disliking of them.

But alright, they’ve changed their musical direction lately, so I figure – why not draw a line and try to listen to them with fresh ears?

In all honesty, I like what they’ve done with the styling around this latest album (Perfect Symmetry is the title track, by the way).

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Keane are due to release their latest single, A Bad Dream on the 22nd January 2007.

‘A Bad Dream’ is inspired by a WB Yeats poem ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’, written about war from a soldier’s perspective. When I heard what the song was about, before actually listening to the track, I was expecting something extremely dire and depressing, but Keane, true to form have managed to impress once again.

The song is beautiful and powerful, without making me want to throw myself from the top of a building. It is thought provoking and intriguing, and as always the vocals of Tom Chaplin are astounding. Chaplin himself has referred to the song as “the best song we’ve ever written”. I think he might be right.