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2006: Top Ten

It's once again that magical time when we summarize a year's worth of music consumption into a couple of handy lists.

Check out my pal Richard Nelson's picks on Highway 290 Revisited.

Soul Asylum – The Silver Lining

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A Twin Cities supergroup featuring an ex-Prince drummer, an uber-producer, an ex-Replacement, a member of Golden Smog and a guy who dated Winona Ryder make the best album of a 20-year career.





Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way

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After the gentle, easy-going Home, it’s nice to hear the Chicks get fired up and passionate. I guess Bush is good for something.







Ronnie Milsap – My Life

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I actually hate 2 of these 11 songs. But I love the other 9. In fact, they stand with any other of the other fine tunes Milsap has recorded in his long career.






The Roots - Game Theory

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One of the rare rap albums that manages to give an instant thrill but also deepens with every listen.







Elton John - The Captain & The Kid

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Comeback number 19 goes forward by looking backward and becomes a classic to add to the canon. And when that keyboard gets going in Just Like Noah’s Ark, I’ve just gotta bop.







David Mead - Tangerine

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I didn’t think it was possible to be both shambling and virtuosic at the same time, but Mead does it with style. A sense of adventure and an unerring knack for melodic guide him on his merry way.





The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

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You know a band is good when your mom says, “ I liked the groove, but I got less excited when he started to sing."







The Honeydogs - Amygdala

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Sometimes I wonder if the local boys don’t get a leg up on others simply because of my geographical loyalty. Then they put out a set of melodies like this one, and I know I’d put them against any other artist or album in the land.





Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah

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It took them a couple of weeks, but once the Sisters got their hooks in I couldn’t resist. Plenty of dance tracks but an equally impressive number of thoughtful ballads.






Rhett Miller - The Believer

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5 killer songs surrounded by 7 merely great ones, this album stuck with me from its release, seeing me through ups and downs and always seeming applicable in either place. And his First Avenue show in April was a barn burner.

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