Skip to main content

2007: Best Of The Rest

Biggest Disappointment
Prince

It wasn't his 2007 album Planet Earth that disappointed. It was the purple one himself, and the self-sabotaging litigious campaign against his fan sites. Completely baffling and unnecessary. Then again, if Prince's decision-making skills were sound, Batdance, Grafitti Bridge, The Rainbow Children album, and the Lovesexy cover photo would not exist.







Best Cover Art
Vicious Vicious: Parade

Lots of great design choices this year, but this one gets the nod for no particular reason. I just like it.








Best Cover Version
Robbers On High Street, Monkberry Moon Delight

A little known McCartney song that wasn't so great in the first place is resurrected and much improved by ROHS. If only their 2007 album, Grand Animals, had been as fun.





Best Title
The Pierces: Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge

They swiped it from the fictional author in Diane Setterfield's 2006 The Thirteenth Tale, but the title is an excellent description of The Pierces creepy/sweet aesthetic. Good book, too.






Best Concert
LOVE, Cirque Du Soliel
The Mirage, Las Vegas

Not technically a concert, I guess, but nonetheless amazing. The sound system was epic and the visuals were breathtaking. Oh, and the music was pretty good too. I only wish more people across the country could see this.

Best Discovery
Flight Of The Conchords

This HBO show about "New Zeland's fourth most popular folk parody act" is hilarious. It's a combination of Wes Anderson, the British Office and Tenacious D. Long live the Rhymenoceros and Hiphopapotamus!

2007 Mixes

Every June and December I create mixes to summarize the half year. Here's what made it:

2007 1
1. The Debut - Hey!
2. The Magic Numbers - Take A Chance
3. Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
4. Feist - 1 2 3 4
5. The Pierces - Sticks And Stones
6. The Broken West - Big City
7. Fountains Of Wayne - Fire In The Canyon
8. Lucy Kaplansky - Swimming Song
9. Bright Eyes - Classic Cars
10. Youth Group - Start Today Tomorrow
11. Brother Ali - Take Me Home
12. Kaiser Chiefs - Everything Is Average Nowadays
13. Tim Finn - Still The Song
14. Sloan - Can't You Figure It Out
15. The Shins - Australia
16. Wilco - Either Way

2007 2
1. Albert Hammond, Jr. - Cartoon Music For Superheroes
2. Paul McCartney - See Your Sunshine
3. Rooney - I Should Have Been After You
4. Jimmy Eat World - Here It Goes
5. Matt Pond PA - People Have A Way
6. Loudon Wainwright III - You Can't Fail Me Now
7. Glen Hansard & Marketa Iglova - Falling Slowly
8. Foo Fighters - The Pretender
9. Rilo Kiley - Dreamworld
10. Josh Ritter - Right Moves
11. No More Kings - Sweep The Leg
12. White Light Riot - Transit State
13. Motion City Soundtrack - This Is For Real
14. Dan Wilson - Easy Silence
15. Lewis Taylor - Say You Love Me
16. Bruce Springsteen - Your Own Worst Enemy
17. Vicious Vicious - Girl, What's Your Name?
18. Robbers On High Street - Monkberry Moon Delight

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon (1971)

REO Speedwagon got its start in the late 1960s on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. The band grew out of a friendship between a students Neal Doughty (piano/keyboard) and Alan Gratzer (drums). Joining up with a couple of other musicians, they took the name R.E.O. Speedwagon. It wasn't long before they started getting gigs at parties and bars, doing covers of the hits of the day. The band cycled through several players in its first three years, with Gratzer and Doughty as the only constants. One-by-one they added the members that would form the first "official" lineup: singer Terry Luttrell in early 1968, bassist Gregg Philbin later that summer, and guitarist Gary Richrath at the end of 1970. Richrath was a native of Peoria, 90 miles northwest of Champaign, and had essentially stalked the band until they let him join. It was a good move, as he not only an accomplished guitarist, but also a songwriter. With Richrath the band ascended to the n...

Stuck, or Obsession Cessastion

You may have noticed that things have slowed down around here. I had the summer off from teaching, and I spent it with my 7 month-old son. I gave myself permission to make this blog less of a priority. Well, "less of a priority" is putting it lightly. Initially, I considered an abrupt retirement. But then I reconsidered. Maybe the proximity to Brett Favre is causing this. If you're a long time reader, this is probably not all that surprising to you. Since 2007, it has become an annual ritual for me to soul-search about my waning interest in music. First I blamed an inability to express myself and a lack of quality music . Then in 2008 I cited new technology and the death of the album . Last year I wrote about how my changing life priorities hindered my ability to seek out new music. I've done a lot of thinking about it this summer and in truth I believe this was all just dancing around the issue, a slow realization of something I didn't want to admit to myse...

Rock Bottom: The Beach Boys

The one constant in every established artist's oeuvre is the bad album , the one that's reviled by both fans and critics. Those unlovable albums are the ones this feature, Rock Bottom , is concerned with. Here's how it works: I've consulted three sources, the AllMusic Guide and Rolling Stone (for the critical point-of-view) and Amazon.com (for the fan perspective*). The album with the lowest combined rating from both sources is the one I'll consider the worst. I may not always agree with the choice, and my reviews will reflect that. I'll also offer a considered alternative. Finally, there are some limits. The following types of albums don't count: 1) b-sides or remix compilations, 2) live albums, 3) albums recorded when the band was missing a vital member, and 4) forays into a different genres (i.e. classical). *A note about Amazon.com. I consider this the fan perspective, because most people who choose to review albums on this site are adoring fans of ...