Skip to main content

2007: Top Ten

See two posts down for my thoughts on the year in music. Sad to say, there's not one homerun in the bunch, but here are a few triples:

Check out Highway 290 Revisited for Richard Nelson's picks.

Bruce Springsteen: Magic

I don't even know what to make of the Boss anymore. He goes all quiet and folky for awhile, he tours with a covers band, then he makes a record that sounds like the proper follow-up to Born In The U.S.A. All in a day's work, I suppose.






Youth Group: Casino Twilight Dogs

I saw Youth Group open for Death Cab For Cutie, and they definitely fit in that indie pop milieu. But they aren't as fussy or self-conscious. These songs stuck with me this year.







Albert Hammond, Jr.: Yours To Keep

Read the review.

Just look at that cover. Awww.







Kaiser Chiefs: Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Read the review.

Though not necessarily compelling as an entire record, this has enough amazing singles (Ruby, Heat Dies Down, I Can Do It Without You, etc) to keep it in the player.



Motion City Soundtrack: Even If It Kills Me

Read the review.

The sugar rush wears off, but it's fun while it lasts!







Sloan: Never Hear The End Of It

Read the review.

Sloan may be the most underappreciated band on the continent. Well, at least the southern two-thirds.





Jimmy Eat World: Chase This Light

If I ever go completely deaf in my old age, this band will be to thank, 'cause I always crank their records. Somehow a combination of the compelling darkness of Futures with the sunny brightness of Jimmy Eat World, this is a solid effort.






Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

There's a joy and majesty to these songs, to go along with a strong air of discomfort.








Fountains Of Wayne: Traffic & Weather

Read the review.









The Shins: Wincing The Night Away

The best kind of record, the kind that compels you to keep listening and rewards you each time, until the songs are etched on your brain.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Popular posts from this blog

12 by Matthew Sweet (2002 - 2021)

Sometimes a huge part of an artist's career has not been summarized. Case in point... Matthew Sweet has a couple of compliations out there, but neither of them cover the past couple of decades, a span that has seen him release 8 albums of original material and 3 albums of covers.  I followed Sweet's career religiously early on, with my ardor gradually diminishing after the magnificant one-two punch of In Reverse (1999) and The Thorns (2003) That's not to say he hasn't produced some great work since then, it's just that it requires bit of effort to pick out the gems. Here's my college try: (Two of these albums are not available on streaming servies, so here's a slightly modified version of the playlist on YouTube .) 1. "I Can't Remember" ( The Thorns , 2003) The Thorns was a rootsy, close-harmony early-aughts version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, featuring Shawn Mullins (of "Lullaby" fame) and Pete Droge (of "If You Don't Lov

2022: The Album

Since 2003 I've made a mix of some of my favorite songs of the calendar year. Here's the cover art and track listing for the 2022 edition. 1. BODEGA - "Pillar on the Bridge of You" 2. Harry Styles - "Late Night Talking" 3. Vicious Vicious - "Evolution" 4. Hot Freaks - "Lovely" 5. Carly Rae Jepsen - "The Loneliest Time" 6. Tears for Fears - "End of Night" 7. Spoon - "Wild" 8. Death Cab for Cutie - "Here to Forever" 9. Citrine and GUKKO - "Feel Better" 10. Rhett Miller - "Fascination" 11. Broken Bells - "Fade Away" 12. Leah Marlene - "Flowers" 13. Robbie Williams - "The World and Her Mother" 14. Jimmy Eat World - "Something Loud" (acoustic version) 15. Sloan - "Dream It All Over Again" If you have Amazon Unlimited, you can listen at this link . 

Weezer: SZNZ Abbreviated

One of the most oldest and most enticing thought exercises in pop music is: What if (artist) had released the best songs from (double album) as a single disc instead?  Pre-Internet, folks used their cassette decks to create their own truncated versions of likes of The Beatles'  White Album ("Revolution 9" has to go, for sure) and Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (sorry, "Jamaica Jerk-Off"), some out of artistic vision, others because the tape just wasn't long enough to hold all the songs. Now, with mp3s and streaming, we have the ability to curate everything for ourselves, which means even a single album could be reduced to an EP of your faves, with the shuffle feature making it so the order doesn't even have to be the same every time. Here's where I could detour into a healthy digression about the negative consequences of that total freedom, but I'll resist the temptation. Our good friends Weezer - who are not typically known for rest