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| From | Steven Alter <shteevea@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Tops of 2006 |
| Date | Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:50:37 -0800 (PST) |
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Man, it was a good year; several albums I loved didn't make the cut. These are the ones I know I'll still be listening to a year from now. Order is roughly how much I listened to them last year.
POP
The Format - Dog Problems
Loved this before they quoted Prefab Sprout, then I was a goner. If this is the future of pop, maybe I should start exercising so I'll be around for it.
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Another stellar album of post-Beatles pop; coolest whistling of the year, too!
The Pernice Brothers - Live a Little
Some say this is a "comeback" from the last two albums. Say what? Joe once again hits the bullseye of melancholy pop.
Finn's Motel - Escape Velocity
Only true find of the year. Who the hell is Joe Thebeau, and where did this album come from? If the Beatles made a concept album in '65 it may have sounded like this. Great buzzing guitars and hooks galore.
The Keene Brothers - Blues and Boogie Shoes
Easily my favorite Tommy Keene album of the year (and I think Crashing the Ether is pretty swell, too). First listen was with half an ear as I assumed it was a toss-off, but it never left my CD player. Great batch of songs and STELLAR playing from TK.
The Fags - Light 'em Up
Disposable pop of the highest order: the kind you never actually dispose of because it permanently sticks in your brain and you find yourself unconcsiously humming the songs.
The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
The band makes the leap from pleasant to essential. Simply gorgeous.
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
Another great leap forward. Calling it "sweet" sounds like a backhanded compliment; it's not. I am most definitely ready to be heartbroken.
Chris Brown - Now That You're Fed
Best Brian Wilson album of the year.
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce You to My Friends
Glockenspiels and trumpets and handclaps, oh my! (Oboes and banjos, too.) They sound like they are having a blast, and I do every time I play it.
NOT EXACTLY POP
Willie Nile - Streets of New York
Best rock album of the year, and my overall fave. Makes me feel the same way I did when I heard his debut 25 years (?!?!?!) ago. With all the "back to the 80s" music out there, i'ts nice to hear something that goes back to the wellsping -- Elvis, Chuck Berry, Beatles, Dylan -- of rock music invested with such pure passion.
Lindsey Buckingham - Under the Skin
Full disclosure: love Fleetwood Mac, but the only stuff I listen to now is an MP3 CD of all of Lindsey's songs from those albums; it's awe-inspiring. I thought his last solo disc was a masterpiece and this is even better. Don't care if his voice is strangled or his lyrics are solipsistic, in fact, I like it! Then there's the guitar playing, of course. The Stones cover is sweet, too.
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
A slight disappointment after the amazing Separation Sunday (and not as good as their first album either), but Craig Finn remains a true original and great storyteller, even while the tighter playing and slicker production makes the tunes sound more derivative.
Roseanne Cash - Black Cadillac
Truly great album from truly great American singer-songwriter. Of course, her last, I don't know, five albums have been stellar, too, though the concision of the writing and emotional heft probably lift this a cut above.
Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
See Roseanne Cash. Nice 60's psych-pop vibe previously unrecognized.
Amy Winehouse - Fade to Black After White British girl with a potty mouth puts out a killer album that's all vintage 60s soul and girl group tropes musically but all 21st century neurosis lyrically; "Rehab" is an instant classic. Guess she's tabloid fodder in the UK (no one in the US knows her enough to care) or worse, lumped in with Joss Stone (?!?!) but I think she's the real deal, and at just 26 could be extraordinary if she doesn't kill herself.
Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
They just get better and better, and continue to step away from the Skynyrd/Stones catechism of their early albums. If it's less tightly unified then usual, it's also got their best batch of songs yet, and that best reflected the emotional state of America today to these ears.
Los Lobos - The Town and the City
Every one of their albums is good, and a few are great; add this one to that list. Makes a great two-fer with Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine.
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Poster children for second chances. It took me a looooong time - and a critical mass of recommendations from folks I really trust - to give this one a listen given the mediocrity of their debut. Glad I did, as this is early 70s nirvana.
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
I don't love this whole album, but what I love, I REALLY love. The only band on this list that's making music that doesn't sound like anyone else.
SONG I PLAYED OVER AND OVER AGAIN SO MUCH THAT I STILL DON'T THINK I'VE LISTENED TO THE WHOLE ALBUM
Bank Job - Barenaked Ladies
DISAPPOINTMENTS
L.E.O. - Alpacas Orgling
Yes, it's fun, and sure, everyone's entitiled to make this kind of record. But when guys this talented -- and stingy with their material -- get in a studio, cute doesn't cut it for me.
Neil Young - Living With War
God knows I appreciate the sentiment, but have we really gone from "We've got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand" to "Let's impeach the President for lyin'"???
T Bone Burnett - The True False Identity
And God knows I appreciate his sentiments, too, but some tunes to wrap my ears around would have been nice. This would have made a better book of poetry; I read the lyrics more often than I played the disc.
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