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| From | =?iso-8859-1?Q?Geir_Hongr=F8?= <geirhong@online.no> |
| Subject | My 2007 |
| Date | Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:01:11 +0100 |
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This is my Top 20 of 2007:
1. Crowded House: Time On Earth
There must be something about the Crowded House name, as this reunion album is the best thing Neil Finn has been involved in since "Together Alone". His in-between efforts as a soloist, or with brother Tim, have all been good albums, but not quite up there the best of his albums.
"Time On Earth" is a collection that focuses on the more mellow and melancholy side of his songwriting, but that is exactly where Neil is at his best, so maybe that's why it's become so strong.
"Time On Earth" is the second weakest of all of the Crowded House albums IMO, only "beaten" by the debut. But that is still pretty great considering the three others are all in my all time Top 20 albums.
2. Travis: The Boy With No Name
After the part failure with 2003's "12 Memories", Travis are back collaborating with Nigel Godrich again. And he has helped them find themselves to such an extent this is almost kind of a comeback. Nothing really new about it, it is the Travis that those of us who like them have come to love, and it's a welcome dose of more of the same stuff we already know we like.
3. Super Furry Animals: Hey Venus!
Another case of more of the same. SFA have never delivered a bad album. They have gone on doing their own thing, since they created their own musical world in the late 90s on a combination of Britpop, indie, powerpop, English 60s psychedelia and light electronica. The formula still works, and "Hey Venus!" is yet another great album like the rest of them.
4. Kent:Tillbaka Till Samtiden
Kent's seventh album is their most synth oriented to date, alienating some fans. Personally I consider it one of their best, and I feel like the synths fit perfectly into the postpunk-like world they have been in since the start. As usual, there's a lot of melancholy and depression. Kent have never been about how "The sun is up, I'm so happy I could scream". The beautiful melodies make it work as usual though.
5. Fountains Of Wayne: Traffic And Weather
After four albums, FOW have become another case of another dose of the same great thing. This album isn't quite as strong as "Welcome Interstate Managers", but it's still another great dose of great powerpop songs in roughly the same vein.
6. Kaiser Chiefs: Yours Truly Angry Mob
Kaiser Chiefs second album roughly picks up where the debut left us, only with a slightly slower tempo here and there. This slightly more varied approach makes "Yours Truly Angry Mob" a better album than their debut, but it's still mainly about the same: Kaiser Chiefs still sound like Blur anno cirka "Modern Life Is Rubbish". But as long as Blur don't want to sound like that anymore, what is wrong with that?
7. Radiohead: With Rainbows
The most interesting thing about this album was of course the marketing. The only way to buy it was to download it from the net and decide how much you wanted to pay. Most of those who downloaded it felt it was worth zilch, so so much for that experiment. Particularly when, when the album was finally released on CD in the "proper" way, it went straight to number one. Seems the CD wasn't dead yet then.
Musically, "In Rainbows" was also a huge step in the right direction though, probably their best album since "OK Computer". After years of ill-advised experimentation with forms, Radiohead are back where they used to be in the 90s. And for those of us who had almost forgotten about how great they were, "In Rainbows" was a welcome reminder.
8. Pleasure: Pleasure 2
Norwegian electro pop wizard Fred Ball with his second album. This album is a more fully-flegded electro album than his debut, and also way better. The highlight is the beautiful "Back To You", with vocals by ex-Suede-singer Brett Anderson. Obviously the best thing Anderson has been involved in since Suede's 1996 "Coming Up" album.
Fred Ball would also go on to produce Anderson's solo debut, but there is nothing on that album that is even remotely as good as "Back To You".
9. The Hoosiers: Trick To Life
There's more to the softrock revival than Mika! Like The Feeling did on their debut in 2006, The Hoosiers base their music on elements of ELO, Jellyfish and 70s softrock in general, mixed with a little bit of light indie. This album has become a big seller in the UK lately, and will hopefully soon be discovered in the rest of the world too soon.
10. Magnet: The Simple Life
"The Simple Life" is a bit different from his earlier efforts in that it's all acoustic. But other than the synths, it has all of the elements typical of Magnet: Great songs, the same great voice, ultra ambitious arrangements, and perfect audio. Maybe a slight disappointment when compared with his previous couple of albums, but still well worth the effort.
11. The Flower Kings: The Sum Of No Evil
I have never like the term "progressive rock" because it kind of expects change and "progression" all the time. Instead, I prefer to call it symphonic rock, and that's what The Flower Kings are about. Along with acts such as Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings represent a bunch of bands that could be seen as prog's answer to Britpop and powerpop, in that they are looking back to styles that worked rather than this extreme need to do something new and groundbreaking all the time.
"The Sum Of No Evil" is perhaps their most "symphonic" yet, with most of the tracks being suites, more or less. It's also one of their best albums ever.
12. Erasure: Light At The End Of The World
Erasure did a great comeback with "Nightbird" in 2005, and this is roughly more of the same. Maybe a slightly higher speed this time, but the core elements are the same: classic 80s synthpop with great tunes.
13. Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full
Paul McCartney has a reputation of being patchy as a solo act, and most of his albums are. But at least, McCartney hasn't released a bad solo album since 1983's "Pipes Of Peace" now. All of the ones he has done after that have had at least something going for them.
"Memory Almost Full" isn't quite as good as 2005's Nigel Godrich-produced "Chaos And Creation In The Backyard", which was one of his best ever. But this still shows him in good pop songwriting form, and was a well-deserved commercial comeback.
14. Apples In Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder
Apples In Stereo have released several great albums since the late 90s, the new thing about this album is that softrock is added as one of their main influences besides indie/alternative, powerpop and 60s psychedelia. This gives a welcome new dimension to the music, and IMO this is their best ever album.
15. Kylie Minogue: X
After an unwanted pause because of her fight against cancer, Kylie Minogue is back, and, like its two predeccessors, shows that Kylie has indeed come a long way since her late 80s throwaway teenybopper pop. She is at her best when she takes influence from 80s electro, and she does a lot here too. Maybe not quite as strong as "Body Language" but still worth the effort. Kylie is back!
16. Frost: Love! Revolution!
Norway has been sort at the core of the "electro" movement. And in a year with no new albums from Annie nor Bertine Zetlitz, along with Pleasure, Frost is at the forefront. This album is probably her best to date, crowded with great electro pop songs.
17. Kula Shaker: Strangefolk
Kula Shaker was the "new big thing" for around six months in 1996 until India-crazed leader Crispian Mills forgot that the swastika had a somewhat different meaning in his own culture compared to the meaning in Asian culture.
Well, maybe not that alone, but also adding the backclash against Britpop meant Kula Shaker were very much a thing of the past way before followup "Pigs, Peasants & Astronauts" was released in 1999. So then, they broke up, and didn't reuinte until 2007. With an album that was surprisingly good. Following the same musical path, but with way stronger songs than on the 1999 album. Well worth checking out.
18. Chemical Brothers: We Are The Night
Along with Flower Kings, this is probably the most "off-topic" album in my Top 20 list to mention on Audities. I have come to like Chemical Brothers, who are always crowded with interesting details, and also enough guest vocalists to add an element of proper melodic music besides. "We Are The Night" is yet another example that they cannot fail.
19. The Shins: Wincing The Night Away
Somewhat more mellow than their first two albums, this is still more of the same they have always been good at: Slightly "dizzy" English-influenced indie pop. I have seen this on several of the other 2007 lists here too, and it's well worth mentioning as a great "alternative" pop album from 2007.
20. Porcupine Tree: Fear Of a Blank Planet
Another "prog" effort although probably less retro-oriented than Flower Kings. Porcupine Tree have always managed to add more "modern" elements to their prog style and still sound great. This is yet another great effort, which may be their most musically complex for a while. And SOOOO much better than the awful Public Enemy album that influenced its title....
Geir Hongro
geirology.blogspot.com
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