I decided that I was going to listen to everything and rate each song - Then take the average of the songs and rate the album...Not only is this time consuming, it's not fair to albums that have lots of songs or "album tracks" that aren't meant to be listened to out of context. I did this for a few weeks and now I'm bored, so I'm stopping. Here's my list: 1 New Pornographers - Challengers 4.542 The album I went back to the most all year. Standouts: Myriad Harbour, My Rights Versus Yours, Myriad Harbour, Go Places, Entering White Cecilia 2 Grand Champeen - Dial T for This 4.500 My favorite Austin band. They have been known to cover the entire "Cheap Trick at Budokan" album. Think of a really tight Replacements or Soul Asylum before they got lame. 3 Weakerthans - Reunion Tour 4.364 Not as good as "Reconstruction Site," especially considering the wait - But apparently ranks high song-for-song. 4 Nick Lowe - At My Age 4.295 I listened to this as much as the New Pornographers. Another great album from the Jebus of cool. 5 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky 4.292 This one reminds me of a grown-up version of their first one. Lots of nice acoustic guitar songs with incredible blast of Nels Cline's guitar - "Impossible Germany" could be a lost Televison song. 6 Okkervil River - The Stage Names 4.278 This one benefited from my rating scale, but that doesn't discount this solid 9-song effort. Some great lyrics and a cool Beach Boys tribute (coda). 7 Against Me! - New Wave 4.250 They lost the slightly country-punk thing that I heard on earlier releases and went the over-produced punk-anthem route. They'll never be as cool as Rancid. 8 Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated 4.136 I'm sure I'll grow tried of this, but I haven't yet. I love the sentiment of "Blame It On The Trains" 9 Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare 4.125 I guess I'm a sucker for that accent...Art Brut, Arctic Monkeys, Baby Shamble, Fratellis... 10 Sloan - Never Hear The End Of It 4.000 Their SXSW show was too short, had technical difficulties, and was packed with people who weren't necessarily there to see them - But it was the best show of the year. 11 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 4.000 Even with that terrible 2nd song that I skip over & just plain deleted from my iPod (I'm an album guy & it was difficult for me to do this), this album ranks high. 12 Ben Lee - Sings Against Me! New Wave 4.000 Interesting take on my #7 album that unfortunately reveals how clunky some of the lyrics are. 13 Future Clouds And Radar - Future Clouds And Radar 3.981 Penalized in my rating system for having too much filler, but really would've benefited from being pared down to a single album. 14 White Stripes - Icky Thump 3.962 Probably won't win any new fans, but a return to basics after the disappointing "Get Behind Me Satan" 15 Limbeck - Limbeck 3.955 Not only are these guys really good at writing breezy acoustic-based pop songs, they pack a punch without disturbing the mood. Their live shows make me wonder what it was like to see Tom Petty in his bar band days. Plus, They are the nicest band I have ever met - Not one bad apple in the bunch. 16 Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers 3.955 On the best songs, I can imagine Robin Zander is singing. 17 Knit Delicate - Pressed 3.955 A couple of ex-Blow Pops back up an old friend on his "solo" debut with expected chime-y results - Check em out on MySpace or CD Baby. 18 Li'l Cap'n Travis - Twilight on Sometimes Island 3.950 This one suffered from my rating system and should be much higher. Another one of my favorite Austin bands. Check out "Sugar Buzz" (featured in Friday Night Lights) to hear what Pop-Drawl sounds like. 19 The Queers - Munki Brain 3.917 Unapologetic Ramones-inspired pop - To be fair, they bring a bit of their own influences to the table. The Shirelles to the Ramones Ronettes. 20 Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation 3.893 The accent still shines through the junkie-haze. Unfortunately, this is probably a case of someone who would suck if he cleaned up. 21 Fratellis - Costello Music 3.885 22 Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder 3.854 23 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin 3.833 24 You Am I - Convicts 3.692 25 Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime 3.636 26 Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger 3.538 27 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 3.409 Albums I should've listened to, rated & ranked instead of trying to "get" Arcade Fire: Aqualung [2007] Memory Man Bill Callahan [2007] Woke On A Whaleheart Bruce Springsteen [2007] Magic Crowded House [2007] Time On Earth David Vandervelde [2007] The Moonstation House Band Dinosaur Jr [2007] Beyond Dr Dog [2007] We All Belong Earlimart [2007] Mentor Tormentor Enemy [2007] We'll Live And Die In These Towns Feist [2007] The Reminder Field Music [2007] Tones Of Town Good, The Bad And The Queen [2007] The Good, The Bad And The Queen Ian Hunter [2007] Shrunken Heads Interpol [2007] Our Love To Admire Josh Rouse [2007] Country Mouse, City House Julie Doiron [2007] Woke Myself Up Kelly Clarkson [2007] My December LCD Soundsystem [2007] Sound Of Silver Lucinda Williams [2007] West Lyle Lovett [2007] It's Not Big It's Large Mavis Staples [2007] We'll Never Turn Back Modest Mouse [2007] We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank National [2007] Boxer Panda Bear [2007] Person Pitch Pipettes - [2007] We Are The Pipettes Polyphonic Spree [2007] The Fragile Army Proclaimers [2007] Life With You Radiohead [2007] In Rainbows Ray Davies [2007] Working Man's Cafe Redwalls [2007] The Redwalls Robert Plant & Alison Krauss [2007] Raising Sand Steve Earle [2007] Washington Square Serenade Testa Rosa [2007] Testa Rosa Thrills [2007] Teenager View [2007] Hats Off to the Buskers White Rabbits [2007] Fort Nightly Albums that I listened to earlier in the year that wouldn't have ranked much better than Arcade Fire: - Fountains Of Wayne [2007] Traffic And Weather Is anyone else sick of their tongue-in-cheekiness? Plus the product-placement in songs is getting old. - Jesse Malin [2007] Glitter in the Gutter Still can't get over his voice, but I have a feeling that it'll unlock to me someday & I'll really appreciate this stuff. - Paul McCartney [2007] Memory Almost Full Really? I mean it's not terrible, but it's not really good either...or even relevant. - Rilo Kiley [2007] Under the Blacklight I guess they are saving all of their good stuff for their solo projects (The Elected & Jenny Lewis). File this under "What were they thinking" - Shins [2007] Wincing The Night Away Maybe I just loved "Chutes Too Narrow" too much. This was just disappointing, but may be the kind of album I come back to in 2 years with no expectations and love. - Voxtrot [2007] Voxtrot I want to see these Austin boys do well. After a string good to great EP's & Singles, they can't maintain my interest for a full album. The album is just sort of flat. I really want to see these Austin boys do well, so I hope they figure it out...or better yet, go back to the EP's - Apparently the kids don't care about albums anymore anyway. Dan FrankE ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping