Mittwoch, 31. Jan 2007, 20:17

I am sure that my cut and paste will leave this thing looking a mess….I'll come back later and fix it.

I'm always unsure if my top ten should be my "favorite" albums of the
past year, or the albums that I consider to be "the best" albums of
the past year. Subjective v. Objective, if that is possible. For
instance, neither Sgt. Pepper nor Pet Sounds would be on my top twenty
list of "Favorite albums" but they might get on the top twenty albums
of all time list. All that being said, I decided to go with my
"favorite" albums of the year. You can find a list of "best"
anywhere.

1. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
I love it. I don't get the bad rap this album is getting for not
having any staying power or lacking that certain "it" quality. I
guess my tastes run simple. I prefer albums with guitars over albums
without guitars. I prefer a drum to a drum machine. I like to
pretend that I can tell the difference between analog and digital
recordings, and I like to say that I prefer analog. This album sounds
analog. Maybe not. Doesn't matter. I like the way it sounds. It
sounds warm. It sounds old. It sounds like Orange and Fender amps.
"Steady as She Goes" is as good a single as I have heard in years. I
really think Jack White and Brendan Benson have captured lightning in
a bottle together and feed off of each other…Benson's innate ability
to craft pop songs and White's guitar and snarl…it's a perfect
marriage, and the Greenhorne's fill the whole album with a nice cup of
"hey we're a real band!" The second track, "Hands" is almost as good
as it's lead-in. For two minutes it is a great seventies-styles
anthemic ode to a girl…you know…one of those songs that reminds
you that the best rock and roll is songs about girls…and then with
just over a minute left, the song veers into a crashing headbanging
that the listener is unable to listen to "loud enough." I'm getting
into very dangerous territory. I do not plan to give a track-by-track
review for my top ten albums of the year, and I won't do it. The rest
of the album is not "more of the same" but it is…it is more pop
music played with loud guitars. It is more of two guys who really
love listening to records late at night and then plugging in. It is
more power pop, more psychedelia, more guitar workouts, more Jeff
Lynne-style knob twisting, more color, more great 2-4 minute
masterpieces. Needless to say, I hope this is not the last Raconteurs
album.

2. Ladyhawk - self-titled
This could have easily been my #1 album of the year. While I am
listening to it, which is a lot of the time, it is my favorite album
of the year. All the right influences are there…Neil Young, Jason
Molina, Bob Mould, Nirvana, probably some Screaming Trees…and all
the right comparisons are made…My Morning Jacket, Black
Mountain…they also happen to be on one of the best new labels
around…Jagjaguar with Black Mountain, the Pink Mountaintops and
Okkervil River. Lots of loud crashing guitars and
drums…quiet-LOUD-quiet songs with a couple buckets of mud and sludge
layered on…it's a recipe I like a lot. I'm sure that there is
plenty to deride and maybe the lyrics aren't Dylan or Springsteen or
even Cafferty and the whole album sounds the same and whatnot…but
it's my top ten and it's one of my favorite albums of the year. The
songs are about girls, the songs are about getting wasted, the songs
are about loneliness. These are rock and roll songs and executed just
as the should be. J. Mascis has got to smile when he hears something
like Ladyhawk. When "Dugout" comes on, I can't help but try to sing
along. The centerpiece (well, the fourth song of ten) is "Long Til
the Morning" which I subjected the listeners of my most-recent mix CD
to. At over seven minutes long, it's not for the faint of heart.
Kicking off with a little Concrete Blonde style drum and bass and then
Axxess and Ace era crooning vocals take their place before the
guitars..the song builds and plods and builds and plods for five
minutes until the bands decides to wake the kids of from their bowls
and start shredding the song to pieces…if you listen to it loud
enough, it turns into a beautiful piece of white noise before
returning to an acapella outro and then you (I mean "I") want seven
more minutes…I don't know what is leaking into the water up there in
Vancouver, but they should bottle it.

3. National Grain - self-titled
Just when I thought that there was not a band making music in 2006
that had any twang left to offer, I get blindsided by Atlanta's
finest. For the past couple of years, I have been getting into more
and more old school country. Hank, Hag, Possum, Porter,
Skeeter….home of the twang stuff, and then I hear this album and my
faith in modern day alt.country/southern rock/country music is
revived…and not just twang, but seriously rocking honky tonk with
killer steel guitar licks. The album kicks off with "Pretty Women
Won't Give Me the Time of Day" and that songs sets the tone for a
great country album full of telecasters, hard luck, pitchers of beer
and a few broken hearts. I am a sucker for steel guitar. I don't
know the first thing about them (steel guitars that is) except that I
love the way they sound. "City Lights" has a great steel solo and
"Some Kind of Devil" is a freaking masterpiece with guitars
everywhere, pounding drums and just the right amount of cowbell. This
album was the perfect summer album, because as many of you know, I
lead a double life as a redneck…riding around in my truck, going to
the creek, taking my dogs out to the woods, shooting guns for no good
reason, and basically enjoying the fact that I live in the South and
sweating my ass off, and even though summer is long gone, I'm still
listening. While I realize that Postcard has gotten away from the
twang, I think most everybody who has been on this list since the
glory days of alt.country will find that they love this album. It's
got teles, it's got pedal stel, it's got banjo, it's got heartache and
sweat. I read a review of this album that said something along the
lines of, "Crying in your beer never felt so goddamn good." I'll
drink to that.

4. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
I have no idea what the title means, but I love the album, just as I
love all of her other albums. Much has been made about the musicians
on this album, and you cannot talk about its greatness without
mentioning the Sadies, Calexico, Kelly Hogan, Garth Hudson and Howe
Gelb, but the centerpiece of the album, as with all of her albums, is
her amazing voice. Neko is one of those artists that people feel
compelled to play "My favorite of hers is ________" and when I play
that game, I usually fill in the blank with whichever was the last
albums of hers that I listened to. From the honky tonk of the first
few albums to the noir flourishes of the last couple, I love them all
and rarely, if ever, do I skip a track on any of them. She is truly
one of the most talented singers around and becoming a helluva
songwriter, too. I still think that my favorite part of this album is
the sloppy drums on "Teenage Feeling" which I have written about
before. I know that a lot has been discussed regarding some sort of
Neko v. Jenny Lewis thing…because apparently it is impossible to
like them both…I think one of the distinctions between the two
reverb-drenched chanteuses is that Neko's lyrics are great on this
album, while I think Jenny's are merely fine, and in spots, rather
embarrassing. While Rabbit Fur Coat is a great album, it is no Fox
Confessor. Like Blacklisted before it, this is a timeless album by
one of modern music's greatest singers.

5. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls of America
I'll be honest…I've never read Kerouac. I had no idea that the
album title was an homage to the author until I read it somewhere.
That being said, the idea that this album is an ode to, or at least a
reference to, the line that the "boys and girls in America have such a
sad time together" gives me a bit of the chill as I listen to the
album. That line sums it up perfectly. More than any album this
year…more than any album in a few years, this album got me excited
about lyrics again. I can't even think of the last time I sat and
listened, and re-listened and read and re-read lyrics. On one hand,
the album is a party, on the other it's a slow funeral march. It's
songs about drinking, drugs, sex, parties, adolescence, and all of the
other trials and tribulations facing the boys and girls of America
(and everywhere else, one would assume.) In that respect, I can
listen to this album as a themed or concept album, intended or not.
As far as the songs go, I love them. The things that some people hate
about this album, like the "woah-oah-oah" backing vocals, the
arena-rock sound and arrangement, the…let's call it "quirky" vocal
delivery and the constant singing about drinking, losering, or
otherwise "kicking it" are the same things that I love about this
album. "Chips Ahoy!" is the most fun I have had in a long while.
There is absolutely no pretense when listening to this song….while
the lyrics are dark as hell, the song gives me a thrill the way that
hearing a forbidden guilty pleasure gives me a thrill. I'm glad to
hear that Charlemagne and the kids are still around, albeit not
necessarily "all right." "Chillout Tent" is a great tune…I said
earlier that it makes me think of bubble gum and roller rinks, and it
still does…it's kids playing adult. It's the movie, "Kids." It's
dangerous and fun and scary as hell….and it features Dave "Lee Roth"
Pirner for cryin out loud, and he sounds great. That's the thing
though…I see some of these songs being written from the viewpoint of
a sober outsider, lamenting wasted lives, and other songs written from
the dead center of the party pit. I also have no problem reconcilng
that duality. Who hasn't been there? It's Born to Run and Alien
Lanes and Toto/Loverboy/Journey/Huey Lewis and Jack Kerouac and your
life and my life in one messy package, and yet it, works.

6. The Gourds - Heavy Ornamentals
The Gourds have put out ANOTHER great album. These guys can do no
wrong in my book. This album, like their others, is full of hooks,
great instrumentation (guitars, drums, mandolins and
accordions…nobody does it better) and quirky poetry disguised as
lyrics. One difference is that this album is a bit more "electric"
than the others. That neither makes the album any better or any worse
than what it might sound like without the extra amperage. The album
has a great "live" sound to it and pays off listen after listen. Just
as Blood of the Ram featured homages to Al Green and Waylon Jennings,
and Cow, Fish, Fowl or Pig had a very Stonesy Ceiling's Leaking, this
one has a nice Doug Sahm-esque ditty ("Shake the Chandelier") and is
at times reminiscent of early Neil Young ("Weather Woman" sure sounds
a lot like "Down by the River" for a second there.) Don't get me
wrong, they are not aping their influences, but celebrating them. My
favorite track is "Burn the Honeysuckle" which starts off as a nice
little march featuring drums and vocals before the rest of the band
joins in to complete a perfect front porch sittin, sweet tea drinkin
song. To be honest, there is not a song on the album that I don't
like. The only knock on the album is that there are no Max Johnston
songs. As an aside, I also think that "The Education Song" is my
daughter's first official favorite song. It's the first non-kid tune
I have ever heard her sing and I couldn't be more proud.

7. Built to Spill - You in Reverse
The album kicks off with drums…could be Stephen Morris, but it's
not. The first track, "Goin Against Your Mind" is one of my favorites
of the year. This one, too, was forced upon listeners of my last
mixer…all (almost) nine minutes of it, including the "Dark Side of
the Moon" mid-section and "Whales Screwing" ending. In my humble
opinion, it is the high mark of the album, and the rest of the album
never reaches that mark again…though it is rewarding to listen to
them try. For obvious reasons (loud guitars, Neil Young fetish, from
Idaho) Built to Spill has been one of my favorite bands from the
moment I heard them and this album was probably the most anticipated
release of the year at my house. Unfortunately, I probably have not
listened to it as much as I should have…if I had it might be ranked
higher. Oh yeah, Doug Marstch is a guitar god.

8. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not.
Yeah, I know…they were overly-hyped before anybody actually heard
them and by the time anybody had actually heard them, the backlash was
in full swing. If you ever hear of another band that reminds you at
all of The Jam, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash and The Libertines,
please let me know, because I will be a sucker for it. While I was
blown away by Dogs and Brakes last year, this is the only album from
the motherland to make my top ten this year. A lot of people are
going to prejudge this album based on the hype or the backlash, and
that's really a shame, because I find it to be a pretty great little
album. Are they inventing anything new with this album? Hardly, but
that does not take anything away from the fact that it is enjoyable as
hell…even if only on a superficial level. I can't tell you a thing
about what they might be singing about, but I sure do love to sing
along with the choruses and shake my groove thing when I hear them.
This album makes me wish I could dance. I see myself listening to
this album for years to come and I also see others re-discovering it
years down the road and realizing that they were quick to judge and
missed out on something great.

9. Pearl Jam - self-titled
10. The Lemonheads - sefl-titled
Is this 1992? What the hell is going on here? Why am I listening to
the Lemonheads and Pearl Jam so much these days? Two reasons, I
suppose: A.) In 1992, they were two of my favorite bands ever, and as
I get older, now not even able to claim that I am "only 30," I am
reaching outward and inward for that part of me that was walking
around, bleary-eyed, messing up the downtown in my teens, thinking
that music was the most important thing in the world, scraping my Doc
Martens in the gutters, smoking cigarettes and pulling my hair back to
see what was in front of me, my headphones blaring as I listened to
these two bands (and a host of other artists that I "discovered" in
that same year/time of my life that would forever change my life and
listening habits like Nirvana, Matthew Sweet, the Jayhawks, the
Posies, the Pixies, the Dead Kennedys and too many more to mention in
the running along sentence) and realizing now, almost fifteen years
later, that I was having a blast and I will never again feel the way
about music the way I felt about it then, and that the outlook that I
had on life in general then has been so perverted and changed over the
course of the past decade and half that I feel like I am owed some of
my innocence back, my idealism and my youthfulness, or B.) They are
great records with loud guitars and if they were debuts by oddly-named
up-and-coming bands, I wouldn't feel so old praising them. The Pearl
jam album is serious and rocking and great for the long haul. The
Lemonheads is good candy and too much of it will give you a bellyache,
until then, it's good for a thirty minute blast of fun. As long and
rambling as reason A was, it doesn't come close to manifesting in
writing everything that I thought about as I listened to the
Lemonheads album twice on the way to work the other day. I loved the
guy that I was fifteen years ago. It was, as they say, "good times."

That's it…that's ten. If I had listened to Midlake enough, It would
have cracked the top ten. It's a great listen, and if this is what
the kids are listening to these days, my old man has some Blue Oyster
Cult and Fleetwood Mac he'd like to share with them. Frank Black
would have made it had he consolidated Fast Man, Raider Man into one
great disc.

Honorable Mention: The Sadies - Live Vol. 1 - Everything that needs to
be said about this double disc, all-star banquet of rock has been said
and it still doesn't do it justice, but I couldn't throw a live album
into my top ten.

Favorite Songs of the Year:
Some Kind of Devil - National Grain (one of my all-time favorites now)
World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (although I think was one of my songs of the
year in 2005, too)
Memphis, Egpyt (live) - The Sadies & Jon Langford
Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
Chips Ahoy! - The Hold Steady
Luckiest Man - The Good Brothers (reminds me of me)
Fast man - Frank Black (sounds great following Luckiest man)
Roscoe - Midlake
All Systems Red - Calexico
a whole lot more but I am ready to send this list out