The Best Albums of 2007

That's right, folks! It's that time of the year again already!

- and I'm not talking about those darkening December days when it's socially acceptable to start drinking heavily at 4:30pm...that's just a noticeably positive side effect of this time of the year -

I'm talking about that special special time of the year when people start to come out with "Best Of.." lists! I'm sure that I could list off "best ofs" in several different categories, but my main area of interest happens to be music, so I think that I'll continue an annual trend and list my - THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2007!

As always, I only list albums that I, myself, purchased in 2007. I don't think that it's fair to just randomly assign numbers to albums that I haven't spent a good deal of time listening to. So...on my list, you will not find Smoke by White Williams, The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse by The Besnard Lakes, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem, or Graduation by Kanye West - amongst many, many other probably worthy competitors.

My list will include all of the new albums that I bought in 2007 - rated from worst to best (some of them will have little descriptions explaining why they're rated where they're rated. Keep in mind, however - that these are just the albums that I bought this year - so I thought enough of these to actually buy them to begin with.

I always enjoy writing this (mostly because I'm a music freak)...so I hope that you enjoy reading it. Without further adieu, I give you my

BEST ALBUMS OF 2007

64. Son Volt - The Search
Oddly, I really looked forward to this album. After 2005's Okemah and the Melody of Riot, I thought that Farrar and company had turned a corner. Alas, the band seems to have abandoned it's transition toward roots-rock in favor of, well, The Search. And that's not a good thing. I didn't really enjoy this album at all. Boring.

63. Ben Lee - Ripe
Awake is the New Sleep was excellent. Ripe is not. At all. It's filled with cliche-riddled pop songs with no depth - some of them even blatantly catered to fit into the coveted "primetime television series soundtrack" genre. Just listen to the song "American Television" and tell me I'm wrong.

62. Assembly of Dust - Recollection
61. Addison Groove Project - Waiting Room
60. Papercuts - Can't Go Back
59. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
I know for a fact that this album will show up on a lot of critic's top ten lists at the end of the year. I always find Animal Collective tolerable, but never overly listenable. I had heard that this one was "different" and more accessible. But mainly, I just found it weird - and repetitive. And - amazingly enough - pretty boring because of it.

58. Apostle of Hustle - National Anthem of Nowhere
57. The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
56. I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
55. P.G. Six - Slightly Sorry
This album from little known NYC indie includes one of my favorite songs of the year - "The Dance." A great song on an otherwise okay album.

54. Blue Scholars - Bayani
Probably the only hiphop album I bought this year (I'm not a huge hiphop guy) is very very good. But like I said, I'm not a huge hiphop guy. So there you have it.

53. Greyboy Allstars - What Happened to Television?
52. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
51. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
50. Tishamingo - The Point
49. Dr. Dog - We All Belong
These guys are fantastic live. Great energy. Album is very good, too.

48. Rogue Wave - Asleep at Heaven's Gate
47. Against Me! - New Wave
46. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
45. A Band of Bees - Octopus
44. Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday
43. Dungen - Tio Bitar (Swedish psychedelia! Yes!)
42. The Sea and Cake - Everybody
41. Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta
This album is "batshit crazy" - but includes one of my favorite lines of any song this year - on "Supertheory of Supereverything" the lyrics go:

"First time I had read the Bible
It had stroke my as unwitty
I think it may started rumor
That the Lord aint' got no humor"

40. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
39. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline
38. Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
37. Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated
36. Trey Anastasio - Horseshoe Curve
35. Brent Amaker and the Rodeo - Brent Amaker and the Rodeo
Unless you're from Seattle, you probably haven't heard of these guys. They're like a mix between Johnny Cash and Southern Culture on the Skids - just pure ridiculous macho bravado, but with a great footstomping country beat.

34. Dappled Cities - Granddance
33. Umphrey's McGee - The Bottom Half
32. ALO - Roses and Clover
31. The Gourds - Noble Creatures
30. Graham Parker - Please Don't Tell Columbus
The song "Please Don't Tell Columbus" is one of my favorites of the entire year. Just a genius critique of the current state of America. The rest of the album from this former punker turner agitated folky is great, too.

29. Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara
28. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - This is Somewhere
27. Eddie Vedder - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Into the Wild
This is a great movie - and the soundtrack goes with it perfectly. A few of the songs on this sucker stick with you - especially if you share in my love for the original book by Jon Krakauer.

26. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Great album from an unlikely duo. It works, though - it definitely works.

25. moe. - The Conch
24. The Fratellis - Costello Music
23. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
I love Sharon Jones. There, I said it.

22. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
21. MIKA - Life in Cartoon Motion
20. Feist - The Reminder
19. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Hopefully she'll be alive long enough for a follow-up to this fantastic album. I would probably put it higher on my list if Amy Winehouse didn't annoy the shit out of me so much.

18. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
17. Eluvium - Copia
16. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
15. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
This album would be one of those archetype of genius albums if it would have had 3 or 4 more solid songs. As it is, it's a great album - but - and this is a big but - it feels rushed. Like this excellent band was trying to capitalize on the success of their latest album Everything All The Time. Which was unnecessary because they're a really good band and will be around for awhile. The album is really really short - and has a random 1-minute instrumental "filler." I'm telling you - with 3 or 4 more decent songs, this would have been an epic album.

14. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
13. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band - Magic
12. Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
For more on this album and why it's so high on my list - besides the fact that it's a frigging fantastic Americana/bluegrass/roots album - read my blog from a few months ago.

11. The New Pornographers - Challengers
10. Menomena - Friend and Foe
9. Jens Lekman - Night Falls on Kortedala
This guy is a fantastic writer. Simultaneously dark and dreary and utterly hilarious.

8. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
7. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
6. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. The Mother Hips - Kiss the Crystal Flake
4. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
3. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
When I first got this album, I wasn't sold on it. The writing doesn't seem to be as "put together" as his last few albums. However, that's for a reason - this is Ritter's "loose" album - time to get a little crazy and put together some songs that will work better for a band in a live setting. And after some time digesting it...I really, really, really love this album. Not quite as much as last year's #1 album The Animal Years, but #3 is pretty damn good, as well.

2. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
My vote for song of the year is a tie between "Shame" and "Die, Die, Die" by the Avett Brothers and "Fake Empire" by...

1. The National - Boxer
The album starts out with my favorite song of the entire year named "Fake Empire" (the part where the drums come in around the 1:43 mark is - by far - my favorite few seconds of studio music in all of 2007) and doesn't slow down from there. This is an absolutely fantastic album. The entire thing is solid - with great lyrics, interesting lead vocals, and great music. This has been my #1 since it came out in late May. I've been waiting for another album to come along and take over the top spot, but it just hasn't happened. This is the epic album of the year. And I'm guessing that quite a few critics, magazines, and bloggers will agree with me.