My top albums for 2007

Sorry for the delay - sick kids, work, snow, it all adds up.

I'm still an album guy at heart. Yes, I grew up as the CD came of age and I relish the idea of downloadable singles, but the concept of a great album with a collection of songs that mean something, that should be heard together and were recorded at the same time is what excites me musically. I love the notion of a new release date for an album - it makes Tuesday that much more special.

So, to that end...

The Best albums of 2007:

In Rainbows - Radiohead
Blew me away the moment I downloaded it. One of the best albums I've heard in years. Insightful, cutting, passionate, its everything that all the wannabe bands do today that Radiohead perfected. The choose your own price download gimmick aside, it is a solid album from the opening track to the end and it rekindled my enjoyment of Radiohead. Bodysnatchers quickly became one of my top plays, and from the CD's start with 15 Steps complete with handclaps and eerie children cheering to the satisfying conclusion of Videotape's quiet brooding cresendo of moodiness, this brings the band full circle from its prog-rock beginnings with all its learned along the way. Finally, available now through conventional downloads and in CD - its a must get.

Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire
Until Rainbows came out, this had been my AOTY since I got it in March. Keep The Car Running, which I raved about in the top plays section, has this urgent call to action with a Not Fade Away riff running throughout its driving drum beat. The Arcade Fire is one of the best exports to come out of Canada since I discovered Labatt's Blue in college. At first, I was impressed with this album, but still thought it paled to its predecessor, the debut Funeral. After repeated playing, Neon Bible holds its own and blazes its own path. If Radiohead set the standard in the '90s then The Arcade Fire becomes the band to watch this decade. Sounding like Talking Heads, a bit of Bowie with a bit of Bono in some joyous end of the world festival with hurdy-gurdys, this band is the one to watch. It's title track, along with Black Wave/Bad Vibrations (perhaps an apocolyptic retort to Good Vibrations?) and a remake of their own No Cars Go are some of the standout tracks. Go to http://www.neonbible.com/ to see more of their visual and audio wonder.

Version - Mark Ronson
Thanks to my buddy Scooter in NYC, I have come to be thrilled by this 21st century wall of sound with its shagadelic horns, house beat bass, touch of hip-hop and great reworkings of some excellent songs. Covers of songs by The Smiths (Stop Me), Coldplay (God Put A Smile on Your Face), Radiohead (Just), Kasabian (L.S.F.) and Britney Spears (seriously - a great rap cover of Toxic with O.D.B. himself) to name a few has the same horn section (of Brooklyn's own The Dap Kings) that made Amy Winehouse a household name make this such a fun listen again and again. If you liked the Winehouse, you'll love this. Ronson keeps producing more and more and his imprint has been left on other standout tracks from AIR to Bob Dylan. This album provides the soundtrack for one groovy night.

Not Too Late - Norah Jones
I think the third solo release for Jones got a bit overlooked. It probably doesn't redefine the dinner music standard that her debut perfected, but it does add a bit of bite to her repetoire and adds balance to her music. Not My Friend is delightfully scornful, My Dear Country and Sinkin' Soon provide her own distaste for what happened in New Orleans, Little Room is sweetly sentimental and Thinking About You is classic Norah. It's smart album by someone who toughened up a bit and worth another look at.

In Our Bedroom After the War - Stars
There is a great music scene happening right now north of the border. Bands and artists like the aforementioned Arcade Fire, as well as Broken Social Scene, the very cool Feist, and this pick, Stars are defining a new wave. I first saw Stars at Lollapalooza two years ago and was sucked in. The interplay between lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan reminded me of the dynamic and tension between Michael Stipe - Natalie Merchant. With the new album, heavy shades of The Smiths exist next to reminders of The Housemartins (along with maybe some Pet Shop Boys) in a deeper and more dramatic voice from Campbell. Dark concepts abound such as the title track and The Night Starts Here, Today Will Be Better, I Swear, and the excellent lead single Take Me To The Riot. A bit kindler and gentler and more pop like than their Arcade Fire neighbors, the cold arctic air must be doing something right to be producing this sort of great music. Also, well worth hearing their live set on NPR's All Songs Considered podcast http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15298176

Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Kraus
Among the adult-alt-cool albums to come out this year, the one that rightly should be at the top of many lists is the very unusual, but perfect, pairing of rock legend Robert Plant with bluegrass icon Alison Kraus. With T-Bone Burnett at the producing helm, the two of them collaborate on a uniquely perfect soundtrack for what could be an unmade road movie. The songs and their harmonys perfectly coexist in some alternate universe. Please Read The Letter captured my attention right away when I first heard it in the New York Times excellent music pop-cast. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html (and to be discussed in a future post on podcasting). Rich Woman starts this project off with a strange creepy groove that runs throughout this roadshow into gorgeous elegies such as Fortune Teller and Stick With Me Baby. I think the cover describes it all - two happy souls singing in the middle of nowhere. It's haunting and it's beautiful.

Live In Dublin - Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band
Bruce had 2 albums which were rather retro in my mind come out in 2007. Magic, was updated 80s Bruce, and Live In Dublin was updated Peter Seeger. I love the Seeger Sessions, and his performances of this album live becomes an irish hurricane of foot stomping, gospel revival, big band, New Orleans sounding music. The opening cut, a reworked Atlantic City, is great fun and when the whole band kicks in, its a menacing tour de force. It's fun, it's serious, it's great revisiting of some classic Bruce seen through a whole new lens, and its the best live Bruce to date.

What would have been on Norm's ipod

I learned much from my father, and I would Dad give credit for having such a passion for music and such a large collection of music. Rifling through his huge collection of vinyl as a kid showed me the great variety which exists out there. Dad had his favorites, and early on, I remember Dad putting a stack of Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel records on his Gerrard turntable and listening to music as he got a party ready. Dad grew up with Art and Paul and I spent a lot of time enjoying and appreciating their whole canon of work.

As I grew older, I began to share the music with Dad. Some of it was not for him, but when he asked me for a copy of it, I knew it resonated. Dad was always a good sport about listening to the stuff he didn't love - he even took my brother to see Def Leppard when my brother was 12.

I lost my father a year ago today, and the world has not been quite the same since. Trying to find my own balance and path without him has been quite interesting, to say the least. But seeing a Porsche and hearing certain songs will continue to draw me back to him.

If my father had an ipod - this is what I would envision his playlist to have been like. Enjoy the songs, thanks for listening, and I miss you too Dad.

Quarter To Three - Gary U.S. Bonds. I didn't even know that Dad listened to Gary U.S. Bonds until after his funeral. His childhood friends came up to me and we were all talking music and Dad. Although, I mentioned Simon & Garfunkel, they said that what Dad would put on while he lived in Binghamton was this song. He's play it loud, he'd play it over and over again and they'll all dance to it. I downloaded it that night and I'm glad I did. It's a great slice of early rock / soul, and I learned a bit more about a man I thought I knew everything about. This one is for you, The Boys from Binghamton.

Kodachrome
Still Crazy After All These Years
One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
- Paul Simon
Breakaway
Scissors Cut
99 Miles To L.A.
(What A Wonderful) World
- Art Garfunkel
My Little Town
- Simon & Garfunkel
The opening low notes on the piano from Kodachrome evoke those memories of my Dad going around the house getting ready for his friends to come over. Classic '70s Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is like comfort food for my musical soul. The stack of these LPs on the turntable and the songs from Still Crazy After All These Years, There Goes Rhyimin' Simon, Breakaway, Watermark and Scissors Cut were the soundtrack to any given Saturday in my home growing up. I loved the autographed albums from Art to my Dad. Art's album covers always had this goofy sense of humor as well - blackened teeth in his smile on the back cover of Fate For Breakfast or a bandaid on his neck in Scissors Cut. My Little Town is of course my favorite of the group, its Simon AND Garfunkel together again for one last song, and in what I always thought was a cool move, was having the song appear on both of their solo LPs in the '70s. It's funny that he liked his Simon separate from his Garfunkel. Sure, we had their duo albums from '60s, but it was their solo work that stands out as being my Dad's favorite. All worth downloading tonight and giving it a re-listen if you don't already know these songs.

Hotel California
Desperado
- The Eagles
I never loved The Eagles. Too California, too laid back; but after a visit to my house once, Dad wanted some new music and had heard the Eagles on the radio, so I gave him my Eagles CDs. He would always tell me just how much he really likes Hotel California and Desperado and quite often those CDs were the ones in his changer when I'd come to visit.

Girl from Ipanema - Astrid Gilberto
Sem Contencao - Bebel Gilberto
Somewhere along the way in these last 10 years, Dad heard me listening to classic Brazilian Bossa Nova at home or in the car. He asked me to make a copy for him. To his own amazement, he loved it all. It became his new background music - and he'd tell me how funny it was that the cleaning woman liked the music as well. After hearing how much he liked Astrid, I decided it was time to update his Brazilian to this century and copied Tanto Tempo by Bebel Gilberto for him. Tanto Tempo is undeniably one of my all time favorite albums. It is a lush landscape of brazilian beats off set by a great modern chill out beat and is likely the song you hear in the background of most neuvo latino restaurants. It's not to be missed.

My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
Pretty quickly in the early stages of dating my wife, one "our" songs became John Coltrane's My Favorite Things. If you don't know it, its essential for your jazz collection. My father had always been into jazz, but listened to it far less than the aforementioned music in my presence. When he and Mom sold the house and downsized to a larger home in one of those communities where they don't let the seniors escape, I found his copy of My Favorite Things and quickly hung the album as artwork in my office. And then made him a copy of the more current CD so he can continue to listen to it.

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans - Wynton Marsalis
There is lots of jazz which my father enjoyed and passed along to me: Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, and Tommy Dorsey to name a few. But years ago, when I lived in NYC, Dad and I took in a show at the Village Vanguard and sat up front and saw Wynton perform. I'd never seen jazz live with my Dad before, but we had such a great time that night, and I learned to appreciate jazz, Wynton, and my father on an entirely different level.

Shepard Moons - Enya
Finally, there is Enya's debut album, which my Dad found to be so serene and peaceful. I'm not sure where he first heard it and who heard it first. I think he liked the worldly quality of it, the lushness of the arrangements and most of all, its peacefulness. I didn't realize that the day Dad died, would in fact be that day. We had numerous close calls in the months leading up to his end due to cancer. If I really knew that moment was going to be it (and no one ever really does), I would have brought this for him to listen to. When I first got my ipod, he was back in the hospital and I let him experience it. He was amazed at home much music could fit on such a small device (and he was a techie engineer no less). As he fell asleep, smiling, listening to it that day, I couldn't help but think in his final moments that he would have enjoyed the musical accompaniment. However, I am pretty sure he was most comforted by having the voices of his loved ones all around him, and that's what matters most anyway.

What my ipod liked in 2007

2007 came to a close, and like everyone else, I feel the obligatory need to share my top listens of the year. I decided the best way to determine what made the top of the list, was to let my ipod tell me - what songs were from 2007 and most played? Admitedly, the songs which were uploaded to the ipod earlier in the year got more play than more recent additions.

Here's who made the cut.

Most played song: Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs (from Yours Truly, Angry Mob). Ruby is a great song and it surprised me, and pleased me, that it made the top of the list. Kaiser Chiefs is the latest in a hot string of the newest wave out of England. Ruby has a sharp guitar riff with some some la-la's in the beginning followed by a deep crooning Morrissey-like voice that reminds me more of The Smiths than much of his own recent work, especially with lyrics like "Due to lack of interest, tomorrow is cancelled." Then that chorus of "Ruby ruby ruby ruby" kicks in and it's so much fun. Right behind Ruby, ironically, is Dashboard by Modest Mouse (from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank) with Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths on guitar. Maybe I just miss The Smiths?

Rounding out the top plays for 2007:

Weapon Of Choice - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Baby 81). Catchy, fun, and I played it all summer.
Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen (Magic). Certainly not Bruce's best, but a great throwback to some '80s Jersey rock (did I mention that I am from exit 9?)
Running Away - Polyphonic Spree (The Fragile Army). See post below, I love it, my kids love it.

Keep The Car Running - Arcade Fire (Neon Bible). In the next post, I'll tell you why I think this is one of my two favorite albums of the year, and the best band I've heard in years. This song was top of my play list for so long and proved that The Arcade Fire still had the ability to awe and inspire with their sophomore release.

Stop Me - Mark Ronson featuring Daniel Merriweather (Version). With so much hype about Amy Winehouse, the overlooked hero was her album's producer (her Phil Spector if you will) English DJ and producer Mark Ronson. This cover (of a Smiths song no less) made my top 10 in downloads and has the same groove and the same horn section (Brooklyn's own The Dap Kings) that made Amy Winehouse a household name. If you liked the Winehouse, you'll love this.

Bodysnatchers - Radiohead (In Rainbows). Simply stunning. See the albums of the year post.

Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John (Writer's Block)
(F)lannigan's Ball - Dropkick Murphys (The Meanest of Times)
Take Me to the Riot - Stars (In Our Bedroom After the War)
Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Kraus (Raising Sand)
Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band (Live In Dublin)
Toxic - Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra (Hits The Hits)

Next posts - my favorite albums from 2007 with some surprises, some overlooked gems, and some really great albums; my favorite tracks and albums for the whole family.