Indeed, this effort illustrates much of what makes Bruce Springsteen such a significant artist. He’s Steinbeck with a Stratocaster and this is his Winter Of Discontent.

Mat Brewster: Norah Jones - Not Too Late

There are many reasons to pick an album out as the best of any given year: inventiveness, creativity, originality, production value, and so on. For me beyond all that, the true litmus test is my ability to listen to it often and over long periods of times. Like an ontological argument for records, the question should be asked, if the greatest of all albums is never listened to, is it really that great?

While there was a lot of great music released in 2007 Norah Jones' Not Too Late makes it to the top of my list for not only being a great album, but one I find myself turning to constantly. Norah's voice continues to sound soothing, sensual, and lovely as ever. The music is her most mature, and interesting to date.

Interesting is a good word too for where her other albums had a tendency to fade into the background calmly,Not Too Late jumps and sizzles and moves. The horn on "Sinking Soon" is worth the price of admission all by itself, and when you add in that punchy groove coupled with Norah's voice singing "I've been thinking about you," well then all you need are some candles and clean sheets and then the night is yours.

Tom Johnson: Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

Opening with the gentle guitar of "Either Way," a film begins to unreel in my mind. The black screen, the titles, and then Jeff Tweedy's soft, scratchy voice crackles out "Maybe the sun will shine today" just as a scene of the open road is revealed. That's what Sky Blue Sky is to me – road music, an escape, transportation away from the everyday nothingness that often drives us insane. And, more than any other piece of music, escape is exactly what I did with this album since it came out earlier this year.

Wilco may have taken a quiet and calming turn here, but there's so much more going on. The music is subtle, revealing layers of intricate, thoughtful, and sometimes downright weird stuff going on underneath the top coating of amiable, easy-going tunes. Listen close and it's impossible to ignore jazz guitarist Nels Cline's contributions, or the unusual drumming that Glenn Kotche lays down behind the band. These elements take Sky Blue Sky from simply being a good album to being something that needs to be listened to again and again. It's an instant modern classic rock album – a rarity these days.