2007 wasn't the best year for music I've ever heard. It didn't have a truck load of five-star material, but it had a bunch of largely satisfying releases, ones I'll probably still be listening to well into 2008 and beyond.

Thanks in part to Blogcritics, I was able to listen to and get a hold of a bunch more albums than I normally would have. And of course, the more music you listen to, the harder it is to narrow your favorites down to a short list. So instead of just another top 10, I've decided to do things a bit differently and group my favorites in groups of sevens, in honor of the year that was.

The first list consists of full-length CDs that got the most love and spins in my stereo system, the second list being just a sample of other artists whose work I dug not quite as much but deserves inclusion in any year-end list. My third list will be in "Part Two" of my 2007 best-of lists, since the first two run rather long. [None of these releases are ranked in any particular order, in case you were wondering.]

My Absolute Favorite Albums of 2007

1. Travis - The Boy With No Name: These Scottish rockers are highly underrated in America, for whatever reason. They are one of the primary reasons bands such as Coldplay even exist — though the two bands don't sound much alike — yet they put out great albums such as this that don't sell well in the U.S. Whether it's dreamy, goose bump-inducing instant classics like "Colder," infectious guitar pop rockers like "Selfish Jean" and "Under The Moonlight (featuring KT Tunstall)" or the radio-ready romantic pop of "Closer," this CD is a winner through and through.

2. Band of Horses - Cease To Begin: The quick follow-up to 2006's Everything All The Time, this CD is no sophomore slump for the Seattle-now-South Carolina sextet. Whether it's southern, jangle-style rock and pop on the likes of "General Specific" and "Is There A Ghost," or softer, more country-leaning numbers like "Marry Song," there's not a bad track on this album. And these tracks work just as well live, too.

3. Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist: As one of the biggest Pumpkins and Billy Corgan fans in the world, even I got aggravated with the marketing of this album, which would be a strong contender for comeback album of the year if you included all the strong b-sides and bonus tracks from all five thousand editions of it. Even if you don't include great bonus tracks like "Stellar," "Death From Above" or the acoustic "Zeitgeist," it is a very strong album.

Out of the twelve tracks that comprise the original edition, all but maybe three or four of them are repeat-worthy: the shoegazy "That's The Way (My Love Is)," the Brian May-like scorching guitars of "Tarantula," the good-time hard rock of "Bring The Light" and "(Come On) Let's Go!," the heavy crunch of "Doomsday Clock," the dramatic, Mellon Collie era-ish "Bleeding The Orchid" and the symphonic pop of "Pomp And Circumstances."