It's that time of year when we take stock in the year past and look forward to what's ahead. For those of us who love music, it can also mean grading the releases of the past 366 days and deciding for ourselves what's the best.
Blogcritics' music editors are no exception to that rule, and what follows is our own little guide to the best of the year past.
Connie Phillips, Music Editor
This has been a different sort of year for me musically. There have been very few releases that I've really connected to and it's made the job of picking the "best" a real chore.
Connection on an emotional level is an essential quality of a top pick for me. Another standard is whether or not I hit the skip button when a song from it comes up on my iPod on iTunes? With these two guidelines I came up with a short list, and from there I just couldn't bring myself to narrow it down any further.
Are these the best albums 2008 had to offer? I really can't answer that for you, but I connected to them. Some of you (or maybe most) might file all of my choices under "guilty pleasures" but they are the albums that I spun the most in 2008.
Rick Springfield's Venus in Overdrive came out in July and has been on my favorite playlist ever since. It's a perfect balance of light and fun tracks as well as songs deeply tied to love and loss. Eric Himan's Resonate (released in April) still remains one I can 'dial into' on the iPod and listen to for days without growing tired of it. All ten tracks touch me in a very personal way. If you haven't checked this one out, you must.
Vampire Weekend 's self titled and American Idol's David Cook (also s/t) are two more that consumed a good chunk of my music listening time.
Josh Hathaway, Senior Editor/Asst. Music Editor
Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
I can't remember the last time I had such a difficult time picking one album to be my album of the year. The last few years have had many great records but I was always able to zero in on one that stood above the rest. Not this year. There were spectacular debuts (Dave Carter) and marvelous performances by legends (B.B. King) and even hybrids of that (Tom Petty and his first band, Mudcrutch). There were gorgeous indie records (Bittersweets) and British psychedelic sprawl (Oasis). The Black Crowes were inspired by the addition of Luther Dickinson and the Black Keys were revitalized by their partnership with Danger Mouse. Those are seven great records good enough to be #1, but the best album of 2008 is Counting Crows' Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Some interesting choices here amongst my fellow scribes. I find it particularly telling that the 08' list leans fairly pop heavy, which I guess says a lot about the year in music we are about to leave behind us.
Onwards to '09 with Bruce, U2, Eminem, and the best of the rest of what's still to come.
Happy New Year!
-Glen
2 - Pico
Glen...Brian Wilson? Don't you mean Steven? ;-)
3 - Glen Boyd
Yeah, him too Pico.
-Glen
4 - LJ
Couldn't agree with you more about Rick Springfield's VENUS IN OVERDRIVE cd. I love it and have shared it with "non fans" who have been duly impressed. Title song rocks big power pop; "What's Victoria's Secret" which he's sung on tv repeatedly is lively, fun, a bit reminiscent of what made Rick the big American hit he became and yet has a new contemporary vibe as well. Great new different Rick Springfield stuff here - Stores have sales...go buy it, I say. Thanks Connie for your interesting list!
5 - Sterfish
Every year I read this (or similar articles), I find that most of the albums chosen are ones I have never heard before. That's always a good thing in my opinion. Thanks for the interesting choices.