Guster – Ganging Up on the Sun: I know some of you wish I would promise to make 2007 a Guster-free year. That won’t happen. I listened to this album from beginning to end three times on the way to ring in the new year with friends in South Carolina. There may be no such thing as a perfect record, but Ganging Up on the Sun comes damn close. So many times an album is proclaimed to be the best of the year and is forgotten by next year. I cannot imagine that happening here. Current Favorite Track: "Satellite."
Tom Petty – Highway Companion: I looked forward to this record with more anticipation than any other and I was not disappointed. It is a more stripped-down affair than the title or producer (Jeff Lynne) might otherwise suggest, but the songwriting is again first rate. Current Favorite Track: “Down South.”
Barrett Martin - Earthspeaker: Contrary to the prevailing opinions, there are too many great albums released each year to keep up with them all. Earthspeaker is a masterful successor to 2004’s The Painted Desert. Martin continues to play more instruments than I can count with names I often cannot pronounce and somehow manages to meld this sonic diversity into memorable songs. Current Favorite Track: “Agbadza.”
Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell – Ballad of the Broken Seas: Did I mention sonic diversity? These two voices are about as different as can be and they work marvelously together. Continuing with that sonic diversity theme, a bullwhip is used as a percussion instrument on the hotter-than-it-has-any-right-to-be cover of the Hank Williams classic, “Ramblin’ Man.” Not every song on the record works, but the best moments here are more than worth the price of admission. I only wish I could see one of the handful of UK dates Lanegan and Campbell are doing together. Current Favorite Track: “Revolver.”
Thom Yorke – The Eraser: If you hated Radiohead’s Kid A, best skip this album. Of course, if you hated Kid A, I have no choice but to question your taste. Where that album often buried the vocals in the mix, Eraser brings them out front utilizing Yorke’s powerful vocal instrument. There are some maddening, tedious moments on the record, but they are outweighed by great songs like the title track. Thanks to The Prestige, TheWifeToWhomI’mMarried and I both have the same Current Favorite Track: “Analyse.”
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
DJR --
Great as Hammersmith is, the E Street Band WERE better on the Darkness tour. Reference the Winterland show at Wolfgangs Vault for proof. Great list though.
-Glen
2 - El Bicho
"The Grateful Dead and other great jam bands"
Huh?! When did you convert?
3 - Mat Brewster
He's faking it for street cred.
4 - Tan The Man
Kudos on Guster. An amazing band and another amazing album.
"Ballad Of Broken Seas" is another great album.
5 - DJRadiohead
Damn misplaced commas. It was supposed to read the Grateful Dead and other, great jam bands. =)
Kidding. I meant what I wrote. The Dead are considered a great jam band whether I like them or not. I don't, but I understand their place in the pantheon.
6 - Mat Brewster
Whatever, we know you pretend so you can get some unshaven, unbathed hippie chick goodness!
7 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! A link to this article now appears at our Myspace Profile page.
8 - DJRadiohead
"Hippies suck."
---Eric Cartman
You can keep the nasty hippychicks, Sir Brewster.
Thanks for the linkage, Connie.
9 - Mark Saleski
You can keep the nasty hippychicks, Sir Brewster.
i'll take 'em!
10 - Andrew Careaga
I thought Dylan's album was just so-so, and the Leigh Nash work was just too much Leigh, too much syrup.
My top picks, for what it's worth.
AC