Ladies and gentlemen, we don't have a winner.
As the year in music 2011 draws to a close, the biggest news is that — unlike 2010's near universal anointing of Arcade Fire's The Suburbs — there was no such unanimous consensus amongst music critics, regarding a clear-cut choice for the year's best album.
No matter.
Adele's 21 was of course, still the biggest story of 2011. The come-from-nowhere chart dominance of "Rolling In The Deep" alone all but guaranteed that.
But Adele was only one of several new talents — including Florence Welch of Florence And The Machine — to emerge in a big enough way this year, to lead some veteran observers to label 2011 as being "the year of the big voice." Somewhere out there, a guy living alone in his Mom's basement was heard saying "Oh, Snap!" to that.
The untimely death of Amy Winehouse no doubt played at least some role in this. In 2011, both critics and fans searched far and wide, in the hopes of finding that fresh, new voice ready to fill the surprisingly huge void that Winehouse left behind. Meanwhile, a mostly older generation of classic rock fans mourned the year's other biggest loss — that of saxophone player Clarence Clemons, otherwise known as the "Big Man" of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
But even with Adele's huge commercial and critical breakthrough this year, this was still not enough to solidify 21 as the odds-on choice for Album of the Year. Instead, when one scans through the various year-end lists already making the rounds out there, several names seem to pop up repeatedly. Some of the most often mentioned, also made my own top ten this year (Kate Bush, Tom Waits), while others (most notably PJ Harvey's Let England Shake) did not.
The best news about 2011 though, was that once you managed to get past the seemingly endless string of mindless pop-candy out there from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the like, there was still a surprisingly ample amount of great music. Other than the fact that Springsteen is touring with the E Street Band, and Bon Jovi is thankfully alive and well (ditto for Bon Iver), we still don't know a lot about what 2012 will bring yet.
In the meantime, these were the ten albums that spent the most time in heavy rotation on my CD player. Sorry, the Rockologist doesn't do iPods.
10. The Black Keys - El Camino
A very late entry, from a nonetheless very worthy contender. Guitar. Drums. Danger Mouse. Big Ass Sound. Any Questions?
Article comments
1 - Donald Gibson
But even with Adele's huge commercial and critical breakthrough this year, this was still not enough to solidify 21 as the odds-on choice for Album of the Year.
What are you drinking??? What more could Adele have done, knock on ten million doors and sing for each and every one of them? She's not "one of many" female artists who basically did much of the same thing. She's one woman who far surpassed what any other woman or man had achieved this year.
She's the rare artist who achieves massive commercial success with critically acclaimed music. (I'm one of those critics acclaiming her.) How often does that happen?
I think your year-end survey must go something like this: no Springsteen this year, no (new) Neil Young this year, no (new U2) this year... "There were no winners this year."
2 - Triniman
Good list. Did you manage to hear the new Destroyer album? It stood out for me as one of the year's best.
3 - Glen Boyd
Donald,
Yes, she (Adele) was the odds-on artist of the year. No question.
BUT...(and this is a big "but"), in scanning all the year-end critics lists out there, she doesn't top that many of them. She makes them, yes. But PJ Harvey's album tops a lot more of them (and, she didn't even make mine).
It's nowhere near the runaway for Adele in 2011, that it was for Arcade Fire last year (at least not in terms of a music critics landslide).
Did she make the biggest impact this year? I would say without question that she did. But her impact was also multiplied by the other big female voices out there like Florence Welch (which is why I mentioned her in this article). This is, in my view, is definitely a good thing by the way. Anything that will get music out of its present state of pop candy hell has to be considered a good thing.
Not that either Adele or Florence was a constant on my own CD player this year. But in no way do I minimize their impact.
-Glen
4 - Donald Gibson
But are you making your Top 10 list based on what you believe the best were of 2011, or just what you agree on with the largest consensus of critics? You shouldn't have to can other critics' lists if you know what you liked and what you believe what among the best of the year.
5 - Glen Boyd
My list is based solely on what I liked the most in 2011. Agree or disagree, that's the criteria here. Which is why I included the Beach Boys and Neil Young albums, even though they were made up of what can only be described as "old" (if previously officially unavailable) music. That's how I did my list. People like Steven Wilson and the Jayhawks for example barely registered a blip in the larger universe of music and pop culture. But they did rock my world.
On the other hand, as a "music critic," I would certainly be remiss (at the very least) of not recognizing a phenomenon like Adele.
But did she spend the same hours on my personal playlist this year as Wilco, Kate Bush, or Tom Waits? No, she did not.
-Glen
6 - El Bicho
I don't know. Adele's album came out in January and Rolling in the Deep last year. Both were smash hits before Winehouse died in July. Not sure I see the connection nor how any other female had an influence on Adele's success. Foster the People's song did more than anything by Florence.
Beach Boys and Stones 50th anniversaries next summer are much bigger news then Bruce going out yet again.
7 - Glen Boyd
I would agree with your assessment about the Stones and the Beach Boys, Bicho. But I'm much more intrigued with how Bruce plans on pulling off the E Street tour without the Big Man. Color me a fan that way, I guess.
-Glen
8 - thrasher
Always nice to see Neil Young on a Top 10 list. The Treasure is a nice tribute to the late Ben Keith and a treasure indeed looking back at another time & place so far away from the music of today.
9 - Glen Boyd
thanx Thrasher.
-Glen