As is always the case, I make my list and then immediately remember half a dozen other worthy items that should have been on it. Lists are, really, kind of pointless - they're almost totally dependent on your mood at the time, unless you use some sort of tracking system to see what you enjoyed the most over the course of the year. So it should come as no surprise that there are a few things that slipped under the radar that I had previously love-loved, that I was just certain would end up on my list. And then didn't.
Best "Ooops, how did I forget this one" album
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
These guys are sort of "indie-darlings of the year," which means that next year when a larger number of non-indie people are humming their songs, the indie-elite will turn up their noses at the very thought of this band. Too bad for them, because this is one of those albums that creeps up on you. It's got that indie-vibe, with unconventional sounds, mixing, and song-writing, but its executed so strongly that it won't be long before these guys are the being sought for the soundtrack to a Polo commercial or something. It's a rich, dense, complicated album, with a different lineup for almost every song. You'd think that would lead to that sort of jumbled-together feeling that compilations get, but it doesn't - it's clear the band set out to create something as richly textured and intelligent as this and do it in the way that best suits the song. Musicians swap instruments, singers shift from song to song, and yet there's an overall feel of the album. Moreover, these are the types of songs that, even after an extended amount of time away from the music, upon re-hearing them you'll suddenly realize that you'd had them in your head all that time anyway. It's infectious and intoxicatingly addictive, and really should have been way up in my top ten instead of relegated to this "oops" list.
Best "give it another listen" album
Blur - Think Tank
This album hasn't been as well received as I think it should be. It's not the masterpiece I was hoping for, but it's a step up from the wildly uneven 13. With the exit of guitarist/fellow-mastermind Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn pretty much had complete artistic control of Blur. Not surprisingly, the result sounds more like a mixture of his hip-hop-ish "side project" the Gorillaz with the Brit-rock experimentation of Blur. I can't say the album begged me to listen to it like Broken Social Scene's did, but every time I did listen to it I was consistently surprised by how much more I enjoyed it than I thought I previously had. With relatively few slip-ups, Blur has managed to craft a new sound for themselves after what I thought was a pretty shoddy album (13) that combines the best of everything the band's been capable of. Maybe it's a little to varying, which explains the album's lack of strong backing by critics and fans alike. I don't know - all I can say is that I like it a lot, and it deserved a space on my list as well.
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
How about an album that you thought was great, then revisited to realize it was mediocre.
The S/T Deftones album was that way for me.
2 - Tom Johnson
That seems to have become the norm for me. Usually, the more I like it at first, the more likely I will later be to hate it. It's like it's too simple to last - once I've heard it a few times, I've figured out its minor complexities and it has nothing left to offer me later on. I can't actually think of anything recent like that, because I tend to steer clear of stuff like that anymore . . .