I have never been able to resist the pull of year-end lists. I look forward to them, well, all year.
Eight Favorite Albums That Came Out in 2007
1. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible. Apocalyptic rock gets me every time.
2. Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis. For the Romans 7 moment of the year, see “I Will Kill Again”. We had the pleasure of seeing him play (twice!) earlier this year, and I’m pleased to report that he lived up to my ridiculously high expectations.
3. Bishop Allen – And the Broken String.
4. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. My conversion to Spoon is now complete.
5. Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter.
6. Okkervil River – The Stage Names.
7. Mark Olson – Salvation Blues.
8. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala.
Nine Musical Obsessions of 2007, aka What I Actually Listened to This Year
1. George Harrison: From the demos for All Things Must Pass to the posthumous Brainwashed record, I dig it all, even the stuff about Formula-1. With the possible exception of Dylan, I can’t think of anyone better able to mix humor and cynicism with genuine faith. Hard to believe someone so famous remained so religious, right to the end. I could not respect him more. My favorite Beatle, hands down.
2. The Beach Boys: I thought it would never happen, but this was the year I got deep into their 80’s output. No shame!
3. The Who: How did I miss Quadrophenia?! It rocked my Spring, as did everything remotely related to their aborted Lifehouse project.
4. Electric Light Orchestra. Eldorado is my favorite, followed by Out Of The Blue and Discovery.
5. The Turtles. Just look at them!
6. The Bee Gees reissues. Lame as can be, but also unbelievably catchy and consistent. I cannot wait for Odessa.
7. The Killers. I did a lot of jogging to get in shape for the wedding, and I couldn’t have done it without them.
8. Bob Dylan. Especially the post-Gospel-but-secretly-still-Gospel stuff from the mid-80s (for more info, read this).
9. And of course, Chinese Democracy. Though at this point, my interest in Axl Rose probably goes beyond obsession. A few rough tracks leaked in May, and I’ve been checking the GNR message boards ever since.
More to come…. Feel free to share your own.
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