SH Forums Best Albums of 2010

Picking up from the earlier thread here: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=214745&highlight=best+2010

Time to start thinking about our best albums of 2010 lists. Please post here when you feel ready to do so and maybe we can do an overall poll (in January). Suggest we go for everyone's Top 10 albums of the year - please rank them if possible. I'm still working on mine...

 

i'm still massaging this

TOP TEN 2010
Jónsi – “Go” (my record of the decade)
John Grant – “Queen of Denmark”
The National – “High Violet”
David Gray – “Foundling”
The Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs
Junip – “Fields”
Ray LaMontagne – “God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise”
Rufus Wainwright – “All Days For Nights; Songs for Lulu”
Joanna Newsom - "Have One On Me"
Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back"

Hard to leave off the list are…

Belle & Sebastian
The Coral
Daniel Carlson
I Am Kloot
OMD – “History of Modern”
Sufan Stevens – both releases counting as one big release for me.
Bryan Ferry – “Olympia”

 

Here's my top 10. I'll post a longer list including concerts, reissues and everything later.

1.Laura Veirs - July Flame
2.Neil Young - Le Noise
3.Krista Detor - Chocolate Paper Suites
4.Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust
5.Stars - The Five Ghosts
6.Elvis Costello - National Ransom
7.Shelby Lynne - Tears Lies & Alibis
8.Richard Thompson - Dream Attic
9.Agnes Obel - Philharmonics
10.Beth Nielsen Chapman - Back To Love

 

No particular order; hard enough getting it down to 10.

1. Small Craft on a Milk Sea - Brian Eno
2. Solo - Vijay Iyer
3. I Speak Fula - Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
4. Afrocubism - s/t
5. Initiate - The Nels Cline Singers
6. A Sufi and A Killer - Gonjasufi
7. Band of Joy - Robert Plant
8. Your Future Our Clutter - The Fall
9. The Guitar Song - Jamey Johnson
10. Dream Attic - Richard Thompson

Worthy contenders:

National Ransom - Elvis Costello
Transference - Spoon
IRM - Charlotte Gainsbourg
Country Music - Willie Nelson
The Celestial Septet - Nels Cline/ROVA
All is Falling - James Blackshaw
Taro Sport - **** Buttons
Assume Crash Position - Konono No. 1

 

Here's my Top 5:

1. Killing Joke - Absolute Dissent
2. Grinderman - Grinderman 2
3. Spoon - Transference
4. Shriekback - Life In The Loading Bay
5. Wire - Send Ultimate

I've heard most of the new Duran Duran too, and that will probably end up on my list too.

 

THE YEAR ISN'T OVER YET!!!

 

we're all whittling it down and finalizing...mine is not set in stone, just discussing...so what are some of your contenders?

 

In no particular order:

1. Asia - Omega
2. Heart - Red Velvet Car
3. Black Country Communion
4. Spock's Beard - X
5. The Black Keys – Brothers
6. The Monkees - Head
7. Jeff Beck - Emotion and Commotion
8. Joe Satriani - Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards
9. Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy
10. Angelfire {Steve Morse & Sarah Spencer}

 

1. The Beige/El Angel Exterminador
2. Devon Sproule/Don't Hurry For Heaven
3. Kink Ador/The Shape of Life
4. Tom Mank & Sera Smolen/Paper Lisses
5. Pieta Brown/One & All
6. Riptide Movement/Hot Tramp
7. Ruth Moody/The Garden
8. Ash Ganley/Universe Acceptable
9.

You know what? I can't do it. I have 25 albums at the top of my head, each one deserving a rank. Too many albums to limit to such a list.

Frank G

 

YOU CAN UPDATE!!!

 

As of right now, I would probbaly include these in my list:

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Dr. Dog - Shame Shame
The Black Keys - Brothers
Deer Tick - The Black Dirt Sessions
Delta Spirit- History From Below
The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation
Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking it Easy
The Black Crowes - Croweology
The National - High Violet

Some Other contenders -
Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
Robert Plant - Band of Joy
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mojo

 

I think if you look at the list of releases for December, you may have to conclude it is, for all intents and purposes, over.

See http://www.pauseandplay.com/07december2010.htm

Over the rest of the month, I see new releases from Duffy, Natasha Bedingfield, Inxs, Plain White Ts, and Michael Jackson I may buy, but don't see any of those releases making my top 10 (even though I've not yet heard them).

 

MGMT - Congratulations
Best Coast - Crazy for You
Devo - Something for Everybody
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Ex Humans - Ex Humans

This year has actually been pretty disappointing. Not much that I've loved. However, that MGMT is a modern classic! In thirty years this will be considered "The Slider" of our generation.

I could be wrong...

 

Actually, I think I have only bought four "new" albums this year.

1. Elton and Leon - The Union
2. Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy
3. Black Label Society - Order of the Black
4. Black Crowes - Croweology

 

If you like "new wave" (for lack of a better term), make sure you check out the new Duran Duran and Shriekback albums that are coming out in December. Again, I've heard a lot of the new DD and all of the new Shriekback and they are excellent.

 

My ranking:

1. Overkill - Ironbound
2. Blind Guardian - At The Edge Of Time {Deluxe Edition}
3. The Doobie Brothers - World Gone Crazy {Deluxe Edition}
4. Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier {Mission Edition}
5. Sons Of Liberty - Brush-fires Of The Mind
6. John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
7. Grave Digger - The Clans Will Rise Again
8. Rhapsody Of Fire - The Frozen Tears Of Angels

I can only come up with 8 worthy ones for consideration for such a list. (Sorry Ozzy and sorry Halford, but your new albums aren't worthy enough.)


Side Note:

My problem is that this past year was another excellent year for reissues/remasters/box sets/DVDs/etc. I spent way more money and time with these types of releases than I did with new releases. As each year goes by, it is becoming even more like that. I'm not really interested in (and don't have the time to try out) new material unless it is from artists I already collect.

Maybe we can start a separate thread about the best reissues/remasters/box sets/DVDs/etc for this year. If that were the case, The Elvis Presley Complete Masters, John Lennon Signature Box Set (and the other releases,) The Who Live At Leeds Super Deluxe, a handful of AF Gold & Mofi CDs, and DVDs from U2, Rush, The Big 4 (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax), Judas Priest, Halford, and The Doors would make that list.

Even though I am not a Bob Dylan fan and don't buy his releases, I heard rave reviews about his Mono Box Set.

 

Black Francis - Nonstoperotik
Broken Bells - Broken Bells
Bryan Ferry - Olympia
Neil Young - Le Noise

Disappointing year for new releases... at least, for me.

For reissues however, it was a pretty good year: Station to Station, Desintegration, Fables of the Reconstruction, Kill City, Send Ultimate, Bona Drag etc. etc.

 

Neil Young - Le Noise

 

Kula Shaker- Pilgrims Progress... fantastic production and great songs along with a Folkish update to their '90's Psych/Brit Pop sound

 

Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep.

 

So far:

1. Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid (album of the millennium)
2. Menomena - Mines
3. Broken Bells - Broken Bells
4. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
5. White Denim - Last Day of Summer (free on their website)
6. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
7. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network
8. Black Dub - Black Dub

 

The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream is my sure number one - still working on the rest of my Top 10...

 

The Like - Release Me
Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
New Pornographers - Together

 

I keep pondering this title, it is something special, I have to go back to it before I finalize my list. I spent a lot of time loving this one over the summer.

 

Gabriel, Grant & Young for me.