SH Forums Best Albums of 2010

Peter Frampton - Thank You Mr. Churchill

 

Still have a LOT to listen to, but so far my pick is John Zorn's "In Search of the Miraculous", with honorable mention to AutoYno ("Pastrami Bagel Social Club"), Erykah Badu ("New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh"), Seu Jorge/Almaz ("Seu Jorge & Almaz"), and Masada String Trio ("Haborym: Book of Angels, Vol. 16").

\w/

 

Okay, here we go. The top ten in no particular order:

Field Music - Field Music (Measure)
Richard Thompson - Dream Attic
Arcade Fire - Suburbs
Spoon - Transference
Black Keys - Brothers
New Pornographers - Together
Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
Delta Spirit - History From Below
Peter Himmelman - The Mystery and the Hum
Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust

Others I Liked a lot:

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards
Black Prairie - Feast of the Hunters Moon
Grinderman - Grinderman II
Broken Bells - s/t
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
Eels - End Times, Tomorrow Morning
Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back
Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
Shearwater - Golden Archipelago
I Am Kloot - Sky at Night
Midlake - Courage of Others
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Tom Petty - Mojo
Robert Plant - Band of Joy
Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune
The Posies - Blood/Candy
Porcupine Tree - Atlanta
King Crimson - The Collectable King Crimson Vol. 5
Villagers - Becoming a Jackal

 

Some highlights for me:

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
Tame Impala – Inner Speaker

 

Really hard to finalize this. Man this was hard, too many great options. Here we go.

1. Field Music - Measure
2. John Grant - Queen of Denmark
3. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
4. New Pornographers - Together
5. The Moons - Life On Earth
6. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
7. Mt Desolation - S/t
8. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
9. The Greenhornes - 4 Stars
10. The Young Veins - Take a Vacation!


Other excellent albums (because I couldnt stop):

11. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
12. Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin Up The Pieces
13. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards
14. Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away
15. Warpaint - The Fool
16. The Sword - Warp Riders
17. Matt Costa - Mobile Chateau
18. Ray LaMontagne - God Willing....
19. Black Dub
20. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
21. The Black Crowes - Croweology
22. Ali & Toumani
23. The Black Keys - Brothers
24. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
25. Laura Veirs - July Flame
26. Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks
27. Broken Bells
28. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
29. The Mynabirds - What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood
30. The Villagers - Becoming a Jackal

 

The only 2010 albums I like are of the same genre. R&B/hip-hop/whatever is the only place to find innovative pop music right now IMO, so my albums of the year, after the Monae, are:

- New Amerykah 2, Eykah Badu
- How I Got Over, The Roots
- The Lady Killer- Cee-Lo Green
- Sir Luscious Left-Foot, Big Boi
- I Learned The Hard Way, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

I only checked out two new rock albums that I liked some of and that's of course Arcade Fire and, believe it or not, Hole. Both have good songs but also lotsa stuff that's not so good so they don't make my list.

 

Midnight Souvenirs, Peter Wolf

 

Mayhem - Imelda May
No Better Than This - John Mellencamp
Immotion & Commotion - Jeff Beck
Butcher Holler:A Tribute To Loretta Lynn - Eilen Jewell
Lisbon - The Walkmen
See You On The Moon - Tift Merrit
God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise - Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
The Secret Sisters - The Secret Sisters
Memphis Blues - Cyndi Lauper
Band Of Joy - Robert Plant

 

• Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise
• Peter Wold - Midnight Souvenirs
• Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden - Jasmine
• Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues
• John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
• Jeff Beck - Emotion & Commotion
• The Black Keys - Brothers

 

+1 on Phosphene Dream, and thanks to thread on it here earlier this year, because I didn't even know it existed until then!

 

Tom Petty, Mojo.

 

1) Taylor Swift: Speak Now
2) Kate Nash: My Best Friend Is You
3) She & Him: Volume Two
4) Brandon Flowers: Flamingo
5) Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
6) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: MOJO
7) Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
8) Black Keys: Brothers
9) Goldfrapp: Head First
10) Paramore: Brand New Eyes (late 2009 release, but new to me in 2010)

Reissues of the Year:

1) Jimi Hendrix: West Coast Seattle Boy
2) George Harrison: All Things Must Pass (24/96 download)
3) Bob Dylan: The Complete Mono Recordings
4) Paul McCartney & Wings: Band on the Run
5) Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune

 

were some posts deleted accidentally??

 

All nice ones, but none beats The Complete Elvis Presley Masters. I have both Hendrix releases but not Harrison, Dylan and McCartney (though, I plan on getting the deluxe one of McCartney's.) John Lennon's remasters are excellent too.

 

I bought the five I listed, but couldn't quite afford the Elvis box.

Sure wish I could, though.

 

A Tentative Ten for '10, in some particular order:

1. Twin Shadow ~ Forget
2. Les Shelleys ~ Les Shelleys
3. Marnie Stern ~ Marnie Stern
4. Mountain Man ~ Made The Harbor
5. The Tallest Man On Earth ~ Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird
6. John Trudell ~ Crazier Than Hell
7. The Tallest Man On Earth ~ The Wild Hunt
8. The National ~ High Violet (Expanded)
9. Brad Mehldau ~ Highway Rider
X. Joe West ~ Xoe Fitzgerald: Time Traveling Transvestite

Reissues:

1. Little Feat ~ Waiting For Columbus (MoFi CD)
2. Armed Forces ~ Elvis Costello (MoFi LP)
3. The Band ~ The Band (AF CD)
4. Allman Brothers ~ At Fillmore East (Japan SHM SACD)

 

I loved that Sharon Jones release.

 

The Black Keys - Brother
Ray LaMontange - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise

I'd give an honorable mention to "No Better Than This" by John Mellencamp just for trying something different. The rest of the music I bought this year I could take or leave.

 

1. Dream Attic-Richard Thompson (Deluxe edition)
2. The Open Road-John Hiatt
3. Olympia-Bryan Ferry
4. Union-Elton John and Leon Russell
5. World Gone Crazy-The Doobie Brothers
6. Write About Love-Belle and Sebastian
7. The Suburbs-Arcade Fire
8. Scratch My Back-Peter Gabriel
9. Fidelity!-JP, Chrissie and The Fairgroundboys

I'll get to reissues later.

 

Was Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros' "Up From Below" released this year? It deserves a mention in some way. Another overlooked album would be the Avett Brothers' "Live, Volume 3." A very good live album not to be missed, a shame it did not get a Blu-ray release. The show looked great in HD on Palladia.

 

This is MY top 10 of music released in 2010, but I have to admit I am usually a few years behind in discovering new music.

1. Your Future Our Clutter - The Fall. Picked this up on a whim and it floored me. In fact I have spent most of 2010 buying and discovering Fall music (so many albums! so little time!), which is why the list will be fairly short.

2. Have One on Me - Joanna Newsom. Something about double and triple albums that intrigue me. Never heard Ys when it was being proclaimed best album of 2006, but I knew I had to get HOoM. I think this is an absolute masterpiece, in the tradition of ambitious slow-burning pop like Tusk or Painted from Memory. I mean, did you ever think the word "lawlessness" could be a pop song hook?

3. Spread the Love - Ronnie Earl. This is music from the heart. Was able to catch Mr Earl in a very small venue and word cannot describe the beautiful sounds heard that night.

4. Crooked - Kristin Hersh. A beautiful album that grows on you the more you listen (most of them do). Kudos to Kristin for the whole campaign around this album, the book, etc. and all funded by her Strange Angels.

5. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire. I think this album is better than any of their past efforts.

6. Nels Cline "Dirty Baby" (just got this but sounds amazing so far)

7. The New Pornographer "Together" (very strong effort compared to their last one)

8. The Sadies "Darker Circles"

9. The Swans "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky" (awesome comeback album)

10. Cowboy Junkies "Remnin Park" (great album just when I was starting to give up on them).

 

That one is from 2009. It's a favorite of mine also.

 

Great lists so far. I'm not ready yet but I've got 23 I'm going to listen to again in full to make the list next week:

The Apples in Stereo "Travellers in Space and Time"
Arcade Fire "The Suburbs"
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Before Today"
Crystal Castles (s/t)
Curren$y "Pilot Talk"
Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest"
Gil Scott-Heron "I'm New Here"
Hot Chip "One Life Stand"
Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"
Joanna Newsom "Have One on Me"
Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"
Love Is All "Two Thousand and Ten Injuries"
Male Bonding "Nothing Hurts"
MGMT "Congratulations"
Midnight Juggernauts "The Crystal Axis"
The National "High Violet"
Sufjan Stevens "The Age of Adz"
Surfer Blood "Astro Coast"
The Tallest Man on Earth "The Wild Hunt"
Tame Impala "Innerspeaker"
Titus Andronicus "The Monitor"
Vampire Weekend "Contra"
The Walkmen "Lisbon"

 

No love for Jakob Dylan's Women + Country?

 

Dang, I only have two albums produced in 2010 and only one is worthy of mention on a best of list.

1. The Black Keys - Brothers
2-10. Blank
11. The Flaming Lips & Stardeath And White Dwarfs - Dark Side Of The Moon