Music Wrap Up For This 2007

When I made my Best of 2006 list, I committed what I now realize to be a huge mistake. You see, there was a considerable amount of good albums released overseas in late 2006, that weren't properly released in the U.S. until 2007. So, I made the across-the-board decision that in the case of these albums, I would use the earlier date. So, that means that the Jarvis Cocker solo album is stuck in 2006. That masterpiece of a last Sloan album...2006. The addictive I'm From Barcelona album that I didn't even hear until 2007, thus I didn't even rank...yep, even though you became my personal soundtrack for 2007, you're 2006 too. Those three albums would be the top three, easily, for this year.

You see, I got cocky about 2007. There was so much much hope. Wilco, Fountains of Wayne, the BMX Bandits, Dinosaur Jr, Gary B, The Ladybug Transistor, Of Montreal, The New Pornographers. Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, The Shins, The Rosebuds. At some point or another in history, each of these bands either held the distinction of being my favorite band, maker of an album that I listened to nothing but for weeks straight and/or in the case of the New Pornographers, a group that I thought was singlehandedly reshape the face of pop music forever. And now in one calendar year, they all had new albums. What could go wrong?

Granted, I had outgrown Dinosaur, Rufus and Radiohead years ago, so I expected the worst out of them. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I found some pretty enjoyable moments on each of their new albums. That said, I'm done with those albums, probably never to return.

Wilco and Fountains of Wayne...they still sting. I could pinpoint an exact date when I thought with full certainty that Tweedy and Collingsworth/Schlesinger weren't capable of writing a bad song.

Every Uncle Tupelo album was split into two EPs. The vomit inducing Jay Farrar side and the magic Tweedy side. The first three Wilco albums? Utterly perfect. The first two Golden Smog records? The Billy Bragg and Wilco two-fer? Wow and wow. Then came the first chink in the armor...Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I've come to like this album a lot, but when I first heard it, it was the first mis-step. I thought they were being too groundbreaking for their own good. It made me go back and re-evaluate the earlier works. Being There? Maybe 3/4 as good as I had initially thought. Then came A Ghost Is Born and off came the wheels. This new one, whatever its called, well it was a step back in the right direction, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. I couldn't sing you one line from it. There's a song about some sort of light and I think that one was the best.

Fountains of Wayne. After two albums and another disc's worth of crazy good b-sides , these guys were unstoppable. Goofy, but earnest. Then came Welcome Interstate Managers, which was a perfect precursor to this year's junky Traffic and Weather. Whereas Tweedy's curse has been trying to be too innovative...FOW has fucked up by trying to be too cutesy and clever lyrically. The earnestness isn't there anymore. Its just stupid now.

FOW's Adam Schlesinger did do something wonderful this year and that wonderful's name is the soundtrack to Music & Lyrics, which was already deemed my biggest guilty pleasure of 2007. Look, I know that you're going to hate "Way Back Into Love" but listen to it anyhow.



If you have even a tiny heart, you'll remember it tomorrow and the next day, too. And soon enough, it will be the song that you dance to at your wedding. Beyond that, I'm not sure which songs he wrote and which one's some other dude wrote...but I've gone off the deep end and I love almost everything on this soundtrack, except some sort of ancient Egyptian sounding song.


Combine my thoughts about FOW and Wilco, and you'll have my feelings towards Of Montreal.

I'm so unenthusiastic about this year's music, and I'm beginning to think that today's blog has been a horrible decision.

Without further ado, here's my Top Ten of 2007:

1. The Primary 5 - Go! - When Teenage Fanclub released Grand Prix, Songs From Northern Britain and Howdy, the songwriting responsibilities were evenly split amonst Norman Blake, Gerry Love and Raymond McGinley. I can't argue with the results. All three of them were at the tops of their game. Little did we know, they had Paul Quinn just sitting behind the drums. Well, Paul eventually left and "Go!" is his second set of ten catchy as all hell pop songs. I shudder to think what a Teenage Fanclub album would sound like now if Ray, Norm and Gerry were all bumped down to three songs a piece to make room for some Paul songs. As a side, Paul once asked if I wanted to write a song with him and I didn't act quickly enough. I kick myself over that daily. The Primary 5 have subsequently broken up, so this is their swan song. Something tells me that they'll reform in 2008.
   
2. Apples In Stereo - Can You Feel It? - The Apples were always one of those bands that I couldn't say one bad thing about, yet still could never find it in me to want to listen to any of their music. Then came this album. Their opus.
   
3. Steve Hefter & Friends of Friends - Twist and Hold Til Morning - It makes me sad that two of my friends' bands made the Perfect Baltimore Record before I had the chance. Because of that, I had to leave Roddy off of the list. It's still just too painful. This one makes me forget about Wilco.
   
4. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away - If you told me in January that this album would have made my Top Ten list, I would have told you that you were crazy. Lo and behold, its grown on me. It starts slow and boring, but luckily that song only lasts like 20 seconds. The competition didn't hurt either.
   
5. Nick Lowe - At My Age - Okay, I'm not positive that all of these songs aren't all the same song, but I like it a lot anyhow. Dude's got a voice.
   
6. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin - Ditto on this one,although less emphasis on the "voice" part. I've only just gotten this one, so I haven't learned it too well. That said, it seems like a real winner, and the future will probably show this one rocketing up my charts. The first song is called "Is There A Ghost," and its the type of song that I'd love to write. Its like three lines that he sings over and over, yet the music behind it keeps the song interesting. I don't think that I could get away with it as easily.
   
7. The BMX Bandits - Bee Stings - The last BMX album, My Chain, took me a year to fully appreciate, so I'm giving this one that same benefit of the doubt. There's plenty of enjoyable moments, but overall, I find myself snoozing a bit. They've added a female singer to the mix, who works out pretty well, but she steals a lot of the singing time away from Duglas T. Stewart, whose voice is a bit of a "grower," but once you get down with it, you can't get enough. Come back, Duglas!
   
8. The Thrills - Teenager - Eh, nondescript, but its fine. Really, its okay.
   
9. Euros Childs - Miracle Inn/Bore Da - This is two albums, and I really shouldn't group them together. One of them has a lot of Welsh talk on there and one has a lot of horse talk. This fella used to sing in a group called Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and I was nervous that they stopped making music altogether...but guess what...here's this guy doing his guy stuff on some sort of solo albums.
   
10. Original Soundtrack - Music & Lyrics - 'Nuff said. I know that you said you wouldn't trust me anymore after I made you go see the Bacon Brothers, but give me one more chance!
    

Random stats: 47 new release music albums acquired this year. 2 comedy albums.

And there you have it.