Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Best of 2006: albums


All of the '06 albums that I purchased or otherwise "acquired"*

1. Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins Rilo Kiley frontwoman is joined by a couple of gospel singers and cuts a country-tinged album. Amazing stuff.
2. Jarvis - Jarvis Cocker Like Pulp? Then you'll love this album. Jarvis grows older, but with his detached coolness intact.
3. Alright, Still - Lily Allen Believe the hype. Every song's a winner on this one. Maybe a bit too "British" for American dominance, though.
4. The Life Pursuit - Belle & Sebastian B&S's sound gets even fuller (although they're still pretty twee).
5. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse The retro R&B album Christina Aguilera wishes she made.
6. ...And the Summertime Pool Party - Pigeon John PJ signs to a secular label and rebounds from the pretty "meh" last album. He's found what's missing in most of today's hip-hop: fun.
7. Begin to Hope - Regina Spektor Her vocal quirks aren't for everybody, but this is quality music.
8. American V: A Hundred Highways - Johnny Cash An eerie transmission from the grave that ranks among the best of his latter-day material.
9. Piece by Piece - Katie Melua With this album Katie sheds her "Norah clone" image. Plus, it's got the guy who played the flute on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on it.
10. The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance Emo boys play dress up and enlist the producer of American Idiot to help them make their own rock opera. And it's surprisingly good.

Best reissues 'n' stuff:
1. ...Is a Real Boy/...Was a Real Boy - Say Anything
2. Love - The Beatles
3. Personal File - Johnny Cash
4. 12 Songs (Limited Deluxe Edition) - Neil Diamond
5. My Flame Burns Blue - Elvis Costello
6. Whiskey on a Sunday - Flogging Molly


Biggest personal trend: imports
Three of my Top 10 albums weren't available domestically in 2006, as was another one in my Top 30. And I'm still dying to get those Pulp reissues.

Best concert: G. Love & Special Sauce

*Oversight: I left off the Say Anything disc.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

that sounds like a good, well-rounded selection. i especially like your sixth selection.

and thank jeebus, no Hold Steady.

Micah said...

Hold Steady...ugh. I've heard some of their album and, well, if I wanted something that sounded like Springsteen, I'd opt to go directly to The Boss.

As for PJ, his latest album is bananas (to use late-90's hip-hop slang). Definitely more than a few steps up from ...Sings the Blues.

Anonymous said...

no Camera Obscura? no Decemberists? I poop on this list.

Anonymous said...

p.s. how did you make that graphic?

Micah said...

I've heard one CO song and really liked it, but haven't heard the whole album (yet). As for the Decemberists, my brother LOVES that album, but he has yet to give me a copy. Or maybe he has and I just forgot.

As for the graphic, I downloaded all of the album art from the All Music Guide and then created multiple horizontal panoramic pictures in IrfanView, then created a vertical panoramic picture out of the rows. Pretty easy.

Anonymous said...

Nerd-speak.

Anonymous said...

MMB?

SBN1 said...

Da! MMB!