Sunday, December 30, 2007
A+E, Music
The year in music
A critic chooses his favorite albums
Black Lips
CREDIT: Courtesy of Vice Records |
Rob O’Connor
Top 10 Albums of 2007
1. Ron Sexsmith: “Time Being”
2. Roddy Woomble: “My Secret is My Silence”
3. Akron / Family: “Love is Simple”
4. Willy Mason: “If the Ocean Gets Rough”
5. Fionn Regan: “The End of History”
6. Magnolia Electric Co.: “Sojourner”
7. John Frusciante: “Ataxia II: AW II”
8. Band of Horses: “Cease to Begin”
9. Jose Gonzales: “In Our Nature”
10. Black Lips: “Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo”
Every year I look back over my top 10 and think it should somehow be more exciting and should somehow announce itself as something more than it is. When I read the year-end essays, I am usually awed at how other writers seem to have remembered so much more about the previous 12 months. Or at least are able to make sense of it in a way that differentiates it from the years that preceded it. I don’t have this ability. To me, 2007 pretty much feels like 2006.
I finally bought myself an MP3 player and now experience the same amount of indecision before starting off on a long drive that used to only occur while I was sitting in my office in rare periods of downtime and trying to figure out what would be the “perfect” listening experience for those moments. Fortunately, I’ve learned to use the shuffle feature and leave fate to the technology that’s clearly smarter than me.
As for my choices, you might notice a common thread, beyond the usual head-scratching obscurity of much of it. Though the list might suggest otherwise, I really don’t go out of my way to pick obscure albums. It just so happens that my ears were formed in a different era, before divas learned to caterwaul and “emo” bands learned to earnestly emote. But then mainstream radio and the culture in general mystifies me. I’m still not sure why every kitchen needs a granite countertop and stainless steel appliances in order to sell, but then my office has been described by some as a “storage unit,” so don’t look to me.
That said, I’m satisfied with my list. Ron Sexsmith belongs at the top because his album was simply the one I returned to most often. The opening three songs grip me in much the way all great songwriting does. I hit repeat and get lost in the melody and occasionally pick out a few words.
Roddy Woomble sings for Idlewild, a band I never listen to close enough, even though I’ve noted I like their sound. But as someone who inexplicably enjoys it when music is stripped down—yes, folks, remove the excitement factor and suddenly I’m transfixed— Woomble’s solo album leaves plenty of space for his voice to take command. The title track is simply a gorgeous piece of work.
Akron/Family and Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante’s Ataxia sound like young guys sent away to bucolic mind-control camps only to hypnotize themselves with their own inner anarchic glee. The Black Lips made a “live” album, but people question its legitimacy (like you have to give those guys a reason to drink to excess).
Willy Mason, the Martha’s Vineyard songwriter, Fionn Regan, the latest Lost Highway alt-country troubadour, Sweden’s Jose Gonzalez, and Magnolia Electric Company’s Jason Molina don’t do anything unusual beyond create moods that I find myself drawn to as the days come to a close and I work into the late night. SP