Best albums of 2010

Well Instead of putting full reviews for all of my favorite albums of the year I am just going to do a short list to finish out the list. Some of these albums I will probably comeback to at some but I just want to finish up this so I can continue on my Top 50, my journey through The Mountain Goats and some more standalone reviews and thoughts.

10.) Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack/Score

9.) American Slang – The Gaslight Anthem

8.) The Age of Adz – Sufjan Steven
Best Song: Impossible Soul (well the first part of it anyways)

I have never been as enamored with Sufjan Steven as most other people I know. He certainly always showed talent on all his albums but none of them really called out to me. The Age of Adz changes that with the sheer beauty and ambition on display. The combination of singer-songwriter sensibility with electronica techniques makes the album fairly unique. It is also nice to see some board line pretentious ballsiness of old school prog exhibited in the 25 min “Impossible Soul”. In fact Sufjan Steven and The Beast and The Broadsword era Jethro Tull can hang out.

7.) The Way Out – The Books
Best Song: Beautiful People

Now for those who don’t know them, The Books are an electronic folk band. They use spoken word samples from old thrift store tapes and then right a song behind them, only occasionally singing themselves. To say they are unique is an understatement. What other band would open with a meditative song which contains the line “You may just possibly detect from my voice that I am Irish. And now I leap forward in time” then a few songs later have a song that is a fight between a young brother and sister with backing music funky as hell. Then of course there is “Beautiful People” a song about the concept of the 12th root of 2, which is the mathematical relationship between two musical notes.

6.) B.o.B Presents The Adventures of Bobby Ray – B.o.B
Best Song: Airplanes Part II

He performs with Haley Williams, Rivers Cuomo, and Janelle Monae. He samples Vampire Weekend and a performance of Gershwin’s “Summertime”. He has a song that sounds more like a Jack Johnson or One Eskimo song then a song off a hip-hop album. I could keep going but there is a lot about this record that I just love. Above everything else is one very important factor that glues it all together. B.o.B has great taste. He likes good music so he makes good music. Sure he isn’t breaking any new ground but every song except “Past My Shades” is entertaining. "Airplanes Part II" not only has excellent parts by B.o.B and Haley Williams, but also has the greatest verse ever delivered by Eminem. This is one I would suggest getting the Deluxe version, “Letters from Vietnam” really deserves to be on the main album.

5.) The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) – Janelle Monae
Best Song: 57821

A concept album, inspired by the movie “Metropolis” and taking elements from funk, hip-hop, folk, jazz, electronica, and classical music. This album more then any other this year gives me hope for the future of pop music. The ArchAndroid could have been a complete disaster, over reaching, pretentious, preachy, philosophically empty and mindless. Instead through the obvious care and craft of Janelle Monae it is thoughtful, ambitious, intelligent and intriguing. Plus I am all for tricking the pop audience into listening to classical music.

4.) Scratch My Back – Peter Gabriel
Best Song: My Body is a Cage

You say you plan on recording a record of covers and people role their eyes. You then add that it will be orchestral people start to groan. Then you say that there will be NO traditional rock instruments on the album and some people start getting intrigued. Then when the album not only matches but surpasses many of the originals, well then you get Scratch My Back. Not a single song on this disc is a waste of space. The Orchestral arrangements are never half assed and Gabriel turns in a fantastic and heartfelt vocal performance on each track, especially in a great stretch of songs from the middle of the album. Lou Reed’s “Power of the Heart”, Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage”, The Magnetic Fields “The Book of Love”, Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” and Regina Specter’s “Apres Moi”. This streak leaves me emotionally exhausted and the pure strength of this stretch could guarantee a spot on this list, but the fact that it is embedded in the middle of other fantastic tracks propels it to number 4

3.) Flamingo – Brandon Flowers
Best Song: Swallow It

Now I talked about this album before and my opinion has not changed much. I thought it was fantastic then and if anything I like it even more now. Every track is interesting and catchy and never try and reach beyond what they are. “Swallow It” is one of the greatest songs of 2010 (yeah I will do a top songs of 2010 before putting the year to rest) and really this album serves to prove that The Killers isn’t just Brandon Flowers, but it would do just fine if it was.

2.) Steel Train – Steel Train
Best Song: Fall Asleep vs You and I Undercover

Damn if only American Slang was number 10 and this was number 1 I could have had some nice Springsteen disciple bookends. If you asked me to define what exactly makes Steel Train such an amazing band…well I would likely get flustered and end up saying, “just check them out and hear for yourself.” They really are hard to pin down. They aren’t pushing any new ground but they don’t sound like a lumped sum of all their influences. And while I don’t think this record stands up to their last album Trampoline on a songwriting level, it does equal (if not surpass) it on an emotional level. This album would have been a definite number 1 for 2010…the only problem is the next album gives a combination that is really not fair to the rest on the list. If this album didn’t come out every other album on this list would be bumped up one slot and Jim Bryson And The Weakerthans’ The Falcon Lake Incident could have graced the list. But I guess that is what happens when…



1.) Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin – Brian Wilson
Best Song: The Like in I Love You or maybe Summertime or maybe…all of them

There is no way this couldn’t be my favorite album of the year, absolutely no way. Two songs that are personal favorites of mine are Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy”. If either of those come up without me expecting them consider my productivity shot for the remainder of their duration as I drift into the exquisite melodies. Well turns out Brian Wilson shares my love for “Rhapsody in Blue” citing it as his earliest musical memory and bookending the album with vocals performances of the piece and scattering various excerpts throughout the album, a smart move that pays tribute to the original without trying to match the majesty of the whole piece. On top of performing the standards Wilson also had the honor of completing two unfinished Gershwin compositions. The first full song on the album “The Like in I Love You” and the last full song “Nothing But Love”. Both are great but “The Like in I Love You” is the clear winner. It fits seamlessly with the timeless Gershwin classics like it was meant to. I guess I come off a little sappy in my love for this album but what can I say, it just puts me in a very innocent and transcendent mood!