Favorite Albums of 2010

[Miclewis]

Favorite Albums of 2010:
(no particular order)

1. All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu - Rufus Wainwright
2. No Better Than This - John Mellencamp
3. Tin Can Trust - Los Lobos
4. Band of Joy - Robert Plant
5. God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise - Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
6. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
7. Vampire Weekend - Contra
8. The Union - Elton John and Leon Russell
9. National Ransom - Elvis Costello

And I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this but I am adding:
10. Going Back (Deluxe Version) - Phil Collins

There are probably a ton of albums from this year that I haven't discovered yet. I probably missed many great albums that I'll get after the year is over.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Not sure I have ten, but I liked these:

1) The Black Keys - Brothers
2) Broken Bells - s/t
3) Vampire Weekend - Contra
4) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
5) Joe Pernice - Goodbye Killer
6) Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way
7) Laura Veirs - July Flame

[pophead2k]

I liked Broken Bells, The Roots, Cee-Lo, and EC.

[Jack of All Parades]

2010 favorites:

1 "God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise" Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs- perhaps my favorite for the entire year- it never leaves my player.

2 "Le Noise" Neil Young- aural heaven

3 "Broken Bells" Broken Bells also aural heaven

4 "Band of Joy" Robert Plant nice follow up

5 "Tin Can Trust" Los Lobos I never tire of them

6 "Dream Attic" Richard Thompson a beautiful and poignant 'live' album

7 "Silver Pony" Cassandra Wilson if only for her version of "Blackbird"

8 "Contra" Vampire Weekend infectious every time I play it

9 "Intriguer' Crowded House well crafted pop and a powerhouse of a drummer

10 "National Ransom" Elvis Costello and "The Open Road" John Hiatt Memorable reclamation projects, both.

There are three revisits this year that have stayed with me:

1 "Exile on Main Street" The Rolling Stones
2 "Valleys of Neptune" Jimi Hendrix
3 "The Whitmark Demos" Bob Dylan

Finally I suspect Joanna Newsom's "Have One On Me" will nudge somebody out once I have a chance to listen- right now it is a pending Christmas gift for a daughter that I will be borrowing to listen to after the 25th.

[Otis Westinghouse]

1. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire: repays endless repeats
2. Have One on Me - Joanna Newsom: yes, CS, you will not be able to get enough of it, so much good stuff here
3. Lloyd Cole - Broken Record: just wonderful
4. Love and Its Opposite - Tracey Thorne: surprise entrant for me, but this is wonderful
5. July Flame - Laura Veirs: saw WSS had listed it and thought 'that was 2009', but indeed, it was Jan. Lovely record
6. I Speak Because I Can- Laura Marling: not as big a fan as SLL, but this is still a very strong record
7. This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem: his last one as LCDS, and the best to date. Some wonderful moments
8. Station to Station reissue: sublime
9. National Ransom - I suppose, chiefly because I can't think of any other new ones I've bought - though I've only played al of it once, and haven't listened to any of it for about three weeks. It's admirable, but it's hard work. Maybe I'll play it more over Christmas, but there are so many more exciting things out there...

The Word mag's Best of 2010 had some nice stuff on it, some of which might well be on the above list if I knew it, e.g. Broken Bells, and certainly the posthumous (for the first-named) and second record by Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate.

[invisible Pole]

My ten favourite albums of 2010 :

Lloyd Cole - Broken Record
Tracey Thorn - Love & Its Opposite
Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man
Vampire Weekend - Contra
The National - High Violet
James - The Night Before / The Morning After
Ash - A-Z , vol. 1 & 2
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The Candle Thieves - Sunshine And Other Misfortunes
Babybird - Ex-maniac

Lurking just behind :
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue
Graham Parker - Imaginary Television
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Northern Portrait - Criminal Art Lovers

[Otis Westinghouse]

My head wasn't working and I initially omitted Lloyd. How could I? have now redone. A lovely work.

Some definite overlaps there, IP, except you don't even have NR as bubbling under!

[invisible Pole]

Yes, Lloyd's new album is simply wonderful.
Have you seen the video for Writer's Retreat ?


As for NR, I have been doing my best to love it, but I doubt I ever will.

[mood swung]

so far,

I like
the first 3 songs on the Broken Bells album.
Come Around Sundown - K of L
that song by Cee Lo
some of NR, but I keep thinking, is he kidding?
Rihanna and Eminem's song
To The Sea - Jack Johnson - such a return to form. and that's a huge compliment.

everything's pieces/parts for me this year, the pieces/parts I heard.

Fave new-to-me band: The SteelDrivers

fave book: Don't Shoot the Dog! by Karen Pryor, which my dog chewed the back cover off of.

all of these are of course, things I *found* this year. I cannot be bound by publication dates!

Where the heck is Mike Boom? They still let you have internet even if you get deported, don't they?

Where the heck is Mike Boom?

[Jack of All Parades]

Otis, you were definitely right when it came to Ms. Newsome. It has been a strange morning in my household as the parents were the first up this morning for many hours before the children woke[that has to be a first]. Anyway her unique and delightful album "Have One On Me" has been filling the household and I cannot get enough of it so I thank you and my middle daughter for introducing this old man to her music. {On a creepier note- am I wrong to note how attractive her legs are?}. The song "81" is on a continuous loop as I write this. This is a great time as her music is on the player and Bellow's Letters is in my hands. I have the best of all worlds. Going out later with the wife -an avid dancer in her youth until a foot injury ended her ballet career- and the daughters to a Christmas Day showing of "Black Swan". Merry Christmas!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Splendid. '81 would definitely qualify as my top musical moment of the year. She opened the Birmingham show I saw with it. Breathtaking. And yes, a fine pair of legs too. Some of the more wayward eccentricities of her earlier singing have been reined in on HOOM. there was some story about throat modules meaning she could speak or sing for two months and has come back with a maturer voice (or 'matoorer', as I now can only think of it, given that in The Corrections Franzen repeatedly spells it this way!). There are so many good songs across the three CDs.

Merry Christmas indeed. I was happy to get two more volumes of the sublime Jean-Efflam Bavouzet complete recordings of Debussy's piano music.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Can I get an early nomination in for best album of 2011?

http://www.buildarocketboys.com/

Not out till March 7, but this 6 minute opener hints that Elbow might surpass themselves, although in reality all four to date have strong claims to be equal best. I just love this. It has the stillness combined with emotional intensity of their long-standing show-closer Scattered Black and Whites, along with one of my other favourites of theirs, Switching Off. Album titles comes from this song. I can't wait.

Also in the list is sure to be Long Player Late Bloomer:

http://www.ronsexsmith.com/news/

Together with docu film about its making, Love Shines, title of a typically lovely song off the LP you can hear on the above page. Seems like he's got some budget backing with a former Metallica/Bon Jovi/Bublé (!) producer and some name musicians. The world will probably largely ignore it, apart from a bunch of devotees, but maybe the above will help push it.

Can't wait to see these two of my favouritest acts on the London stage (O2 Arena and Barbican respectively) in the spring.

It's already a good year for music.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Went gift certificate shopping today on Amazon and picked up the Arcade Fire, Ray Lamontagne and The National albums. Also got The Walkmen's "Lisbon" and Mark Lanegan/Isobel Campbell's "Hawk" based on friends' recommendations.

[Jeremy Dylan]

Just noticed this thread. 2010 wasn't a brilliant year for new records, but there were some real gems in there.

10. LISTEN CLOSELIER - The Frowning Clouds
9. BROTHERS - The Black Keys
8. I LEARNED THE HARD WAY - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
7. HERE LIES LOVE - David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
6. PATCHWORK RIVER - Jim Lauderdale
5. GET OFF ON THE PAIN - Gary Allan
4. THE UNION - Elton John and Leon Russell
3. LONELY AVENUE - Ben Folds
2. RELEASE ME The Like
1. NATIONAL RANSOM Elvis Costello