2007 BS Album of the Year

This was a remarkable year for great albums for me. I am having a very hard time ranking the top of the list, so I am going to put them into two groups of best albums of the year. Outstanding and Super. The Super albums I played over and over and really think they are special, but they just didn't crack the top 5. I still highly recommend them.

Super

Spring Awakening Soundtrack. I've never enjoyed a soundtrack album or a musical as much a this one. It rocks. It's emotional. I laughed. I cried. I might have said it before - go see this musical if you get a chance.

Radiohead - In Rainbows. Never really got into Radiohead before. Give them huge ups for allowing people to log onto their website and pay whatever they would like to download the album. It suckered me in and I even gave them 2 pound fifty for it. I listened to it a few time over speakers and was indifferent. Then I put on my headphones and really took in the music. It is really hard for me to categorize. The album is really a sonic journey not a collection of songs. Anyway, I dug it, so it makes the list.

Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High. Another album with a bunch of good songs, but I was never moved enough by the entirity of the album. The previous 2 FOB albums were great from start to finish. I thought this had a couple of holes.

The Fratellis - Costello Music. Best album by a new band of the year. The songs are short, infectious, booty shaking songs. So maybe you can only understand every third word out of their Scottish mouths, my hips don't mind.

Incubus - Light Grenades. There were many very good singles on this album but not enough of a complete album to elevate into the top 5.

Outstanding

1. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. This is the most thoroughly enjoying album from start to finish for me. There are rockin' songs and cool out songs. I usually need to hear Modest Mouse songs a few times before they sink in. But when I do they take root in me and I absolutely love it. I can't make out the meanings in most of the songs. They are big on the metaphors and I wish I had a key to it. They stuck to a nautical theme throughout the album, but I don't know what it means. Methinks Isaac Bruce enjoys the halluciangenics more than I do. But the feelings in the song are what's important here. Congrats Modest Mouse on your BS Award for Album of the year.

2. The White Stripes - Icky Thump. While it very cute to hear my 9 year Guitar Hero, Jackson singing "If Americans don't got nothing better to do, kick yourself out, you're an immigrant too" the next line including "you can't be a pimp and a prostitute, too" is not quite as cute. Meg White may be the only member of any band that I think I can replace. It certainly isn't the complex percussion that makes this band rock. Jack White is a musical genius. Again, some of these songs just don't hit with me so it cannot win album of the year, but it is very near the top.

3. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Excellent album from start to finish. Good crisp, clean music that I listened to over and over and just really enjoyed.

4. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris. An excellent album! QOTSA will probably never be able to put out an album without 2 or 3 songs that I just cannot listen to. But carving those out, Era Vulgaris might be my favorite Queens album. The cream of this album made for an superb Queens-Royalty mix for the iSexy.

5. Foo Fighters - Echos, Silence, Patience & Grace. I love the Foo Fighters and a number of their songs have made mixes through the year, but the album as a whole is just missing something. I loved The Pretender and Stranger Things Have Happened (see songs of the year BS awards!), but the hits weren't consistent enough to be on top. I think too many of the songs on this album went for the "whisper to a scream" trademark that the Foos have used successfully in the past. Still a great album.

Ok, so I went ahead and ranked them... I can't stop myself.