My Top 50 Albums of 2007 (part 2 of 2)
I've consumed more new music this year than pretty much any year of my life, somewhere between 100 and 200 albums and mixtapes (although a lot of those were local things that, at least for this round of year-end stuff, I'm limiting to stuff like my local music list on the City Paper site). I probably heard almost as much music last year, but was fine keeping my list to a top 25. That's largely because I was reviewing albums for Stylus every week at the time and was more concerned with finding albums to write about (random promos, stuff I bought that I knew no other reviewer would have any interest in), so I heard a lot of crap that never got seriously considered for the list. This year, I pretty much focused on hearing every album that I thought I might actually like, although of course a lot of them ultimately weren't very good. As Jess said recently, "Even professional listeners are largely bullshitting when attempting to seriously rank albums after about No. 20 or so." So the bottom half of this top 50 was mostly and indulgence for me, to acknowledge all the records I liked but didn't quite love, but the top 25 is full of records that really made me feel like this was a good year for music. And I think it'll be useful a bit further down the road, after I've fallen out of love with a bunch of the records in the upper reaches of the list and want to reevaluate 2007.
1. Sloan - Never Hear The End Of It (Yep Roc)
Sloan's albums have always been kind of hit-and-miss, and the ratio had been steadily tilting toward more misses than hits since 1996's One Chord To Another. But for their 8th album, the band's four singer/songwriters (two of whom are very good, and two of whom are OK with flashes of brilliance) threw everything they had at the wall and ended up with a sprawling 30-song set that actually works. The consistency is still somewhat spotty, but with twice as many attempts they ended up with twice as many keepers, and most of the lesser songs are short transitional tracks that help make the album a cohesive whole.
Sloan - "Another Way I Could Do It" (mp3)
2. UGK - Underground Kingz (Jive)
Rap double albums always get shit on, but sometimes they make sense, especially in situations like this where the artist could've gone in 2 very different directions: a UGK album in the classic mold, with country rap beats and hooks by Pimp, or an all-star comeback album with tons of guests and outside producers. Instead, they made an album's worth of tracks with each method, and threw it all together to satisfy pretty much every expectation you could've had for the album. A few weeks ago, I was listening to this a lot and had just bumped it up to #2 on my year-end list literally the day before Pimp C passed away. And I'm glad that I did it then, so that I don't feel any conflict now about whether I'm just pumping up my opinion of the album in light of his death.
UGK - "Swishas & Dosha" (mp3)
3. Prodigy - Return Of The Mac (Koch)
It's really just as simple as this: Havoc's beats aren't what they used to be (see also: Kush) and G-Unit's production stable, for the most part, ain't shit. So Alchemist is pretty much the only guy who can bring out Prodigy's A game.
Prodigy - "Bang On 'Em" (mp3)
4. Parts & Labor - Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar)
I've done a pretty good job of ignoring most hip New York bands this decade, but if there are some more that sound like this, maybe I should take off my blinders more often.
Parts & Labor - "New Crimes" (mp3)
5. Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - Living With The Living (Touch & Go)
Ted Leo is one of those artists that's pretty much a lock for my top 10 every time he puts out an album, even with an overlong one with a few genre exercises that bite off more than they can chew. Time will tell whether these songs stand up with the best of The Tyranny Of Distance or Shake The Sheets, but this year I loved a lot of them. I'm pretty frustrated with Ted's live picks from this album, though. I saw him live 3 times this year, and he played "Colleen" and "Anunciation Day / Born On Christmas Day" and "The Unwanted Things" every time, but never "La Costa Brava" or "Some Beginner's Mind" or "The Toro And The Toreador."
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "A Bottle Of Buckie" (mp3)
6. Freeway - Free At Last (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Onetime exec producer 50 Cent only contributes one track of his trademark 'aggressive content' on "Take It To The Top" (I kid, but the hardest beat on the album, "It's Over," does come from a G-Unit producer, Jake One). Instead, Free takes it back to the old Roc-A-Fella soul beats that he rides with more urgency than anyone else, and succeeds despite a lack of Just Blaze, who was the main ingredient in making his debut a near-classic.
Freeway - "I Cry" (mp3)
7. Paramore - Riot! (Fueled By Ramen)
Female-fronted alt-rock acts rarely break through to the mainstream, but when they do, they have a tendency to end up massively popular (No Doubt, Evanescence, etc.). And right now, I'd be fine with Paramore getting that huge, and even if they don't, "Misery Business" was one of the best reasons to listen to rock radio this year and much of the rest of the album lives up to it.
Paramore - "Born For This" (mp3)
8. Eleni Mandell - Miracle Of Five (Zedtone)
Sleepy-eyed torch songs with slight touches of jazz and country that I'd probably think I was too cool for if this was Norah Jones huge, but I'm glad I don't.
Eleni Mandell - "Somebody Else" (mp3)
9. Scarface - Made (Rap-A-Lot)
Scarface is one of the last dudes I'd expect to take a turn toward relationship rap, but he makes it work better than almost anybody because he addresses the topic with the same dread and blunt honesty as everything else he's ever written.
Scarface f/ Nina - "Go" (mp3)
10. T-Pain - Epiphany (Konvict/Jive)
Even though it went platinum, it kinda feels like this album got a little lost in the shuffle with T-Pain was becoming the guest spot MVP of the year, and the two big singles are among my least favorite songs on the record. But there's a half dozen coulda/shoulda been hits on here, and the versatility he displays as a producer on this album is really impressive. I think the follow-up might leave this one in the dust if he can keep his career momentum up, though.
T-Pain - "Sounds Bad" (mp3)
11. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis (Rough Trade)
A brilliant malevolent asshole mellowing slightly in middle age, but still squeezing out a little bit of bile here and there.
Jarvis Cocker - "Tonite" (mp3)
12. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (Fat Possum)
One of the more dramatic reunions of the many in recent alt-rock history, and easily one of the best albums to result from such a comeback. I wish the Meat Puppets had stepped back on the scene this gracefully.
Dinosaur Jr. - "Back To Your Heart" (mp3)
13. Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face (Star Trak/Interscope)
This wouldn't quite measure up to New Sacred Cow even if Pharrell didn't totally kill the mood with the 2 songs he helps with, but the broadened palette of guitar and more 'live'-sounding drums is a great fit for Kenna's voice.
Kenna - "Baptized In Blacklight" (mp3)
14. Beanie Sigel - The Solution (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
The most unexpectedly enjoyable club rap album of the year.
Beanie Sigel f/ Diddy, Peedi Peedi and Ghostface Killah - "Shake It For Me" (mp3)
15. Say Anything - In Defense Of The Genre (Doghouse/J Records)
As a follow-up to Is A Real Boy (which, seriously, might be one of the best rock records of the decade), it's a mild disappointment. But it's also an expected and admirable one, since this band was pretty much destined to make an overreaching double album. All the gratuitous vocal cameos by people from more famous emo bands get a bit ridiculous after a while, but there's still plenty of Max Bemis blurting and screaming and being a funnier, more fascinating character than any of the guests ever are on their own albums.
Say Anything - "About Falling" (mp3)
16. Travis Morrison Hellfighters - All Y’All (Barsuk)
I never thought Travistan was the travesty it was made out to be, and in a way I'm disappointed that he backed down from its eccentricities and overtly political themes to make basically a more relationship-y Dismemberment Plan album. But it's also kind of nice to hear one of the better songwriters in indie rock back in his comfort zone and starting to gel with a new band.
Travis Morrison Hellfighters - "Hawkins' Rock" (mp3)
17. Kanye West - Graduation (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
His two previous albums were pretty much my #1's for the years they came out (Late Registration still is, College Dropout not so much), so in a way this one represents a big drop for Kanye in my esteem. But I pretty much always knew his appeal would wear thin at some point, and based on Graduation's first 2 singles that that would start right here. Aside from that middle stretch that I pretty much never want to listen to, though, this album still has some awesome songs near the beginning and end. Kanye may not have my album of the year, but he still does have that I Got A Lotta Cheese Award.
Kanye West f/ DJ Premier - "Everything I Am" (mp3)
18. Cassidy - B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story (Full Surface/J Records)
Cassidy had more to prove as an MC coming off "Hotel" than he does coming off of a car accident that nearly killed him, so it's not as vicious an album as I'm A Hustla, but this is still an underrated MC at the top of his game.
Cassidy f/ Swizz Beatz - "I Get My Paper" (mp3)
19. Talib Kweli & Madlib - Liberation (Blacksmith Music)
A free download album from two guys that respectively represent my love and hate for the late 90's/early 00's backpacker rap boom: Kweli, long my token favorite 'conscious' MC, and Madlib, who I hastily wrote off long ago after hearing The Unseen once and hating it. Turns out he is a dope producer, though, and Kweli's got almost as much chemistry with him as he used to with Hi-Tek, resulting in his best album since Train Of Thought and one that's unquestionably better than his so-so major label release this year, Eardrum.
Talib Kweli & Madlib f/ Candice Anderson - "Happy Home" (mp3)
20. Camp Lo - Black Hollywood (Good Hands records)
You think that when Jay sat next to Ski this year for that "Classic Albums" show to talk about Reasonable Doubt, it ever occurred to him that the guy who produced some of his most important early tracks still has some jams in his back pocket, many of which are better than anything he ended up with on the album he made soon after? The only part of the Scratch blog's fake Top Producers of 2007 list that I didn't think was funny was the diss of Ski for making this album, which has some pretty great beats. He does deserved to be clowned for his role in "Girls Kiss Girls," though, I didn't know he produced that bullshit.
Camp Lo - "Money Clap" (mp3)
21. Trans Am - Sex Change (Thrill Jockey)
Trans Am sometimes scare me off with all the genre pastiches and vocoders and kidding-or-not ironic undertones, but when it's just those 3 guys in a room jamming and bouncing ideas, I tend to love what they come up with.
Trans Am - "Reprieve" (mp3)
22. Rich Boy - Rich Boy (Zone 4/Interscope South)
At the very least, this is something to hold me off until Polow Da Don drops a solo album.
Rich Boy - "Touch That Ass" (mp3)
23. Jay-Z - American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Whatever the opposite of a backlash is called, that's what this album is benefitting from as everyone tries to boomarang back from the disappointment of Kingdom Come. It's good, but is it as good as even The Blueprint 2 or The Dynasty? Hell no.
Jay-Z f/ Nas - "Success" (mp3)
24. Styles P. - Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman) (Koch)
My favorite Lox/D-Block member tends to be whoever has a record out at the moment, and with 3 good albums in a row it's been Styles P. for a while now. I dunno if Jadakiss will be able to top this one whenever he drops on Roc-A-Fella, though.
Styles P. - "Da 80's" (mp3)
25. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
My hopes of this being as good as the last few Sonic Youth albums, or even Psychic Hearts, were dashed, but it's still pretty cool to finally hear the acoustic album Thurston had been threatening to make for almost a decade.
Thurston Moore - "Silver>Blue" (mp3)
1. Sloan - Never Hear The End Of It (Yep Roc)
Sloan's albums have always been kind of hit-and-miss, and the ratio had been steadily tilting toward more misses than hits since 1996's One Chord To Another. But for their 8th album, the band's four singer/songwriters (two of whom are very good, and two of whom are OK with flashes of brilliance) threw everything they had at the wall and ended up with a sprawling 30-song set that actually works. The consistency is still somewhat spotty, but with twice as many attempts they ended up with twice as many keepers, and most of the lesser songs are short transitional tracks that help make the album a cohesive whole.
Sloan - "Another Way I Could Do It" (mp3)
2. UGK - Underground Kingz (Jive)
Rap double albums always get shit on, but sometimes they make sense, especially in situations like this where the artist could've gone in 2 very different directions: a UGK album in the classic mold, with country rap beats and hooks by Pimp, or an all-star comeback album with tons of guests and outside producers. Instead, they made an album's worth of tracks with each method, and threw it all together to satisfy pretty much every expectation you could've had for the album. A few weeks ago, I was listening to this a lot and had just bumped it up to #2 on my year-end list literally the day before Pimp C passed away. And I'm glad that I did it then, so that I don't feel any conflict now about whether I'm just pumping up my opinion of the album in light of his death.
UGK - "Swishas & Dosha" (mp3)
3. Prodigy - Return Of The Mac (Koch)
It's really just as simple as this: Havoc's beats aren't what they used to be (see also: Kush) and G-Unit's production stable, for the most part, ain't shit. So Alchemist is pretty much the only guy who can bring out Prodigy's A game.
Prodigy - "Bang On 'Em" (mp3)
4. Parts & Labor - Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar)
I've done a pretty good job of ignoring most hip New York bands this decade, but if there are some more that sound like this, maybe I should take off my blinders more often.
Parts & Labor - "New Crimes" (mp3)
5. Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - Living With The Living (Touch & Go)
Ted Leo is one of those artists that's pretty much a lock for my top 10 every time he puts out an album, even with an overlong one with a few genre exercises that bite off more than they can chew. Time will tell whether these songs stand up with the best of The Tyranny Of Distance or Shake The Sheets, but this year I loved a lot of them. I'm pretty frustrated with Ted's live picks from this album, though. I saw him live 3 times this year, and he played "Colleen" and "Anunciation Day / Born On Christmas Day" and "The Unwanted Things" every time, but never "La Costa Brava" or "Some Beginner's Mind" or "The Toro And The Toreador."
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "A Bottle Of Buckie" (mp3)
6. Freeway - Free At Last (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Onetime exec producer 50 Cent only contributes one track of his trademark 'aggressive content' on "Take It To The Top" (I kid, but the hardest beat on the album, "It's Over," does come from a G-Unit producer, Jake One). Instead, Free takes it back to the old Roc-A-Fella soul beats that he rides with more urgency than anyone else, and succeeds despite a lack of Just Blaze, who was the main ingredient in making his debut a near-classic.
Freeway - "I Cry" (mp3)
7. Paramore - Riot! (Fueled By Ramen)
Female-fronted alt-rock acts rarely break through to the mainstream, but when they do, they have a tendency to end up massively popular (No Doubt, Evanescence, etc.). And right now, I'd be fine with Paramore getting that huge, and even if they don't, "Misery Business" was one of the best reasons to listen to rock radio this year and much of the rest of the album lives up to it.
Paramore - "Born For This" (mp3)
8. Eleni Mandell - Miracle Of Five (Zedtone)
Sleepy-eyed torch songs with slight touches of jazz and country that I'd probably think I was too cool for if this was Norah Jones huge, but I'm glad I don't.
Eleni Mandell - "Somebody Else" (mp3)
9. Scarface - Made (Rap-A-Lot)
Scarface is one of the last dudes I'd expect to take a turn toward relationship rap, but he makes it work better than almost anybody because he addresses the topic with the same dread and blunt honesty as everything else he's ever written.
Scarface f/ Nina - "Go" (mp3)
10. T-Pain - Epiphany (Konvict/Jive)
Even though it went platinum, it kinda feels like this album got a little lost in the shuffle with T-Pain was becoming the guest spot MVP of the year, and the two big singles are among my least favorite songs on the record. But there's a half dozen coulda/shoulda been hits on here, and the versatility he displays as a producer on this album is really impressive. I think the follow-up might leave this one in the dust if he can keep his career momentum up, though.
T-Pain - "Sounds Bad" (mp3)
11. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis (Rough Trade)
A brilliant malevolent asshole mellowing slightly in middle age, but still squeezing out a little bit of bile here and there.
Jarvis Cocker - "Tonite" (mp3)
12. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (Fat Possum)
One of the more dramatic reunions of the many in recent alt-rock history, and easily one of the best albums to result from such a comeback. I wish the Meat Puppets had stepped back on the scene this gracefully.
Dinosaur Jr. - "Back To Your Heart" (mp3)
13. Kenna - Make Sure They See My Face (Star Trak/Interscope)
This wouldn't quite measure up to New Sacred Cow even if Pharrell didn't totally kill the mood with the 2 songs he helps with, but the broadened palette of guitar and more 'live'-sounding drums is a great fit for Kenna's voice.
Kenna - "Baptized In Blacklight" (mp3)
14. Beanie Sigel - The Solution (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
The most unexpectedly enjoyable club rap album of the year.
Beanie Sigel f/ Diddy, Peedi Peedi and Ghostface Killah - "Shake It For Me" (mp3)
15. Say Anything - In Defense Of The Genre (Doghouse/J Records)
As a follow-up to Is A Real Boy (which, seriously, might be one of the best rock records of the decade), it's a mild disappointment. But it's also an expected and admirable one, since this band was pretty much destined to make an overreaching double album. All the gratuitous vocal cameos by people from more famous emo bands get a bit ridiculous after a while, but there's still plenty of Max Bemis blurting and screaming and being a funnier, more fascinating character than any of the guests ever are on their own albums.
Say Anything - "About Falling" (mp3)
16. Travis Morrison Hellfighters - All Y’All (Barsuk)
I never thought Travistan was the travesty it was made out to be, and in a way I'm disappointed that he backed down from its eccentricities and overtly political themes to make basically a more relationship-y Dismemberment Plan album. But it's also kind of nice to hear one of the better songwriters in indie rock back in his comfort zone and starting to gel with a new band.
Travis Morrison Hellfighters - "Hawkins' Rock" (mp3)
17. Kanye West - Graduation (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
His two previous albums were pretty much my #1's for the years they came out (Late Registration still is, College Dropout not so much), so in a way this one represents a big drop for Kanye in my esteem. But I pretty much always knew his appeal would wear thin at some point, and based on Graduation's first 2 singles that that would start right here. Aside from that middle stretch that I pretty much never want to listen to, though, this album still has some awesome songs near the beginning and end. Kanye may not have my album of the year, but he still does have that I Got A Lotta Cheese Award.
Kanye West f/ DJ Premier - "Everything I Am" (mp3)
18. Cassidy - B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story (Full Surface/J Records)
Cassidy had more to prove as an MC coming off "Hotel" than he does coming off of a car accident that nearly killed him, so it's not as vicious an album as I'm A Hustla, but this is still an underrated MC at the top of his game.
Cassidy f/ Swizz Beatz - "I Get My Paper" (mp3)
19. Talib Kweli & Madlib - Liberation (Blacksmith Music)
A free download album from two guys that respectively represent my love and hate for the late 90's/early 00's backpacker rap boom: Kweli, long my token favorite 'conscious' MC, and Madlib, who I hastily wrote off long ago after hearing The Unseen once and hating it. Turns out he is a dope producer, though, and Kweli's got almost as much chemistry with him as he used to with Hi-Tek, resulting in his best album since Train Of Thought and one that's unquestionably better than his so-so major label release this year, Eardrum.
Talib Kweli & Madlib f/ Candice Anderson - "Happy Home" (mp3)
20. Camp Lo - Black Hollywood (Good Hands records)
You think that when Jay sat next to Ski this year for that "Classic Albums" show to talk about Reasonable Doubt, it ever occurred to him that the guy who produced some of his most important early tracks still has some jams in his back pocket, many of which are better than anything he ended up with on the album he made soon after? The only part of the Scratch blog's fake Top Producers of 2007 list that I didn't think was funny was the diss of Ski for making this album, which has some pretty great beats. He does deserved to be clowned for his role in "Girls Kiss Girls," though, I didn't know he produced that bullshit.
Camp Lo - "Money Clap" (mp3)
21. Trans Am - Sex Change (Thrill Jockey)
Trans Am sometimes scare me off with all the genre pastiches and vocoders and kidding-or-not ironic undertones, but when it's just those 3 guys in a room jamming and bouncing ideas, I tend to love what they come up with.
Trans Am - "Reprieve" (mp3)
22. Rich Boy - Rich Boy (Zone 4/Interscope South)
At the very least, this is something to hold me off until Polow Da Don drops a solo album.
Rich Boy - "Touch That Ass" (mp3)
23. Jay-Z - American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Whatever the opposite of a backlash is called, that's what this album is benefitting from as everyone tries to boomarang back from the disappointment of Kingdom Come. It's good, but is it as good as even The Blueprint 2 or The Dynasty? Hell no.
Jay-Z f/ Nas - "Success" (mp3)
24. Styles P. - Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman) (Koch)
My favorite Lox/D-Block member tends to be whoever has a record out at the moment, and with 3 good albums in a row it's been Styles P. for a while now. I dunno if Jadakiss will be able to top this one whenever he drops on Roc-A-Fella, though.
Styles P. - "Da 80's" (mp3)
25. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
My hopes of this being as good as the last few Sonic Youth albums, or even Psychic Hearts, were dashed, but it's still pretty cool to finally hear the acoustic album Thurston had been threatening to make for almost a decade.
Thurston Moore - "Silver>Blue" (mp3)
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