Best of 2007

It's been a busy year and no let up in 2008 so we're running late. But here are my thoughts for 2007. Just bear in mind, these are not necessary the "best" but what I enjoyed and spoke to my life in the last year.

Last Year's picks: These still dominate the playlist. Lucero and the Hold Steady definitely hold the most played spot, carrying over from last year. To round out the country-fied side, a lot of Chris Knight and Tim McGraw (the singer, not the pitcher). Really, for the first three quarters of the year, there wasn't much new stuff that I really got into.

The Internet: The year I finally really tapped into the power of the internet for music. I'm not a myspace or itunes or file-sharing kinda of guy, but the blogsphere will keep you going for hours and hours (if I had the time). So I've attempted to use as much stuff from the internet that you can't get elsewhere (b-sides, remixes,bootlegs). My favorite is the dead artist/old web site. Checkout http://www.imaginarybaseball.com/. They were dead before 2007 began but "the hieress" and "from arkansas, with love" are great songs.

The 60's: To me, the early 60's were more motown and r&b than rock and roll (although by 1970, this had clearly flipped). But while we've seen the grunge revival and the 80's revival, 2007 was probably closest to the 60's revival to me. Detroit Cobras do motown. Bettye Lavette is probably the oldest person ever on a Feltus "best of" cd. Even Dan Wilson doing a Beach Boys thing. Check out Eli "paperboy" reed doing a mean Junior Walker. Heck, there were two versions of "don't let me be misunderstood" from opposite ends of the spectrum: Common and Yusaf.

No one more than Amy Winehouse epitomizes this. She is everyone's favorite car wreck in motion but her dark secret is that she owes her sound to Sharon Jones and the Daps (or her producer does). Don't beleive me? Ms. Jones and her band did the backing for the grammy winner and Mick Ronson did the producing. They've been doing it for almost twenty years; maybe they will at least get paid.

The 80's: Almost as prevalent as the 60's but more of a hero worship thing than a trend (we already did an 80's sound revival a few years back). This is headed by New Order and the Smiths. They made a movie about Joy Division, but the covers are everywhere including top ten Rhianna cover. Smiths only got doc'd by the BBC but when Radiohead covers you (with freaky stero mix - a tough best of cut) you have arrived.

The disappointing follow up album: If you asked me in March how I thought 2007 would pan out (musically), I was pretty excited as I saw a half-dozen bands that I loved (or at least liked a lot) coming out with new albums. Amazingly, most of them disappointed. They were consistently good but failed to make any progress. Nine Inch Nails (more on that later), Fountains of Wayne, Son Volt, Interpol and The Smashing Pumpkins (this did prove that Billy Corrigan was the brains of the operation) all failed to follow through on the momentum of previous albums (ok maybe pumpkins jumped before the last one). Even Spoon was a let down (very small). Actually, these were all pretty damn good albums and if it was the first album I had heard by these bands, I would love them. But each was just enough of a let down to disappoint.

NIN: When Year Zero came out, I was whelmed, to say the least. It was a couple of good singles and bunch of instrumental tracks presented as political commentary. Lacking the emotion of previous outings, it was a big disappointment (see above).

But it became apparent things were not as they seemed. First, this was his last album for the label (can you say contract fulfillment rather than artistic endeavor) and it only took him 18 months vs. traditional five years. Then Saul Williams released his album. This blew me away. Trent had always threatened to release a rap album and he did it with Saul doing the Mc'ing. But it's really a Trent album (download sunday bloody sunday to see true political commentary). Then, there was the remix of Year Zero...with a little help from his friends, it didn't suck anymore. Trent still has a little life left.

Album of the Year: Modest Mouse "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" beats out Albuquerque's Shins by a hair. I consider these to be post-hype victories. For years, I've heard so much about these two bands but never really loved them. These two albums changed that. Every song on both is good. But MM wins due its more aggressive, more interesting songs. Adding Johnny Marr of the Smiths was genius. At first, it seemed why was this old guy hanging out with these young hipsters. First MM was formed in 1993 making them almost contemporaries. Most bands ride the interplay of a harsh guitar (you can only listen to electric guitar for so long) and lush vocals but Isaac Brock's vocals are as harsh as an electric guitar and it makes more than a song or two tough to listen to. Adding Marr's jangly guitar fills softens the songs and allows Brock's song writing to shine through. It doesn't make him a great vocalist, just better songs. I've never been able to listen to a whole album of their's before - this one I've listened to time and time again. Great one liners "We got a new position and carried it off so well." "Our ideas didn't hold any water and we used them like a dam."

Song of the Year: Joining Joe Jackson's "Sunday Papers" for Sunday songs is Ko-s Sunday Morning For 9 months, almost all I had for 07 was Modest Mouse, Shins, Akon, the Kooks, a guilty pleasure and this song. This grabs you the minute you hear it. No other song comes close this year.

Most Overrated: Or at least most over-hyped. Young Folks. The song is not bad but the drum beat is awful. If you must, watch Kanye West's version. I have included a remix of the Shin's "Australia" by Peter Bjorn & John.

Guilty pleasure: Avril Lavigne "Girlfriend" So what if she ripped it off? While you are there check out the Chipmunk version and the foreign versions (I like the Mandarin one personally). Almost as good as Sunday Morning

What the Kids are listening to: If you didn't know, 2007 was the year Disney took over music. Not only was High School Musical 2 the number 2 album of the year (the first one was number one last year), Hannah Montana was the hottest ticket of the year. We won't even mention the Jonas Brothers. We'll go with crossover hit Gwen Stefani/Akon song also know as "woo-hoo" (or is wee-hoo"?) Shockingly, new B-52's song (funplex) sounds like a Disney rip-off.

Rap: Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe rap is getting old, but the sales data agrees with me. There was a severe lack of songs that grab you this year. The Beastie Boys went instrumental. Jay Z seems to be back but I need to listen more. However, the misses are more memorable. I couldn't even get myself to commit to Kanye's new album, even if he did beat fifty-cent.

Most Horrifying Moments on the Radio: We will only go with non-music here as musical moments are too many to count (1) After playing Placebo's Running up that hill, WFNX dj feels the need to explain who Kate Bush was (is?). (2) DJ proclaims Semisonic a one-hit wonder that disappeared after Closing Time. Well, not only did they have another hit with "Chemistry" (ok they were not the Beatles) but singer-songwriter Dan Wilson (they were really a one man band) released a solo CD this year and won a grammy(s) for co-writing/producing Dixie Chick's latest. Don' t think that counts as disappearing.

Missing the Cut, but enjoyable:
Black Kids - you can dance to it but they need more than synths
Toyko Police Club - classic alternative
Rush - classic rock 25 years in
Cold War Kids -
Band of Horses - I missed them last year but solid
Rodrigo y gabriela - Heavy metal duo from Mexico playing flamenco in Ireland
yusaf - I love Cat Stevens and it's good to have him back
Rhianna - This could have been in what the kids are listening to. Shut up and Drive...a New Order cover
Grinderman - Nick Cave returns to form

Toughest Cuts:
Dinosaur Jr. - guitar driven alternative, a reunion that works
Bird and the Bee - Polite Dance music but a little simple, maybe too polite
Fratellis - hard to describe. it's classic rockabilly but punkish. Sorta of Louis XIV but English
Artic Monkeys - with followup, prove first was no fluke. The guy knows his way around a lyric as well as a tune

2008?

Vampire Weekend
The Virgins
Drive By Truckers
Kate Nash
Tungg
Gutter Twins
Old 97's (slam dunk)

The List
1- You! Me! Dancing! - Los Campesinos! A lot of exclamation points, no doubt I found this chasing down some dance music from Bram
2 - Bend over Beethoven - !!! (that's chk chk chk to the rest of us) and why isn't it pronounced BE-th-oven? But I do like my dance music funky.
3 - We like it wild - Ethos Smiths devottees from Detroit
4 -Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
5 - The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
6 - Sunday Morning - K-os
7 - Flyentology - Trent Reznor/EL-P
8 - The Way we get By - Spoon (remixed MY!GAY!HUSBAND!)
9 - Australia - The Shins (remixed by Peter Bjorn and John)
10 - Missed the Boat (live) - Modest Mouse
11 - Your Own Worst Enemy - Bruce Sprinsteen Best album of his in years, very underappreciated
12 - Nobody Listens to Silence - Ryan Adams only one album this year but a goody even though he gave up drinking/drugs
13 - When the Flake Changes Colour - Feist If you don't like Feist, you have no soul.
14 - 15 Step (live) - Radiohead We could talk all day about the Radiohead/internet/future of music, but this is there most pop accesible album this decade (but like Spoon, with the weird rythms). Should have made it song 15.
15 - Before the Money Came (the legend of Bettye Lavette) - Bettye Lavette backed by Drive-By Truckers Does that make it Souther Rock, Liz?
16 - Lullaby (cover) Editors - They really do justice to this one.
17 - What have you done for me lately - Sharon Jones (and Dap Kings) doing her best Janet Jackson cover.
18 - God put a smile upon your face - Mark Ronson - Coldplay meets Hawaii 50 - actually the Daptone Horns (see Sharon Jones for the Daps). All covers all interesting.
19 - Freaky Hijiki - Beastie Boys
20 - See the World (accoustic, live) - the Kooks

Correction : Should have used Kooks cover of Young Folks rather than See the World, which I found the day I posted this. No whistling but no annoying drum machine either. the link:

http://www.savefile.com/files/1421419