2007 Revisited

Visit any music blog or music-related website this time of year and you're virtually assured of finding some sort of "Best of" music count down: Best Albums, Best Songs, Best Videos, etc.  This blog will certainly be no different in that aspect......minus the top videos (I don't really ever watch videos anymore).  As we get closer to the end of year, I will eventually countdown my Top Ten albums of 2011.  I've been doing this the past four years and it's always my one of my favorite music-related activities.  Back in 2007 I listed and wrote about my top albums of Ought Seven on my former music blog.  Every year after that just involved exchanging emails with friends.

The thought processes associated with forming my 2011 list has me contemplating what sort of considerations should go into making a Top Ten list.  Should I consider how excited I was when I listened to the album for the first time?  Should I only rank albums according to how I feel about them at that point in time?  If so, that really puts albums that came out over the past month at a real disadvantage to albums that came out at the beginning of the year and have had ample opportunity to grow with me.  Or does it help the chances of recently released albums because they're more fresh? Should I consider re-listenability as it stands today?  Or would I project what the re-listenability of an album might be like 5 years from now?

I enjoy thinking about these kinds of things and realize there's no perfect formula.  However, asking these questions has inspired me to go back through the years and reconsider my previous Top Tens.  This post is, thus, the first in a series that will re-evaluate my previous lists in order to get a feel for how my listening (or ranking) albums has changed.

Below I've listed the original albums found in spots 1-10 back in 2007 and their replacements if I were making that list today (which I suppose I am).  Enjoy and let me know your thoughts below on any of these  (or any other) albums and how they've grown or fallen with you over the past few years.

10. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
New: Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild Soundtrack

It was a pretty easy decision to knock this Ryan Adams album off the list.  Ryan Adams is proof to me that it is possible to have too much of a good thing.  His prolific nature has diluted the quality of his work to the point where I'm hesitant to try his next big project.  Rumor has it his newest album is great and sounds much like his earlier work (which I think is a good thing).....but I'm almost too tired to give it a try. In its place I have Eddie Vedder's work on the Motion Picture Soundtrack for Into the Wild.  I doubt this would make too many people's list if they were re-doing 2007, but I've had some pretty amazing times over the past couple years and I can remember more than one being soundtracked by this soundtrack.

Eddie Vedder -Tuolumne

9.  Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
New: No change

I had this one right where it should be....as I still break this one out from time to time.  Its opening track, "Don't Make Me a Target" is still tops on my list of Spoon songs. 

8.  Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
New: Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Interestingly, this new list saw Wilco and Arcade Fire exchange places.  This Wilco effort has dropped a bit in importance to me over the years (though I still prefer it to 2009's Wilco [the album]).

7.  Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
New: Beirut - The Flying Cup Club

The seven spot on this list is an interesting one.  Beirut suffered the first go-around simply due to the fact that I hadn't begun listening to them yet.  Or if I had, I hadn't paid much attention.  The European sound apparently took a bit of time to grow on me.  Since then I've become quite a big Beirut fan and this remains my favorite of all their work.  Of all the albums on the original list, I had the most difficult time deciding what to do with this Andrew Bird album.  When this album came out.....I really did listen to it regularly.  So it wasn't exactly misplaced the first time.  It hasn't withstood the test of time like the others on the list.  That being said, it isn't the only album to completely fall off the list.  Of all to be completely dropped, this remains my favorite.  It probably would fall into an Honorable Mentions category if I took the time to do one.  So...let's just call it #11.

Beirut - Nantes 

6.  Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
New: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Arcade Fire won a Grammy this past year for Album (or Record....I can't never exactly remember which is which) of the Year for an album that I'm not entirely sure was their best album.

Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage 

5. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
New: No Change

Loved Band of Horses then.  Love Band of Horses now. 

4. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
New: Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida

Of all the bands I listened to regularly back in 2007, Okkervil River has taken one of the biggest hits....evidenced by it dropping off completely from the new list despite being ranked #4 back in 2007.  I can't exactly put my finger on why they've fallen.  Each album they've done (including this year's I Am Very Far) typically has 2-3 standout tracks and the 7-10 tracks I couldn't care less about.  Ola Podrida, however, I still love.  This album was #2 on my original list and falls to #4 here, which should by no means be taken as a sign I listen or care about it less.  It simply falls due to the strength of the albums that moved up on the list.  I should mention how monumentally disappointed I was with Ola Podrida's follow-up to this album.....but this one was amazing.

Ola Podrida - Day at the Beach 

3. The National - Boxer
New: Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

I didn't listen to The Avett Brothers in 2007.  That was my mistake.  Emotionalism is easily my favorite work or theirs and it belonged on the list originally.

2. Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida
New: Radiohead - In Rainbows

If I ranked Radiohead records this would probably fall #2 only behind OK Computer.......and for me that's really saying something. The fact that this album fell out of the top spot is only indicative of how much I love the new #1 album.....not that I was losing interest in In Rainbows. 

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
New: The National - Boxer

I. Love. This. Album.  It's spectacular.  I cannot think of an album I've listened to more in the past four years or a song I've listened to more than "Fake Empire".  If I'm ever trying to tell a friend about The National, I'm almost hesitant to start them with this album because in my opinion it doesn't get any better.  I'd almost rather start them out with 2006's Alligator or last years High Violet and let them "stumble" onto this one themselves.  Funny thing is....back in 2007 I'd probably have tried to make some case about Alligator and Boxer being interchangeable.  I'm glad I didn't try to do that.

The National - Fake Empire  

New List
1. The National - Boxer
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows
3. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
4. Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida
5. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
6. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
7. Beirut - The Flying Cup Club
8. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
9. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
10. Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild Soundtrack

RR