Fave albums of 2007

[RobB]

Well,we're getting near the end of 2007 so its time to start littering these boards with pointless 'best of the year' threads.

After much head scratching and nail biting deliberation, I am going to nominate Paul McCartney's 'Memory Almost Full' album,partly because its a solid collection of melodic,nostalgic tinged pop songs..........and partly because its the only new album I've heard this year.

[sound world]

Yeah,RobB,I think there's already at least two 'Best of 2007' threads.
I've heard some pretty good CDs by artists as diverse as The Necks,Robert Wyatt,Howard Skempton,Kurt Elling,but nothing that's really grabbed me and said 'I am the best album of the year' (for what that matters).
Meanwhile the CD I've been working on isn't quite going to be ready by Dec 31st so that will have to be on the 2008 list.

Probably the most interesting release of the year is the Radiohead 'In Rainbows',for it's ramifications for the music industry in general.It's been a massive success for the band.
A bit off-thread,but very relevant,is a discussion by a great muso of an earlier era,David Byrne,with Thom Yorke,and Byrne's conclusions/ideas for what routes present-day musicians/bands might take in the light of the current music industry hiatus.Stina take note:-
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/musi ... ntPage=all

An article which is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future of the music industry.

[RobB]

Yeah,RobB,I think there's already at least two 'Best of 2007' threads.

Yeah,but they were both started by you last January!

Meanwhile the CD I've been working on isn't quite going to be ready by Dec 31st so that will have to be on the 2008 list.

hey,thanks for the warning.
Make sure it doesn't clash with Stina's album.....we don't want you hogging all the attention.

[blue]

Probably the most interesting release of the year is the Radiohead 'In Rainbows',for it's ramifications for the music industry in general.It's been a massive success for the band.
A bit off-thread,but very relevant,is a discussion by a great muso of an earlier era,David Byrne,with Thom Yorke,and Byrne's conclusions/ideas for what routes present-day musicians/bands might take in the light of the current music industry hiatus.Stina take note:-
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/musi ... ntPage=all

An article which is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future of the music industry.

I've just been listening to mp3s of this interview actually, very interesting.

I love In Rainbows, and though the band chickened out of making the online release the statement it could have been (according to Yorke, they had originally not planned to have a traditional cd release but changed their minds), I think it will have an effect in the long-term, if only because it's demonstrated to other artists the potential for bypassing the record industry completely. I'm sure it's probably started a ball rolling.

[paul-pgss]

Well this year I almost only bought older releases, so my list shall be short:
1. Ghosts - Siobhan Donaghy
2. In Rainbows - Radiohead
3. Release the Stars - Rufus Wainwright
4. Overpowered - Roisin Murphy
5. Standing in the way of control - The Gossip

And absolute failures this year:
1. PJ Harvey's last album (someone should ask for a court order forbidding her to sing in high notes)
2. American Doll Posse - Tori Amos (started playing it in november, tried it many times.... the beekeeper was even better)
3. Volta - Björk (just not on the high level like Homogenic or Debut. I want my poppy Björk back!)
4. The last Polly Paulusma album.

[Matt Butterfly]

[quote="pgss"]
3. Volta - Björk (just not on the high level like Homogenic or Debut. I want my poppy Björk back!)
quote]

I was a little disappointed with it myself. Although in no way is it a "bad" album. It does show yet another new stage in Bjork's ever-changing journey of albums. For that I credit her because that is one of the reasons that makes her so irrestible.

It just isn't anywhere near the quality of the others. It still gets a 3 out of 5 for me.

As for my favourite album of 2007? Its difficult to say as much of the music I brought last year wasn't released in that year, including Stina releases.

2007 releases that I brought:

Johanna Kunin- Clouds Electric (4/5)
Bjork- Volta (3/5)
Metric- Grow Up And Blow Away (4/5)
Múm- Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy (5/5)Findlay Brown- Seperated By The Sea (3/5)
Oh No Ono- Yes (3/5)
The Je Ne Sais Quoi- Rhythm (2/5) ..so dissapointing. IMO 2 good tracks
Efterklang- Parades (4/5)
Charlotte Gainsbourg- 5:55 (5/5)
Magnet- The Simple Life (4/5)
Saybia- Eyes On The Highway (4/5)
Hanne Hukkleberg- Rykestrasse 68 (4/5)