1. The Swell Season - Strict Joy

2. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

3. Rammstein - Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da

4. Creed - Full Circle

5. Mat Kearney - City of Black and White

 

really only the top 3 :shrug:

Hmm I'll have to revise my list. Battle Studies is so on it now too!

I have around 30 albums that I'll be choosing from.

 

I'm never going to be fully happy, but here goes my list

 

Be that okay Mo?

 

That's great. I'll update the link. :thumbsup:

 

I seem to ask this every year, but should we put the limit up to 30 - say 5 bonus albums 50 points each for the indecisive? It's not like there will be a huge number of takers...

I dont see why not. I will have a hard time producing 10.

That's great. I'll update the link. :thumbsup:

 

I seem to ask this every year, but should we put the limit up to 30 - say 5 bonus albums 50 points each for the indecisive? It's not like there will be a huge number of takers...

 

Yeah, if its too much extra work for you don't bother. I mean albums 25-30 on my list are most likely albums that I only listened to a few times or didn't really care for *cough* Muse *cough*.

 

P.S. I think we should ustream the countdown results. Basically somebody with a webcam could do a live broadcast easily and announce the results.

 

(and yes I am volunteering myself if people think this would be a fun way of doing it)

Shouldn't be much more work than it is already. Most of them will probably be duplicates anyway, which might just shuffle around the order a little bit. The total number of albums seems to be relatively stable year to year. If 5 people had 30 albums it would add an extra 10 minutes, maybe?

aight cool, then go for it!

aight cool, then go for it!

Do I hear a third?

Third! Oh wait.

 

what do you think of the broadcast idea? I'm doing a test broadcast right now.

:\ Not sure... I like having a written record.

 

On the other hand, it would go much more quickly...

 

Hmm...

I was thinking we could maybe do a live broadcast, which can be archived, and almost simutaniously have the stuff being posted too?

Hmm... *scratches head*.... you're certainly giving me ideas...

:)

Yeah, it works... I'll think about it.

 

Goodnight.

okay cool.

Okay so Im revising my list. This is the final version.

 

1. Battle Studies - John Mayer [Trio]: As he says this is a concept album so it wont sell well. I have not followed an album so eagerly sing Viva La Vida and Prospekts March. This starts with possibly what will be ranked as one of his best songs of all time. If you listen to one new song this year make it "Heartbreak Warfare". This album is about love and relationships, and moves in an amazing flow. This album features Pino Palladino on Bass and Steve Jordon on drums and production, to the fans known as The John Mayer Trio. If you are looking for the album of the year, look no further! Its the perfect blues album, by our generations best musician. Plus a guest verse from Taylor Swift fits perfectly! This album is dying to be played in an arena of 20,000!

 

2. Backspacer - Pearl Jam: The last of the grunge bands put out yet another album. You can count them as one fourth Soundgarden too with Matt Cameron on the drums. thats old news though! The album opens strong and goes the whole way, this album isn't long by any means but it sure packs a great punch. Pearl Jam are taking a step forward and playing into a more post-grunge sound now, in fact more then a few times I swear Grohl himself is playing guitar. Overall Pearl Jam move forward and play around with new ideas breaking the grunge lable and playing great overall rock. It also shows the versatility of the band, playing rock and a bit of acoustic.

 

3. The Blueprint II - Hova is back! For those who didn't appreciate the last two Jay outings this is for you. He reunites with Kanye West on production and you can tell. One of the last great rappers from the old days tightens up the flow, has great beats by West, Timbaland and No I.D. As well as a handful of guests only Jay-Z could get. He has old vets, established stars and the up and comer Drake. This album is defined at the fifth track :Empire State of Mind" Alicia Keys provides a perfectly fitting vocal track that fits perfect with the overall feel of the song. This is easily the best rap album of the year. Its got sick beats, Tight flow and Jay-Z, a perfect recipe for an amazing rap album.

 

4. Cradlesong - Rob Thomas: Rob Thomas is perhaps another one of those greats that goes unappreciated. He is awesome solo, better with Matchbox, but his second solo effort was to me just good. It wasn't until I heard it in its near entirety live that I fell in love with it. He has great songwriting skills backed by a great band, 2 Matchbox members! He infuses world beats into america rock and it works great. Plus his strong voice is a huge plus, one of my favorites of the year.

 

5. Free - Gavin Degraw: Another like Cradlesong, I just loved the southern bluesy feel to this album. Degraw has great songwriting on this one, and on a number of the tracks provides great vocals. The album flowed great, and I felt it had somewhat of a story to it. Defiantly top five for me.

 

6. No Line On The Horizon - U2: The four Irish lads are back again, plus a Brit and a Canadian. Eno and Lanois are back on production for the first time since Actung Baby. Unfortunately, the results aren't the same as their last two efforts together. This album for U2 is a concept album, they try to work with a theme, but it just doesnt translate very well. There are a few moments when I think I'll hear some classic style U2, but it never really plays out. Which is probably why the album wasnt as great as everyone expected. On some songs they are trying to top their greatest hits and fail, on the ones they dont it comes across as brilliant. Half the album feels forced and the other half natural. For that it fall short.

 

Thats it. Consider it my top 5 plus one.

^Link updated.

 

Just for the record, for the sake of my eyes and sanity, could I please have your lists in actual list form? Feel free to annotate it all you want after the list, but long essays next to each album name are going to cost me a lot of time if many people do it.

They are paragraphs. Sorry I forgot to bold them.

Okay so Im revising my list. This is the final version.

 

1. Battle Studies - John Mayer [Trio]: As he says this is a concept album so it wont sell well. I have not followed an album so eagerly sing Viva La Vida and Prospekts March. This starts with possibly what will be ranked as one of his best songs of all time. If you listen to one new song this year make it "Heartbreak Warfare". This album is about love and relationships, and moves in an amazing flow. This album features Pino Palladino on Bass and Steve Jordon on drums and production, to the fans known as The John Mayer Trio. If you are looking for the album of the year, look no further! Its the perfect blues album, by our generations best musician. Plus a guest verse from Taylor Swift fits perfectly! This album is dying to be played in an arena of 20,000!

 

.

 

mate correct me if i'm wrong. but didnt that album leak less than 24hrs ago? must be a really easy to digest concept album. and im interested to know why you put Trio in there also. cos despite not being a JM fan i really admired the Try! album but didnt know they were bringing out more stuff under that name.

That's a very 'pop' top 5. Well, commercial anyway. Interesting. How long do I have to decide mine?

1 month.

My list is now up to 22 albums and there are still heaps I haven't listened to. Anyone want to recomend albums that aren't on the list that should be.

I'll compile my list after exams, so end of november.

My list is now up to 22 albums and there are still heaps I haven't listened to. Anyone want to recomend albums that aren't on the list that should be.

 

Have you listened to:

 

Metric - Fantasies

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its Blitz

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Phoenix

and Jon Hopkins ?

and Mew ??? :)