What a great year for music! But, while making my annual list of the albums I liked best, there was no immediate, clear winner. In past years, this was the case. This year, I loved them all! I emailed James my dilemma, and he weighed in with his choice from my list (Dead Weather), but still I struggled. I’d really love to pick them all. However, I am compelled by forces in my brain beyond my control to choose only one, and so I have. And it is a truly great record. As are all 31 albums I’ve chosen this year. You’re all winners, kids. We love you.
My Best Of 2009:
Leonard Cohen – Live In London
Not only is this a triumphant and gorgeous return from one of my favourite artists of all time, it also documents the tour we saw, capturing our happy memories of that night. It’s hard for anyone to compete with all of that. Hooray for Leonard!
30 more I enjoyed in big heaps and bunches (in no particular order):
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Carolyn Mark & NQ Arbuckle – Let’s Just Stay Here
Robert Pollard – The Crawling Distance
Dead Weather – Horehound
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
Guided By Voices – Suitcase 3
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Vaselines – Enter The Vaselines
Tragically Hip – We Are The Same
Robert Pollard – Elephant Jokes
Nirvana – Live At Reading
Boston Spaceships – The Planets Are Blasted
Slayer – World Painted Blood
Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King
Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Circus Devils – Gringo
Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
Carolyn Mark & Tolan McNeil – The Sound Of The Tone-Echoes From The Last Resort
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Joel Plaskett – Three
Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Tom Waits – Glitter And Doom
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Leonard Cohen – Live At Isle Of Wight
Decemberists – Hazards Of Love
Levon Helm – Electric Dirt
Jack Johnson – En Concert
Boston Spaceships – Zero To 99
See what I mean? A great year! And I’ve left off a bunch of other good ones too, trapped as I am in my (chosen in 2006) format of Best Of entries. Haha. We’re all music geeks (if you’re reading this, you surely must be), and so as you well know there’s a million records I love every year. What a beautiful world.
Past Winners:
2006 Sloan – Never Hear The End Of It
2007 Carolyn Mark – Nothing Is Free / Immaculate Machine – Fables
2008 Metallica – Death Magnetic
keepsmealive 