Favorite Albums of 2005
 

At Jyqm's insistence, here is a thread for you to tell us all what your favorite albums of 2005 are so far.

Fire away, babes.

Without question: Language,Sex,Violence,Other?-Stereophonics :thumbsup:

Off the top of my head...

Erasure - Nightbird
Rob Thomas - ...something to be
Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel (not released until 10/18, but I know I'll love it :))
Coldplay - X&Y
New Order - Waiting For The Sirens Call

The Bonnie Raitt album is the only thing from 2005 I've bought this year. I've been on kind of an old-school jazz kick. :sorry:

My friend absolutely raves about that Coldplay cd.

Let's put You Could Have It So Much Better on there now Josh. We've both already had it for a while. :laugh: It's AMAZING. :nod:

Bowery Songs - Joan Baez
Bleed Like Me - Garbage
You're Speaking My Language - Juliette and the Licks
Twin Cinema - New Pornographers
You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
Prairie Wind - Neil Young
Moonlight Serenade - Carly Simon (bite me)

Get the DualDisc, the video footage has a Bike!Race to a mailbox. :laugh:

It's too good. Every song owns.

Interesting. I had no idea Joan Baez had a new album out.

It's a live album. :nod: Worth getting for "Motherland," "Dink's Song," and "Christmas In Washington" alone. Her voice is as beautiful as ever.

Her last studio album Dark Chords On A Big Guitar is a masterpiece, too.

Life in Slow Motion - David Gray
Cold Roses / Jacksonville City Nights - Ryan Adams
Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple
The Beekeeper - Tori Amos
Devils & Dust - Bruce Springsteen
Amos Lee - Amos Lee

No doubt about it. Her voice is one of the best. :thumbsup:

http://www.neworderonline.com/Photos...511.discog.jpg
New Order have become a parody of themselves, all down to the cover art which has none of Peter Saville's former brilliance, all down to the generic dance beats they now employ (whereas before they used to craft far more complex rhythmic patterns and helped shaping an entire genre) and all down to Bernard Sumner's lyricism which has grown weaker year by year. Now they're miserable bastards without drugs. I like it!

Oh good lord, how could I forget whatever the hell Carrie Underwood's album is..... :rolleyes: :p :lol:

"Add To The Beauty" - Sara Groves

"Rock of Ages...Hymns & Faith" - Amy Grant

"Something To Be..." - Rob Thomas

"Now What" - Lisa Marie Presley

This is difficult, because there are a number of albums that may or may not make it to the top of my list. There are those I haven't bought yet (like the new Franz Ferdinand), and there are all those that I've bought in the past couple weeks but haven't had enough time to absorb enough to decide if they're truly great or merely good (Ryan Adams, Neil Young, Super Furry Animals among them). So I won't rank, since the year's not over yet, but among the more distinguished recordings I've heard this year:

~Iron & Wine, Woman King and Under The Reins. Two EPs (the latter a collaboration with Calexico) which really broaden Sam Beam's sonic palette in some very intriguing ways. The range and depth on instrumentation on both of these makes me very excited for his next full-length.

~Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. A really solid, frequently catchy, even more frequently moving album from Mr. Oberst. But I can't help but think that it's somehow lesser than Lifted... Still, I never don't enjoy listening to this. (I must admit, after all these months, I still haven't gotten around to listening to Digital Ash...)

~Sufjan Stevens, Come On! Feel The Illinoise! This album ups the ante in a big way for Sufjan's 50 states project. It's like a Broadway musical of indie pop, in the best way possible. Lots of tinkling epic anthems alongside lots of beautiful hushed folk songs with a few wild cards thrown in as well. There's so much going on in this album, it's just bursting at the seams.

~Bruce Springsteen, Devils & Dust. A better-than-good solo offering from Bruce, though as always the songs truly come alive in concert. But there are some beautiful, haunting stories told here, about folks who have simply slipped through the cracks of life and/or love and are just trying to climb back up.

~Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Superwolf. Will Oldham is usually haunting enough on his own, but with Sweeney's understated guitar licks propping him up and slinking around his voice, this album leaves a very deep mark. Gives me shivers just thinking about it, even though a few of the songs are almost comical.

~Kanye West, Late Registration. Oh me oh my. Kanye takes every rule in hip-hop and turns them completely upside-down. You can put on some headphones and get completely lost in all the musical tricks and tropes going on all over this album, without even paying attention to Kanye and friends' words (though those are pretty top-notch most of the time, too).

~Common, Be. Woo! This is a truly beautiful hip-hop/soul album. As great as Kanye is on his own, he's just better when he's producing for someone else; he needs somebody else in the spotlight to keep him from going too off-the-wall and give hi some focus. If Late Registration is a sprawling, messy Tusk of a hip-hop record, then Be is this year's Rumours: concise and cohesive but wonderfully lush and full of sunny musical ideas that all come to fruition and totally pay off.

So there's my list, but I have to say, I'm kind of dissatisfied with it. Almost all of the music on it seems to fall into one of two general sonic palettes (folky guitar or hip-hop). 2005 so far just doesn't seem to have had the richness of diversity that 2004 did (at least as far as my favorite records go). But I fear that might be the case with a number of upcoming years. 2004 was a banner 12 months for music, in my mind, and it's going to be very difficult for subsequent years to live up to it. My top 10 of 2004, for the record, and in some semblance of order:

1. William Shatner, Has Been.
2. Arcade Fire, Funeral.
3. Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Shake The Sheets.
4. Tom Waits, Real Gone.
5. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose.
6. Wilco, A Ghost Is Born.
7. Willie Nelson, It Always Will Be.
8. Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days.
9. Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
10. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand.

And I had to leave off The Roots, The Black Keys, and Elvis Costello! Way to go, 2004. Way to go.

Not to be confused with all the albums from 2005 you bought last year, right?

What jazz have you been buying/listening to? (There are so many "old schools" to choose from!)

I don't have a big list yet.

But Eels- Blinking lights and other Revelations is on it. Definately.

Come on now, people! Reading straight lists of album titles is boring and completely uninformative. What is it you like about these albums? If they're your favorites of the year, surely you must have something to say about them beyond their names!

When I'm ready. This thread is fresh. And I like to think about this before i barf ****.

Later on I will. I'm too consumed with Frvade right now.

Well for me, Language, Sex Violence,Other is by far the best Stereophonics album they've put out in their almost 10 year existence. I'm not much of a musical expert, but the passion each one of their songs on this record has is unbelieveable, especially Dakota.

Tell me about it.... :confused: :shocked:

If anyone can help with level 10, I'm open to it. :wavey:

Is that the University of Chicago one? Check out the name of the image. Where there is an a...

Also, I totally forgot about Wynton Marsalis' new album Live At The House Of Tribes. Some really great small combo jazz, especially on the ballads. Very late 50s/early 60s style, to my ears.

Ok...what I like about them...

Sara Groves "Add To The Beauty" - (mind you it just came out as of today! lol). "Sara offers an insightful and accessible view into the complexities of Christianity being walked out in a fallen world." That quote from www.musichristian.com is perhaps the best way I know how to describe Sara and her songwriting, she is simply wonderful. Her newest album is no different, and it is IMHO her very best!

This is what Sara herself has to say about the new album...

"IN MY MIND THE NEW ALBUM IS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, HOW IT REALLY DOES EXIST, AND IS AS REAL AS YOUR CAR OR YOUR KRISPY KREME DONUT, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR PROBLEMS. IF WE CAN FIGURE IT OUT, GOD HAS INVITED US TO LIVE in His kingdom in the midst of our regular existence. It is not a place of isolation and perfection, it is not far away where we cannot reach it. It happens at all the places where we intersect with each other. I hope the album is another reminder that the kingdom of God doesn't just come in the rally or worship event. It comes when I speak respectfully to my husband, and refrain from letting my anger spill over onto my kids, when I have an opportunity to gossip and refrain, when I open up my home, when I mess up royally, and have the stuff to go apologize, when I refuse to blame everyone else for my problems. These songs are about the beautiful character that grows out of seeing people through by loving God, and loving people." - SARA GROVES

So far:

Dream Theater- Octavarium
Opeth- Ghost Reveries
Nevermore- The Godless Endeaver
Nine Inch Nails- With Teeth
Franz Ferdinand- You Could Have It So Much Better

Hmmmmm. I think I'll pass.

Somewhow I knew you'd say that... ;)

Moby - Hotel

Robert Plant and The Strange Sensation - Mighty Rearranger

Moby's the one the Eminem slammed in that one song right?

Ohhh now I'm just shocked! :p

You are, however missing out on some awesome music...Sara is great...she is one of the finest lyricists that I have ever had the joy of listening to.


And the best part is I get to see her Oct. 20 in concert and MEET HER! :]

Not sure. Eminem is weak. Can't stand the fool.

Josh Rouse--Nashville: More perfect pop music from this guy; this one a wonderful 70's Jackson Browne kind of sound.

Bright Eyes--I'm Awake, It's Morning: Not quite up to the hype --isn't possible-- but a great collection of songs. Plus Emmylou is on it.

Dolly Parton--Those Were The Days: It's not out until Oct. 11th and I haven't heard it yet, but I know it will be fantastic. I heard many of the songs in concert--Imagine, Me and Bobby McGee, Blowin' In The Wind, Crimson and Clover, Where Have All The Flowers Gone--and she nails all of them.

Moby is one of many whom Eminem has mocked, indeed.

I really enjoyed 1972, I may have to look into Nashville...

Well, nothing will ever come close to 1972, but Nashville's definitely worth checking out.

I can't say anything about Ms. Groves, because I've never listened to her, but what confuses me about popular "Christian music" in general is the fact that it feels the need to label itself as Christian. It's the only "genre" of music I can think of that delineates itself not by anything musical but by the subject matter of the lyrics. It seems very limiting and tends to lead to a lot of really obvious sentiment (both lyrically and musically) that almost feels like pandering to a certain built-in audience. There are certainly plenty of artists out there in all genres of music (especially country, but also in rap/hip-hop and R&B, as well as some rock/pop) who are Christian, or religious in some other way, and who find a way to express that religiosity in some of their music while still writing and singing about any of a hundred other aspects of life in the rest of their music. (Kanye West and particularly Sufjan Stevens are two examples just from my 2005 list.) It seems like the possibility of that sort of breadth is almost necessary for any kind of artistic growth, and it makes me wonder if most "Christian" artists have anything else at all to say? Then again, maybe most of the people who produce and/or listen to Chrstian music feel that God is or should be explicitly involved in every aspect of life. But still, it seems like a rather needlessly limited template.

Well said. I think "Christian" music is ridiculous.

One of the best
 

One of my fave bands is MxPx and they are labeled as punk, but they have Christian overtones to their music. Check 'em out if ya like great punk music. I'm not a huge fan of some Christian artists because they bore me or they all sound similar. I was never a Point of Grace fan and I don't listen to Christian music radio these days. I do love the old school artists though, such as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk, Jars of Clay and Newsboys.

I didn't buy many CDs in 2005. I think I got Duran Duran's Astronaut and an old Keith Urban CD from 1991 this year, but that was it. I bought some music in iTunes recently like a few songs from Gwen Stefani's solo album and some jazz songs.

Oh!! Tan-Hauser Gate...that's the best album of 2005, if ya ask me. ;)