The Year's Five Best Albums
December 27, 2013 West Virginia Gazette
http://www.wvgazette.com/Entertainment/201312270060
The year's five best albums
By Nicholas Ransbottom, West Virginia State University
Vampire Weekend's "Modern Vampires of the City," released in May, retains singer Ezra Koenig's witty lyrics but has more emotional heft and maturity than the band's previous offerings.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- This year proved to be absolutely fantastic for the music industry. Picking just five albums to sum it up was tricky, and there are plenty of wonderful ones I've left out.
It should be noted that I used the Billboard chart-year system, which runs Dec. 1, 2012 to Nov. 30, 2013, to determine what albums should be considered a 2013 release, so that explains the lack of Beyonce.
Here are my definitive picks:
5. "Rumours (35th Anniversary Edition)," Fleetwood Mac
"Rumours" is a classic album, both for the rock genre and the music industry as a whole. Not only did it win the Grammy for Album of the Year, it's also one of the best-selling albums of all time and is frequently listed as one of the greatest albums of all time by music publications. Its acclaim is justified, as even after 35 years, the songs feature superb lyrical content, vocals and music that are sure to strike an emotional chord with anyone.
This anniversary edition comes in two versions, expanded and deluxe. The expanded, sometimes mislabeled as "deluxe," includes the original album along with the B-side "Silver Springs," a dozen previously unreleased live tracks and 16 unreleased takes from the album's recording session.
The deluxe edition, sometimes labeled as "super deluxe," includes all that content, plus an additional disk of outtakes from the 2004 reissue, a DVD copy of the 1977 documentary "The Rosebud Film" and the original album on vinyl. It's much pricier, clocking in at around $100, as opposed to $25 for the expanded edition.
Highlights: "Go Your Own Way," "Songbird," "I Don't Want to Know"