Category: music

Best Music of 2009 – Albums

Over the past few years, I’ve been writing up my list of top 3 or 5 albums for each year.  When I went back through the albums I’ve heard in 2009 it seemed that there was too much good music to stop there.  On the other hand, I wanted to focus on what I felt were the most distinguished releases – the albums that truly meet the “Best of” criteria.  To try and balance this out, I’ve decided this year’s list will feature just my pick for the #1 album of 2009 – in ten or so carefully chosen music genres.

Best Album of 2009 in the following Categories:

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Best Music of 2008 – Albums

[This is the second half of what is becoming my annual music review. This second installment will cover my top albums and a look ahead at some exciting new releases coming out in early 2009.]

Last year I was a little disappointed with the albums put out by some of my favorite artists, but there were still plenty of great releases and limiting things down to a top 5 was tough. This year is different, and except for few standouts, I’ve actually had a hard time naming albums that I would put on a “Best of…” list. (In fact, I’ve probably put way more thinking into this then is at all reasonable for someone who is just listening to music for fun.)

Because there haven’t been a lot of easy, stand-out choices, it’s forced me to think carefully about what my criteria are for “Best of…” quality. Of course, it’s very subjective and difficult to quantify, but I think I can generally put it down to two criteria.

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Best Music of 2008 – Songs

[I have been unofficially picking my top albums each year for several years now, but last January I made it official for the first time by posting my 2007 picks in our blog and even though it’s probably cliche and self-aggrandizing to think anyone gives two rips about my music critiques I’m going to do it again this year.]

I’ve been struggling with my picks for top albums (I’ll get into why in part 2) so this year I’m going to start with my top songs. When I started thinking about my favorite songs for 2008 there was one that immediately stuck out as #1, followed by another dozen or so that were clearly worth a top 10 list. My final list (a little over 10 songs) makes for a stellar musical feast if I do say so myself: an ass kicking rocker to start it off, some hauntingly beautiful pieces, a couple of up-beat poppy tunes, a gut bustingly funny Barry White parody, a sing-along drinking song, and a little Afro-beat.

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