PAULYBEES definitive top 50 albums of 2007
 

i posted this to my myspace blog yesterday. i put a fair bit of thought into it and many parameters were used to come up with the final outcome...

have a look....

50. arcade fire- neon bible
49. julian cope- you gotta problem with me
48. 180dgs- ..to the future 180dgs play the music of negativland
47. jesu- pale sketches
46. nick cave /warren ellis- the assassination of jesse james.... (o.s.t.)
45. dinosaur jr- beyond
44. the fall- post reformation TLC
43. explosions in the sky- all of a sudden i miss everyone
42. turbo fruits- turbo fruits
41. to kill a petty bourgeoisie- the patron
40. black dice- load blown
39. rhys chatham- a crimson grail
38. von sudenfed- tromatic reflexxions
37. 65 days of static- the deconstruction of small ideas
36. holy fuck- holy fuck
35. original silence- the first original silence
34. pj harvey- white chalk
33. amiina- kurr
32. beirut- the flying club cup
31. sigur ros- hvarf / heim
30. the white stripes- icky thump
29. sightings- through the panama
28. radiohead- in rainbows
27. panda bear- person pitch
26. six organs of admittance- shelter from the ash
25. health- health
24. einsturzende neubauten- alles weiner offen
23. jeffrey lewis- 12 crass songs
22. sleeping people- growing
21. merzbow- merzbear
20. xbxrx- wars
19. pram- the moving frontier
18. xiu xiu / larsen- spicchiology?
17. pissed jeans- hope for men
16. monotract- trueno oscuro
15. !!!- myth takes
14. jesu- conquerer
13. grinderman- grinderman
12. liars- liars
11. numbers- you are now this
10. future of the left- curses
09. qui- loves miracle
08. shellac- excellent italian greyhound
07. ahleuchistastis- even in the midst
06. melt banana- bambis dilemma
05. lcd soundsystem- sound of silver
04. animal collective- strawberry jam
03. the magik markers- boss
02. thurston moore- trees outside the academy
01. battles- mirrored

there is probably some ommissions here due to fact i havent actually heard EVERYTHING EVER RECORDED THIS YEAR and some albums didnt quite make the top 50 some for being totally poor some for having to draw the line somewhere....

thanks for reading this, feel free to comment....
paul b

You don't say!

Is there a particular order in this list?

Well, he did number the list.

interesting...its hard to argue with your #1...except that it should be Person Pitch :-)....but yeah, Battles is #3 for me...

Yeah , right.
I meant , are these albums sorted by preference or quality in any way ?
That's not obvious.

Your list has some similarities with my own both in content and because it's a top fifty.

i cant do 50...ill maybe do 13

Should I post my top fifty list in this thread, wait until someone starts a best of '07 thread, or start my own best of '07 thread?

Note that the above is a bit of a rhetorical question.

(I cut around twenty titles to pare this down to fifty)
What the hell...


1 The Original Silence - The First Original Silence
2 Battles - Mirrored
3 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
4 Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
5 Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
6 V/A - I'm Not There Motion Picture Soundtrack
7 Bruce Springsteen - Magic
8 Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
9 Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma
10 Björk - Volta
11 Bad Brains - Build A Nation
12 Patti Smith - Twelve
13 Meat Puppets - Rise To Your Knees
14 The Stooges - The Weirdness
15 Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges - Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges
16 Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime
17 Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
18 Radiohead - In Rainbows
19 T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P.
20 McCoy Tyner - Quartet
21 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
22 Brad Mehldau - Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Radio Broadcast
23 Liars - Liars
24 XBXRX - Wars
25 Magik Markers - Boss
26 Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
27 Zu & Nobuzaku Takemura - Identification with the Enemy: A Key to the Underworld
28 Wolf Eyes - Black Wings Over The Sand
29 John Fogerty - Revival
30 Ron Carter - Dear Miles
31 Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
32 Ween - La Cucaracha
33 Xiu Xiu & V/A - Remixed & Covered
34 Black Dice - Load Blown
35 Panda Bear - Person Pitch
36 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
37 Built To Spill - You In Reverse
38 Grinderman - Grinderman
39 Duran Duran - Red Carpet Massacre
40 Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
41 Merle Haggard - The Bluegrass Sessions
42 Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
43 Tomahawk - Anonymous
44 Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
45 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
46 Cowboy Junkies - At the End of Paths Taken
47 Einstürzende Neubauten - Alles Weider Offen
48 The Fall - Reformation Post T.L.C
49 Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. -
Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars
50 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

People ridicule me for making top 20 LPs, top 20 EPs, and top 20 CDR/cassette releases....as if to say that having so many things on a list just devalues it so much. What do people think of a top 50, I wonder. (There are some not-so-good records up there near the high-40s.)

I do remember Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" radio program (immortalized on Negativland's infamous U2 ep) where he counted down the top forty singles according to Billboard magazine.

I have a text file of everything I've been listening to over the year of around seventy releases, but fifty just seems to be a good, round number considering that I don't think I'm going to make it to getting around to fully listening to a hundred different albums released this year.

SERIOUSLY, pauly, I love you, but how can you not have the new stars of the lid anywhere in your top 50?!

My top 50 so far.. the year isn't over but close enough.. also, I'm counting EP's in here I guess.. I only put like 2... this is all from my memory just now, not some big list I had..

1. Rhys Chatham - Crimson Grail
2. Sleeping People - Growing
3. Toddle - Dawn Praise the World
4. Neurosis - Given to the Rising
5. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
6. Mong Hang - Debaktaka
7. Polysics - Karate House
8. Jesu - Conqueror
9. Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
10. Melt Banana - Bambi's Dilemma
11. Sir Richard Bishop - Staged
12. Growing - Vision Swim
13. Avey Tare - Pullhair Rubeye
14. Mammal - Lonesome Drifter
15. Residents - Voice of Midnight
16. Athletic Automation - Roman's Empire
17. The Tuss - Rushup Edge
18. Electro Group - Good Technology
19. The Fall - Post Reformation TLC
20. Tomahawk - Anonymous
21. Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter from the Ash
22. Gein and the Gravediggers - Songs in the Key of Evil
23. Oren Ambarchi - Burial Chamber Trio
24. Dodheimsgard - Supervillian Outcast
25. Boris/Merzbow - Rock Dream
26. Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed
27. XBRX - Wars
28. Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe
29. Zazen Boys - I Don't Wanna Be With You [though their live album was better, it was only released online, so..]
30. Motocompo - Chiptop Lips
31. Qui - Love's Miracle
32. Sloth Love Chunks - Shakuhi Express
33. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
34. Pre - Epic Fits
35. Meneguar - Strangers in Our House
36. Battles - Mirrored
37. Ministry - The Last Sucker
38. Mark Prindle - Smilehouse
39. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
40. Jesu - Lifeline
41. Vola and the Oriental Machine - Android
42. Low - Drum/Gun
43. Xiu Xiu / Larsen - Spicchiology
44. Black Dice - Load Blown
45. Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
46. Goon Moon - Licker's Last Leg
47. Experimental Dental School / Melt Banana Split
48. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Fire Escape
49. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
50. Unsane - Visqueen

EDIT: I can't wait to see all the unwarranted # 1's for stuff like "Mirrored" and "Person Pitch".. sure, that stuff's good, but the best of the year? Hardly. I heard probably 150-200 things this year, I heard most of the stuff you guys listed, so I think I have a pretty good list myself.. There were plenty of disappointments (new Hella, Liars, Jesu's "Pale Sketches", etc.) but it was a pretty good year all in all. If for some ODD reason, I put a 2006 album anywhere on that list, put stuff like the new Bloodthirsty Butchers in place of it.

Also, I really need to hear the Zu/Nobokazu Takemaru disc.. fuck.. Also, been meaning to hear the new Circus Devils (SGT. DISCO), because the description makes it sound awesome. Oh and fuck - new Pram? I'm there. OH, and I just heard about a new Fatal Flying Guilloteens too so I gotta check that out.

i havent heard 50 albums from 2007.

i'll have a top 50 and bottom 50 list (probably).

My bottom 10:
1. Locust - New Erections
2. whatever the fuck Mars Volta released this year
3. Magic Markers - BOSS
4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
5. Throbbing Gristle - The Endless Not
6. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
7. Hella - There's No 666 In Outer Space
8. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
9. Pelican - whatever the fuck it's called
10. Sightings - Through the Panama

Note that all 10 of those aren't necassarily bad and not all of those are bad bands, they just released stuff that wasn't of high quality this year.. so it's a list of just BAD stuff mixed with really really disappointing stuff as well.. except the top 3, all the rest of the bands usually release stuff I enjoy.

EDIT - Actually, Sightings haven't really released stuff I ENJOY, but they're not too bad. But man was that new album way hyped..

nice list, i still have heard the nick cave/warren ellis alblum yet, gotta get on that.

it was nice seeing arcade fire at 50, granted i think theyre one of the better more accesible sounding bands around for sure, might even be the best, but you know theyre gonna be the top 10 in every fucking lame music magazine this year.

no fucking way im gonna write down 50 right now, its finals time.

album title of the year: How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?

Dinosaur jr! Liars at # 12! and Mirrored at #1!

You rock!

I pathetically don't listen to nearly as much new music as you, but I have these 3 from your list and I would totally rank Mirrored as the best of anything I've heard recently. Liars is great, too, and so is Beyond.

actually, what i'm meaning by bottom is like the bottom best, like albums that are good but not trascendental.

nice list!

thanks guys..
stars of the lid, i havent heard it....

as for the order, well they are my preference, they are my favourites in that order. im not saying that these are the best albums this year musically, im saying that they are my favourites... end of story!

for anyone who cares, pre, throbbing gristle, growing and deerhoof just missed out, as much as id love to include them on the list, they just missed out..

les savy fav, hella and interpol are not on the list because those albums are awful!

Nice list. Mine will look similar.

stars of the lid is a stunner....everyone should be checking that

bump to ad to the other top 2007 lists...

and i forgot totally about the silver daggers album!

Kinda sad that more people haven't heard scissor shock's "tease the skeleton", that'd obviously be #1 on a lot of people's lists.

Also, pauly, I enjoy your list, I don't agree with placements of certain things, but you do have plenty of albums I had forgotten about (to kill a petty bourgeosoipfupsoiufsepoiuf for example) so I revised my list a bit when I posted it to my LJ.

And I'm glad we both agree that the new Hella is fucking TERRIBLE...

really nice list (Pauly's, need to read atari's and cooley's with more attention), I agree with lots of those mentioned, don't care much for the "position" in the list.. I'd add:

the mini cd Rolo Tomassi put out
ulan bator released a great "compilation" of unreleased material
bloody panda - Pheromone + split with kayo dot

will think about a more personal list after my birthday.

I don't think I've heard 50 albums from any year.

bloody panda's cool, didnt realize that stuff was 2007 though.

I think... will check, I get quite confused with release dates...

edit: the split is 2006, the album 2007 (if I'm not mistaken)...

a couple more great albums :
Black Engine - "Ku Klux Klowns"
Bachi da Pietra - "non io"

i'm probably the only one who liked the new hella, i need to re-listen to it, but it was great in a voivod kinda sense.

Yeah, I listened to it twice, it was a chore for sure. A stepup from that double disc thing they did which was pretty much unlistenable, but...

Too Mars Volta like in parts.. my girlfriend liked it a lot, for some reason..

ohh, church gone wild is unlistenable, you want to tear your hair 5 minutes into it.

i think i got it, but i'll play it safe and say it's a draft, so here are the 50 top great albums for me; i didn't listen to some stuff this year so, unfortunately, some things didn't make it. i'll have a list of 50 bottom great albums of the year too; for now here are the very greats. also, i cheated on some places.

in no particular order:

• Ghost - In Stormy Nights
• Descartes A Kant - Paper Dolls
• Hot Cross - Risk Revival
• Sutcliffe Jügend - This Is The Truth
• Los Llamarada - The Exploding Now!
• The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
• Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
• Neurosis - Given To The Rising
• Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Crystal Rainbow Pyramid In The Stars
• Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
• Melt Banana - Bambi's Dilemma
• Astro - Astral Orange Sunshine/Galax - Never Ending Space Trackin'
• Lasse Marhaug - The Great Silence
• Smegma - 33 1/3
• Job For A Cowboy - Genesis
• Hentai Lacerator - Covered In Fun
• Jesu - Conqueror
• Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters
• Circle - Panic/Circle - Katapult/Sunburned Circle - The Blaze Game/Pharaoh Overlord - Live In Suomi Finland
• Kousokuya - Echoes From Deep Underground/Ray Night, 2006.10.18.
• Heavy Winged - Feel Inside
• Xiu Xiu Larsen - ¿Spicchiology?
• Kemilliset Ystävät - Untitled
• Islaja - Ulual Yyy
• PJ Harvey - White Chalk
• Benighted - Icon
• Pharaohe Munch - Desire
• Oxbow - The Narcotic Story
• Rhys Chatham - A Crimson Grail (For 400 Guitars)
• James Blackshaw - The Cloud Of Unknowing
• Einstürzende Neubauten - Alles Wieder Offen
• Bongripper - Hippie Killer
• Unsane - Visqueen
• Bloody Panda - Pheromone
• Vibracathedral Orchestra - Wisdom Thuderbolt
• Baroness - Red Album
• Om - Pilgrimage
• Angels Of Light - We Are Him
• Oren Ambarchi - In The Pendulum's Embrace
• Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying
• Watain - Sworn To The Dark
• Original Silence - The First Original Silence
• Múm - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy
• Prurient - Adam Tied To Stone
• Bad Brains - Build A Nation
• Alcest - Souvenir D'un Autre Monde
• Lesbian - Power Hör
• Wold - Screeching Owl
• Mammal - Lonesome Drifter
• Boris with Merzbow - Rock Dream/Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow

here's pretty much, the bottom greatest 50 albums of 2007 for me, these are great albums that, while very well done, don't really break the mold or had that extra something, yet are still fantastic. again in no particular order:

• My Cat Is An Alien - Leave me in the black No-Thing
• Psyopus - Our Puzzling Encounters Consideres
• The Bark Haze - The Bark Haze
• Astral Social Club - Super Grease/Neon Pibroch
• Zozobra - Harmonic Tremors
• The Fall - Reformation Post TLC
• Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
• Polysics - Karate House
• Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today
• High On Fire - Death Is This Communion
• Weedeater - Godluck and Goodspeed
• Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Earth Do Eagles Do
• Pre - Epic Fits
• Darkthrone - F.O.A.D.
• Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao
• Death Ambient - Druken Forest
• Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic
• Andrew Bird - Armchair
• Gallhammer - Ill Innocense
• Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
• Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy
• RTX - Western Xterminator
• Sigh - Hangman's Hymn
• To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Patron
• Silverchair - Young Modern
• The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
• The Painful Leg Injuries - If The Devil's In The Details Then How Many Details Can You Fit Upon A Match
• Behemoth - The Apostasy
• Pita - A Bas La Culture Marchande
• Boredoms - Super Roots 9
• Alasehir - The Stone Sentinels
• Burning Star Core - Blood Lightning/Operator Dead...Post Abandoned
• Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe
• Carlos Giffoni - Arrogance
• Demons - Frozen Fog
• Antigama - Resonance
• Suishou No Fune - The Light Of Dark Night
• Zoroaster - Dog Magic
• Meat Puppets - Rise To Your Knees
• Destroyer Destroyer - Littered With Arrows
• BBBlood - Experiment 50
• Rubbish - Vexanation, The Great American Outhouse
• Battles - Mirrored
• Armenia + Cornucopia - Un Infierno Total
• Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline
• 108 - A New Beat From A Dead Heart
• Kenji Siratori - Survival Mind
• Eluvium - Copia
• Six Organs Of Admittance - Shelter From The Ash
• Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules

I didn't realize "in stormy nights" was 2007.. that would make my list too...

yeah, in stormy nights is amazing.

I'm quite surprised that, while I'm familiar with a fair few of people's top 50, I have only actually bought one recorded that was originally released this year. So, my top 1 consists of the new Fall record, which is by an astonishing margin, the best record I bought that was new this year. With honourable mentions to the Michael North plays Bach on the Lute box set re-issued this year.

Edit: by surprised I mean pleased. And by pleased I mean smug.

:eek:

First list i've seen that's included The Stooges record.

Oh shit, I've been quoted...no more reshuffling and editing for me!

Thanks for noticing. My list notes lots of different types of music and dares to go with some fairly unpopular choices. And while one of my all-time favorite performers, Paul McCartney, released a new album this year, the effort did not make the cut. Bryan Ferry's Dylanesque tribute is absent as well, but The I'm Not There soundtrack shot right up near the top. I haven't heard a considerable amount of the music on other best of lists, but I did eliminate over twenty titles to make it a top fifty. I passed over Blonde Redhead, Spoon, the V/A Joni Mitchell tribute, Mehldau and Metheny, Beastie Boys, Frog Eyes, Merzbow, the V/A Darfur thing, and The Hottest State soundtrack just to name a few.

I think I originally had The Weirdness at number seventeen or eighteen, but bumped it up, and damn what people think hehe! I really should have it even higher than fourteen the more I think about it. Despite some level of disappointment, the other half or so of the album is really good. "Passing Cloud" is particularly wonderful and one of my very favorite songs of this year. This candle's blown.