SD's 10 Best Albums of 2006

My year-end best-of gushathon runs in Friday's Floridian, complete with a heart-tugging, tear-drenched, snot-runny story about my concert of the year (Springsteen in New Orleans -- there's a twist at the end). I'll also provide honorable mention awards, snarky jokes and critical ho-hummery. For now, though, here's the bare-bones list of my Top 10. Commence...complaining...now:

10. Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am... (Domino)
9. Gwen Stefani, The Sweet Escape (Interscope)
8. Bruce Springsteen, The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)
7. Fantasia, Fantasia (J Records)
6. Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor (Atlantic/WEA)
5. Kasabian, Empire (RCA)
4. My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (Reprise)
3. Bob Dylan, Modern Times (Columbia)
2. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
1. Wolfmother, Wolfmother (Interscope/Modular)

Comments

[SoManyJs]

Here is my list (in no particular order):

The Top 13....

Guster - Ganging Up on the Sun
Ray Lamontagne - Til the Sun Turns Black
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
Head Automatica - Popaganda
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
The Honorary Title - Anything Else But the Truth (Reissued 2/06 - does that count?!?!)
Holly Brook - Like Blood Like Honey
Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper
Corrine Bailey Rae - Corrine Bailey Rae
Needtobreathe - Needtobreathe
Hank III - Straight to Hell

Thank you for your time. Thank you for your blog.

[Sean Daly]

Ray LaMontagne made my honorable mentions. Corinne Bailey Rae is great too.

I need to check out Joseph Arthur. A lot of people are flipping for him.

But I gotta ask, Js: WHERE'S KASABIAN?! That's right up your rumdrink.

[erin]

I only bought four or five CDs this whole year, but for what it's worth, here are my top 10 songs of the year (and if a couple are from 2005, sorry):

1) Tony the Beat - The Sounds
2) I Don't Feel Like Dancing - The Scissor Sisters
3) Punkrocker - Teddybears w/ Iggy Pop
4) Is It Any Wonder - Keane
5) The Skin Of My Country Yellow Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
6) Faster Kill Pussycat - Paul Oakenfold w/ Brittany Murphy
7) Prangin' Out - The Streets
8) I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
9) Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys
10) Get Myself Into It - The Rapture

[Mike T]

Nice top choice Sean! Wolfmother put out a kick-ass album and put on an even better show at Jannus Landing. One notible album that is missing: Black Stone Cherry.

[Nabila]

My favourites from this year have been Arctic Monkeys - Whatever blah blah..., The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth, Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That, Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark, Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo to Anywhere and We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor (not sure if this counts, as it was released in 2005 in the UK but in 2006 in the US).

I've got to say that I really can't stand My Chemical Romance (in my opinion Black Parade is bollocks), but I would really like to know what it is about their music that appeals to you Sean... pretty please?

[StonesEsq]

Days, can you send me all the country music cds that they must send you for free, as it's obvious that you have no use for them?

On a separate note, when are you planning to review James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards?

Here's to wishing you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

[SoManyJs]

Good call on the We Are Scientists record Nabila. I was thinking that was 2005...but it should qualify. I'm adding that to my list...

Has anybody (besides myself) spent anytime with the Guster record? Throw out all your preconceived notions of what a Guster album is....and you might stumble across one of the best records of the year...honest...

[VBH]

Blood Mountain by Mastodon is the best album of the year.. by far.

[girlshapedlovedrug]

Daly, I know you liked Gomez's "How We Operate", even giving them their own blog earlier this year. How didn't it make your top 25 discs of the year, let alone your top 10? Please tell me that it was a "brain fart." I'm peeved.

[Sean Daly]

It's a good album, but the truth is that I didn't even think of Gomez when making the '06 list. I listen to hundreds (thousands?) of CDs each year. I write about what sticks; it's as simple as that. A lot of good albums didn't make my Top 10 or my honorable mentions.

If it makes you feel better, I demand that everyone download Gomez ballad "See the World" immediately. That's the best song on the new disc. So there.