Top Five Albums of 2007

5. David Kilgour
The Far Now
Merge
Criticize This! Review

I know I didn’t give this the hottest review upon its release earlier this year, but I gotta say, David Kilgour’s The Far Now has really grown on me. I suppose I was comparing it too heavily with 2001’s A Feather in the Engine, which is a record I absolutely love. Or maybe I had a bad cheese sandwich that morning or something. I don’t really know, but no matter: ‘tis the season of atonement and abject apology.

Those familiar with the ouvre of Dunedin, New Zealand’s The Clean will find plenty here to please them. Which makes sense, as Mr. Kilgour was the leader of that long-lived band. Quirky psychedelic pop, inventive guitar playing and snappy songwriting are all present and accounted for. Fans of Doug Martsch’s Built to Spill will find plenty here to please them. Of special note is the extended coda of Yenisei.

4. Rufus Wainwright
Release the Stars
Geffen

This is a slightly controversial inclusion because many Rufus Wainwright fans gave this a bit of a panning compared to some of his earlier albums. What can I say? Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion because I happen to think that Release the Stars is one of his most ambitious, and yet accessible recordings to date.

Evidently happiness hasn’t dulled the spark of creativity, as is so often the case. Love is much harder to write than sorrow, and it’s amusing to note that the Mr. Wainwright’s current happiness is spawned by a steady and stable relationship with a German theatre-type. I say amusing, because songs such as Tiergarten and Between My Legs have a detectably Teutonic flair. And Mr. Wainwiright is actually wearing lederhosen on the back cover. These unexpected overtones work singularly well with his expressive modulation and phrasing. That is to say that Rufus Wainwright is one of the best singers out there, and he could probably do a good job singing the telephone book.

3. The National
Boxer
Beggar’s Banquet

This may also be a slightly controversial choice, but not for reasons previously stated. Most people I know would put the National’s Boxer at the top of their lists for 2007. It’s a dark, and yet life-affirming album. It’s got the yin and the yang, the light and the dark, the bacon and the eggs; all the things that need to come together to coalesce into a great record. Oh yeah, and the songwriting and musicianship are pretty excellent too.

In an age when artifice and Joy Division records constitute the mettle of many supposedly killer bands, The National are the real deal. There’s not a whit of fake angst on display, and the trendy Ian Curtis-isms are kept to a minimum. Even though I’ve got two albums that I preferred to Boxer, track seven, Apartment Story, may be the song of the year.

2. Okkervil River
The Stage Names
Jagjaguar
Criticize This! Review

Will Scheff is the finest lyricist I’ve heard in quite some time. As I wrote in my review, the only other lyricist I could compare Mr. Scheff to would be the late lamented Elliott Smith. The only difference is that Smith wrote intensely personal lyrics while Scheff has more of a journalistic flair. His songs read like prose and each one is a little chapter in the ongoing human saga. Or something like that.

The Stage Names is one of those rarities in music, an album that creates its own world in the mind of the listener. As you listen to it, you feel as though you’ve been invited into a voyeuristic world of suicidal poets and porn stars, each lent humanity by honest and direct music. I believe I compared it to an Edward Hopper painting, which is an analogy I’ll let stand.

1. Spoon
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Merge
Criticize This! Review

Yep. My favourite album of 2007 is burdened with the absolutely dumbest title of any CD or record in my collection. Congratulations Spoon! And here I was trying to steer clear of the superlatives. Anyway, no matter: ‘tis the season of forgiveness, and you can always just say, buy Spoon’s newest album. It’s not hard to avoid mentioning the title at all.

The album’s success is testament that the collective madness that gripped the recording industry for a few years seems to have abated a little. And nobody would say that Spoon doesn’t completely deserve it. Like madmen or mystics, Britt Daniel and Jim Eno have been keeping the flame lit for metronomic, infectious pop for over a decade now, with increasing success, both in the grooves and in the charts. It’s not such a bad thing: allowing a band to incubate their sound in relative obscurity gives them a unique flair when they finally do hit.

Highlights here include the Bush-baiting Don’t Make Me a Target, and The Jon Brion produced, The Underdog.

List compiled by Greg Hood-Morris, subjective reviewer.

Agree? Disagree? Email Greg at criticizegreg@gmail.com

Comments

[Brian McKechnie]

Glad to see Spoon at the top of your list. That is the one album I've not been able to put down since your recommendation (Okkervil River has really grown on me too).

Thanks for all your hard work on the site this year Greg.

-Brian