Now that 2008 is here and I'm doing my annual Itunes/Ipod cleanout, I thought I'd post some thoughts on my favorite songs and albums of 2007 and hopefully trigger others to do the same.

5 Favorite Songs (in no particular order)

The Temptation of Adam by Josh Ritter--The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter: Best love song ever written about people falling in love in a nuclear missile silo waiting to start WWIII.

Goodnight Rose by Ryan Adams--Easy Tiger: Ryan Adams and The Cardinals need to stick to the American Beauty-era Grateful Dead sound, which works perfectly on this song. Also, a fantastic live song (try to find the youtube clip of them playing this on the Henry Rollins show)

Keep the Car Running by the Arcade Fire--Neon Bible: Best Bruce Springsteen of the year

The General Specific by Band of Horses--Cease to Begin: The most fun song on a really fun album; best example of BoH moving their sound back to southern rock/Byrdsian alt-country

Make a Plan to Love Me by Bright Eyes--Cassadaga: Hated this song the first time I heard it (Connor Oberst doing 60s pop shouldn't work) but no song grew on me more this year. Love the female backing vocals.

5 Favorite Albums (no order)


Ryan Adams-Easy Tiger: Nothing new or special here (let's be honest RA never does anything new, but he does mimic his influences very well) but by far the most enjoyable album I bought all year. Got more play in my car/cd player/ipod than anything else.

Arcade Fire-Neon Bible: Best true post-9/11 album (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was actually finished before 9/11). Diverse instrumentation and a big sound make up for somewhat iffy lyrics.

Josh Ritter-The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter: Took me a while to get used to this album because it's so much different than his older stuff. More rocking-Bob Dylan than his previous albums, and has several standout tracks (Last Temptation; Right Moves; Still Beating)

The National-Boxer: Unabashedly an album for and about white-collar, young professionals. Another album that takes a while to get into to, but well worth it.

Band of Horses-Cease to Begin: Better than their previous album, Everything All the Time, because of its embrace of twang. As I said above, sounds like the best modern take on Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds. This is what early My Morning Jacket would've sounded like had it been more than just Jim James messing around with instruments and drenching everything in reverb.

Barely missed the cut: Iron & Wine-The Shepherd's Dog; Panda Bear-Person Pitch; Bright Eyes-Cassadaga; The Shins-Wincing the Night Away (which wins for best album title)