Best of 2006

My most confusing year in music. Did I buy that CD, did I download it, did I rip it?   Do I still call them albums? Do I have back up? How can I keep track of this digital music collection and my vast CD collection?

A year that saw me listen to more music via iTunes streamed live to my AirPort express that’s connected to my home stereo or on my iPod (now up to 80 gigs and filling up fast) than ever before. Now I can go weeks without ever playing a real CD and hardly do I ever listen to anything from start to finish anymore, out side of the first time I listen to it. Otherwise my music world is on shuffle.

The 10 albums on my best of list stood one important test – I repeatedly enjoyed listening to them from start to finish more so than the rest of the albums I bought, burned, download or ripped this year which are playing on shuffle as I type this.

1. Bob Dylan  - Modern Times
   Old weird country meets old weird Dylan and creates an album the cuts across ages, genres and into the best album of the year slot. Stood the test of 2006
2. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not
   A flashy surprise of an album, I’ve always got a soft spot for those Brit bands of moment and the Artic Monkeys lived up to the Mojo / Q hype.
3. Rosanne Cash -- Black Cadillac
   An intense album of coming to grips with loss and what it means to move on. The soundtrack to my 2006.
4. Tim O’Reagan – S/T
   Smart Beatle influenced pop meets alt country. Who knew the drummer for the Jayhawks had this in him. A sunny album that always lifted my spirits – think Rubber Soul meets Blue Earth.
5. Tom Petty -- Highway Companion
   His road album is full of what you’d expect from him – rock, pops, folk and the occasional blues tune. A guy at the top of his game and comfortable in his own skin.
6. Bruce Springsteen -- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
   I couldn’t leave Bruce off the list. He looks back into the obscure folk history of American music and pulls out a set of songs that still resonate with the times. Truly the more things change the more they stay the same.
7. Dixie Chicks -- Taking the Long Way
   An album not so much country as Los Angeles pop of the 70’s. At times almost a Fleetwood Mac sounding album. This band is coming into it’s own and the their greatest work lies ahead of them.
8. Los Lobos -- The Town And The City
   A band that’s been around so long you kind of take them for granted. One of America’s great rock n roll bands. Los Lobos never rests on their laurels and keeps pushing the envelope of rock n roll.
9. Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Live at the Fillmore East
   Finally Neil opens up the vaults and unleashes this powerhouse of a live album.
10. The Raconteurs -- Broken Boy Soldiers
    A bold debut from a band not afraid to tackle blues, psychedelica, power pop and 60’s rock. Plus their guitar player is pretty good and used to be married to Meg White.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Hammersmith Odeon, London 75

Jerry Lee Lewis – Last Man Standing

Rhett Miller - The Believer

Lily Allen – Alright, Still

My Morning Jacket – Okonokos

Alejandro Escovedo – The Boxing Mirror

Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River In Reverse           

Golden Smog -- Another Fine Day

The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

Donovan Frankenreiter – Move By Yourself

John Legend – Once Again

Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

Guster – Ganging Up on the Sun

Twighlight Singers – Powder Burns

Willie Nile - Streets of New York           

Reissues:
Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels On A Gravel Road / Deluxe Edtion
Allman Brothers – Eat a Peach / Deluxe Edtion

Blues
Ronnie Baker Brooks – The Torch
Dion DiMucci – Bronx in Blue
Guitar Shorty – We the People
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk

Box Set:
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of