Top 10 of 2009

I'm obviously quite late in comparison to most other best of 2009 lists, but in all reality I would have preferred to do this list even later. How can I judge an album after only having listened to it once or twice and cursory at that? This list might look completely different in a few months then, but I tried anyway:

10 - Beausoleil - Alligator Purse
Even while also Americana, this is to some extent and outlier on this list. A truly appealing Cajun album, with an absolute killer, the French/English Bobby Charles cover 'Spent All My Money Loving You'.

9 - Levon Helm - Electric Dirt
No, this is not on the same level as the 'Dirt Farmer' (but then what could feasibly be?). Yet, it is a good album and Levon Helm covering one of my favorite Muddy Waters titles (You can't lose what you ain't never had) is a sight to behold (well, you know what I mean).

8 - Wu-Tang Clan - Chamber Music
The Wu is back. Even if it might sound surprising, they are quite simply still really good. Not even that there is anything extremely outstanding, just another confirmation for me that these older guys are quite simply better than their Hip Hop successors. On a related note, there are only two rap albums on this list. I am not sure whether this is a reflection of my age or the state of Hip Hop today, that is up to the beholder I guess.

7 - Wayne Hancock - Viper of Melody
Honky tonk music from 2009. Sounds quite incredible I know. Yet, that's what Wayne Hancock does and he is real good at it. His topics don't really change, neither has he innovated a lot since Thunderstorm and Neon Signs, but then why change a winning formula?

6 - Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Dylan. Again. Even coming out with two albums in 2009, one of which is an actually listenable Christmas album! Together through Life is a blues tribute album really. There is only one non-Dylan composition (a collaboration with the (dead) Willie Dixon, but the Chicago Blues Spirit can be heard throughout and while an unusual Dylan album I really liked it.

5 - John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Ranger Rides Again
I often (well, sometimes) wonder with regret what John Fogerty would have done inbetween his decade-long hiatus from the music industry after having been sued for plagiarizing himself. As the title implies this really is a return to this solo-act roots debut The Blue Ridge Rangers. Another wonderful album of his.

4 - BK-One - Rádio do Canibal
The highest placed non-Americana guy on this list and the only semi-non-American one (I should maybe branch out a bit more, but then there is simply so much good stuff already). BK-One basically produces Brazilian-tinged beats and has guys like Brother Ali rap over them. Works really well I found.

3 - Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies
This guy is without a doubt my young discovery artist of the last few years. Another beautiful melancholic album (why is good music of literature most often sad and pensive). He is his father's son, he (luckily) never knows when to shut up.

2 - Steve Earle - Townes
The father (still?) before the son. Playing songs by the guy he named his son for. I love Steve Earle. I adore Townes Van Zandt. I didn't like this album on the first run through. I've listened to it repeatedly by now and it seemingly becomes better every time I listen to it. At first I only enjoyed the first disc (which includes band-backing), by now I also find the second disc (with just an acoustic guitar) amazing. This guy has really become one of my most favorite musicians alive and kickin, I hope he won't let up this kind of quality anytime soon.

1 - Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi
Finally, a true gem. I would not be able to tell you whether Mr. Toussaint has had even one big hit in his life (Southern Nights maybe?), but he has been instrumental for the development of New Orleans RnB like no one else, as a compositor, an arranger, a producer, a musician. His new album (I only have two others anyway) is nearly exclusively instrumental and simply great. It cannot be overheard or in any case I seem to be incapable to reach that point. Some of the songs are well-known classics (St James Infirmary), others I didn't know (but might of course very well be such classics as well), but if you like music of any kind you need to get this album. If you know who Professor Longhair is and what New Orleans means to rhythm and blues ever more sos.


Not yet heard often enough/honorable mention:
Buddy & Julie Miller - Written In Chalk
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt II
Booker T Jones - Potato Soul
Brother Ali - Us
Kris Kristofferson - Closer to the Bone
Loudon Wainwright III - High Wide & Lonesome
Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel - Willie and the Wheel
The Flatlanders - Hills and Valleys
Wax Tailor - In the Mood for Life

Older editions:
2008
2007
2006

Top 8 of 2008

I had posted my personal album charts during the last two years already (2006, 2007), welcome to the third installement thus. As last year I haven't actually discovered enough good music (or, more accurately, haven't actually listened to enough music published during the course of 2008) for a Top 10 and will have to limit myself to 8 albums only.

8 - Solomon Burke - Like A Fire
On a roll ever since Nashville (2006), just another beautiful soul production by Solomon Burke.

7 - Otis Taylor - Recapturing the Banjo
A black blues musician repossesses the banjo which today is associated virtually only with white musicians. I am not quite sure what kind of music this is. Blues? Folk? Americana, yes, but what does that even mean? A wonderful, modern folksy artist.

6 - GZA - Pro Tools
A Wu-Tang album in 2008? Yes, and it's a good one too. The ODB might be dead, but the GZA is still around. Great beats, great rhymes. As simple as that.

5 - Dr John & The Lower 911 - City That Care Forgot
By now one of the elder statesmen of New Orleans piano music, Dr John seems to be like a fine wine, he only gets better with age. Ever since Katrina he basically sings about New Orleans having disappeared, which, culturally speaking, seems brutally true and sad at the same time. What would modern American music even be like without New Orleans? And from everything I've read and heard about this, New Orleans will only come back as a kind of Disneyland or Las Vegas with the touristy parts of the French Quarter dominating a once thriving (if poor and violent) city. Dr John laments his demise and he does so beautifully.

4 - Nas - Untitled
Nas always seems to suffer from the simple fact that he recorded some of the best rap albums ever, in comparison some of his other stuff simply cannot compete. This is a great album though when compared to virtually everything else. Political as always (the original title was supposed to be a 6-letter word starting with N, his record company refused to release it as such), Nas (luckily) is not going away.

3 - BB King - One Kind of Favor
How old is BB King by now? 80 something? 83 actually, I looked it up. Can one still record great records at that age? Hell, some people cannot even walk anymore at that age, but evidently this is not a problem for the Blues Boy (or is he too old for this moniker by now?). Covering the immortal Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson and even the Mississippi Sheiks, BB King seems to move back to a more traditional sound on this album, away from some of the more poppy Blues that made him so famous, and obviously I appreciate this. Finally, Dr John's presence on and T-Bone Burnett's production of this record are noticeable and positively so.

2 - Immortal Technique - The 3rd World
One of the most politically aware rappers is back. Hailing from New York, Puerto Rican, Technique gives us that rare breed of socially conscious rap, I wish this kind of stuff would actually chart every once in a while. Sampling the early (and sadly unknown) Wailers (I Made a Mistake), my personal highlight of the album is a song about learning processes (Mistakes)

1 - John Hiatt - Same Old Man
I never knew much about John Hiatt, nor do I particularly like some of his older stuff, I deleted one of his older albums a few days ago in fact, but his two most recent albums are great (Master of Disaster in 2005, Same Old Man in 2008). How did a friend of mine describe it once? Old men picking a guitar, singing about dying. John Hiatt sings about the Old Days, about the men he toured with, he encountered, who have passed on ever since. Wonderful.

This then leaves us with some honourable mentions that I have not listened to sufficiently yet, in a few months they could have very well made or prolonged this list:

Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Black Milk - Tronic
Devin the Dude - Landing Gear
Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
Nach - Un Dia En Suburbia
Q Tip - The Renaissance
Scarface - Emeritus
Snoop Dogg - Ego Trippin'
The Blind Boys of Alabama - Down in New Orleans
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men With The Blues

Top 5 of 2007

I did a list of the best 10 records that came out in 2006 last year. This year I didn't listen to new music as much, or maybe not that many great new albums came out, in any case, it'll be only a Top 5:

5 - Vieux Farke Touré - Vieux Farka Touré
I loved his Dad's stuff (may he rest in peace) and I thought at first this was just a son cashing in on his father's talent, wile having none of his own (say Julian Lennon, what little I have heard of him). Not true. Granted he does sound a lot like Ali Farka Touré, but he simply does a good job himself and that Niafunké sound is just wonderful.

4 - Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster
I didn't know anything of this guy until me and a friend from Kansas saw him on CMT in a motel in Nashville by accident. Considering the bullshit they play on that station usually I was struck by his voice, his age, his experience, his wisdom that he expressed through it. A reflective, quiet old man's album, wonderful. And the guy went to Hank William's first appearence in the Grand Ol' Opry for God's sake, so sad that all these old-timers are dying out.

3 - Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
Definitely one of the strongest singers still alive and kickin' today. His outlaw, hick music speaks to me in ways that I have a hard time explaining (considering I am a German (Berliner) city slicker). He moved to New York last year and his album is a less politicized affaire, more a personal narration of Greenwich Village. Not his best album (but then to be fair is it even possible to top Copperhead Road or Christmas in Washington?), but very enjoyable and I felt like it grows on you too.

2 - Dion - Son of Skip James
Ever heard of Dion & The Belmonts? A Teenager in Love? The Wanderer? Catchy 50s Doo Wop tunes? Rings a bell? Well, that guy has produced the best blues album of the year (granted I didn't listen to that many this year and this is the second year in a row this award goes to a white guy, not quite sure what that means). It seems to be a weird career path true, but this is actually his second blues album (Bronx in Blue in 2006 was the other one) and he is superb. He apparently got exposed to the blues on the folk circuit during the 60s, which explains the reference to Skip James with whom he played, and he definitely learned his lesson well. A great bluesified cover of Chuck Berry's Nadine for example.

1 - Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
So, I flew home for Christmas and my Dad once I get there hands me this CD and says: 'Heard this one? Very good one. You need to check it out.' And I did, think I listened to it for the whole following week without becoming tired of his whiny voice. Did I mention that I love rural American music? No logical explanation, sorry. Helm whom I had never heard of (he was the drummer for the Band and sang some for them too, I did thus kind of know him already) covers ol'-timey music on this album. Great, great country-rock. One Steve Earle cover, The Mountain, that is simply a stunner. Wonderful album, you need to listen to it, trust me.

The poor old dirt farmer he's lost all his corn,
and now where's the money to pay off his loan?

Honorable mentions and albums that could be good but that I haven't listened to enough yet (in no particular order):
Guru - Jazzmatazz - Volume 4 - The Hip Hop Jazz Messenger - Back to the Future
Devin The Dude - Waitin' To Inhale
Prodigy - Return Of The Mac
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Tiken Jah Fakoly - L'Africain
Ry Cooder - My Name is Buddy
John Fogerty - Revival
The Holmes Brothers - State of Grace

Top 10 of 2006

Following my personal Top 10 of records published in 2006:

10 - Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Is there anything new that I could potentially say about Mr Zimmermann? I doubt it, simply fact that the greatest American poet of the 20th century has produced a new album warrants a spot in the Top 10.

9 - Dr John - Mercernary
Dr. John covering Johnny Mercer. Mac Rebennack has published typically New Orleans albums in the last couple of years and all of them are good. His voice coupled with the typical New Orleans piano and the brass in the back work every time.

8 - Van Morrison - Pay The Devil
Van the Man goes country. With three Hank Williams covers, the most American Irish ever shows just how far he has immersed himself in American music. Great Album.

7 - Solomon Burke - Nashville
And another Soul crooner exploring the country route. Burke had already recorded the odd country tune before (and Southern Soul and Country have been perpetually close anyway). I would call this the best traditional Country album of the year and it definitely should have been up there in the Country charts (only made it to 55 though as modern country simply is too washed up and poppy nowadays).

6 - Aaron Neville - Bring It On Home
I usually don't really like Aaron's solo work (the Neville Brothers' stuff is great), his voice is too soft and his material and back up to much geared for the Easy Listening market, but this one is simply amazing. The subtitle is The Soul Classics giving it the impression of a compilation, but Neville has decided to re-rerecord classics by Sam Cooke, The Stable Singers et al. I wish he would always sing like this.

5 - Charlie Musselwhite - Delta Hardware
I hadn't really known this guy before, had him down as just another mediocre white Blues singer. In fact he is far better and this is easily the best blues album of the year. Nomen est omen, this is pure delta material, nothing extravagant, nothing fancy, no Fat Possum-like electronic experiments. Just the good stuff.

4 - Neil Young - Living With War
As above my opinion of Neil Young hadn't been to high before (too experimental a folkie for me that dude) and I wonder how this album will sound in 10 years when all this furor about the current US-administration has quieted down. Yet, right now this is a great album, a running commentary on politics in the vein of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers, a blunt attack on the misuse of power by Bush and his cabinet set to rocky music.

3 - Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing
If I calculated an age average of the singers on this list here it would probably not bode too well for my standing for younger readers of my blog (meaning everyone), but what can I do, the music is just so much better. As most older legends do at some point Jerry Lee has recorded a duets album, these sometimes are quite sad affairs with older geniuses coupled with young pop guys in order to prop up sales delivering songs that suck. This is not the case here, not at all, most of the co-singers are older stars in their own right (Buddy Guy, Little Richard, Keith Richards...notable exceptions are Toby Keith and Kid Rock) and Jerry Lee dominates all of them. Wonderful Rock N Roll album.

2 - Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome
Bruce Springsteen definitely is too much of a Classic Rock kind of guy for me. Decent and everything, just doesn't really work for me this Stadium Rock stuff. This is different. Covering Seeger songs (and thus again a political statement considering Seeger's well-documented left-wing history) Springsteen and band sound as if they just got together one saturday night at his house and recorded these songs for fun. You can hear how much fun they had playing this stuff, good ol'timin' stuff.

1 - Hank Williams III - Straight To Hell
And finally someone under 40 on this list. May I introduce the son of Hank Williams Jr, the grandson of Hank Williams himself. Can anyone think of a more pressing heritage as a singer? His third (studio) album of Country music and it is his best. Aggressive, hard-rocking Country that keeps the Outlaw tradition going. None of that soft, bland Nashville BS, neither the flag-waving Toby Keith kind. My only problem is that I can never decide whether I like the hard rockers or the slow crooning songs better. Get it!