The Best of the Year

2010 has become one of the best years for music.  Now I know most people are stuck in their ways, stating that the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's were the best of the musical time eras.  I'm not going to say that's false, because the music produced during the time was amazing.  However, I can't stand people who think that the music produced today isn't of any quality.  For every "Like a G6" there can be a brilliant song such as "Runaway" by Kanye West.  I'd like to highlight some of my favorite albums and favorite songs of the 2010, because it's getting to be the end of the year soon, and let's face it, these lists always tend to pop up.

Favorite Albums:

1. The Morning Of "The Way I Fell In"

This album is the definition of greatness if it's coming from a band whose first album was rather corny and over reaching in most areas.  Sure, I loved their debut, "The World As We Know It", because some of the songs were great by themselves.  But this new album demands that you listen to it straight through without interruptions. Some clear standouts include the first single, "The Ones That Fall Apart", "Tell Me I'm Wrong", "The Time It Takes to Grow", and "Like Yesterday".  The whole album feels like the band rejuvenated themselves and created a tighter knit sound that has maturity but at the same time freedom.


        2.  Eminem "Recovery"

Last year, in 2009, I had to put his "comeback" CD, "Relapse", on my list of worst CD's. My how things change in just a year. Honestly it was hard to be an Eminem fan when all he ever keeps doing is stupid horror core shock value songs that make fun of his mother, Kim, and other people that don't really need to be made fun of (Christopher Reeve jokes are SO last decade). Imagine my surprise when I popped in the "Recovery" CD in my car this summer and I couldn't stop listening to it.  Hell, it's still in my car.  Yes this CD is rap.  Yes, Eminem is vulgar.  But remind yourself this:  Eminem is one of the honest lyricists in the business and he will tell you like it is.  Which is never more present in "Talking To Myself", where he openly admits to being pathetic and depressed the last few years.  He needs to drop the accents ("Not Afraid"), admit his true feelings to Kim ("Going Through Changes"), and just have  a good time ("Cinderella Man").  This album showcases how clever Eminem can be through his lyrics and the punchlines just never stop coming (this time they're worth listening to).  It's not a perfect album, but damn it it's better than anything we've heard from him in the last decade or so.  And that really does amaze me.

          3. Jimmy Eat World "Invented"

Jimmy Eat World, for the most part, is able to craft amazing little albums.  I'm constantly saddened to hear people refer to them as the band that wrote "The Middle".  This band is SO much better than that, and it clearly shows on this album.  While "My Best Theory" is an alright single, it's songs such as "Movielike", "Higher Devotion", "Action Needs An Audience" that could easily be singles.  The lyrics seem to always hit a certain personal chord with me and the band can get inside your head with lyrics like "If you wanna hurt me baby, stop cause you have."  It's quick, honest, and direct, something that I love in bands.

          4. B.O.B. "B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray"

A rapper who can both rap well AND sing well?!  Forget about it.  Unless it's B.O.B. aka Bobby Ray.  This dude can carry a tune very well and then spit some deep and quick lyrics that sometimes feel like they come out of nowhere.  Sure, most of this album his based on his amazement that he's made it in the business (Eminem's on here, so congrats!) or it's about girls, but the dude can certainly can spit something fierce.  My personal favorites include: "Fame", "Lovelier Than You", "Magic", and of course "Airplanes Part 2".  Simply because Eminem makes that song amazing!  And let me not forget to mention that Weezer's frontman Rivers Cuomo takes the chorus in "Magic".  Who doesn't love when a rapper crosses genres like that?

        5. Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

Notice which version of the album cover I used. ;)  This is Kanye's answer to Pink Floyd's artistic endeavors.  This album is Kanye's best album, but it's not perfect.  It's damn NEAR perfect.  In fact, to make this short and simple, the only wrong with this album is "Runaway"'s 9 minute running time.  It could've been shorted to around 6 minutes if Kanye didn't feel the need to repeat the whole song using a vocoder, which simply makes his voice sound like a guitar.  An inaudible guitar sound.  Luckily, the rest of the album is full of Kanye rapping about man's power struggles, living the life of a dochebag, and wanting the very best in what was promised to us long ago:  The American Dream.  It would've been perfect if only 3 minutes were shaved off of it. Oh, and "Monster" is just bloody fantastic!

Favorite Songs:

      1. "F**k" You" by Cee-Lo Green

I love the mo-town throwback to this song.  And Cee-Lo Green is just a vocal master in each and every song he's featured in.  His album I've heard, is just as amazing.

     2. "Stand Too Close" by Motion City Soundtrack

I didn't put their album "My Dinosaur Life" up on my favorite albums above (it is one of them regardless), but this is easily one of my favorite songs by them ever.  It's got some of my favorite lyrics by the band and it blends a great acoustic song with a hard rocking song toward the end.

     3. "Needing/Getting" by OK GO


Who knew OK GO would keep their musical structure intact after all those clever music videos?  I love the lyric "I've been hoping for months, hoping for years, hoping I might forget, Aw, but it don't get much dumber, it don't get much dumber, than trying to forget, a girl when you love her".  Perfect phrase right there!

    4. "I Should Have Known It" by Tom Petty


It's a new Tom Petty song with a new Tom Petty album.  And the album is called "Mojo".  What a pleasant surprise.  I have a challenge for you.  Find a bad Tom Petty song.  Good luck.  Cause even when he changes the style up to a more blues-type of rock song, he still nails it consistently.  It's getting hard out there for others to even compete with him.  Maybe that's because they can't.

     5. "Back to December" by Taylor Swift


I have a very soft spot for Taylor.  She's perfect in many people's eyes (however that's not true, just listen to "Mean" off her new album).  But this song speaks volumes to me personally and you can tell that Taylor feels sorry for what she's done to this poor boy.  And it's a first time that Taylor has actually said she's sorry in one of her songs, instead of blasting the poor boys to death.