Favorite Albums of 2009

Okay, so 2009 wasn't the best year for new music. For my own personal collection, this was a year of filling in back releases of bands that I was slow to catch on to (Built to Spill, Stereophonics, Mission of Burma, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) and broadening my horizons (Robert Johnson, Son House, Junior Kimbrough, Leadbelly). Anyway, here are my thoughts...

Biggest disappointment: Rocco DeLuca and the Burden - Mercy.
I'm a huge, huge fan of RDB's first album. He is amazing to watch live. He is an incredible Dobro player and delta-blues-inspired rock song writer. That said, his new album highlights none of his guitar playing ability, and focuses more on his voice (which is certainly unique) and...the glockenspiel. I wish I was kidding about that. Individually, most of the songs aren't bad, but collectively the album has no feeling or heart or energy. I blame Daniel Lanois.

Second biggest disappointment: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Working on a Dream.
Many people know that I was raised on The Boss' music, and I continually listen to a half-dozen of his albums on a regular basis. I wasn't a huge fan of the last album, "Magic," because I thought it was too mid-tempo rock formulaic. Apparently Bruce and Brendan O'Brien loved the album, because they essentially made it again. No heart, no passion, just mid-tempo adult contemporary schlock. Time to ditch the E-Street band again and make another acoustic solo album about the plight of the working man again.
*Note - my disdain for Brendan O'Brien will appear again soon


On to the countdown. It was a decent year for indie/alternative music I guess:
10) Tie: Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue
BlakRoc - BlakRoc
I really didn't want to like the idea of a Layne Staley-less AIC, but this album is really pretty good, especially since Layne was too jammed up to really do anything productive on the last couple AIC albums anyway. And, anything by the Black Keys will always be on a year-end list. Add Ludacris, ODB, Mos Def, NOE, Raekwon and RZA to the project, and you get a fine, raw, rap-blues album.

9) Sonic Youth - The Eternal
For whatever reason, I always liked Sonic Youth but only had one album prior to this year. The Eternal isn't their greatest, but it is a solid indie rock album from the pioneers of the genre.

8) Mission of Burma - The Sound The Speed The Light
There really is no valid excuse for me being so slow on the uptake when it came to listening to Mission of Burma (aside, maybe, from the fact that they broke up when I was 4 initially). Do yourself a favor and "discover" them like I did this year.

7) Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
Solo album from one-half of The Black Keys. It's not quite as good as a Black Keys album, but it is still damn good. "I Want Some More" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

6) Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
Seriously, how did I not know about Built To Spill earlier?!? I mean, I had always seen their name in the gig guide of the Phoenix now and then, but never bothered finding out what they were all about. I deserve to be scolded for that. Shame on me. Anyway, this is my favorite of their albums so far (though admittedly I've been listening to them for two weeks).

5) Blitzen Trapper - The Black River Killer EP
Usually an EP won't make my list, but "The Black River Killer" is such a damn good song that this one does. Blitzen Trapper are a really, really underrated band.

4) Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Well, Pearl Jam finally did it. They released an album that didn't make #1 on my year-end list. Only time this has ever happen. This album has good bones and some good individual songs, but Brendan O'Brien watered it waaaay done, the way he has with the last few Springsteen albums. For someone who was so vital to the sound of a lot of the music that I still love from the 1990s...what the hell happened? Still, "Gonna See My Friend," "Just Breath," "The End" "Got Some" and "The Fixer" are as good as anything they have ever put out.


3) Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King
This album caught me off guard, because I despise anything that Dave Matthews put out since "Before These Crowded Streets." That changed when I head "Funny The Way It Is" while sitting in a booth at Smokey Bones in Nashua. The passion and the emotion and the craftsmanship that MADE the Dave Matthews Band is back with a vengeance on this album.

2) Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
So Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, some other band in the 90s), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal) and John Paul Freakin' Jones (some band called Led Zeppelin) decided to form a group, eh. Of course it is one of the groove-heaviest (and heavy groove-est) albums of the year. This could very easily be ranked #1A. Why it doesn't get played on rock radio stations more...well...sorta explains why rock radio stations have been in continuous decline for a decade. Pick this one up (legally). It'll rock your face off.

1) Silversun Pickups - Swoon
SSPUs are probably my favorite band to debut in the '00s, as you'll find when I ever get around to putting together the "Favorites of the '00s" list. I could listen to this album every day (and sometimes I do). Very melodic (though heavier than you'd expect at times), very beautiful for a rock album. Obvious comparisons to early Smashing Pumpkins are warranted, but I think it is more sincere and skillfully crafted than anything Billy Corgan ever did. You deserve to own this album. Reward your ears. It'll make up for all the Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas you've had to endure.