The Top Ten Albums of 2012

This might well be one of the more eclectic lists of the top albums you will find for the year 2012. In order to qualify for my list the album must be one that I reviewed earlier in the year, that is, one that I was interested in enough at the time to listen too. In this way I know that I am not mirroring any of the more conventional lists that we all find this time of year.


10. The Once and Future Carpenter by The Avett Brothers - The Avetts as well as their compatriots Mumford and Sons released new albums this year. While the latter received more press it is the Avett's who make my top ten list. While the Mumford's first single I Will Wait might be the best of the lot it is the Avett's album that is broader and more balanced. Doing nothing more than what they do album in and album out The Avett's show why they are one of the most popular touring acts today.

9. Red by Taylor Swift - I cannot really call myself a Taylor Swift fan but one does have to recognize her ability to turn anything into a song. Watching my daughter skip and sing around the house this fall in her thirteen year old way I remembered how much music means to someone at that time in their lives. For millions of young girls and older girls too Swift makes the music that means the most to them. And it is intelligent music. For all of the adults who spent the fall trying to get " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together " out of there head accept that it is hopeless. Swift can craft a tune like few today.

8. Born and Raised by John Mayer - Mayer coming off a year of bad publicity showed that when he stops talking and start singing all will be ok. With nary a bad song on the album and many like the title cut and Shadow Days are long to be remembered.

7. That's Why God Made the Radio by The Beach Boys - With a 50th anniversary tour and a new album it was an exciting year for the boys. It might well be that we do not want to know what recording methods made the music sound like the sixties version of the band but what there is no doubt of is that the harmonies on this song are as good as they have ever done. Pacific Coast Highway and the other songs of the second side of the album make this a true work of art similar in type of not in scope to the second side of Abbey Road.

6. Heroes by Willie Nelson - On this album which on many of the cuts Willie is joined by friends and members of his family Nelson's voice is still a treasure. Singing covers such as Just Breathe by Pearl Jam and Coldplay's The Scientist Nelson never sounded better. When he is joined by Billie Joe Shaver and Jamey Johnson on Hero and Snoop Dogg on Roll Me Up it is clear that Willie has friends in high places indeed and they all add to the fun of the album. Come On Back Jesus is another song of strong note.

5. Gospel Plow by Elizabeth Cook - I have just reviewed this in depth but suffice to say that I have listened to no album as much as this all year.

4. Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance by Patterson Hood - This solo effort by the lead singer of The Drive By Truckers was one of the strongest albums of the year. The title cut is one of the best tracks of the year, Hood's mumble drawl fits perfectly. After the Damage and Better Than the Truth are both great tracks and of course no Patterson Hood/Drive By album would be complete without a talk song, this album features another Alabama history lesson called Untold Pretties. A truly great album.

3. Tempest by Bob Dylan - One of the few albums in recent years to receive five stars from Rolling Stone Dylan's new album was superior. With the only song that made me get caught in public rocking out behind the wheel, Early Roman Gods, along with a tribute to John Lennon called Roll on John the album was an instant classic. Dylan's thirteen minute tale of the sinking of The Titanic, the albums title cut mixes truth and Dylan fiction in a classic way that is perfect the whole way through.

2. Battle Born by The Killers- It has to be considered true that The Killers are very good at copying the art of Springsteen and to some extent U2. Still sometimes the followers better there leaders and on The Killers later effort they have completed a supremely confident album. With song after song that one can imagine on the radio, if FM radio still played rock music, and that additionally you know would be perfect in arenas all around the country. Brendan Flowers has cut his hair, he looks like a male model, but there is no denying one thing, he can sing like few others. This is a very strong album, perhaps not as classically influential as some of the others but sometimes precision and perfection of the type displayed here but must be acknowledged.

1. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean - Truthfully it was not even close. I am not a rap music fan. I am not a connoisseur of blues, funk or soul. I know an album of incredible depth and magic when I hear it however. Orange's album is a salute to it seems each of his predecessors from Marvin Gaye to James Brown to certainly Prince. With songs such as Forest Gump, Pyramids and especially Thinking About You and Super Rick Kids Ocean proved himself a force beyond all forces in music this year. This was clearly the most influential and superior album of the year.

More in depth reviews of all of these efforts can be found on this blog from earlier in the year.

Saturday Night Live Season Premiere

Saturday Night Live returned this past weekend for it's season opener with Seth MacFarlane as host. MacFarlane, best known behind the camera for his show Family Guy and this summer's hit Movie Ted, showed that he is certainly more than just a voice actor.

From an opening monologue where he went from impression to impression while singing, actually singing, to an impression of Ryan Lochte on Weekend Update, MacFarlane showed he is very talented.

The funniest skit was called " Introduction to Puppetry" with MacFarlane spot on as the energetic, over sincere teacher and Bill Hader as a dark Vietnam Vet who creates doppleganger puppet withthe same memories as him. When the camera shifts to the puppet and he is smoking you realize the skit is a pure homerun.

Jay Pharoah began his run as President Obama and in a classy move Fred Aremison introduced him as part of the handoff. Pharoah is a great impressionist but Aremison had geown into the job and had rhe nuances and verbal ticks down pat. There is no reason to think Pharoah will not be succesfull as well.

Frank Ocean played twice and showed why he is such a dynamic performer. On his second song, Pyramimds, John Mayer played guitar for him and in a move that has been talked about everywhere, during Mayer's solo, went to the sode of the stage and played one of the video games that lined the set. I do not know if it was planned or spontaneous but it was clever and certainly memorable.

All in all a good start for the season.

channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean's solo debut album has been getting a great amount of buzz. Ocean has made news recently by admitting that he is gay, perhaps the biggest amount if news is how little most folks seem to care about this.

The album he has just released however is one of the strongest of the year. With a range of musical styles, rap, Prince, Sly Stone, and other early Soul musicians Ocean is playing with the big boys on this album.

The first single Thinking About You has a strong backing track and shows influences from Prince. Sierra Leone is a sing song that sounds like anything but a song from 2012. This song would easily fit on a pre Purple Rain Prince album.

Continuing on the soul train Sweet Life starts with Ocean stating " the first song wasn't the single "

The strongest song to me in the album is " Super Rich Kids" in which Ocean laments too much wine, green, white lines, maid service and not enough time with parents one can see this song having a strong meaning and yet being embraced by the the same kids and culture it criticizes. I told my oldest son about this album, I could easily see this song being played by his set.

Pyramids a nine minute melt again visits Uncle Prince is sound and scope and is followed by Lost, a ramble on getting lost in the moment of living the high life.

Forest Gump is a potential single with actual references to the movie and the character, a nice beat, and Ocean's telling us how his fingertips and lips burn from the cigarettes.

The song most talked about is Bad Religion, Ocean sang this on a performance on Jimmy Fallon. Ocean has admitted that the song was about a love he had for a man when he was in his late teens. The song however speaks to anyone who has lost a love. The intro organ sounds even sound like a modest bit of influence from Prince's Let's Go Crazy. Ocean talks about any unrequited love being a Bad Religion is it brings you to your knees. Certainly we have all been there, from my eighth grade daughter to the folks you see in the bars and meat markets every Friday night. We are all seeking someone to fill the hole in our lives and when that attraction is unrequited it is as Ocean says " a one man cult." This is a very strong song.

Clearly in this review I do not have a great deal of references and understanding of soul music but I can tell you that this is a great album. The music is much greater than the sum of its parts. I have listened to this over the last couple of weeks more than any other music. I am impressing my kids with my diversity of musical taste. This album has the language that one can find objectionable like much of the soul/rap music but this album has clear artistic intent. The cursing is not a cheap, lazy way to sell records.

Spend some time with this record, a very talented artist.