60 Albums 2007

This was one of my favorite years in music and here is my 60 favorite albums from my collection released in 2007. I'm not sure why I went for so many albums in 2007. I think maybe it was because it has become so much easier to find out about albums from more obscure artist and to actually hearing the music before committing to getting it. I ended up listing over 200 albums on this page. Much more than most years. I also had made several mixes throughout that year using songs from the year.

I have the Besnard Lakes as my top album of the year and there probably weren't many end of the year list featuring this group at the top. I picked them because I kept going back to that album throughout the year and playing it. When you get as many albums a year as I do it is hard to make time for repeat listens but these guys were worth it. They had that great mix of Beach Boys vocals and Jesus and Mary Chain guitars. I also got to see them perform live at the Mohawk Place.

A close second was Robert Plant which was also an album I went back to again and again. It was great hearing that familiar voice in this Americana setting with Alison Krauss.

I also added another list at the end of this particularly long one... my favorite albums released in 2007 that were various artists collections, greatest hit compilations, tribute albums, box sets, and concert live albums not in my main list. Yeah, it was a good year for music.

And a list of mixes of songs from many of these albums at the end.

1. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
2. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
3. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
4. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
5. The Swell Season - Once: Music From the Motion Picture
6. The National - Boxer
7. Oakley Hall - I'll Follow You
8. Various Artists - I'm Not There
9. Deerhunter - Cryptograms
10. Ryan Shaw - This Is Ryan Shaw
11. Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
12. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
13. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
14. Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
15. Field Music - Tones of Town
16. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
17. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
18. Radiohead - In Rainbows
19. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
20. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
21. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
22. Grinderman - Grinderman
23. Fields - Everything Last Winter
24. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
25. St. Vincent - Marry Me
26. Akron/Family - Love is Simple
27. Keren Ann - Keren Ann
28. Dungen - Tio Bitar
29. The Detroit Cobras - Tied & True
30. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
31. Joe Henry - Civilians
32. Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips
33. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
34. Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara
35. The Felice Brothers - Tonight at the Arizona
36. Maps - We Can Create
37. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
38. Battles - Mirrored
39. Lightning Dust - Lightning Dust
40. Ryan Bingham - Mescalito
41. The Pines - Sparrows in the Bell
42. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City
43. Menomena - Friend and Foe
44. Will Hoge - Draw the Curtains
45. AIR - Pocket Symphony
46. Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five
47. Bettye Lavette - The Scene of the Crime
48. Life on Earth - Look! There's Life on Earth!
49. Blanche - Little Amber Bottles
50. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
51. Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark
52. Joseph Arthur - Let's Just Be
53. The Black Hollies - Casting Shadows
54. Patty Griffin - Children Running Through
55. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back
56. Jesse Sykes & The Sweat Hereafter - Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul
57. A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
58. Patti Smith - Twelve
59. Nina Nastasia & Jim White - You Follow Me
60. Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

• Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird of the Water
• Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War
• The Dreadful Yawns - Rest
• Frank Black - Bluefinger
• The Pillbugs - Monclovia
• Jim White - Transnormal Skiperoo
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
• Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child
• Son Volt - The Search
• Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
• Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
• Luka Bloom - Tribe
• Sam Baker - Pretty World
• The New Pornographers - Challengers
• Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
• The Rosebuds - Night of the Furies
• The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
• The Holmes Brothers - State of Grace
• Liars - Liars
• Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse
• Deer Tick - War Elephant
• The White Stripes - Icky Thump
• Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
• Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
• Pete Case - Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
• Lucinda Williams - West
• Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter
• Greg Brown - Yellow Dog
• Angels of Light - We Are Him
• Castanets - In The Vines
• The Sadies - New Seasons
• Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian
• The Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
• Joan Osborne - Breakfast in Bed
• World Party - Best in Show
• Nurse & Soldier - Marginalia
• Ideal Free Distribution - Ideal Free Distribution
• Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River
• Hem - Home Again, Home Again
• Feist - The Reminder
• Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land
• John Mellencamp - Freedom's Road
• The Everybodyfields - Nothing is Okay
• Fela Kuti - Anthology
• Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music
• Southern Culture on the Skids - Countrypolitan Favorites
• The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Ekranoplan
• Wildbirds and Peacedrums - Heartcore
• Sarah Borges - Diamonds in the Dark
• Dolorean - You Can't Win
• Ghost Stories - Quixoticism
• Bruce Springsteen - Magic
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This is Somewhere
• Breathe Owl Breathe - Canadian Shield
• Caribou - Andorra
• Joe Ely - Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch
• Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
• The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
• Tunng - Good Arrows
• Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink
• The Roches - Moonswept
• Anitbalas - Security
• Julian Cope - You Gotta Problem With Me
• Dean & Britta - Back Numbers
• Architecture in Helsinski - Places Like This
• White Rabbits - Fort Nightly
• Pop Levi - The Return to Form Black Magick Party
• Richard Swift - Dressed Up for the Letdown
• Future Clouds & Radar - Future Clouds & Radar
• Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
• The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
• LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
• The Lovetones - Axiom
• Damien Dempsey - To Hell or Barbados
• Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge
• Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
• Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
• The Heavy - Great Vengeance and Furious Fire
• The Coral - Roots & Echoes
• David Vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band
• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Underground
• Ozomatli - Don't Mess With the Dragon
• Interpol - Our Love to Admire
• Sigur Ros - Hvarf / Heim
• Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
• Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
• Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
• Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
• Yellow Swans - At All Ends
• Pieta Brown - Remember the Sun
• Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
• The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
• The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
• Parts and Labor - Mapmaker
• The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On
• Buriel - Untrue
• Okkervil River - The Stage Names
• Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner
• Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
• Mice Parade - Mice Parade
• Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads
• Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
• Kevin Drew - Spirit If
• Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime
• The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
• Great Lakes Myth Society - Compass Rose Bouquet
• Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus
• The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
• The Finches - Human Like a House
• Rickie Lee Jones - The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard
• The Horrors - Strange House
• Ray Davies - Working Man's Cafe
• Joan Armatrading - Into the Blues
• Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight
• Citay - Little Kingdom
• Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House
• Phosphorescent - Pride
• Midnight Movies - Lion the Girl
• Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
• The Bird and the Bee - The Bird and the Bee
• Taken By Trees - Open Field
• The Hives - The Black and White Album
• Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
• Cary Brothers - Who Are You
• The Electric Soft Parade - No Need to Be Downhearted
• Low - Drums and Guns
• Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine
• The Ladybug Transistor - Can't Wait Another Day
• Film School - Hideout
• Arbouretum - Rites of Uncovering
• Stars - Do You Trust Your Friends?
• Handsome Furs - Plague Park
• Mount Eerie - Mount Eerie, Parts 6 & 7
• Spindrift - The Legend of God's Gun
• Dr. Dog - We All Belong
• Vietnam - Vietnam
• Xavier Rudd - White Moth
• Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated
• The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out
• The Bees - Octopus
• The Earlies - The Enemy Chorus
• Grand Atlantic - This is Grand Atlantic
• Myracle Brah - Can You Hear the Myracle Brah?
• Travis - The Boy With No Name
• The Thrills - Teenager
• Sky Cries Mary - Small Town
• Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster
• Birdie Busch - Penny Arcade
• Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky
• The Greencards - Viridian
• Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
• Joan as Police Woman - Real Life
• Rising Appalachia - Scale Down
• Fink - Distance and Time
• Julie Doiron - Woke Myself Up
• Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up
• James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing
• The Redwalls - The Redwalls
• Blonde Redhead - 23
• Throw Me The Statue - Moonbeams
• !!! - Myth Takes
• The Wildbirds - Golden Daze

Here are some favorite collections, compilations and concerts albums released in 2007 not included in the main list.

• Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971
• T. Rex - The Electric Boogie: 1971
• Miles Davis - The Complete On The Corner Sessions
• Bruce Springsteen - Live in Dublin
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Abattoir Blues Tour
• Marc Bolan - Bolan at the Beeb
• Fela Kuti - Anthology
• Captain Beefheart - Live at the Bickershaw 1972
• Emmylou Harris - Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems
• R.E.M. - Live
• Frank Black - 93-03
• World Party - Best in Show
• King Tubby - The Essential King Tubby
• Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Live at the BBC Volume One
• Robert Forster / Grant Mclennan - Intermission: The Best of the Solo Recordings 1990-1997
• Jefferson Airplane - Sweeping Up The Spotlight: Live at the Fillmore East 1969
• Todd Snider - Peace, Love and Anarchy: Rarities, B-Sides and Demos
• Buzzcocks - 30
• Various Artists - Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
• John Hiatt - Live at the Hiatt
• Fairport Convention - Live at the BBC
• Various Artists - Love Is In The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970
• Over The Rhine - Discount Fireworks: A Collection
• The Doors - The Very Best of The Doors
• Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode: His Complete '50s Chess Recordings
• Michael Penn - Palms & Runes, Tarot & Tea: A Collection
• Miles Davis - Evolution of the Groove
• Ani DiFranco - Canon
• Over The Rhine - Live From Nowhere Volume 2
• Jackie Greene - The Dig Years: 2001-2005
• Ken Boothe - Everything I Own: The Definitive Collection
• Garbage - Absolute Garbage
• Louis Prima - Jump, Jive an' Wail: The Essential
• J.J. Cale - Gold
• Various Artists - Soulsville Sings Hitsville: Stax Sings Songs of Motown Records
• The Church - Deep in the Shallows: The Classic Singles Collection
• Various Artists - A Tribute to Joni Mitchell
• Paul Simon - The Essential Paul Simon
• Aretha Franklin - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul
• Judee Sill - Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973

• Songs 2007 Vol. 1 - Are You Really There - List - Listen
• Songs 2007 Vol. 2 - Baby I've Got Some Words For You - List - Listen
• Songs 2007 Vol. 3 - You're Not The Only One - List - Listen
• Songs 2007 Vol. 4 - In The Dark - List - Listen
• Songs 2007 Vol. 5 - Start To Dreaming - List - Listen
• Songs 2007 Vol. 6 - Tomorrow It's Only Yesterday - List - Listen