Monday, December 26, 2011

60 Albums 2011

My personal favorite albums from my collection for 2011. These selections are based on my listening habits for the year and the higher ranked albums were the ones that I kept coming back to over and over.

Once again I couldn't stop at 60 but forced myself to end the list at 120. Bon Iver tops the list which also topped many people's end of the year list of favorite albums. I can't stop listening to it. I loved his first album but this one moved way beyond the song into pure sound. The War on Drugs was a close second for me. It sounded like so much that has gone before it but also utterly unique.  Fleet Foxes and Wilco both put out wonderful albums this year. I really liked the Jesse Sykes album which was very different than the previous album. This one sounded very California psychedelic retro... sort of like Moby Grape with a female singer. The California sound from the 70s is all over this list but especially the new Dawes album. The Radiohead album was another surprise that I kept on repeated play. The more I played it the higher it rose on the list. Most of this stuff is fairly mellow but... I'm 60 now.


  1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
  2. The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
  3. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
  4. Wilco - The Whole Love
  5. Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Marble Son
  6. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
  7. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
  8. Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong
  9. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
  10. Atlas Sound - Parallax 
  11. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
  12. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Holo
  13. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
  14. The Antlers - Burst Apart
  15. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
  16. Peaking Lights - 936
  17. Middle Brother - Middle Brother
  18. The Black Keys - El Camino
  19. The Horrors - Skying
  20. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
  21. Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
  22. The Decemberists - The King is Dead
  23. Cass McCombs - Humor Risk
  24. Sigur Ros - Inni
  25. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
  26. Washed Out - Within and Without
  27. CANT - Dreams Come True
  28. My Morning Jacket - Circuital 
  29. The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave
  30. Tune-Yards - Whokill
  31. Panda Bear - Tomboy
  32. Anthony Hamilton - Back to Love
  33. Destroyer - Kaputt
  34. James Blake - James Blake
  35. Yuck - Yuck
  36. The Stokes - Angles
  37. The Kills - Blood Pressures
  38. Adele - 21
  39. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
  40. A.A. Bondy - Believers
  41. Cults - Cults
  42. Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams
  43. Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest
  44. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
  45. Joe Henry - Reverie
  46. Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
  47. Vetiver - The Errant Charm
  48. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mind
  49. Yellowbirds - The Color
  50. Cut Copy - Zonoscope
  51. Lucinda Williams - Blessed
  52. Battles - Gloss Drop
  53. Over The Rhine - The Long Surrender
  54. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - A Corporate World
  55. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
  56. Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer
  57. TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light
  58. Real Estate - Days
  59. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
  60. Alexi Murdoch - Towards The Sun
  61. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO ( & Other American Stories)
  62. Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
  63. Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
  64. Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys
  65. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
  66. Joss Stone - LP1
  67. Wye Oak - Civilian
  68. Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain
  69. Cavemen - CoCo Beware
  70. The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
  71. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
  72. Feist - Metals
  73. Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis
  74. The Cave Singers - No Witch
  75. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
  76. Todd Snider - The Storyteller
  77. Paul Simon - So Beautiful So What
  78. Jolie Holland - Pint of Blood
  79. The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
  80. Matthew Sweet - Modern Art
  81. J. Mascis - Several Shades of Why
  82. Ry Cooder - Pick Up Some Dust and Sit Down
  83. John Hiatt - Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns
  84. Cass McCombs - Wit's End
  85. Steve Earle - I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
  86. Marissa Nadler - Marissa Nadler
  87. Greg Brown - Freak Flag
  88. The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once
  89. Elbow - Build A Rocket  Boys
  90. Bright Eyes - The People's Key
  91. Robbie Robertson - How To Become A Clairvoyant
  92. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
  93. Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines
  94. Seryn - This Is Where We Are
  95. Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
  96. Ben Harper - Give Till It's Gone
  97. Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On
  98. Danger Mouse - Rome
  99. R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
  100. Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
  101. DeVotchKa - 100 Lovers
  102. David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
  103. Blitzen Trappen - American Goldwing
  104. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
  105. Radiohead - TKOL RMX 1234567
  106. Still Corners - Creatures of an Hour
  107. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Stage Wisper
  108. Release The Sunbird - Come Back To Us
  109. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
  110. Sandro Perri - Impossible Spaces
  111. Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding
  112. Kathryn Calder - Bright and Vivid
  113. Tyler Ramsey - The Valley Wind
  114. East River Pipe - We Live In Rented Rooms
  115. Bjork - Biophilia
  116. Marketa Irglova - Anar
  117. Pieta Brown - Mercury
  118. Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow
  119. The Nightwatchman - World Wide Rebel Songs
  120. The Ettes - Wicked Will

There were some great collections this year too.








  1. The Beach Boys - Smile
  2. Rockpile - Live at Montreaux 1980
  3. Various Artists - Rave On Buddy Holly
  4. Various Artists - Johnny Boy Would Love This... A Tribute To John Martyn
  5. Jimi Hendrix - Winterland
  6. Primal Scream & The MC5 - Black To Comm: Live at the Royal Festival
  7. Neil Young - A Treasure
  8. Various Artists - The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
  9. Iggy Pop - Roadkill Rising... The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009
  10. Etta James - Heart & Soul: A Retrospective
  11. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Singles Collection: 1992-2011
  12. The Hollies - Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years: The Complete Hollies 1963-1968
  13. The Radio Dept. - Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010
  14. Neil Diamond - The Bang Years 1966-1968
  15. Gorillaz - The Singles Collection: 2001-2011
  16. Ty Segall - Singles 2007-2010
  17. Ladytron - Best of Ladytron 2000-2010
  18. The Vagrants - I Can't Make A Friend 1965-1968
  19. Chicago - Live in 1975




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