Because the World Needs Another Top 10
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Note: A couple of my selections actually came out in late-2003. But I bought 'em this year, and they'll always remind me of 2004, for better or worse.
Compiling a list of favorite albums was a bit easier than the films because, for my purposes, it all comes down to which ones got the most play. This year, that means Ryan Adams's Love is Hell and Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway. Yeah, I know that technically the Love is Hell EPs came out in late-2003, and I also know that all of the cool kids long ago jumped from the Adams bandwagon, but I haven't yet grown tired of this collection. I'm drawn to Love is Hell for the same reason that I like Ghosts of the Great Highway so much: both have good songwriting, great production, and great acoustic guitars.
2004 sucked. Not the music. The year. And for so many reasons. The sound of songs like "Political Scientist" and "Shadowlands" from Adams's album, and "Glenn Tipton" and "Carry Me Ohio" from Sun Kil Moon's brought me great comfort — the sound rather than the lyrical content. Pater was right, I guess: it's the "condition of music" that more often attracts me.
Favorite Albums of 2004:
- Love is Hell by Ryan Adams
- Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon
Eight More (in preferential order):
- Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens
- A Ghost is Born by Wilco
- Angels in America by Thomas Newman
- Take Them On, On Your Own by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Tell It to the Dust by Anders Parker
- Uh Huh Her by PJ Harvey
- We Shall All Be Healed by The Mountain Goats
- Final Straw by Snow Patrol
Honorable Mention:
- BMG's multi-channel SACD releases of the classic RCA Living Stereo albums
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