Best and Worst Music of 2007: Best: 1. "Umbrella" by Rihanna (feat. Jay-Z)

10. LUPE FIASCO

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (1st & 15th/Atlantic)

"Lupe Fiasco has been mentored by Jay-Z and Kanye West, and on his second album, he channels them both. Like Hova's American Gangster, Cool is in part a concept album about criminal life. Since only a few of the cuts end up milking said theme, this release winds up being more of a concept EP within an album. Fiasco's certainly got an aptitude for street drama but really shines on the remaining tracks, which recall West's pop versatility and positive flair. Skating effortlessly from the self-defensiveness of ''Dumb It Down'' to the giddiness of ''Go Baby Go'' ? while making smart use of sung hooks ? Fiasco seems ready to join his former tutors in the big leagues."

 

Lupe's a great rapper, but I haven't fully heard either of his albums yet. I need to go buy them one of these days.

 

Aaaaaah must get this soon!

 

Next: 9. BETTYE LAVETTE

The Scene of the Crime (Anti-)

"Critics have lined up to call her the greatest soul singer alive. But LaVette, 61, recently argued that ''soul'' is a white man's misnomer. Maybe best blues interpreter, then? A track like ''Talking Old Soldiers'' ? crooned in a bar to a stranger, by an aging drunk who's seen all her friends die ? gets to the essence of despair the way great blues does...even if it's actually an Elton John cover. Enlisting the Drive-By Truckers as her rowdy, ragged backup band, LaVette continues to imbue her other borrowed tracks (from Don Henley, George Jones, and Willie Nelson) with grit, anguish, and even some serious sex appeal. She's a force of nature we'll just have to settle on labeling as awesome."

Not heard of her; ze list.

 

Next: 8. PAUL MCCARTNEY

"Memory Almost Full" (Hear Music)

"If you were expecting a divorce album, you don't know Macca. He escaped from present unpleasantries by cobbling together a collection that winsomely touches on childhood playgrounds and Beatle beginnings (''That Was Me''), as well as sweet romances of yore (''Gratitude''). Even when he embraces the melancholy and skips ahead to ''The End of the End,'' death sounds pretty groovy too. Much like the carefree ''Mr. Bellamy,'' who won't leave his skyscraper perch despite pleadings from below, McCartney has no intention of being forced down. But venture upward, and you'll encounter pop's finest melodist offering you his most invigorated material in decades."


McCartney still has talent; it's not the same as his Beatles talent, but not neglible, either.

 

i think he's gotten better recently, i saw him some years ago perform on TV and he was hideously boring. still wouldn't shell out for his music.

 

Whose list is this?

 

Entertainment Weekly...

 

McCartney's last two albums have been solid. He still has it.

-Seldon

 

BEST
7. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

"Sound of Silver" (Capitol)

"Here's to electronica...sans the electronics. Despite some beeps and whirs, much of LCD mastermind James Murphy's latest consists of live instruments rocking out, albeit metronomically. He's just as arch as he was on his acclaimed debut ? especially with the punky, lacerating social commentary of ''North American Scum.'' But Murphy is less of a cutup this time, as he combines synth-pop influences with genuine emotion in ''Someone Great,'' the rare track that invites you to boogie down to a eulogy. How far can he continue to expand the genre without outgrowing it? We can't wait to find out."

 

BEST
6. M.I.A.

Kala (XL/Interscope)

"If crowds make you anxious, skip the second CD by electro-rapper M.I.A. For starters, Kala was recorded in an array of locales ? like India, Jamaica, Australia, Sri Lanka, and her current home, England ? and you'd swear those populations were in the studio with her. That's due partly to the aboriginal chanting and partly to her declarations about a Third World teeming with repression and possibility. Meanwhile, there's universality enough in cheeky feminist verses like ''Streets are makin' 'em hard so they selfish little roamers/Jumping girl to girl, make us meat like burgers/When I get fat I'm gon pop me out some leaders.'' With a jumble of hip-hop, synths, and Bollywood samples, Kala can be overwhelming ? but it's a crowded house so full of life, you'll want to squeeze into it."

Ze list!

 

i've heard a lot from her, haven't given her a shot so far.

 

BEST

5. MIRANDA LAMBERT

"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (Columbia)

"Country gave us some classic singles in '07: Brad Paisley's goofy seduction song ''Ticks,'' Martina McBride's existential mélange ''Anyway.'' As country albums go, only Lambert's covered all the emotional bases, from rage to reflectiveness. Though she's particularly convincing at playing the wronged Texas femme (check out ''Gunpowder & Lead''), don't write her off as just a firebrand ? not when she summons rue as masterfully as she does in ''More Like Her.'' Think of her as sass pioneer Loretta Lynn and Americana queen Patty Griffin rolled into one super-saver package."

Sounds good...

 

BEST
4. RADIOHEAD

"In Rainbows" (inrainbows.com)

"They're kidding with that title, right? Singer Thom Yorke doesn't really do any color but blue, not that we wouldn't want to hear a thousand shades of it with results this rich. When he isn't shamefaced over his sins (''Nude''), Yorke is making a ''Videotape'' of his last will and testament. Failed to notice the grimness? You're excused. It's easy to get lulled by the surfaces of this exquisite album. After a few red herrings (like the drum machine in ''15 Step''), Rainbows finds its footing: Guitar, bass, and drums quietly interplay with Yorke's dialed-down falsetto. It's the band's most accessible release ever, musically and (maybe you heard about this download business) literally."


Ze list...!!!

 

i still that i haven't heard it quite enough times to really be able to say whether i like it or not

the copy i have doesn't have song titles so i'll have to say that i usually start in the middle, with the slower songs because the early edginess i don't take to as much. and that my love for this band never ceases so i'll see them in summer live

 

Over-rated. I'm not that big of a Radiohead fan, but this album really didn't strike me as anything special, except in the way that it was released.

 

I really like the album. Its pretty mellow and strays a bit from the whole computerized sound theyve been utilizing these past few years, more of a throwback to their older stuff.

 

BEST

3. ARCADE FIRE

Neon Bible (Merge)

"Was there any sound this year more glorious than the ecclesiastical pipe organ that opens ''Intervention''? For many, listening to Bible's symphonic rock really was like going to church (and not coincidentally, it was recorded in one). This congregation of seven furiously bangs out big melodies on accordions and drums and whatnot, as if to ward off the apocalypse that pulpit-meister Win Butler keeps predicting. A spiritual secularist, he casts a cynical eye on religion, showbiz, and society. It all converges on ''Black Mirror,'' which refers to the veil separating life from the afterlife, then to our TV screens mocking us. And that rousing epic ? that's just the first track."


This sounds really good.

 

Arcade Fire is the band.

 

I stand corrected...

 

I must admit I don't at all understand the critical acclaim this album has received. I actually don't like it at all. In my opinion, the album is an overblown, melodramatic mess.

 

BEST

2. AMY WINEHOUSE

"Back to Black" (Universal Republic)

"Now infamously troubled, Amy Winehouse risks a total eclipse of the art. But come what may, Black will hold up as one of the great breakthrough CDs of our time. This synthesis of girl-group soul, doowop, and vintage Bond-theme music makes you feel like you've tapped into a ghost radio station...until you hear those often hilarious contemporary lyrics. Refusing ''Rehab''? Confessing to her man that those rug burns signify just what he imagines (''You Know I'm No Good'')? Then, bilking expectations, she gives us a timeless lament like ''Love Is a Losing Game.'' In the end, the singer's real-life heartache over her incarcerated spouse proves what's obvious from the grooves: When this lady sings about love, she means every word."

This *is* good...

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Amy Winehouse's "Love is a losing game" should be the them for the next Bond film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8z4oKr_SN4

It even has that classic sound and feel of the Sean Connery Bond themes. The background music could easily be incorporated into the theme throughout the film.

 

BEST

1. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

"Magic" (Columbia)

"Here's the rarest magic act of all ? making art that unites the personal and the political without getting bogged down in the polemical. Springsteen pulled off that hat trick with his latest, a protest album that boils down to this sentiment: America has lost its course. Me too. Lest the ruminative journey prove a tough sell, the Boss raucously regrouped his E Street Band for the ride. Familiar touchstones recur, but the group has never given us anything quite like the brittle multiguitar attack that drives ''Radio Nowhere,'' and ''Gypsy Biker,'' an explosive elegy for a dead soldier. The Grammy-nominating committee snubbed this exhilarating achievement for Album of the Year, but perhaps that's only fitting: Magic is an album-of-the-decade contender."

 

I've never been much of Springsteen fan, and have to admit I'm at a bit of a loss over the praise his last 2 albums have gotten.