Album of the Year for 2007

Wow, it's been a whole year since I last posted. But now I'm back, baby, ready to rock and roll!

Well, 2007 over and it is time to name the album of the year. Five great albums were released this year.

Megadeth released United Abominations, which is more of Dave Mustaine's riff-writing genius. This album is in the same vein as The System Has Failed, though I don't think it is quite as good. But a great album nonetheless. Get your head banging.

Velvet Revolver put out their second CD, Libertad. The band sounds more cohesive than on their first album. The CD kicks of with "Let it Roll", a great rocker. The songs are rather eclectic, with a hidden track at the end that is good old saloon country music. Also this year, Slash released an autobiography, which is excellent. All guitar players will love it, especially. I got to see Velvet Revolver in Dallas a few months ago, as they tour for this album. A great show. That was my second time to see them, and they are great. They played "Patience" and I nearly cried. A great band. Slash is awesome. A great album.

Jonny Greenwood scored the soundtrack to the movie There Will Be Blood. I have not seen the movie, but I understand it to be one of the worst anti-Christian stereotypes of the year. Oh well. The music is great. Jonny Greenwood is a genius. It is what you might call "classical" music, chamber music. But it is very beautiful and haunting. That the guitar player from Radiohead who almost wasn't allowed in the band could turn around and write such great music is amazing. This is pretty music. Great to fall asleep to.

I really wanted this next album to be the album of the year. Unfortunately, the actual album of the year, to be revealed below, came out the same year. But a very close second place goes to The Good Life's Help Wanted Nights, the follow-up to 2004's appropriately titled Album of the Year. This is probably The Good Life's best release so far. Singer/songwriter Tim Kasher is just beautiful. Man, I wanted this to be album of the year. My only complaint is that this CD is too short. I want it to go on for hours and hours. The first song, "On the Picket Fence", I heard played live a few years ago. During a break in their sets, the band would leave the stage while frontman Tim Kasher played a few songs all by himself. Sometimes he played songs he'd just written. This was one of them. It's good to hear it again.

But The Good Life's Help Wanted Nights just didn't get to be 2007's best album. Unfortunately, some band decided to give a big middle finger to the record industry by releasing their new album in download form online for a price of the buyer's choosing. They later released the album in physical CD form, and it didn't come out in the US until January 1, 2008. So I thought of considering this a 2008 release just so The Good Life could be the winners. But that would be cheating because the music was released online, and on CD in other countries, in 2007. This band is, of course, Radiohead. In Rainbows is their 7th full-length LP, and I have been unable to stop listening to it. It is just awesome. Guitar seems a bit more prevalent on this album than on their past few, so that is pleasing to us guitar players. There is actually very little artificial drum beats (except for the first song), and more of actual drumming by Phil Selway. Thom Yorke's voice is as beautiful as ever. This is just a brilliant album. To be listened to over and over again. It is the best album of 2007. And maybe it will be the best album of 2008 as well.