Top 10 Albums 2007

I'm neither a journalist nor a musician. I can't really describe why I like this or that album. It has to be somehow good music. Interesting. It should be able to "entertain" me more than three times. It's unlikely that an album which is easily accessible becomes one of my favorite ones.

I'm also not limited to a particular genre or kind of music. If you really want to subsume it somehow then maybe under Alternative. But this probably does not mean much more than that hardly any of the albums I like will be in a Top 10 chart list (based on sales). Ok, this time there are actually two albums in Amazon's Top 10 (The White Stripes on 8 and The Shins on 9, next is Wilco on 25). Which makes me think the Americans have a better music taste than the Germans. I admit I even own the number 1 from the latter list, but it's not that I only like what others dislike. Herbert Groenemeyer is very famous in Germany and he has a good mixture of "difficult" songs and stadium hymns. "12" was a bit disappointing though. Back to the German charts, the next one I like is only on 22, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium", which is actually from 2006, and only on 29 there is finally one of my 2007 Top 10 albums, "Our Earthly Pleasures" by Maxïmo Park. Also in Germany there is hardly any store where you get more than the most recent Tool album - while in America so found I found hardly any store which does not have all of their albums.

Anyway, back to 2007, here is my Top 10:

1. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times


2. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky


3. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible


4. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away


5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder


6. Maxïmo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures


7. Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land


8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank


9. Radiohead - In Rainbows


10. Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City

Some of the bands I really like released new albums last year, but didn't make it onto the list. Editors, Interpol and especially Spoon did not quite meet my expectations - or their former albums were just way better. I neither wanted to put a Best Of or Live album on such a list like R.E.M.'s "Live".

By the way, I bought 42 albums in 2007 (compared with 36 in 2006 and 79 (!) in 2005 - I admit that year was crazy). Many of them were older though since I often wait until I get a good bargain and I completed my collections of Wilco and Spoon. By also selling 26 albums (mostly on Amazon) I have now more than 450 albums on CD.