Best Music of 2007

As I look over the various top ten lists for the music of 2007 released in magazines, as well as my own below, there's a sensation that I cannot ignore - are we all kidding ourselves? 2007 has to be one of the weakest years in recent memory for music, and it's not because there weren't some great songs, but I can't think of a single great album, an album that I even really fell in love with. Last year, there were three, and I complained about not having ten.

This year, I sort of have two that I loved, or at least spent a lot of time getting to know and not minding that I was spending a lot of time getting to know them. There are a few more that I like a little less, but am still pretty fond of. And then there are albums with some great songs and lots of filler, which is unfortunate, but it's how it goes some years.

The truth is I find myself very removed from most of the well regarded records of the year. Artists I've loved made albums I thought were terrible this year - Bruce Springsteen's Magic, Kanye West's Graduation, Queens of the Stone Age's Era Vulgaris, Wilco's Sky Blue Sky; not just sub par records, terrible records. That's to say nothing of the artists I'm a fan of whose records were mostly positive mixed bags (Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, Radiohead, New Pornographers), and the artists I'm supposed to love but actively dislike - M.I.A., The White Stripes, or Arcade Fire, all of whom's popularity continues to elude me.

This year, I can at least be very very happy about White Chalk, P.J. Harvey's 7th full length album, even though I think it may be her weakest. When you're an artist as extraordinary as Harvey, "weakest" is a pretty relative term. At the time of its release, I thought White Chalk was like an extended character piece, of a repressed victorian persona released from an old Dorset attic on a rusting piano, like The Others: The Musical. It is, for a good half the album, but then it's something else also - a muted walk into adulthood. Midway through the record, at the title track, Harvey walks barefoot along the Dorset beach and sees blood on her feet. It's like that walk transforms her into an adult, and the remainder of the record is subdued and lovely, stately and mature. "Silence," I think, is another Harvey great, a sort of be-careful-what-you-wish-for ballad of wishing to be released from your memories. Its followed by the atonal "To Talk To You," which is like a dip back into Harvey's child persona from early in the record. And it ends with a lovely combo of "Before Departure," a sweet song that seems written in slo-mo at a train track, and "The Mountain," a song that's both hystrionic and wise, screamingly off-kilter and melodically just right, which just about sums up Harvey and White Chalk.

I also am happy to report that Me'shell Ndegeocello's The World Has Made Me The Man of My Dreams gets better with every play, just like all of her records. She's a major musician too, and I have yet to see her on any Best of the Year list, which is typical. I'll still campaign for her if she needs it. Same goes with Talib Kweli, who seems like he should be more well-regarded than he is, considering the pure ambition and skill of his verse.

When it came to singles, I for one love "The Way I Are" by Timbaland over all others rock, pop, or otherwise. "Rehab" had personality and tabloid joyousness, "Hot Thing" is like alterna-rap's hot dance track in waiting, and Hilary Duff surprised the crap out of me by releasing a song I can't help but love.

Top Ten Albums of 2007:

1. White Chalk P.J. Harvey

2. The World Has Made Me The Man of My Dreams Me'shell Ndegeocello

3. Eardrum Talib Kweli

4. Easy Tiger Ryan Adams

5. In Rainbows Radiohead

6. Back to Black Amy Winehouse

7. Challengers The New Pornographers

8. Sound of Silver LCD Soundsystem

9. Because of the Times Kings of Leon

10. West Lucinda Williams

Top Ten Singles of 2007:

1. "The Way I Are" Timbaland

2. "Rehab" Amy Winehouse

3. "Hot Thing" Talib Kweli

4. "Umbrella" Rihanna

5. "When Under Ether" P.J. Harvey

6. "Gimme More" Britney Spears

7. "Dignity" Hilary Duff

8. "Until The End of Time" Justin Timberlake & Beyonce

9. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" Radiohead

10. "Bartender" T. Pain

Ten Perfect Songs You Might Not Have Heard On The Radio:

• "Are You Alright" Lucinda Williams (West)
• "Silence" P.J. Harvey (White Chalk)
• "True Love Way" Kings of Leon (Because of the Times)
• "My Love For You Is Real" Ryan Adams (Follow The Lights)
• "Go Ahead" Alicia Keys (As I Am)
• "Lovely Lovely" Me'shell Ndegeocello (The World Has Made Me The Man of My Dreams)
• "Radio Nowhere" Bruce Springsteen (Magic)
• "Misfit Love" Queens of the Stone Age (Era Vulgaris)
• "Someone Great" LCD Soundsystem (Sound of Silver)
• "Go Places" The New Pornographers (Challengers)