December 27: Thumbs up/ Thumbs down

THUMBS UP:
Josh Groban. I don't know much about the guy's music, all I know is that his recent Christmas album has come out of nowhere to become the biggest-selling record of 2007. This pleases me because the album it eclipsed was the High School Musical 2 soundtrack. It would have been an enormous embarrassment if that soundtrack had wound up being the year's top seller. Big ups to Mr. Groban, and all the soccer moms who purchased his music.

Robert Plant. The Led Zeppelin singer has agreed to tour with Alison Krauss next year. Their duet album has been one of the most acclaimed records of the year, and it will be a thrill to see the two of them perform together. The downside is this tour makes it less likely that Plant will do a full-scale tour with Zeppelin, as many people have been hoping. But I'm still convinced that both tours will happen.

THUMBS DOWN:
Steve Perry. Journey's ex-lead singer still refuses to perform with his former bandmates. They just named a new vocalist, and it's some dude from the Philippines. Seriously. With all the hype from the Sopranos' use of "Don't Stop Believin'," the timing has never been better for the band to reunite. Perry is one of rock's all-time great vocalists, and I long for the day I can see him sing "Faithfully," "Separate Ways" and "Open Arms" on stage again.

Epic Records. Natasha Bedingfield released a very successful album in Europe last year, N.B., which produced multiple hit singles. Yet, it was never released in the U.S. Now, Epic is finally releasing it here, but they're changing the track listing, and removing "I Wanna Have Your Babies," a bubblegum pop gem that is the best song on the record. What are these people thinking?! If you don't want to make it the lead single, as it was in Europe, that's fine, but don't remove it from the record entirely!

My favorites of '07

I've read a ton of "best of 2007" lists on blogs, so rather than subject everyone to another top 10 or top 50 list, I decided to recap my favorites from 2007 in a slightly different way, with some serious and not-so-serious categories. Here's my list, with YouTube links for each.


Favorite album of the year
Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

Favorite Track of 2007
Rihanna - Umbrella (featuring Jay-Z)

Albums that grew on me after some initial disappointment
Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo

Albums that, regrettably, never grew on me
New Pornographers - Challengers
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth


Most Tragically Overlooked Pop Single
Natasha Bedingfield - I Wanna Have Your Babies

Favorite Rock Album
The National - Boxer

Best Rock Song
Against Me! - White People for Peace

Best Rock Song That Makes Use of Church Organ
The Arcade Fire - Intervention

Best Country Song
Rodney Atkins - These Are My People

Best Chorus
M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Best Foreign-Language Dance-Pop song Featuring Bouncing Ping Pong Balls
Enrique Iglesias - Dimelo

Most Overrated Album
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Come on people, the emperor has no clothes! I'm perplexed as to how people are calling this a return to Radiohead's earlier sound. It sounds nothing like The Bends or OK Computer. What it sounds like is Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, with fewer weird sound effects. It's as if the band started recording it, then quit halfway through the process and said, 'Good enough.' By far the band's weakest effort since their debut.

Most Underrated Album
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
Scoff if you like, but this is a CD I couldn't stop playing. Other albums may have been greater artistic achievements, but this one had the most catchy tracks. And that's what I value most. Listen to "Bang the Doldrums" or "Thks fr Th Mmrs" and an hour later you'll be humming the chorus, whether you like it or not.

Artist I'm ready to give up on after three straight subpar albums
Rufus Wainwright

Best album from someone I'd given up on
Sondre Lerche - Dan In Real Life (soundtrack)

Most Impressive Job of Staying Relevant by Someone Who Shouldn't Still be Relevant
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend

Best Album from 2006 I couldn't stop listening to in 2007
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Best televised performance
Feist - 1,2,3,4 on Letterman (with New Pornographers, Grizzly Bear, The National, and Broken Social Scene)



Best live performance by a Mexican instrumental guitar duo
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo on Letterman



Best use of the 'Shoes' girl in a video
Dresden Dolls - Shores of California

Best Use of Furries in a Video
Gym Class Heroes - Clothes Off!

Gayest Song of the Year
Mika - Lollipop

Catchiest Rock Song That Somehow Got Largely Overlooked
My Chemical Romance - Teenagers


Best Concert I witnessed
Daft Punk - Lollapalooza

Most Memorable Song Performance I witnessed
Pearl Jam with Ben Harper - Rockin' in the Free World (at Lollapalooza)

Most captivating dancer
Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory

Best Nirvana cover
Polyphonic Spree - Lithium (at Lollapalooza)

Best attempt by a goth band to sound like Franz Ferdinand
Marilyn Manson - Heart Shaped Glasses


Best Song in the "Gypsy Pirate Rock" genre
HUMANWINE - Rivolta Silenziosa

Most Bizarre Pop Song That Still Rocks
Fiery Furnaces - Clear Signal From Cairo

Most Ubiquitous Song of the Summer Which Turned Out to be a Fluke from an Awful Group
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks

Artist I love even though I admit he has little talent
Mickey Avalon

Best Hip Hop Song
Kanye West - Stronger

Best Summer Jam
Justin Timberlake - Summer Love

Best Music Video
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.