Albums
of the year
2010
I felt it appropriate this year to change the title of my annual best albums post by replacing the word KILL with LIVE. It has the same effect I think, but with a positive slant. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to do this post at all since, as some of you know, my Mom passed away last month from a 15+ year battle with congestive heart failure. My original intention was for the first time to actually write my own reviews (who would have thought, right?), but the events of the past couple months have had the bulk of my free time. So instead of not abandoning my yearly tradition (when there are so many great albums which must be heard by all of you!), I figured I would do it as I have in years past. To compensate, however, I created a companion playlist you can stream at Grooveshark so that you can effortlessly listen to tracks from this year’s esteemed “winners”! I picked two tracks from each album, which was a tough call as there really aren’t any bad tracks on any of these albums. For the album from Janelle Monáe I picked 3 songs to be fair, as the album is so incredibly long and every track is fantastic. I believe in my heart of hearts these albums would be rewarding for each and every one of you to pick up and listen to, in full, and as loud as possible. These are also in no particular order, except for the first album by Radio Dept, which is without any doubt the best of the year. Enjoy, and drive with aloha …
3
Hole
Nobody's Daughter
“When Hole’s raging, ragged debut album appeared in 1991, few would have predicted that new records would still be appearing under that name 19 years later. But then, Courtney Love has often turned being misunderstood and underestimated into an art form. ‘Nobody’s Daughter’, despite its lengthy and troubled gestation, is a rich and emotionally searing addition to that canon, effortlessly besting her haphazard solo album. It’s said that living well is the best revenge, but that has never seemed an entirely realistic option for Love. Instead she will have to settle for proving her armies of detractors wrong with records as lingering, intelligent and unexpected as this.” – BBC
“The naysayers will nitpick at Courtney every which way they can. But the truth is, she’s held to higher standard than her male peers. Somehow without the other original members of the band, she’s made a record that builds effectively on the band’s legacy. ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ may not be ‘Live Through This,’ but it builds nicely off of the sounds explored on ‘Celebrity Skin’. Give this record a listen. Drop your preconceptions at the door. You just might be surprised. After ‘America’s Sweetheart’, this record is strikingly redeeming. Will anyone bother to care? That remains to be seen. In any case, Love proves her worthiness, once again.” – ABC News