Top Twenty Albums of 2006: 16-20
- Sixteen
Paul Simon - Surprise
The first songwriter I ever loved is getting older. (Aren't we all?) But he still manages to keep in touch. Paul Simon's strongest album in fifteen years is a humble, probing letter from an old friend, penned on Brian Eno's skittering stationery. Simon's simple, honest songs are full of questions, and we're fortunate to listen in as he looks backwards and inwards and even heavenwards for answers.
Featured Track: "Outrageous"
- Seventeen
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album
I'm a little surprised to find this on my list. It's certainly less coherent, less confessional, and more opaque than its superlative companion. But this is no ordinary outtakes album. It takes a while to look past the Illinois comparisons and the three different takes on "Chicago," but once you do, you'll be delighted to find a polished set of fully realized songs. It's a tribute to the strength of last year's number one and the depth of Sufjan's prolific farm system that these tunes are relegated to the outtakes squad.
Featured Track: "The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)"
- Eighteen
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Muse's latest is not a ridiculous, reckless throwback to the prodigious prog-opera excess of the 70s in much the same way that Iraq is not another Vietnam. Whether ranting against Leaders Who Start Pointless Wars or dodging frickin' laser beams in a Martian apocalypse, Muse has a bombastic swagger that's infectious and a wink to tell us they know exactly what they're doing.
Featured Track: "Starlight"
- Nineteen
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
The Management would like to request that you not call this a "solo" album. After being astounded by Mr. Yorke and his bandmates at two small amphitheater concerts this summer, believe me, I wish this wasn't a solo effort either. Even with trusty Nigel Godrich at the helm, anything less than a full-blown Radiohead album could only be a Let Down. Still, Yorke's dark, cryptic songs are great in their own right.
Featured Track: "Harrowdown Hill"
- Twenty
Birdmonster - No Midnight
Local phenom Birdmonster lives in the exuberant shadow of bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Arcade Fire, but their unusual instrumentation (melodica! banjo! cello!) and Peter Arcuni's manic, Isaac Brockian vocals suggest great things to come from the rockers across the bay.
Featured Track: "Balcony"