It’s not all about 2008
Everyone loves year end lists—making them, at least, even if they scoff at other folks’ rankings. And since I’m already an obsessive list maker, they make the conclusion of a year that much more fun for me.
Instead of offering the standard “top 10 albums of 2008” countdown, I’ve been obsessing over which albums I listened to the most this year. Several new recordings could crack that list, but when a friend asked for my top 10 I realized I spent most of this year stuck in the past. Here are the five albums that belatedly wormed their way into my heart and the top of my iTunes played list this year.
Iron and Wine — The Shepherd’s Dog
This isn’t an old album, I know. It was released Fall 2007, and I wrote about it back then. In fact, it took me nearly half an hour to write one sentence of that review, because what I heard was completely absorbing. And as a result of Sam Beam’s enchanting instrumentation and the band’s Birmingham performance last month, the disc remained one of my most played for a full year.
The Bittersweets — The Life You Always Wanted
Paste magazine included The Bittersweets’ “Long Day” on a summer 2006 sampler CD, and I listened to it on repeat for ages. This spring I finally bought the CD myself and kept it in heavy rotation. The band’s name is perfect, because that’s precisely what their music is. The Life You Always Wanted is a balance of the melancholy songs I love and the more upbeat (though still down-to-earth) songs that keep me from falling into a total emotional funk.
The Everybodyfields — Nothing is Okay
“Start writing/ Make a list of your plans for the year/ And send me a little note in the mail/ When my name appears on your list/ Of things to do/ If you ever can see past you/ I’ll keep some days clear.”
I jotted a few lyrics and a band name down after hearing “Lonely Anywhere” on Reg’s Coffeehouse. The song didn’t come up often, but its plaintive acoustic guitar and piercing lyrics captured my attention. I ordered the entire CD, otherwise unheard, and carried it with me everywhere I went during the gloomy winter days preceding spring. (My laptop was broken and I couldn’t update my iPod; I’m quite sure I listened to the album at least 20 times more than my iTunes would have you believe.) Every track on this disc boasts quality songwriting, and I’m now counting down the days until the band’s next release.
The Beatles — The Beatles (The White Album)
I’ll admit, I’ve long been intimidated by the back catalogs of some of the world’s greatest musicians. It took numerous comparisons of another artist’s work to the Beatles for me to finally decide which album to start with. That drove me to purchasing Abbey Road last spring. In December 2007, a friend and fellow Beatles fan encouraged me to make Revolver my next purchase.
I was hooked, and so 2008 quickly became the year Carla Jean fell in love with The Beatles. I could list half a dozen Beatles albums here—I’ve listened to nearly all of them, constantly, throughout the year. I began 2008 with two of the band’s albums and am a bit surprised I didn’t buy every studio album before the year ended. (I’m three shy.) But purchasing The White Album was perhaps my most memorable rite of passage (and it was my first Beatles purchase of the year).
I’d been talking about my newfound love everywhere I went, and one night an old friend told me I sounded like a 16-year-old boy, discovering the band for the first time. We talked for at least an hour about my favorite songs, how I’m pretty sure that Abbey Road is one of the best albums ever recorded and what I should buy next. Later that week I dedicated my lunch break to making that move. I needed the White Album, and I needed it immediately.
I could barely keep myself from telling the Charlemagne Records clerk how excited I was over what felt like such a significant purchase. When I returned to work, Creative Director Robin Colter told me that it was even more important than buying my first Beatles album. It’s the White Album, she said. You almost can’t claim to be a music fan without owning it.
And in fact, I have almost been embarrassed to admit how long it took me to become a Beatles fan girl. But only almost—because I can’t keep myself from gushing over the Beatles.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals — Cold Roses
In October, the Cardinals released their latest, Cardinology. I’d been anticipating it for months. But in late August I finally acquired 2005’s Cold Roses, and every spin of Cardinology sent me running back to this two disc set. It quickly pushed everything else from consciousness and became the No. 1 album I fell in love with this year.
Four months later, I can glance at my iTunes “top 25 most played tracks” and see that I’ve listened to this disc more than 60 times. And that’s not counting all of the live versions I’ve heard of these songs (including those played during Ryan’s October show in Tuscaloosa). Cold Roses might be my favorite RA album, a perfect mix of the singer-songwriter’s melancholy (“How Do You Keep Love Alive”), ballads (“Life is Beautiful”) and rock (“Beautiful Sorta”). I think I’ll have another listen …
