For what it's worth. My ten best of albums of 2008.
10. Ray Davies-Working Man's Cafe (New West) Working with Nashville studio musicians, Davies still managed to make one hard rocking effort which does improve from his Other People Lives solo of a few years ago. He's getting to be one old crank but even old cranks can be entertaining and rocking at the same time.
9. BB King-One Kind Favor (Geffen) He might be 85 years old but this record is a back to basics blues that BB haven't done in forty years. Credit John Henry (T Bone) Burnett if you want but also Howlin Wolf, the other T Bone (Walker), and The Mississippi Shreiks for inspiration. Wish I could sound this good when I'm 85 but chances are that I'll be dead before then. If that's the case, see that my grave is kept clean too.
8. Teddy Thompson-A Piece Of What You Need (Verve) This album Teddy come into his own with some excellent and off the wall production from Marius De Viles. He certainly does Mom and Pop Thompson proud too. And I'm sure Dad plays guitar on a couple of these numbers too.
7. Coldplay-Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends (Capitol) The surprise of the year. Critics poo pooed this and finally after hearing about Jon Parales rip into them, I had to check this out. At least they're adding a bit more rock to their music instead of the usual Radiohead and U2. I'm sure in some way Joe Satriani gave them some new musical input in his own way.
6. Mudcrutch (Reprise) Tom Petty returns to his original band and with a more country rock sound. Crystal River is a song that's crying for the old FM underground radio station of long ago and far away.
5. The Townedgers-Pawnshops For Olivia (Radio Maierburg) Perhaps the most ragged album the band ever made, Rod Smith revisits memories of a old time girlfriend and just about alienates the whole band in the process. Not for the faint of heart but not all gloom and doom. And perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is beyond the sun as the final song suggests.
4. Steve Winwood-Nine Lives (Columbia) This record recalls the long grooves of the old Traffic years via Low Spark and even gets Eric Clapton to play the best guitar he's ever played in thirty plus years in Dirty City. Nine songs total just about 57 minites. And he can still sing pretty good too.
3. The Sound Of The Smiths (Sire/Rhino) Certainly there are other Smiths compliations out there but this one finally gives the best picture and sound of what Morrissey and Johnny Marrs did for Brit guitar music of the 80s.
2. Alejandro Escovedo-Real Animal (Manhattan/Back Porch) This album is somewhat like The Boxing Mirror but on this one, Escovedo rocks out and fondly remembers The Nuns and Rank And File, the most forgotten of the early americana bands of the 80s. He certainly paid his dues to get this far in life and this is his most assured album.
1. James McMurtry-Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod) James remains the best protest singer of the Bush era, that is if you can call him a protest singer. Cheney's Toy is even more bitter than We Can't Make It Here Anymore. If he was throwing shoes, he would have scored a direct hit on Mr. Cheney Do. But also McMurtry can rock too on Bayou Tortous and make a good story song on Ruby And Carlos. But still, nobody has have a better viewpoint of the evil Bush empire than James. This is the best album of the year.
Honorable mentions
11. Mettallica-Death Magnetic (Warner Bros)
12. Snow Patrol-A Hundred Million Suns (Fiction)
13. Jordan Zevon-Insides Out (New West)
14. The Roots-Rising Down (Def Jam)
15. Bo Ramsey-Fragile (BR Recordings)
