Music

I should be finishing up my book (James Davison Hunter's wonderful To Change the World), but it is snowing outside, the kids are sledding, the house is quiet...what better time to reflect on music!

Lists of my "All-Time Favorite Albums" have been published for years now--probably beginning in junior high math class (so much more satisfying to doodle and create lists than listen to math equations). The lists have changed considerably over the years (where, oh where is Boston's eponymous debut, Level 42's Lessons in Love, or Billy Idol's Rebel Yell?). Some, of course, have not been dismissed from the list for decades (U2's Joshua Tree). Age, experience, and a blessed outpouring of new material over the years has honed this list to a sharp edge of musical virtuosity, songwriting genius, and aesthetic je ne sais quoi. So, as of Tuesday, February 5, 2013, here it is:

1. The Joshua Tree--U2. The best album from the best band, this 1987 recording changed my world. American pathos, desert landscapes, a fierce social conscience combined with Bono's passion and the Edge's jangling guitar to create the quintessential rock and roll album. There is not a weak song to be found.

2. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot--Wilco. "I am an American aquarium drinker; I assassin down the avenue..." (from the opening track "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"). What in the world does it mean? Does it matter? What a completely wonderful and original album combining the weirdness of the Talking Heads with the alt-country roots of Uncle Tupelo (Jeff Tweedy's original band).

3. Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1--George Michael. Funny that GM should appear on this list, as I didn't much care for Wham! or anything he did before and after this wonderful 1990 tour de force. Self-revelatory (though he would later say he hated this album), poppy, thoughtful, and altogether wonderful.

4. Blue Lines--Massive Attack. Okay, it is painfully clear now that I am a bit stuck in the late-80's/early-90's and in the U.K. This Manchester collective, however, opened up the world of techno, trip-hop, and ambient pop to me. "Unfinished Symphony" is one of the truly great songs of all time, and yet the whole album is so very solid from beginning to end.

5. OK Computer--Radiohead. Thom Yorke and the boys released OK in 1997. My brother made me a mix-tape which included the previously unheard of "Paranoid Android." The last time I heard from them, "Creep" was all over the radio (and in my mind completely uninteresting). With this new track, and subsequently the whole album, I was mesmerized and not a little creeped out.

6. Prose Combat--MC Solaar. I can't be certain exactly how I was introduced to Claude M'Barali. All I know is that when I heard the horn intro to "Aubade" and transition into "Obsolete," I was hooked. Lyrically complex, literate, and philosophical, MC Solaar's rap is the antithesis of misogynistic, bling-obsessed American hip-hop.

7. Tim--The Replacements. A wonderfully sloppy rock and roll album (though quite refined by the 'Mats' standards) that somehow always brings me back to my grandparents lake home in Minnesota. This is fun, summer music. "Swingin' Party" remains one of my favorite singles ever.

8. Out of Time--R.E.M. Yeah, okay, this entire list ages me terribly, and R.E.M.'s early 90's masterpiece is perhaps a bit obvious. But, yeah, it is simply a great album that continues to be for me a big, comfy couch on which to lay back and breath deeply.

9. The Man Who--Travis. Classic, melodic Brit-pop, I'd put the first half of this album up against anything. How can a band so capably evoke 1970's Bread and 2000's Coldplay?

10. Gallowsbird's Bark--The Fiery Furnaces. Weird, inventive, cryptic, melodic, experimental, sonic...this is simply a great album at every level. Any weirder (Bitter Tea) and it would be unlistenable. Any less original and it would be boring.

Honorable Mention: Illinois (Sufjan Stevens), Z (My Morning Jacket), The Unforgettable Fire (U2), Octobre (Francis Cabrel), Revolver (The Beatles), What's the Story (Morning Glory) (Oasis), Debut (Bjork), Being There (Wilco), Free the Bees (A Band of Bees), Dear Science (TV on the Radio), Songs from the Big Chair (Tears for Fears), Helplessness Blues (Fleet Foxes), Sigh No More (Mumford & Sons), Stone Rollin' (Raphael Saadiq), Brother is to Son (Danielson), Laid (James), Tomorrow the Green Grass (The Jayhawks), War (U2), Qui Seme le Vent Recolte le Tempo (MC Solaar), Let It Bleed (The Rolling Stones), The White Album (The Beatles), Bonafide (Maxi Priest), Hopes and Fears (Keane), 99.9 F (Suzanne Vega), Labour of Love II (UB40), The Suburbs (Arcade Fire).