A Totebag Full of Tunes

Albums I can't seem to stop listening to (not that they necessarily came out during the year):

The Fratellis: Costello Music
I don't know anything about these blokes, but this is one rollicking, humorous, melodic frenzy. Can't stop bouncing off walls.

Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Spooky as hell. Flannery O'Connor reborn as a minstrel.

Beat Circus: Dreamland
"Weird American gothic," as they call it. How on earth did Tom Waits end up on one of Nino Rota's Fellini soundtracks? Boxcar blues, whiskey-tinged waltzes, junkyard jamborees, tobacco-stained saloon songs, and seasick shanties. A Coney Island of the Id.

Aretha Franklin: Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul
Her voice on here nearly blew out my speakers. Some of the best stuff I've ever heard her do.

The Mars Volta: Bedlam in Goliath
Still getting into this one. Their last couple never really sunk in, but De-Loused in the Comatorium was a huge favorite when it came out - Black Sabbath meets Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis.

Kate Bush: Aerial
I think a lot of people expected to have their heads sawed off by the sheer brilliance her first release in over a decade. Instead they were treated to this serene album of contentment. They were listening wrong. It never left my player for months.

Of Montreal: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
I don't know how they got from the Kinks-esque quirkiness of The Gay Parade to plundering the Bee Gee's platform shoes, but once past the shock of the disco beats, these songs are damn catchy.

Jerry Lee Lewis: Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
I'd read this might be the greatest live album ever recorded. May be true. While other nations were snubbing The Killer, the Germans didn't give a fuck about his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin. They just wanted to watch him bash the daylights out of his keyboard.

Arcade Fire: Funeral
I like this one better than their follow-up, Neon Bible, which strays too close to Springsteen territory for my comfort.

Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes
Dylan hiding out in an upstate basement with a six-string and a hound dog, with no intention of releasing the results. Pure dusty Americana. "Apple Suckling Tree" and "Tiny Montgomery" are my favorites.

Decemberists: The Crane Wife
Almost as good as Picaresque. Strays strangely into Prog Rock now and then. The whine of his voice takes some getting used to but can't argue with the lyrics.

Dresden Dolls: Yes, Virginia...
Jesus, Brian Viglione is a demon on drums. Drop the needle on "Modern Moonlight" and stand back.

Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Sure, it's got some songs I skip towards the end. But it's got just as many I can't help hitting repeat on. I love their maniacal background vocals, like they just let some raving fiend into the studio and punched record.

Radiohead: In Rainbows
The songs aren't particularly catchy, but the mood is right. "Jigsaw" is a standout.

Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
The lovechild of Tori Amos and Woody Allen. Charming, eccentric, and wonderful.

Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic
Just recently got into these guys. They used to sound like typical seventies polished radio fodder to me, but I've begun to see the light. The musicality is tremendous. Break out the headphones for these. It's like dining in the best restaurant in town when someone else is footing the bill.

Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
If you grew up in the eighties, the name Stevie Wonder was associated with schlock ("Ebony & Ivory," "We Are the World," etc). What an eyeopener to return to the music that earned him the rank of genius. What could be more moving than "Joy Inside My Tears"?

Mozart: Symphony 41
The 40th was always my favorite, but I can't stop listening to the bombastic fourth movement of the "Jupiter symphony." Like seeing God from the center of an asteroid field. My version is Karl Bohm conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, which is [kisses fingers] exquisite.

Goblin: Soundtrack to Suspiria
Some of the creepiest music ever recorded - for one of the creepiest films ever shot.

Duke Ellington (with Charles Mingus & Max Roach): Money Jungle
Legendary line-up, anyone? This is not unlike Chuck Berry sitting in with System of a Down. Not sure if it'll work in theory, but does it ever. Pure musical conversation spanning generation and genre.

Brian Wilson: Smile
No, it's not quite what he had in mind back in the sixties before blowing out his brain on hallucinogenics. Don't care. I've heard the bootlegs and these sound better to me. I was not even slightly disappointed in this, even if the years have been a little rough on his vocal cords. As far as I can tell he used all the same instrumentation he would have used back then. And best of all, no Mike Love! Strap on the headphones and immerse yourself in Wilson's "Teenage Symphony to God."

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
Nobody even knew this legendary concert had been recorded until someone discovered it in a basement somewhere. You know the songs, but hearing them with Coltrane is like an IMAX experience.