Rock Albums Post X: 15 Favorite Albums of 2011

The following are the 16 album I enjoyed the most throughout 2011, these are the one's that kept me listening.

Yep, this post is titled the Top 15, but I added an extra album after originally posting this.

- Randall Webb

16. Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’ 

 Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'

Genre: R&B
Favorite Tracks: Heart Attack, Stone Rollin’, Day Dreams

Trivia: Saadiq spent approximately one year recording this album, including writing the music and lyrics. On the majority of the songs Saadiq played most of the instruments, including bass, keyboard, guitar, Mellotron, percussion, and drums. He also produced the album.

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15. Joe Henry  - Reverie 

 Joe Henry - Reverie

Genre: Alt-Folk, Acoustic

Favorite Tracks: Heaven’s Escape, Sticks and Stones, Deathbed Versions

Trivia: The bulk of this album was recorded in 3 days in Joe’s basement studio. In the mix the listener can hear bird chirping to the music through the open windows in the basement. Joe describes this album as a “raw and raucous and messy affair”.

 

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14. The Cars  - Move Like This

 The Cars - Move Like This

Genre: Alt-Rock

Favorite Tracks: Blue Tip, Sad Song, Free

Trivia: “Move Like This” is the Cars 7^th studio album and their first release since 1987’s “Door To Door”.

 

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13. Deerhoof – Deerhoof vs. Evil

 Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil

Genre: Art Rock, Indie Rock, Noise Rock

Favorite Tracks: Behold A marvel In The Darkness, The Merry Barracks, Super Duper Rescue Heads, Must Fight Current

Trivia: This album was part of a project called “Global Album Leak” in which 12 blogs from the internet premiered a song from the album one week at a time. The first song to be premiered was “The Merry Barracks” on October 8, 2010 on the U.S. website Pitchfork.

 

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12. Battles – Gloss Drop

 Battles - Gloss Drop

Genre: Experimental, math rock, post-rock, new prog

Favorite Tracks: Africastle, Inchworm, Wall Street, My Machines (featuring Gary Numan)

Trivia: Midway through the recording of the album band member Tyondi Braxton left the band to pursue a solo career. The remaining band continued as a trio and rewrote and rerecorded the entire album with in 4 months. Considering the band’s relative obscurity the album was a moderate success reaching #48 in the UK, #73 in Belgium and #98 in the U.S.

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11. Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

 Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What

Genre: Classic Pop, World Music, Folk

Favorite Tracks: Dazzling Blue, Rewrite, So Beautiful or So What

Trivia: This is Simon’s first album in 5 years and his most successful since 1991’s “The Rhythm Of The Saints”. Simon released a Christmas song from the album called "Getting Ready for Christmas Day", which premiered on National Public Radio on November 16, 2010. The song samples a 1941 sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates, also entitled "Getting Ready for Christmas Day". Simon performed the song live on The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010.

10. Neil Young – Le Noise

 Neil Young - Le Noise

Genre: Folk rock, experimental, garage rock

Favorite Tracks: Walk With Me, Love and War, Peaceful Valley Boulevard

Trivia: Okay so this one was released at the end of September 2010, but I didn’t buy it until the beginning of 2011. Neil Young received his second Grammy Award for the song “Angry World” which won for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. Producer Daniel Lanois (who has also worked with U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Brain Eno and many others) brought a fantastically layered sonic soundscape to Neil Young. Thus moving Young’s sound into a new and uncharted territory. Young has always been one to experiment with new and unique sounds.

9. She Wants Revenge – Valleyheart

 She Wants Revenge - Valleyheart

Genre: Alt-Rock, Modern Rock, Post-Punk Revival

Favorite Tracks: Up In Flames, Reasons, Little Star

Trivia: A product of Los Angeles, California “Valleyheart” is a concept album of sorts following the trials and tribulations of life in the San Fernando Valley.

8. Stefon Harris, David Sanchez and 

Christian Scott – Ninety Miles

 Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, Christian Scott - Ninety Miles

Genre: Jazz

Favorite Tracks: City Sunrise, The Forgotten One, Black Action Figure

Trivia: “Ninety Miles” was recording entirely in Havana, Cuba. The result is a breaking of cultural barriers by bringing together musicians from varying cultures. The album’s producer, John Burk says, "This record is about the power of music to communicate, and break down some of the barriers that result from language and politics and culture."

7. Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials

 Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials

Genre: Indie Rock, Art rock, Baroque Pop

Favorite Tracks: What The Water Gave Me, Breaking Down, Lover To Lover

Trivia: Florence has stated that much of “Ceremonials” is based on scientific ideas, as several of her family members are doctors or are in school to become doctors so she is usually around a lot of medical and scientific conversations.

6. My Morning Jacket – Circuital

 My Morning Jacket - Circuital

Genre: Indie, Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Favorite Tracks: Victory Dance, Circuital, Outta My System, First Light, You Wanna Freak Out

Trivia: The song “Wonderful” was original written by My Morning Jacket founder Jim James (aka Yim Yames) for the Muppets rock band Doctor Teeth and Electric Mayhem. The song was to be performed live on stage by My Morning Jacket and the Muppets. “Outta My System” and the former song were both to be performed in the Muppets tour, which was being planned and produced by Disney.  Jim James commented that twice Muppet glory was with in his grasp but eluded him both times. Shortly after the release of “Circuital” MMJ recorded the Muppets song “Our World” for the Muppets tribute album called “The Green Album”. “Circuital” has been nominated for the Best Alternative Rock Album Grammy Award of 2011.

5. Keb’ Mo' – The Reflection

 Keb' Mo' - The Reflection

Genre: R&B, Jazz, Adult Pop, Urban Soul

Favorite Tracks: The Whole Enchilada, Inside Out, Crush On You (w/ India.Aire), Just Lookin’

Trivia: “The Reflection” is the first album released by Keb’ Mo” (a former A&M staff songwriter) on his own Yolabelle International label. He also self produced the album.

4. Bjork – Biophilia

 Bjork - Biophilia

Genre: Electronic, Experimental, avante-gard

Favorite Tracks: Moon, Crystalline, Dark Matter, Mutual Core

Trivia: “Biophilia” is an experiment of sound. How the sounds blend together, how they bounce off the walls and between objects. It’s an experiment in physics similar to how planets and microscopic organisms work together. It’s an experiment of sound without humans. The album has made it into the Top 20 in more than 20 different countries around the world including Taiwan, Russia, Greece, Spain, Japan and Croatia.

3. Booker T. Jones – The Road From Memphis

Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis

Genre: Blues, R&B

Favorite Tracks: Progress (with Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket), Down In Memphis, Everything Is Everything, Representing Memphis (with Sharon Jones), Harlem House, The Bronx (with Lou Reed)

Trivia: “The Road From Memphis” works as a who’s who of music for Booker T. Jones. Musicians include Dennis Coffey on wah wah guitar. Coffey is best known for the 1971 instrumental hit “Scorpio) which reached #6 in the U.S. and was certified Gold for sales of more than one million. Also on the album are current day  soul/funk singer Sharon Jones, My Morning Jacket’s frontman Yim Yames (Jim James), the jazz-rap outfit The Roots and even Lou Reed (Velvet Underground) guests on vocals for the song “The Bronx”.

2. Adele - 21

Adele - 21

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Genre: Pop, Soul, Indie, Roots

Favorite Tracks: Rolling In The Deep, Rumor Has It, Set Fire To The Rain, He Won’t Go

Trivia: “21” has spent 13 weeks at #1 on the U.S. Billboard chart and has also reached #1 in 24 other countries around the world. As of December 2011 “21” has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. Adele’s bus driver who was playing contemporary Nashville music while she was touring the American South inspired the sound of this album.

1. Gang Of Four – Content

 Gang Of Four - Content

Genre: Post-Punk, Rock, Punk-Funk

Favorite Tracks: She Said You Made A Thing Of Me, I Party All The Time, A Fruitfly In The Beehive, Do As I Say

Trivia: With “Content”, Gang Of Four recaptures their youthful rebellious values and energy. Several of the albums songs touch on the economic hardships our world faces. 

--> GO4 takes a jab at capitalism, in the song “I Party All The Time”, citing its lack of compassion. Many of the album’s tunes touch on the band’s notions of value and freedom.

2011 was a good year! 

Looking forward to an even better 2012!

Rock Albums Post One

Bjork - Homogenic  
With her fourth studio album Icelandic musician Bjork took her signature sound to a challenging new level of artistic depth. Gone were the sweet melodies and peppy dance compositions of the two prior albums. The songs on Homogenic contain a dark and cryptic sound combining electronic beats and swirling string instruments. Slant Magazine called it the greatest electronic album of it's decade. 

Bjork wanted this album to reflect her native Iceland in concept saying she wanted it to sound like "rough volcanoes with soft moss growing all over it". In an interview Bjork commented that in Iceland everything revolves around nature, very elementary and uncontrollable. She also said on the other hand Iceland is very modern, everything is high-tech. She wanted this album to reflect this contradiction. She used many traditional instruments such as violin to capture the beauty Iceland's nature. she als used some uncommon instruments such as the accordion and glass harmonica to fill the uniqueness of Iceland. This combined with electronic techno beat and a range of primitive screams to hazy electronically enhanced vocals Homogenic has achieved status of being one of the most unique and unusual albums of all-time.

Released on September 22, 1997 the album was a huge worldwide success reaching #28 in the U.S., #4 in the UK, #16 in Japan, #2 in France, #6 in Australia, 35 in Sweden, #3 in Norway and #10 in Germany.  

The album also brought several awards and nominations to Bjork including a Brit Award, a Danish Music Award and nominated for a Grammy.

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) released on September 12, 1980. this was Bowie's 14th studio album. It reached #1 in the UK and #12 in the U.S. as well as making the Top 3 in several other countries around the world.
The musical genre was considered post-punk and contained several songs which were popular on new wave radio stations including the hits "Ashes To Ashes" and "Fashion". The album included the legendary Robert Fripp (King Crimson, Fripp & Eno) playing guitar on many tracks. As well as Pete Townshend on guitar for the song "Because You're Young".

                           
Broken Bells (Self titled Debut)
Broken Bells is an alt-rock duo comprised of Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (vocalist and guitarist of the band The Shins). Their style is cool, smooth, chill and very eclectic.

Released on March 9, 2010 the album charted extremely well in the U.S. reaching #7 on the Billboard album chart as well as reaching the Top 20 in Australia, Canada and Denmark.

Highlights include "The High Road", "Your Head Is On Fire", "the Ghost Inside" and "The Mall & Misery".

Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Eno is one of the world's most respected musician/producer/composer/singers of all-time. He is regarded as a prime innovator of ambient music having produced a countless string of highly regarded ambient albums including titles such as "Discreet Music" and "Music For Films".

Eno first achieved acclaim as a member of the band Roxy Music from 1971 to 1973. From their he went solo and released a flurry of album which continues to the current day.

Eno has produced and/or performed with many well known musicians such as U2, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Devo, Robert Fripp, Genesis, Coldplay, Grace Jones, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon and a host of others.

"Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) was Eno's 2nd solo album and was released in November 1974. The album is a loose concept album with topics ranging from espionage to the Chinese Communist revolution. Phil Manzanera and andy mackay (both from Roxy Music) appear on the album. Phil Collins plays drums on the song "Mother Whle Eyeless".

Included is the Eno classic "Third Uncle" which has been referred to as an early predecessor to punk rock. The song was covered by Bauhaus in 1982. 

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath
Recorded in 2006 and 2007 and was released on January 29, 2008. This was The Mars Volta's 4th studio album. The album charted in more than 18 countries around the world including #3 in the U.S. , 33 in Australia, 36 in Canada, #9 in Finland and #10 in Norway.

The track "Wax Simularca" was released as a single and won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

The album was released on a limited USB flash drive which unlocked a variety of bonus material on the 29th of each month throughout 2008.

My Morning Jacket - Circuital
With their sixth studio album My Morning Jacket moves with leaps and bounds beyond the expectations of their eagerly awaiting fans. This album puts MMJ on track with other great album releases of the last ten years. Recorded throughout 2010 and 2011 and released on May 31, 2011 "Circuital" debuted on the U.S. album chart at #5, thus far making it MMJ's highest charting U.S. album to date.

The album is full of somber emotion a trait familiar in their previous albums. Every track fits with it's predecessor telling a story of longing, desire, victory and just plain old fun. The album nicely combines a mix of 70's inspired classic rock, hints of funk, trippy pop tunes, metallic infused Motown soul and folk songs with an expansive large room sound.

It's hard to categorize MMJ but to be sure this album is solid and offers a blend of music that keeps the listener entertained from beginning to end. Jim James (the band's lead singer, songwriter and guitarist), explained that the album "Circuital" is named after the title song in that he ends up in the same place that he started.

Pink Floyd - Soundtrack from the film More
Their first full length soundtrack release and their third album. Released on July 27, 1969 Pink Floyd was still in the beginnings of making their mark on the musical landscape.

"More" is one of two Pink Floyd albums to feature David Gilmour as it's sole lead singer, the other is 1987's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason". It was their first album which they produced themselves without any assistance from an outside producer.The album contains several acoustic folk ballads with a few hard rock songs. they also experiment musically on several instrumental tracks. The sole single release "The Nile Song (Europe and Japan release only) did not make any charts. "Green Is The Colour", "Cymbaline" and "cirrus Minor" are highlights on the album.

     

Pretenders (Self-titled Album)
This self-titled debut propelled the Pretenders into the Top 10 throughout Europe and North America. Chrissie Hynde's tough girl image and the rockin' sounds of the Pretenders was a combination that caught the attention of critics and music buyers in a big way.

The first single to be released was "Stop Your Sobbing" in 1979. It barely made the Top 40 in the UK and #65 in the U.S. The song was a cover of Kinks song included on their self-titled 1964 debut album and was written by Ray Davies. Davies later fathered a child with Chrissie Hynde. It wasn't until their third single, "Brass In Pocket", that they finally made their mark. The song went straight to #1 in the UK and the Top 15 in the U.S. and with that the legions of fans followed.

Their debut album was recorded throughout 1979 and was released in Europe   toward the end of '79 and in North America in January 1980. A combination of punk, new wave and pop tunes the album is considered a modern day classic and in 2003 was ranked at #155 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All-time.

Roxy Music (Self titled Debut Album)
Roxy Music burst onto the scene with an energy and eclecticism that begged for attention. Bryan Ferry with his sophisticated crooner styled lead vocal backed by wild guitar frenzied music and electronic sounds provided by the visually freaky Brian Eno. Their debut album was the beginning of a substantial career for Roxy Music and was released in June 1972.Many of the songs were thematically linked to movies. "@HB" was Ferry's tribute to Humphrey Bogart and quotes the line "Here's looking at you kid". "Chance Meeting" was inspired by David Lean's "Brief encounter" (1945). "The Bob" took it's title from "Battle of Britain" (1968) and simulates the sound of gunfire.

The album was met with positive reviews from critics and Rolling Stone Magazine gave the album a rating of 4 stars out of 5.