Eartaste: The 23 Top Albums of 2007

I will stand by every single I've reviewed this past year. I still love listening to every song. Albums, though, are another whole animal. To be able to listen to a full set by one artist, well, they just have to be extremely special for me to enjoy them. I have many albums in my collection, of course, but end up bookmarking favorite cuts off albums and listening to them over and over. It's a rare pleasure to find an album that holds together listen after listen, and provides a full enjoyment for these ears. My plan was to select the best 23 albums of the year. I know, a bit corny, one indie release per month, and one major release per month. Also, I figured 24 albums would give approx 24 hours of pure pleasure. In the final run-through, I couldn't find more than 23. I had no desire to list an almost-ran, as that wouldn't be fair to the absolute best. 15 are indie (I couldn't decide if Tiny Masters was on a major label, so I decided to include them as major label), and 8 major label releases. I list them now because if you are looking for Christmas gifts for a friend or relative that loves music, I will stand by all of these.

These are listed in the order they appeared on eartaste. All are equal favorites, so give them all a #1, or 5 stars, or however you rate your albums.

The Histrioniks - About This Girl
Alex Arrowsmith - Applewine
Roy Davis - Grey Town
Talia Segal - Nonprophet
Ben Godwin - Skin And Bone
Koopa - Blag Steal and Borrow
Mooney Suzuki -Have Mercy
Rickie Lee Jones - The Sermon On Exposition Blvd
The Red Button - She's About To Cross My Mind
The Aggrolites - The Aggrolites
Threshold - Sum Blues
Swampdawamp - Swampdawamp
Kemp Harris - Edenton
Bowling For Soup - The Great Burrito Extortion Case
Noise626 - An Infinite Shade of Gray
Landonband - Defying The Stereotype
Smug - Freshly Stained
Evan Page (Screaming Mee-Mees) - No Ordinary Girl
Tiny Masters Of Today - Bang Bang Boom Cake
Olivea Watson - Way Down Deep
Patti Scialfa - Play It As It Lays
John Fogerty - Revival
Ray Davies - Working Mans Café

If your music-loving friend stays current with every new release they can get their hands on, chances are they'll have many of the above. If you want to buy a gift that'll last a lifetime of appreciation, you'll never stop hearing thanks if you gift wrap any one of these expensive box sets:

Motown Complete Singles Vol 1
Motown Complete Singles Vol 2
Motown Complete Singles Vol 3
Motown Complete Singles Vol 4
Motown Complete Singles Vol 5
Motown Complete Singles Vol 6
Motown Complete Singles Vol 7

Northern Soul Story Vol 1-4

Vol 1 Twisted Wheel
Vol 2 Golden Torch
Vol 3 Blackpool Mecca
Vol 4 Wigan Casino