Favourite 2011 Albums

[Ruben]

Hello guys.

It's been a while since I last visited Heaven. I was in Hell for a couple of months, so it's nice to be back.

Not that I've listened to everything that came out, but... here's a list of my 30 favourite albums of the year. It'd be excellent to know your opinions, what blew your mind this year? Let us know!

1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2. R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
3. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
4. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
6. Beyoncé - 4
7. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
8. Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here
9. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
10. Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
11. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
12. The Cars - Move Like This
13. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
14. The Black Keys - El Camino
15. Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter
16. James Blake - Enough Thunder (EP)
17. Juliana Hatfield - There's Always Another Girl
18. Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
19. Feist - Metals
20. The Decemberists - Long Live the King (EP)
21. Blink-182 - Neighbourhoods
22. James Blake - James Blake
23. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
24. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne
25. Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours
26. Battles - Glass Drop
27. Lucinda Williams - Blessed
28. The Dears - Degeneration Street
29. Ricky Martin - Música + Alma + Sexo
30. Adele - 21

You might see some strange choices there.

5 worst albums I've heard this year:
Blondie - Panic of Girls (I'm sorry...)
Metallica/Lou Reed - Lulu (obviously!)
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto (the only song I enjoyed was Paradise, rest is awful)
Christopher Cross - Doctor Faith (I love this guy, but listening to this was a complete waste of time - simple lyrics, simple arrangements, plain boring, never going to play it again.)
Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra (it's just fun. And that's not the only thing I expect from music)

[Aspiemom]

You’ve listened to a lot more than I have, but I’d add these to your list.

Florence + the Machine- Ceremonials Even more Florencey than her debut album.
Video Games- Lana del Rey Just an EP with 2 songs and some remixes, but she’s got a sound. Can’t wait for the rest of the album.
Radiohead- The King of Limbs
The Book of Mormon soundtrack- Hahahahahahahaha!
Amy Winehouse- Lioness: Hidden Treasures. About half the tracks are awesome. Some people say that as a criticism, but I think that’s pretty good considering she’s dead.
Gods & Monsters- The Ordeal of Civility- If you were an English major who likes to feel smart while rocking out, have I got an album for you!
Cage the Elephant- Thank you Happy Birthday- This band has a big 70’s thing going on, and they cover Psycho Killer.
Bjork- Biophilia- There’s an ap for that!

I’d put Feist’s album higher on the list. Jon Parales (who dissed DB, it’s true) put it first on his list, with the great Paul Simon second. Right with you on the Coldplay release, except that Paradise song drives me batty (battier).

[Ruben]

You’ve listened to a lot more than I have, but I’d add these to your list.

Florence + the Machine- Ceremonials Even more Florencey than her debut album.
Video Games- Lana del Rey Just an EP with 2 songs and some remixes, but she’s got a sound. Can’t wait for the rest of the album.
Radiohead- The King of Limbs
The Book of Mormon soundtrack- Hahahahahahahaha!
Amy Winehouse- Lioness: Hidden Treasures. About half the tracks are awesome. Some people say that as a criticism, but I think that’s pretty good considering she’s dead.
Gods & Monsters- The Ordeal of Civility- If you were an English major who likes to feel smart while rocking out, have I got an album for you!
Cage the Elephant- Thank you Happy Birthday- This band has a big 70’s thing going on, and they cover Psycho Killer.
Bjork- Biophilia- There’s an ap for that!

I’d put Feist’s album higher on the list. Jon Parales (who dissed DB, it’s true) put it first on his list, with the great Paul Simon second. Right with you on the Coldplay release, except that Paradise song drives me batty (battier).

Nice choices! I still have to listen to the Björk album. I like her a lot, but I read that Biophilia isn't as good as her other albums. But I'll give it a listen this week. I liked the way you described the Gods & Monsters album, I'll give it a try too. And I have to agree with you on Lana del Rey, she is quite amazing, I'm really looking forward to her debut album, she has a beautiful powerful voice. "Video Games" is one of my favourite singles of the year, which gives me the idea, (not that I've listened to everything that came out but...) here are my 50 favourite songs of the year! (I'm supposed to be working now, but I'm really bored!)

(max 4 songs per artist)

50. Lucinda Williams - Buttercup
49. R.E.M. - We All Go Back to Where We Belong
48. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart In Your Heartbreak
47. The Dears - Omega Dog
46. Leonard Cohen - Show Me the Place
45. Jay-Z, Kanye West & Frank Ocean - No Church In the Wild
44. Broken Bells – Meyrin Fields
43. Wilco - Art of Almost
42. Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours
41. Gavin DeGraw - Soldier
40. The Cars - Blue Tip
39. St. Vincent - Cruel
38. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
37. Arcade Fire & David Byrne - Speaking In Tongues
36. Fleet Foxes - The Shrine / An Argument
35. Paul Simon - Getting Ready for Christmas Day
34. TV on the Radio - Second Song
33. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
32. Jay-Z & Kanye West - New Day
31. Gavin DeGraw - Run Every Time
30. The Dears - Blood
29. Bon Iver - Wash
28. Juliana Hatfield - There's Always Another Girl
27. James Blake - Once We All Agree
26. Feist - How Come You Never Go There
25. Paul Simon - The Afterlife
24. Gavin DeGraw - Candy
23. The Cars - Soon
22. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - We Found Love
21. R.E.M. - Discoverer
20. Adele - Someone Like You
19. The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
18. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heaven's Gonna Happen Now
17. Beyoncé - 1+1
16. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Everybody's on the Run
15. Foo Fighters - Rope
14. Beyoncé - Countdown
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
12. Foo Fighters - These Days
11. Kate Bush - Wild Man
10. Bon Iver - Beth/Rest
9. Foo Fighters - Walk
8. Fleet Foxes - The Plains / Bitter Dancer
7. The Decemberists - Don't Carry It All
6. R.E.M. - Überlin
5. Foo Fighters - Arlandria
4. Bon Iver - Holocene
3. Lana del Rey - Video Games
2. M83 - Midnight City
1. Bon Iver - Calgary

[Mr.DRC]

I only bought The Cars.Did it for me.

(oh,and the cdr-rip I did of Chronology's soundtrack)

[jd23]

Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow- That is all.

[Ruben]

After making a playlist on iTunes of my favourite songs of the year, I realized that I left so many great songs out of my Top 50 list! So I think I'll have to do it again, carefully.

Anyway, here's some other amazing stuff that I HAVE to add:

Teddy Thompson - Looking for a Girl
Girls - Vomit
Stevie Nicks - Secret Love
The Roots - The OtherSide
Lykke Li - Youth Knows No Pain
Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix)
Lucinda Williams - Blessed
Paul Simon - Rewrite
Lady Gaga & Clarence Clemons - The Edge of Glory
Glasvegas - Lot's Sometimes
Friendly Fires - Live Those Days Tonight
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
Drake & Rihanna - Take Care
Cold War Kids - Skip the Charades
Battles & Gary Numan - My Machines
Arctic Monkeys - Brick By Brick
James Blake & Bon Iver - Fall Creek Boys Choir

And the list goes on and on.

This was an amazing year in music.

[Aspiemom]

Kind of a good time to look back and see what I missed. I’ll check out some of your albums, Ruben. M83 I hadn’t heard about, and for some reason didn’t rush out to buy the new REM offering. I’ll check them out. Can’t get into Foo Fighters or Bon Iver, but Cage the Elephant is opening for Foo Fighters, so maybe you’ll see them one day.

Here is my personal list of favorite songs from 2011, considering that I don’t get out much.

1. Radiohead- “Lotus Flower”
2. Lana del Rey “Video Games”
3. Feist “The Bad in Each Other"
4. Lana del Rey “Blue Jeans”
5. Paul Simon “Dazzling Blue”
6. Paul Simon “Rewrite"
7. Amy Winehouse “Our Day Will Come”
8. Cage the Elephant “Always Something"
9. Feist “The Circle Married the Line”
10. Florence + the Machine “Never Let Me Go” (cuz you gotta love a good drowning song)
11. Bjork- “Virus”
12. Cage the Elephant “Aberdeen”
13. The Kills “You Don’t Own the Road”
14. The Book of Mormon “Hasa Diga Eebowai” (look it up)
15. The Book of Mormon “I Believe”
16. Cage the Elephant “Sell Yourself”
17. The Book of Mormon “Turn it Off”
18. Florence + the Machine “Shake it Out”
19. Paul Simon “So Beautiful or so What?”
20. Arcade Fire feat. DB “Speaking in Tongues”
21. Amy Winehouse- “Half Time”
22. Florence + the Machine “All This and Heaven Too”
23. Bjork- “Crystalline”
24. Susana Baca- “Detras de la Puerta”
25. The Decembrists “Don’t Carry it All”
26. The Decembrists “Calamity Song”
27. The Decembrists “January Hymn”
28. Winehouse “Like Smoke”
29. Radiohead- “Bloom”
30. Radiohead “Feral”
31. Feist “Comfort Me” (It’s a Haiku!)
32. Gods & Monsters “Luvz Old Sweet Song” (“She came on like the Queen of the Nightschool”)
33. Gods & Monsters “Depression”
34. Radiohead “Give up the Ghost”
35. Coldplay “Major Minus” (Sometimes people really are out to get you)
36. Foster the People “Pumped up Kicks” ("Better run, better run. . . .”)
37. M83 “This Bright Flash"

[Aspiemom]

Listening to M83 now. It’s fun!

[tony123]

the harrow and the harvest--gillian welch..making all the top 50 lists and is simply beautiful,check her out and happy xmas to my fellow heads fans