Best Albums Of 2008


"Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends" by Coldplay
"For Emma Forever Ago" by Bon Iver
"Until" by One Little Plane
"Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum En" by Sigur Ros
"Seldom Seen Kid" by Elbow
"Only By The Night" by Kings Of Leon
"Seventh Tree" by Goldfrapp
"Third" by Portishead
"Saturdays = Youth" by M83
"Fleet Foxes" by Fleet Foxes
"Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" by Brian Eno & David Burn
"New Amerykak, Pt. 1 (4th World Order)" by Erykah Badu
"Electric Arguments" by The Fireman

I have made a list for the last twenty years and decided to post it here this year. I welcome any suggestions that I might have missed.

As you can see, my taste is different than most "audiophiles", or maybe I haven't met them yet.

2008 was a great year for music.

Please let me know what your favorites are....
timbrepitch
Vampire Weekend, self-titled debut (Best)
Portished, Third (a stunner given the layoff)
Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part 1 (transcendent)
Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (as good as as any of his LPs from the last 30 years)
Lucinda WIlliams, Little Honey (predictiable but beautiful)
Fleet Foxes, self-titled (sounds excellent on vinyl)
Drive-By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation's Dark
The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
Nick Cave, Dig Lazarus Dig (Cave is always worth the $20)
Fafafion,

I'm not sure I'd call it better than Coldplay. Apples and Oranges. On some days, I definitely prefer Grand Archives; Coldplay on others.
Theraiguy,

Fully agree with you.The amazing thing is that very few people has heard of them.

Certainly better than Coldplay, don't you think?
Has no one mentioned the Drive By Truckers, Brighter Than Creation's Dark." It's a very good album.
Timbrepitch, hang around, the threads concerning music are worthwhile.
Wow! I am amazed that there are people on Audiogon that listen to "my kind" of music. Don't get me wrong, I love classical and jazz, too. I'm a huge Miles Davis fan and I could listen to nothing but Beethoven for the rest of my life, and be perfectly content. This is great!

Thank all of you for the recommendations. Now that I know there are people with similar tastes to mine, I will be using this forum a lot more.
And I don't get the myopic comment. I would assume you meant the list choices were narrow or close-minded yet you are the one who doesn't recognize any of the artists. I don't follow.
Celtic66 I have a hard time believing you've never heard of
Brian Eno, David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Coldplay or Paul McCartney!
great call by azaud - if you count "in rainbows" as 2008, it might be my favorite.

strictly for 2008, i'd go with deathcab for cutie's "narrow stairs".

radiohead and deathcab are my favorite bands going, but radiohead does have a little of that "pink floyd" thing for me where they can get me in a weird mood, where deathcab is easy listenin'.
Fafafion, I forgot about Grand Archives! Thank you for reminding me. Everyone, stop what you are doing and go pick up this album!
oops forgot to mention emmylou harris "all i intended to be" another of my favorite 2008 recordings
lucinda williams "little honey" the black crowes "warpaint" and hank3 "damn right rebel proud" were three of my favorites from 2008
Congratulations Timbrepitch, I don't recognize a single artist on that list. Must not be Jazz, Blues, Celtic or Classical. Must be one of them myopic lists.
A couple from 2008 that would fit in with your list:

"Snowflake Midnight" by Mercury Rev
"Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow" by Hammock
Okay, you missed a couple.
1. RUSH-Snakes and Arrows live
2. Metallica-Death Magnetic
3. AC/DC-Black Ice
4. Whitesnake
Hi,
Fully agree with you that 2008 was a good year for music;here are some of my fav;

1.GRAND Archives-the grand archives.Absolutely brilliant!!!It has move to in my top 5 fav albums ever.Every person that I introduced this album to,end ed up buying it.Available on vinyl too.

2.Mary Black-25 songs.This is a collection of 25 of her favourite songs.A must have.Her voice is as beutiful as she look..

3.Greg Copeland-Diana and James.Nice easy going romantic album
I'd add "Stay Positive" by The Hold Steady to the list. The album I kept on coming back to over and over and over again last year.
TheRaiGuy and Ncary: Thanks for the recommendations. I have heard some of them, but need to have a serious listen.

Azaud: "In Rainbows" by Radiohead is awesome. That was my favorite album of 2007.

It's great to know there are some more "progressive" listeners on Audiogon. I wasn't sure how my list would be accepted.

Thanks for the replies!
I like the picks I'm familiar with, and will try some of the ones I don't recognize. Thanks in advance for any monsters you may have turned me on to.
Even though it was released on the last day of 2007, most of us were drunk and not able to comprehend until '08, so "In Rainbows" kicked the proverbial out of everything in '08 anyway; so I'm going to break the rules and go with...
Na, couldn't do it. Sense of fairness and all that.
I'll go with The Raconteurs "Consolers", because it reminded me so much of the great bands of the Seventies.
"Real Animal" by Alejandro Escovedo
"Little Honey" by Lucinda Williams

If you haven't heard Escovedo, he's a genuine rocker. One of the best. Title track is about Iggy Pop. Song "Chelsea Hotel" is about Sid Vicious' death.

Lucinda actually sounds happy on this one. As she sings on the first cut, "Real Love," she's found hers. She also covers AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Want To Rock 'N' Roll).
You have quite a list there. Mine would go a bit more like this:

"Viva la Vida ..." by Coldplay
"Only by the Night" by Kings of Leon
"For Emma, Forever Ago" by Bon Iver
"The Seldom Seen Kid" by Elbow
"Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum En" by Sigur Ros
"Evil Urges" by My Morning Jacket
"Vampire Weekend" by Vampire Weekend
"Modern Guilt" by Beck
"Dear Science" by TV On the Radio
"Warpaint" by the Black Crowes

As you can see, we have a lot of similar opinions, but you left off some great albums.