Monday, December 4th, 2006
2006
And so we have it, another year come and gone. Was it a good year? A bad year? It was a year. That’s all. And with years come lists and so here’s mine.
General procedure is usually that the year-end list is supposed to tally up the “best” records of the year – well if anyone can tell me what the hell that means, I’d appreciate it. Rankings like that are inherently meaningless (as the uproar whenever someone publishes any sort of list that makes claims of definitiveness will attest) so instead, I’ve chosen to list off the ten records that meant the most to me in 2006 – the ones that soundtracked my life, so to speak. The ones that engaged, empathized, moved, mesmerized or just connected with me and that I listened to the most. And most importantly (or perhaps disappointingly), unassailable. I don’t doubt for a minute that there’s great stuff that isn’t on this list or that I’ve not even heard, but from what I did hear, these are the standouts.
Thankfully, all are also excellent records and would stand up quite well to any proposed criteria for what defines “best”, though I know for a fact that there’s many far-better reviewed and critically acclaimed records out there that are not represented here. That’s not what this list is about. You want science, go here. You want to know my favourite records of the year? Read on.
Points you may notice that I’m already aware of – 9 of 10 artists on this list are American, none are from outside North America and most could broadly be categorized as roots or Americana. I have no real explanation for that, though it also makes perfect sense. Take that as you will. This was a year in which I became more conscious of my personal tastes, what I do and do not like in music, and this year? I liked the rootsy, lyric-y stuff. Maybe 2007 will be about the Euro-rock. We’ll see. And they’re listed alphabetically so don’t read anything into the order (like some did last year even though I stated quite clearly that there was no ranking. Though it does raise the question – who put the alphabet in the order it’s in? Someone with a prejudice against x, y and z no doubt.
I hadn’t intended to run this list for another week while I fussed and fretted over what to include, but after opting to keep things ultra-focused this year, I was done before I knew it. I thought about doing some honourable mentions or special categories, but you know what? That just opens up the floodgates and eventually I’d want every record I liked this year – and there’s many – in here and that’s just too much to deal with. So here’s ten and ten only. After the jump, of course.
And I’m particularly pleased with myself for the visual treatment of the selections – most certainly the most fun I had with assembling this post. Probably doesn’t mean anything to most of you, but the 1986-87 Topps/O-Pee-Chee NHL set will always be very special to me. You’ve no idea how long I spent looking for number 251 – Brent Peterson, then of the Vancouver Canucks – to complete the set. And I still have it.
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