The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2008

First off, congratulations are in order Emily and Niv who both picked up Amazon gift cards for sending in their top ten lists and thanks to everyone else who also contributed to the list (check your e-mail that you sent your lists from if you haven’t got it yet). After sending all the ballots sent in this year through my patent pending algorism that makes the Electoral College seem reasonable in comparison, here is what it came up with. If you do not like the results start get ready to send in a list for 2009.


1. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

2. Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings

3. Electric Feel - MGMT

4. I Will Posses Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

5. Heartless - Kanye West

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. The Show - Lenka

8. Signs - Bloc Party

9. You Don’t Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

10. Human - The Killers

11. Violent Hill - Coldplay

12. In This Life - Delta Goodram

13. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

14. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 and Rihanna

15. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé

16. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathenson

17. Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna

18. Broken - Lifehouse

19. She’s a Lady - Forever the Sickest Kids

20. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

21. Shape Shifter - Keri Noble

22. The Resolution - Jack’s Mannequin

23. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charolette Sometimes

24. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

25. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

40 Best Albums of 2008

After the most mediocre year last year (see 30 Best Albums of 2007) I thought 2008 was looking up while listening through the almost 200 potential songs that will appear in next week’s Best Songs of 2008 list. Despite being plethora of great songs, there were not really any great albums. There were plenty of good albums released in the last twelve months and here they are.

If you are interested in reading my original review of these albums, check out the link below the album and if you are interested in buying them on iTunes, click on the album link. If you want to buy the physical CD, head over to Scooter McGavin’s Amazon Store where you can order them there:


1. Cardinalology - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Turn the Radio Up Loud and Get Down

2. The Renaissance - Q-Tip
It’s Up to Me to Bring Back the Hope

3. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay
But That Was When I Ruled the World

4. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie
And They Carried on Like Long Division

5. Fearless - Taylor Swift
It’s Like a Roller Coaster Kind of Rush

6. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing

7. Hello…x - Tristan Prettyman
Sitting by the Seashore Soaking Up the Summer Breeze

8. Rising Down - The Roots

9. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
There Is Still Hope Between the Dreams

10. Attack & Release - The Black Keys

11. Rockferry - Duffy
You Got Me on My Knees Begging Please

12. Two Men with the Blues - Willie Nelson and Wynton Marseilles
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition VII

13. Last Days at the Lodge - Amos Lee
I Just Want to Be a Part of Your Home

14. 19 - Adele
I’d like to Hear the Words Fall out of Your Mouth

15. This Is the Life - Amy McDonald
And You’re Singing a Song Thinking This Is the Life

16. Asking for Flowers - Kathleen Edwards
You’re the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley

17. Another Country - Tift Merritt
Come Gather Me in Like a Rainstorm

18. Gossip in the Grain - Ray LaMontange
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition IX

19. Pebble to a Pearl - Nikka Costa
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition IX

20. Accelerate - R.E.M.

21. We Dance, We Sing, We Steal Things - Jason Mraz
Our Name Is Our Vitue

22. On a Clear Night - Missy Higgins
Breathe Them Deep into Your Lungs

23. Forth - The Verve
Love Is These Words that I’m Singing Again

24. Made of Bricks - Kate Nash
You Said I Must East So Many Lemons ‘cause I Am So Bitter

25. The Way I See It - Raphael Saadiq

26. Life, Death, Love and Freedom - John Mellencamp
I Walked like a Hero into the Setting Sun

27. Way to Normal - Ben Folds
You Wanna See What’s in My My Head

28. Day & Age - The Killers
You Sold Your Soul like a Roman Vagabond

29. Blame it on Gravity - Old 97’s

30. Black Ice - AC/DC
One Hot Angel, One Cool Devil

31. Lenka - Lenka
Life Is a Maze and Love Is a Riddle

32. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
All Your Diction Dripping with Distain

33. This Storm - Sonya Kitchell
This Is the Sound That I’m Thinking Of

34. A Hundred Million Suns - Snow Patrol
Musings from the Back 9: Junior Slumps Edition

35. Some People Have Real Problems - Sia
If I Am a Number I Am Infinity Plus One

36. [Untitled] - Nas
Hate Him or Love Him for the Very Same Reason

37. Meiko - Meiko

38. Learn to Live - Darius Rucker
I’m Gonna Love While I Still Have the Time

39. When the World Comes Down - The All-American Rejects
Nobody Wants to Hear You Sing About Tragedy

40. These Are Good Times People - Presidents of the United States of America
Musings from the Back 9: 90’s Rock Edition

Musings From the Back 9: Music Edition X

There is no bigger scam than the “Deluxe Edition,” a phenomenon where record labels add a couple songs onto a new album a couple months after it was originally released to squeeze a couple more dollars out of their investment knowing the fanatics will grab both. Coldplay has been nice enough to release the bonus tracks added to Viva la Vida as an ad on to the disk or you can buy it separately as Prospekt’s March.

The addendum features four new songs recorded during the Viva la Vida sessions (not including the forty-five second piano laced Postcards from Far Away), adds lyrics to Life in Technicolor II, adds a Jay-Z rap to Lost+ (that detracts the song), and a remix for Lovers in Japan (that sounds none different from the original). As for those four new songs it is not surprisingly that they were left off the album proper because none would have added anything to it and would have been inexchangeable with some of the filler that did make the album.

The closest thing to a stand out is the album closer Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground. A stripped down song with just an acoustic guitar with some weird sound creeping in near the end that balloons into a brass band that is reminiscent of the hidden track off of X&Y, but doesn’t quite have the gravitas of ‘Til Kingdom Come.


iTunes and Amazon MP3 has made compilation albums obsolete. Why buy a whole album when you can just buy the one or two songs that you know you like? But you can look at Sounds Eclectic: The Next One as more of a sampler as unless you are an indie music fan you may not now any of the artist let alone any of the songs as Spoon and The Shins lead the album in name recognition.

And the album does live up to its name with an array of different style from the sweeping epic by The Swell Session (you may remember them from winning the most recent Oscar for Best Original Song), the synthetics of Architecture in Helsinki, the quirky pop of The Ting-Tings, the hipster rock of Sea Wolf, and the haunting vibe of Bat for Lashes. All the songs were performed live at radio station KCRW and there are untouched from their original performance. So if you are looking for some new music, this may be the place to look.

I Want My Music Television: Coldplay Edition

Coldplay has been releasing a cavalcade of videos lately, and most have been thanks to a video content they have for the acoustic version of Lost, which produced the below video:

Lost? - Coldplay




Lost+ - Coldplay and Jay-Z



It is good that they have other people creating videos for the song because the one they did was just you token live version. As for the Jay-Z Remix, they oddly just added him oddly via computer generated television. And did Hova really list Chris Martin along side Malcolm X?


Lovers in Japan - Coldplay



Amongst all the Lost variations, they released a video for a different song, Lovers in Japan which on the album is combined with a different song, but the video is just for the one.


My Hallelujah Song - Julianne Hough



Not a Coldplay video, but as I turned into Eli Stone last night I was stuck watching the end of Dancing with the Has Been's which seems to be ending later and later but I cannot complain too much because last night featured Julianna Hough in military garb. As for music, it just may be why God gave us the mute button.

I Want My Music Television vol. XXXIV

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Champion - Kanye West



As seen in this Kanye West video and the most recent episode of The Middleman, puppets fraking rule.


Mr. Rock and Roll - Amy McDonald



In a story I broke yesterday (see And You’re singing a Song Thinking This Is the Life) Amy MacDonald has invaded the United States shores with her debut album. Here is the first single.


Clocks - Coldplay and Alicia Keys



Lucky Japanese, they go to a Coldplay concert and out comes Alicia Keys. Although all she does is play some piano, chords that I can play (no, seriously, I can), and it sounds like she played an octave too high. Great nonetheless.


Sunday Bloody Sunday - Colin Munroe



First it was Kanye West and Flashing Lights and now Colin Munroe has dipped a little further back in history putting his mark on a U2 classic.

I Want My Music Television vol. XXXIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Viva la Vida (Anton Corbijn Version) - Coldplay



Coldplay made two videos for the first half of the title track. The Hype Williams directed version (see here) just looks like an extended version of their iPod ad. Interesting enough people said that Violet Hill was a rip off of Depeshe Mode’s Enjoy the Silence and this version, by the band’s admittance, is an homage to that very video directed by Anton Corbjin.


Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Who had Carrie Underwood making the most poignant statement of the Iraq War? Dude, put your hand down. You do this by taking the politics out of it and have Carrie take the view of a young widow of an Iraqi Vet. The morphing from the wedding to the funeral is just chilling.


Carmensita - Devendra Banhart



You know when you are at the mall and you occasionally see an unbelievable hot chick waling with some weird dude and think, “Huh?” That is pretty much my whole thought process watching Natalie Portman prance around with Devendra Banhart.


Love Is Noise - The Verve



Not sure how I feel about a reunited The Verve. I was pretty much content with Bittersweet Symphony going down as one of the greatest one hit wonders ever even if Love Is Blind is a decent enough song.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. XL

Quote of the Week: I see vultures circling ahead, and if this catapult not together Mr. Boston better step up because the first thing they gonna be doing is picking his eyes out. (Chance - I Love Money)

Big New of the Week: It’s the End of the World as We Know It: And surprisingly I feel fine about it. Although when writing this I realized that the end of the world probably deserves it own post. So check back tomorrow for that and hopefully the world doesn’t actually end before the.


Coalition Links of the Week:
From Silvio Horta's mouth to her ear, Buzz got some insight into Ugly Betty's third season. (BuzzSugar)

Marcia listed her television blind spots, those TV shows she simply can't be bothered to watch. (Pop Vultures)

Vance wants Theo Tams to win Canadian Idol. (Tapeworthy)

This week, Jace recovered from Comic-Con fatigue and reviewed BBC America's latest British television series offering, Primeval, about a group of scientists exploring time-based anomalies and strange creatures. (Televisionary)

Dan will devour any tasty morsel of new programming you give him, so he was delighted to see the preview for the next season of Dexter! (TiFaux)

The TV Addict covered Comic Con so you didn't have to. (The TV Addict)

Raoul talked to David (but sadly not Elvis) from America's Greatest Dog. (TV Filter)


I Love Money: When you let Megan Hauserman be your brains of the operation, that should be sign number one that you are doomed. And when will people learn you never, under any circumstance tank challenges. If you want to get someone out, wait to you lose. I don’t remember when tanking ever worked except for maybe the NBA. Unfortunately Mr. Boston was the victim of Megan and her retarded dog’s Machiavellian plan, or as Machiavellian as someone on I Love Money can get. But that led to one of the funniest fights ever on television between Mr. Boston and Brandi C at elimination. But just when I though I have seen that last of Mr. Boston ever (or at least until the reunion show), a video of him popped up on the intertubes (one that I would never post here) that is part 3rd Base’s The Cactus, part lame teen sex comedy plotline, part profound advise that managed to be the funniest and most disturbing thing ever at the same time. You can download episodes of I Love Money on iTunes.


My Boys: So if Bobby’s dad is my older brother Shooter McGavin, does that make me his uncle? But anyways. While watching this episode I kept on trying to call my stockbroker to see if I could buy massive amount of stock of “Kenny and Stephanie hooking up” but unfortunately I was unable to get through before it was actually revealed on screen. That had to be the most predictable thing on television. The second: Mimi Rogers being Bobby’s mom. It is like the My Boys writer gave up with coming up with any interesting ideas and just started reading from the cliché handbook. Catch up on recent episodes over at TBS.com. You can also download My Boys on iTunes.


It is month until the debut of TNT’s newest show Raising the Bar (and considering the show is about lawyers, this could be the lamest title ever) and I have to say there is something striking about the promo pictures that were released lately. Can anyone name the one degree of separation of two of the characters seen below (click to enlarge)? The first person to correctly guess what that is will win the great prize of a hearty congratulation.



Free Download of the Week: Death Will Never Conquer - Coldplay (Coldplay.com): First Coldplay let you download their debut single from their album and now another freebie an outtake from the Viva la Vida session which is actually sung by the drummer doing his best Chris Martin impression.


Promo of the Week: Chuck could be the most uneven show ever. Sure Casey ranks in the top five characters currently on television and boast the hottest Token Hot Chick. But the title character doesn’t even rank in the top five most entertaining character on his own show and Morgan needs to die a horrible dance soon than later. But this promo for season two shown at Comic Con is getting me excited.

Chuck: A Look at Season Two



Pick for Next Week: Summer Olympics, starting Friday at 8:00 on NBC: If there starts to be a lack of posts starting next Friday is because I will be watch 3600 hours of the Olympics (I may do some live blogging to keep the 9th Green active) that will be spread out on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Universal HD, Oxygen (huh?), Telemundo, NBC Olympics Basketball Channel, NBC Olympics Soccer Cannel and NBCOlympics.com. So head over to the website to see when Handball, Sailing, and Trampoline (no, seriously) to see when your favorite are airing.


On a side note, I still have four open spots in my fantasy football league, Dillon Panthers Football, so if you would like to play shoot me an e-mail and I will pass along the sign up information. Our draft will be on Tuesday August 26 at 9:00 EST. All skill levels are welcome and may perfer novices after my pityful 9th place finish last year.

But That Was When I Ruled the World

Okay, Coldplay never actually ruled the world like the character in the song Viva la Vida, but they were on schedule to do so after the amazing Rush of Blood to the Head put them on the cusp of being the biggest band in the land. The only problem was the follow-up X&Y crashed under its own weight, instead of sounding like the greatest band out there, the album came off sounding like a Coldplay cover band.

Knowing they missed a golden opportunity, Coldplay scrapped the idea for the band and started anew; the result is Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends is much less piano, lead singer Chris Martin discovering his voice can do more than falsetto, and more experimentation than their first three albums combined. That experimentation could be attributed to Brian Eno who is the go to producer when you are trying to mix up your sound.

The change is ever-present from the beginning with the instrumental opener Life in Technicolor featuring a Persian santur. And it seems the band picked up even more influences on their world tour aside from the album title, cover and their poor man’s French soldier get-ups they have been sporting everywhere lately. Cemeteries of London features clapping straight from Spanish flamingo dancers while Yes has a distinctive Middle Eastern fell to it. A bagpipe sound even creeps into the Beatlesque Strawberry Swing. But despite its title, Chinese Sleep Chant, the song doesn’t have much in common with the Far East and is really the only song on the album that sounds close to classic Coldplay with its crushing guitars. Even then, Martin’s falsetto is almost completely hidden under the rest of the band.

The writing gets a major overhaul on the album too with Martin’s main go to of relationship topics are rare, instead were get songs about politics like the first single Violet Hill. But the majority of the album deals goes into U2 territory of religion and mortality with such lines peppered throughout the album like, “God is in the houses and God is in my head” (Cemeteries of London), “You didn’t get to heaven but you made it close” (42) “I know St. Peter will call my name” (Viva la Vida) and “I don’t wanna follow Death and all his friends.”

All these changes for the band collimate in Lost! a foot stomping anthem complete with organs straight from a church playing under some crazy percussion instrument. One change that is a little off is all the combination of songs, three of which have two distinctive songs complete with their own titles on the same track. Then there is 42, one name but with three section; the first that has an early Pink Floyd vibe, the middle sound like Radiohead circa OK Computer while the last is something completely new.

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends may not give Coldplay biggest band in the world status (especially with a new U2 album coming out in the same year) but the album is the band’s reapplication for that title. We will have to wait until album number five until we find out if they are finally accepted as such.

Song to Download - Lost!

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. XXVI

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Violet Hill - Coldplay

I remember reading that the latest Coldplay song was political and thinking that it was just a sign that there was trouble in Gwyneth land with lines like, “If you love me won’t you let me know,” but a closer listen I guess there are some military themes. And the lampooning of politicians only drives that home. George Bush recently said he gave up golf because it didn’t seem right to do it in wartime, yet he continues to dance as seen here. Well at least he still isn’t as bad as Boris Yeltsin. Going On - Gnarls Barkley Usually the latest Gnarls Barkley video is an event for me but I am extremely bitter that the dudes in the video totally stole my go to dance moves when I am inebriated. Hrumph. Ironically while dancing like this I see weird things in door too. Last Name - Carrie Underwood Please, if you will, hop into the 9th Green Timwe Machine (patent pending) and go all the way back to 10/23/07 where I wrote, “then Last Name might very well be a prequel to Before He Cheats.” It looks like someone took note and turned a whole video into that concept. I still haven’t decided if this song is the worst thing ever or worthy of the guilty pleasure title, but all off Carrie Underwood’s hair flipping in the video has me leaning towards the latter. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 & Rihanna This is one of those pairing so inane I am convinced that the manatee writers over at Family Guy has to be involved somehow. Maroon5 and Rihanna? Where is Eric Cartman when you need him? You can also buy these songs DRM free, and sometimes a dime cheaper, over at Amazon MP3, check out the widget below:

2008 Spring Music Preview

The first quarter for music is pretty boring but the past winter saw surprise releases from Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs that came out without the usual months long hoopla, instead coming out within days of their announcement. Hopefully that trend continues because there isn’t much on the docket for the spring that really piques my interest that much. Wait, apparently the trend has as you can expect an album from Foxboro Hot Tubs (i.e. Green Day’s garage band side project) “any day” now. Here is a list of the albums that at least caught my eye.

If you are interested in preordering the albums from Amazon, the link on the album name will take you their, the links on artists names will take you to their iTunes page. If I left one of your favorite artists off the list with an upcoming album feel free to drop me an e-mail or feel free to wax poetic in the comment section on which albums you are looking forward to. (Note: release dates subject to change):

May 6
Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond: Yet another round of songs from the Diamond created with the help of Rick Rubin. You can preorder Home Before Dark on iTunes and get a bonus preorder-only track.

Gavin DeGraw - Gavin DeGraw: His first album was listenable in an easy listing kind of way. But that was five years ago. DeGraw says the new batch is more rock as evident from the first single, In Love with a Girl. But how rocking can something be when working with Daughty’s producer? You can pre-order Gavin DeGraw on iTunes.

Snack Time - Barenaked Ladies: It has been a while since they have created a great song, but rarely do they put out anything bad.


May 13
Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie: If the eight minute opus of I Will Possess Your Heart is any indication, the new album will be a big departure from the breakthrough of their last album. You can preorder Narrow Stairs on iTunes and receive a bonus track.

Blame it on Gravity - Old 97’s: Maybe the best band no one outside of Texas has heard of is back for some more southern rock.

Rockferry - Duffy: The latest Bristish import who is like Amy Winehouse without the modern feel, potential drug overdose, or jail time. The more I listen to Mercy, the more I am looking forward to the whole album. You can pre-order Rockferry on iTunes.


May 20
3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down: Third time wasn’t the charm for the band as Seventeen Days was a huge disappointment. Hopefully they can rebound. You can pre-order 3 Doors Down on iTunes and get a bonus pre-order only track.

Anywhere I Lay My Head - Scarlett Johansson; Julianne Hough - Julianne Hough: Julianne Hough is what I like to refer to as moderately attractive, but I couldn’t make it more than a minute into her video before I had to turn it off. Johansson’s stab at Tom Wait songs do not fair much better. Hopefully the two stick to their day jobs.


May 27
Lay it Down - Al Green: Hopefully ?uestlove of The Roots can do for Green what Rick Rubin was able to do for Johnny Cash. John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton also guest on the album.

Same Old Man - John Hiatt: Simply one of the best songwriters of the past couple decades.


June 3
Perfectly Clear - Jewel: Her last album bombed now Jewel is trading in her van for a cowboy hat for a country album.

The Glass Passenger - Jack’s Mannequin: Shortly before the first album was released, Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Natually they were not able to promote the album since he was recieveing cancer treatments so the gem was widly unnoticed. Now that his treatments are over, hopefully the new disk will reach a larger audience.

Rock My World - Bret Michaels: No, seriously, that is the name of his album.


June 10
Seeing Things - Jakob Dylan: The Wallflowers are basically a one album wonder, a decade after that hit; Bob’s son has hooked up with Rick Rubin for a solo album.

Seeing Sounds - N.E.R.D.: When not producing for other people Pharrell William is pretty hit or miss with his solo outings and trio N.E.R.D. You can download the first single Everybody Nose for free over at Spinner.com.

Self Portrait - LaLah Hathaway: All I know is that her dad is named Donnie whom you may know best as the dude that was referenced by Amy Winehouse, “There’s nothing you can teach me that I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway.”


June 17
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay: There has been nothing more disappointing this decade that X&Y to the point where the album almost sounded like a Coldplay cover band. The band has said to have broadened their musical palette this time around with lead singer Chris Martin, taking a break from singing hooks for rappers, discovering lower register for his vocals this time around. This week only, you can download their first single, Violet Hill on their website, Coldplay.com.


June 24
Weezer - Weezer: Just start calling it The Red Album now to avoid confusion with their two other self titled albums. You can pre-order Weezer on iTunes and receive a pre-order only track and a unique password to purchase Weezer concert ticket on Ticketmaster.com before the general public.


July/August
(Expletive Deleted) - Nas
Life, Death, Love and Freedom - John Mellencamp
Everything Comes and Goes - Michelle Branch
TBA - Ben Folds
TBA - B.B. King
TBA - Ray LaMontagne