30 Best Albums of 2007

In a story I broke last week, 2007 is the most mediocre year ever. Case in point, last year’s Best Albums of the Year list had fifty albums on it, this year it was hard to scrape thirty this year. Yeah there were a couple albums that could have gotten on this list but I never got around to listening to the whole thing and thus never reviewed (Linkin Park, Jay-Z), but for the most part I got hold of most everything I wanted to review, it was just not that much music this year and of those that I did review there really wasn’t anything great.

Two albums you definitely won’t be seeing on this list are Konvicted by Akon and T.I. vs. T.I.P. even though I got both for Christmas. Should I be offended that someone thought about me, “Now there is someone who would like listening to Akon”? But anyways. 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. As I Am - Alicia Keys
It’s My Time, Said it’s My Time to Shine

2. Magic - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
I Just Want to Feel Some Rhythm

3. Alright, Still - Lily Allen
Sun Is in the Sky, oh Why, oh Why Would I Wanna Be Anywhere Else

4. Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams
I’m Open All Night and the Customers Come to Stay

5. Graduation - Kanye West
They Say I Talk with So Much Emphasis

6. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
I Told Ya I Was Trouble

7. Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
Remember When He Used to be a Rascal

8. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
I Wanna Forget How Convention Fits

9. Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool - Lupe Fiasco
But I Sphinx Like Leon

10. Little Voice - Sara Bareilles
There’ll Be Girls Across the Country that’ll Eat this Up

11. Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
Because Tonight the World Turned in Me

12. Luvanmusiq - Musiq Soulchild
I Ain’t No Hood, No Crook, No Robber

13. Finding Forever - Common
Can’t Leave Rap Alone the Streets Need Me

14. Wild Hope - Mandy Moore
I Was a Starling, Nobody’s Darling

15. Echo, Silence, Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters
I’m Finished Making Sense, Done Pleading Ignorance

16. Icky Thump - The White Stripes
The Hills Are Pretty and Rollin’

17. 100 Days, 100 Nights - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
He May Be Mellow, He May Be Kind

18. Coco - Colbie Caillat
You Make Me Smile Please Stay for a While

19. This Is Ryan Shaw - Ryan Shaw
If I Got You We Have More than Money

20. Lifeline - Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Dance with Me to the Colors of the Dusk

21. The Reminder - Feist
Musings From the Back 9: Music Edition V

22. Freedom’s Road - John Mellencamp
I Like My Heroes to Be Honest and Strong

23. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5
We Must Free Up These Tired Souls

24. Eardrum - Talib Kweli
It Ain’t Old School, New School, it’s True School Rap

25. Carnival Ride - Carrie Underwood
Here’s to You Hairbrush Singers and Dashboard Drummers

26. Not Too Late - Norah Jones
Love in the Time of War Is not Fair

27. Dramatic Fantastic - KT Tunstall
The World Will Turn if You’re Ready or Not

28. The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant - Wyclef Jean
Break Is Over Man, I’m Back with My Ink Pen

29. Combinations - Eisley
Listen to Me, You Pull Me Apart

30. Planet Earth - Prince
I Know U Hear Me Like a Whisper in Ur Ear

25 Best Music Videos of 2007

It is really hard to complain about MTV and VH1 no longer showing videos anymore because who these days wants to wade through videos that they hand pick when you have almost every video ever made at your disposal whenever you want on sites like YouTube? And here are the best of the best of from the past twelve months. I have embedded the first couple videos, the rest you can click the link to follow to YouTube and if you are interested in buying the videos, click the iTunes links. Now I should mention some of these videos are not safe for work but really nothing on YouTube is all the safe for work because I’m sure you boss wouldn’t be thrilled even if your watching a video of a cat playing with a ball of yarn. But anyways:


1. Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West



2. Trapped in the Closet Chapter 1-12 Recap - R. Kelly



3. Rockstar - Nickelback



4. Throw Some D's - Kanye West



5. Drivin’ Me Wild - Common featuring Lily Allen




6. Windows in the Skies (Modernista Version) - U2

7. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

8. Smiley Faces - Gnarls Barkley

9. 1234 - Feist

10. Halloweenhead - Ryan Adams

11. Alfie - Lily Allen

12. Conquest - The White Stripes

13. Read My Mind - The Killers

14. Hot in Herre - Jenny Owen Youngs

15. Oh My God - Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen

16. Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids

17. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman

18. Stronger - Kanye West

19. Sinkin’ Soon - Norah Jones

20. What I've Done - Linkin Park

21. Ever Ever After - Carrie Underwood

22. Love Song - Sara Bareilles

23. LDN - Lily Allen

24. Sensual Seduction - Snoop Dogg

25. Long Road to Ruin - Foo Fighters

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2007

Before I get to your favorite songs of the year I first want to mention that just before Christmas I had ordered a gift for someone through Amazon and among the usual spam advertising slips that they stuff into their boxes there was an envelope where you can place old cell phones to send to the troops. So if you got a new cell phone for Christmas or are just like me and is a pack rat who keeps everything for no reason and had three just lying around collecting dust, please check out this website: Cell Phones for Soldiers to see where you can send any of your unused cell phones. They say the phone can be in any condition and don’t even need to still have a battery.

Last year was the first time I ever let you my readers influences the 9th Green (aside from the occasional pandering for comments) and this year I got four times more responses than last. Thanks to each and everyone who took time to compile your favorite songs of the year to make this list possible. With the more responses I think this ended up being a better list for the most part than last year. This year Rihanna was as close to consensus as it got this year being the only artist appearing on more than half of the lists I received. Keep in mind this list is solely your opinions and I in no way influenced it as I will be unveiling my favorite 100 songs of the year coming this Sunday. But here are your favorites:


1. Umbrella - Rihanna featuring Jay-Z

2. Stronger - Kanye West

3. Rehab - Amy Winehouse

4. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John

5. The Way I Are - Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson and D.O.E.

6. Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen

7. 1234 - Feist

8. What Goes Around.../...Comes Around - Justin Timberlake

9. Again & Again - The Bird and the Bee

10. U + Ur Hand - P!nk

11. Love Song - Sarah Bareilles

12. Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)... - Jay-Z

13. Bonafied Lovin - Chromeo

14. It's Not Over - Daughtry

15. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's

16. Lost - Michael Bublé

17. Must Be the Moon - !!!

18. Icky Thump - The White Stripes

19. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

20. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne

21. The Ain't a Scene, it's an Arms Race - Fall Out Boy

22. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

23. Stranger - Hilary Duff

24. Apologize - OneRepublic and Timbaland

25. The Man - Pete Yorn

I Want My Music Television vol. VIII

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.


I Want You - Common



For a video that features a title sequence and actual actors like Kerry Washington, I except a little more. And what exactly is Kanye West bringing to the whole mini movie thing? It just seems like there was supposed to be an extended cut to this. But you really can’t hate on Common too much if the video was just an excuse to make a fake sex tap with Alicia Keys. I can be down with that.


Big Casino - Jimmy Eat World



Jimmy Eat World for some reason has been lumped into the horrible emo scene of the last couple years but they released one of the great rock songs of the decade in Pain and their break out hit The Middle isn’t the wo is me depressing songs of the genre. Yeah the video is pretty boring but Big Casino is up there as one of the best rock songs of the year.


Shadow of the Day - Linkin Park



Not entirely sure what Linkin Park is trying to get across with this video, but the melodic tune of Shadow of the Day is a nice diversion from their hard rock and rap of their other songs. Unfortunately it was covered up by all the riot sounds.


Love Song - Sara Bareliies

More Videos

Sara Bareilles released her album right around the time Colbie Caillat dropped hers and it is a good thing I am not a betting man because I would have put my money on Bareilles as being more likely to break out of the two. Oh well. At least the video for Love Song is quirky fun.

There’ll Be Girls Across the Nation That'll Eat This Up

Whenever a new female singer-songwriter who plays piano comes along, also comes the instant comparisons to the like of Fiona Apple and Norah Jones, even if the only thing they have in common is they are females who just happen to play the piano. And so you may here the same comparisons for the latest pianist on the block Sara Bareilles. Sure you can here the other artist named throughout her debut album Little Voice (click the link and you can buy it for the low price of $6.99 on iTunes), true be told, Sara is not as moody as Fiona nor as mellow as Jones.

Don’t compare her to Vanessa Carlton either because unlike the classically trained artist, Bareilles had no formal training on the instrument. But on listen to album and you find she didn’t need any. Little Voice is full of accessible pop songs that will undoubtedly show up on cheesy medical dramas when their writers are too lazy to write a couple more pages of dialogue and instead choose to close out an episode with yet another lengthy musical montage.

The album starts off the bouncing ditty Love Song, a refreshing kiss off to a guy who requested one but doesn’t come off as annoyingly bitter like other artists who recently made a bad decision to write their own songs, while Bottle it Up takes a slower bounce to slightly better effect. On the other hand Vegas is a smooth track that would play very well if you were to take a late night road trip to the Strip. The song would also play well, much like Love on the Rock, in a smoke lounge just off the Strip. Fairytale whimsically re-imagines different princesses from children’s tale that didn’t live happily ever after. The album concludes with the beautiful Gravity, a simplistic song about always going back to the guy whom she begs for him to let her go.

Even though Little Voices is loaded front to back with a bunch of good pop songs, the album is missing that one hit single that would make a big slash at radio much like Anna Nalick had with Breathe (2 AM) that kept her on the airwaves over a year. But that doesn’t mean you should check her out know so you can say you knew her way back when she finally gets the inevitable hit single especially at a price like $6.99.

Song to Download - Bottled it Up

Little Voice gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.