Albums of 2005

My friend Dave asked me Tuesday during the show what my favourite album of the year was and I didn't answer because I had to put on another CD as the one currently playing had 5 seconds left, and truly I didn't have the answer. While there were a lot of excellent albums this year, there were no albums that stood head and shoulders above everyone else. The more I think about it though, the more I'm convinced that the best album of the year for me is...drum roll please...

Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes

This album truly demonstrates their sonic and storytelling range from taking advantage of Jack White's recent dabblings in various Blues/Country projects to a Vaudeville takeoff to a calypso sounding hommage to Renee Zelwegger to a slightly Satanic opening track. Yet, despite the disparity of the sound, the album remains cohesive and more importantly, listenable. In the midst of an explosion of bands that have matured over the last 2 years, the White Stripes remain the band that is most intriguing and visionary. Besides, I love saying "Get Behind Me Satan" on the air and truly wished we had one of those special-effects machine that could alter my voice to make it sound truly Beelzebubesque.

Note: Funeral by The Arcade Fire would have been numero uno but it was a late 2004 release so technically...

Here are my top 10 albums (other than Get Behind Me Satan):

1. You Can Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
2. Live it out - Metric
3. Thunder, Lightning, Strike - The Go! Team
4. Nashville - Josh Rouse
5. Idols of Exile - Jason Collett
6. Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers
7. The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers (would have been higher if they let me burn their disc that I purchased onto my computer in .mp3 format rather than useless .wma format. Let that be a warning to you music artists, this kind of trickery will notch you down a couple of points on my highly influential list)
8. I'm a Mountain - Sarah Harmer
9. Wish I - Jem
10. Back to Bedlam - James Blunt

Note 2: Had I listened to Wolf Parade and Kanye West in greater frequency, they might have be in the list. There is just so many albums one can buy (and I don't mean "download" for all you cynics)!

Let me know what your own top 10 was. I love lists and I'd love to hear what impressed you in the last year so that I can add them to the rotation.