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Top 10's For 2008

Hey Soul Mates, I know, I've been a little lax in getting my year end Top 10's posted.

It's been a busy month: working the Christmas Tree lot, work in general. Festivities. My GRAMMY ballot arrived today, so that's on tap. Went to see Zappa Plays Zappa last Friday at the Roxy. That was an amazing 3 hour tribute to the genius of Frank Zappa led by his son Dweezil and Zappa alum, Ray White.

I was going to list the 10 best things I'd heard all year so I could include some non-2008 releases, like Springsteen's Magic (which would have taken the #2 LP slot and the #2 single slot for Girls In Their Summer Clothes) and David Ruffin's Unreleased Album from 1970 (#4 LP of the year). I'd also thought about marking the 30th anniversaries of the Stones Some Girls (crucial to my musical development) and Chic's Le Freak (still one of my top 5 singles of all time). But I'm omitting them and sticking to my usual format.

So here we go, just in time for a Joyeux Noel and the last days of Christmas shopping. I hope that if you purchase these as CDs or downloads that you enjoy them. Or at least are you might be curious about my selections.

Top 10 LPs of 2008 in ascending order.
#10 Blind Boys Of Alabama, Down In New Orleans
#9 Raphael Saddiq, The Way I See It
#8 Keane, Perfect Symmetry
#7 ABC, Traffic
#6 Duffy, Rockferry
#5 Supergrass, Diamond Hoo Ha. This record will forever remind me of trying to drive out of Oxford at peak hour.
#4 Black Keys, Attack & Release. Swamp-blues straight outta Akron, special sauce by Danger Mouse. Apocrypha tells us this production was borne out of material for an Ike Turner LP. I kid you, not!
#3 Fleet Foxes, Sun Giant (EP). Haunting.
#2 Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes. Shimmering.
#1 Norman Kelsey, A Talent For Loving. I'm biased. But if I'm lying, I'm flying.

Honorable Mention: MIA, Kala; Mariah Carey, E=MC2; Jimmy Needham, Not Without Love.

Top 10 Singles or tracks of 2008
#10 Robin Thicke, Magic
#9 Fleet Foxes, English House
#8 Keane, The Lovers Are Losing
#7 Black Keys, Strange Times
#6 Duffy, Warwick Avenue
#5 Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal
#4 Peter Gabriel, Down To Earth
#3 Sara Bareilles, Love Song
#2 Norman Kelsey, U Had The $
#1 Norman Kelsey, Everything My Heart Desires. See notes for #1 LP.

Honorable Mention: Supergrass, Rebel In You; Oasis, I'm Outta Time; Black Keys, Oceans & Streams; Alicia Keys & Jack White, Another Way To Die; Coldplay, Violet Hill; Gnarls Barkley, Run and Blind Mary; Keane, Spiralling; REM, I'm Gonna DJ.

For 2009, I'm looking forward to fresh albums from Bruce Springsteen, Franz Ferdinand, Adam Marsland, D'Angelo and I hope and pray the NEW Michael Jackson!

Peace & Disco Beats

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