Time Warp: Best Albums of 2007
A “Best Albums of the Year” list begins as a ranked summary of recent releases, then becomes a historical artifact in itself, a window into what seemed most important at the time. The hope is that these lists will age well, that we won’t look back several years from now and marvel at our own shortsightedness. Taken collectively, they probably do a pretty good job – where there’s consensus, there’s probably some lasting quality.
On an individual level, though, how am I to know if my top picks now will hold up years down the road? The relationship to music being a dynamic one, I sometimes disagree with myself from one day to the next. Expecting agreement over longer periods of time would seem to be pushing it a bit.
It was with a mix of curiosity and horror, then, that I discovered an old file on my computer called “bestof2007.” I had no real reason to compile a list in 2007 – this site wasn’t yet in existence, so I didn’t exactly have anywhere to publish one. For some reason, though, I felt compelled to rank. I was reading the CMT Blog and The 9513 by that point, so perhaps the blogging bug had already begun to set in, unbeknownst to me.
In any case, I forgot about the list until last night, and am unearthing it right now. Here are the Best Albums of 2007, as ranked by a totally inexperienced, pre-blogging C.M.
10. Pam Tillis – Rhinestoned
9. Todd Snider – Peace, Love and Anarchy
8. Joe Nichols – Real Things
7. Elizabeth Cook – Balls
6. Chris Knight – The Trailer Tapes
5. Sunny Sweeney – Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame
4. Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson – Last of the Breed
3. Dwight Yoakam – Dwight Sings Buck
2. Dale Watson – From the Cradle to the Grave
1. Porter Wagoner – Wagonmaster
How do you think he did?
I’d probably change the positions around a bit, but I’m relieved to say that I still like all of the albums – even the couple I’ve not heard in a while. I should revisit Last of the Breed on my own recommendation.
I wonder what my 2009 list will look like in a couple years. Or, for that matter, a couple decades.
Prefer email? Nothing wrong with that!
LeAnn Rimes’ “Family” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Heaven, Heartache And The Power of Love” is sorely missing from this list. Otherwise very solid.
To me, the Yearwood disc is the most glaring omission: it’d probably be at or near the top if I were doing this today. I might trade out the Yoakam, which was nice but inessential.
Yeah, that’s how I feel about the Yoakam album too. I think this list is solid, but the Yearwood album could easily replace the Yoakam. I’ll have to stretch my brain back to 2007 though. I think it’s cool that you found this. I don’t know that I’d expect a much different list from this, post blog fever.
I’d throw Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in there, too – possibly in place of the Snider, which I’d consider a compilation. That and Yearwood. Honorable mentions to Lori McKenna’s Unglamorous and the Rimes album. But I think you nailed most of the essentials.
Ooh! Lambert’s album is from 2007? Well, I’m with Dan then. I couldn’t get into McKenna though.
I believe my favorite album from that year at the time was Bedouin Soundclash’s Street Gospels. They’re a Canadian reggae band, which shows you how much I thought of country music at the time. However, since then, I’ve bought the Alison Krauss & Robert Plant collaboration, Corb Lund’s Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! and Ryan Bingham’s Mescalito, so I guess the year wasn’t as bad as I once thought.
Well crap, I went through iTunes and was reminded of all the good albums from 2007. Here are a bunch of worthwhile releases I came across (for posterity)–some are worthy of contention for the best of the year.
Ashley Monroe – Satisfied (The original digital release…I think)
Alison Krauss – A Hundred Miles or More
Adam Hood – Different Groove
Billy Joe Shaver – Everybody’s Brother
Corb Lund – Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver- More Behind the Picture Than the Wall
Drew Kennedy – Dollar Theatre Movie
Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song (The original release!)
Jason Eady – Wild Eyed Serenade
Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh – Holdin’ Our Own
John Anderson – Easy Money
Johnny Bush – Kashmere Garden Mud
Josh Turner – Everything Is Fine
Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer
Lyle Lovett – It’s Not Big It’s Large
Owen Temple – Two Thousand Miles
Randy Kohrs – Old Photograph
Rodney Hayden – Down the Road
Teddy Thompson – Up Front and Down Low
I was looking through 2007 countdowns, thanks to this post, and I was surprised to see the Turner album so esteemed on both The9513’s list and Kevin’s list at Country Universe. I just thought that was a rather weak/disappointing album and I guess I had no idea that blog land thought it was so good, since I wasn’t a part of the community at the time.