Best of 2007: the beginning

Whadda year, whadda year....from NYC to Myrtle Beach to a hair-raising car accident that is still causing me to drive like a little old man. It's also the year that music literally seemed to explode all around me, so many choices, so little time. Countless are the promos and such that I haven't even had a chance to listen to yet (still haven't heard Radiohead), and albums of much acclaim that I know I'm going to enjoy (Robert Wyatt, Okkervil River, PJ Harvey) are waiting their turn in the CD player. Still, as always, I've gone beyond saying it wasn't as good a year as last, or remember when, I'm happily resigned to the fact that music is good and I love the next new thing just as much.

So these end-of-year wrapups (on the Spotlight Review, this will be the 19th one we've done!) are more of a personal thing than any attempt at a critical outlook. As I keep reminding everybody in this blog, I'm not a critic, despite what the WBER website decries. I've got my little show, though, and have the opportunity to share what made me happy by listening to it, it's a hope to turn somebody else on and get them to think about their own listening as well.

In the previous post, I linked back to the mid-year favorites and honorable mentions, many of which still hold up, but the year end seems to include ones that actually made me go back and look at the oeuvre of the artists in question and reassess those works, a renewed sense of purpose as it were. So there's actually going to be a theme of sorts for this years list, and it is....

...of course you'll have to wait til next Monday, natch, when I reveal them on the air, why tip the hand now, though if you're unbelievably enterprising, I actually published it in the comments of an entry in one of my favorite blogs a few weeks back; good luck finding it.

Tomorrow, we hope, a look at some more honorable mentions, releases that really didn't fit the final template; then later in the week, some guilty pleasures. Full list next Tuesday. Be safe tonight, please.

quick links

If you were wondering more (and you should) about the Peace On Earth Xmas comp we played from last night, this link will get you there. Wonderful stuff.

Best of 2007 will be forthcoming. To see how daunting any undertaking of an overview can be, check out Largehearted Boy's ongoing list of album bests. It's been a great year, but keeping up has become a mighty task indeed, which is why I never like when the station refers to me as "critic". I merely try to Spotlight what's been floating my boat; heck, I haven't even heard the new Radiohead yet! (Though I suspect that's similar to what Carrie Brownstein has been feeling in her mandatory NPR blog)

For a refresher of what the boat floaters were at the midpoint, backtrack here. More soon come.

Tweaks

A couple changes to the next couple of shows:
12/3: Josh T. Pearson (Lift To Experience), Burial
12/10: Arthur & Yu, Robin Hitchcock, Thrill Jockey tribute (? if my set shows up by then)

If anybody out there has seen the Dylan semi-biopic I'm Not There, feel free to send a comment. I saw it yesterday and it's the movie of the year in my O, but I haven't had anybody to talk about it with (Sheila didn't go, and frankly, would have hated it). Like everybody's been saying, Cate Blanchett steals the show, but the Richard Gere scenes are better than I heard they'd be, and Charlotte Gainsbourg is a wonderful surprise too.