I've written different variations of the following caveat for years, but I think it establishes an important distinction: The following is a list of my favorite albums of 2008. This is not to be confused with what's important or hip or widely acclaimed by the critical community. If some of the titles below happen to be important or hip or widely acclaimed by the critical community, it is purely by chance.
1. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges (ATO). 2008 was the year I finally got pulled into My Morning Jacket's orbit. It started with their appearance on Saturday Night Live and continues with Evil Urges, a rock album that I still don't know quite what to make of, other than it constantly fascinates and delights me. Jim James and his Louisville compadres wantonly hop around through different styles — bracing riff-rock, terse funk, jam-band ooze, sweet balladry, twang, power-pop, neo-folk, prog and more — and somehow make it all sound so perfectly at home.
2. Al Green: Lay it Down (Blue Note). A lot of artists tried their hand at the vintage soul sound this year, but the master schooled 'em all. Coproduced by Green, ?uestlove and keyboardist James Poyser, Lay it Down lovingly evokes Green's early-'70s heyday, with the easy sweep of the grooves and organic arrangements that allow the singer ample room to rifle through his whole bag of signature techniques: the shaping of a line, the slipping in and out of falsetto, the melismatic flourishes. Younger vocalists Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend go to school with the professor and end up getting good grades.
3. Shelby Lynne: Just a Little Lovin' (Lost Highway). One of the best singers of her generation, and certainly one of the lesser appreciated, caresses a program of songs made famous by the late Dusty Springfield. Backed only by a bare-bones quartet of veteran studio musicians assembled by producer Phil Ramone, Lynne carries the entire affair, singing the likes of "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," "The Look of Love" et al with subdued radiance. Lynne and company transform all of the tunes into sexy ballads, and overall the vocalist puts her firm imprint on these time-tested gems.
4. Firewater: The Golden Hour (Bloodshot). Tod A., singer, songwriter and one-man brain-trust of Firewater, wandered through India, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere, recruiting local musicians along the way and recording them with a single microphone and laptop. The results are an astounding fusion of punk-infused rock with indigenous Eastern sounds, anchored by Tod A.'s rag-and-bone voice and angry, sardonic lyrics. Overall, The Golden Hour sounds as rugged as the artist's trek.
5. Lindsey Buckingham: Gift of Screws (Reprise). It's long been my contention that the old hands of rock are just trading on name recognition, not accomplishing much creatively. Lindsey Buckingham, the 59-year-old linchpin of Fleetwood Mac, puts the lie to that theory with Gift of Screws, which combines Mac-ish hooks with some mind-bending guitar arrangements and crescendo-building solos. Bonus: Don't have to hear Stevie Nicks' bleating.
6. Milton Nascimento & the Jobim Trio: Novas Bossas (EMI). Gorgeous. This collection of tunes, recorded in celebration of the 50th anniversary of bossa nova, features a giant of Brazilian music, Milton Nascimento, 66, whose voice is as ethereally beautiful as it was decades ago, with a falsetto that's kissed by God. In a program that's not strictly bossa nova, he's joined by the son and grandson of the genre's founder Antonio Carlos Jobim; they lay down unadorned rhythm-section work. One sophisticatedly beautiful melody after another, sung with time-tested brilliance.
7. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop). The Seattle band's debut takes sublime melodies and washes huge, hypnotic harmonies all over them, backed by mostly acoustic instrumentation. Part Beach Boys, part old-time music hoedown, part English folk, part church hymn, the album smashes together an array of seemingly ad hoc influences and coalesces into something truly transcendent. This is a new band with a vision.
8. Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine (Greenleaf). This fella's pretty much a perennial on my best-of lists because he's out in front of the jazz world in terms of making music that's accessible and adventurous, that combines tradition with innovation. Trumpeter Douglas and his sextet (including DJ Olive) dig into some deep grooves, ladle on the '60s-era Wayne Shorter-esque melodies and commence to improvising up a storm. The music ebbs and flows, slides in and out of new rhythms and motifs, all with a telepathic grace. Love the use of strictly Fender Rhodes over a piano and/or bank of synths.
9. Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair (Mute). This New York collective, headed by DJ/producer Andy Butler, is unapologetically spearheading a "disco revolution." And doing so with imagination and panache. But you won't get this stuff mixed up with "Turn the Beat Around." H&LA filter in a certain baroque pop element to their four-square grooves. The best songs feature Antony Hegarty on lead croon — the result sounds like Roxy Music for the dance floor. Thanks to my son Dan, the club jock, for hipping me to this act. Used to be I hipped him to everything. I guess the tables have done turned.
10. Was (Not Was): Boo! (Ryko). My old faves from the '80s — those R&B pranksters Don and David Was, Sweet Pea and Harry and company — released their first album in 18 years, a funky, sometimes funny, sometimes heartfelt set of songs that recapture that old subversive magic. Only Was (Not Was) would think of putting together an absolutely lovely classic soul number, "It's a Miracle," and include the lyrics, "Uncle Kenny is yellin' at his wife, he screams/ Who broke the fuckin' TV/ He set fire to the kitchen floor/ And made noises like a bumblebee."
Just Gotta Mention:
The Knux: Remind Me in Three Days (Interscope): Hollywood-via-New Orleans hip-hoppers rap and sing, sling guitars and have a loud, funky good time; Foxboro Hot Tubs: Stop, Drop and Roll! (Jungle Town): Green Day in disguise has tons of fun re-enacting '60s garage-pop; James Carter: Present Tense (Emarcy): A swinging, acoustic post-bop album that sounds fresh and vibrant, mostly due to the sax/clarinet/flute-playing excellence of its frontman.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2008.