So, the recent discussion of the Top 50 albums of the last decade was supposed to end, as it began, with a sampling of songs. The introductory entry covered 2000-2004; this one will tackle 2005-2009.
(Incidentally, back in December while wisely avoiding shopping malls and ordering my Xmas gifts from the North Pole also known as amazon.com, I spent entirely too much time on this list. Unbelievably, and idiotically, I also compiled a list of the best jazz albums of the decade as well as the best movies –a list that started at twenty, grew to thirty, and ended at forty. My idea was to roll them all out in the early weeks of the new year, but I was quickly disabused of that fantasy by the rather humbling acknowledgment that the day job, sleep, meals and some semblance of a social life would make that impossible. More on that later, possibly even sooner.)
The list will end (as it began) with a bunch of songs –in no particular order, other than somewhat chronological– that rose above the fray and made life a whole lot more worth living.
Sufjan Stevens, “The World’s Columbian Exposition/Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream” (2005):
Sleater-Kinney, “Everything” (2005):
Tool, “Vicarious” (2006):
Easy Star All-Stars, “The Tourist” (2006):
The Black Keys, “My Mind Is Rambling” (2006):
Iron and Wine, “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” (2007):
Amy Winehouse, “Me and Mr. Jones” (2007):
The Breeders, “Night of Joy” (2008):
Fleet Foxes, “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” (2008):
Mastodon, “Oblivion” (2009):
Steven Wilson, “Harmony Korine” (2009):
Dan Auerbach, “When The Night Comes” (2009):
