Top Albums of 2009

I love music. If it weren't for the fact that I don't have a musical bone in my body, I would be a musician. How fun would that be?! (Ok, I might have one musical bone, because I did teach myself how to play bass in high school. But 98% of that talent is gone now. So maybe it was a tiny musical bone. Like my left hamate.) But I guess the next best thing to making music is listening to other people's. Here is my top 10 albums of 2009.

Note, this is NOT "the 10 best albums" of 2009, because I couldn't dream of listening to and ranking every album that came out last year (nor would I want to!). Rather, it's my favorite albums of all the new stuff I listened to last year.

Counting Down:

#10
Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back To Earth - 4/21/09

Jars of Clay has always been one of my favorite bands, and every one of their albums seems to have a distinctive flavor (some better than others). This is one of the better ones. It's not overly religious (they are, after all, a Christian Rock band, but this one seems to have more Rock than Christian), and there's really not any bad songs on it. Maybe it's only weakness is that it isn't particularly memorable: I listened to it when it first came out, and then forgot about it. It wasn't until I listened to it again last week that I realized how much I liked it.

#9
The Fray - The Fray - 2/3/09

The Fray definitely avoided the sophomore slump with this album. Probably the only thing from keeping it from being higher on my list is that it's not really any better than their first album. It basically picks up right where How to Save a Life left off. That's not a bad thing; both albums are great. If you liked their last one, you'll dig this one too.

#8
Train - Save Me San Francisco - 10/27/09

Another band that has been one of my long-time favorites. Their album before this, called For Me, It's You, which was released in 2005, is one of my all-time favorites. So after 4 years of looking forward to it's successor, I initially found this follow-up a bit disappointing. I didn't love it at first, but after a few listens I really warmed up to it. Though not as good as their last album, it's still very, very good. The song Parachute might be one of their best songs ever.

#7
Owl City - Ocean Eyes - 7/14/09

I loved Fireflies way before every radio station started playing it 27 times an hour. It was the free single of the week on iTunes way back on July 15th. Yet for some reason I never listened to the rest of the album until just last week. The timing might have been perfect, because I'm so sick of hearing Fireflies on the radio that I really needed something else. It's a great album, and if you like Fireflies, you'll probably really enjoy the rest of it, too. The lyrics are clever and well written, and it's different enough from everything else out there that it really stands out. I think it has a very Postal Service-y feel to it (which is a huge compliment from me, because The Postal Service's album is another one of my all-time favorites).

#6
Hoobastank - For(n)ever - 1/27/09

My brother makes fun of me for liking Hoobastank, but I don't care. I think they're one of the best rock bands out there right now. Their songs are very well written, and they don't all sound the same, which is always a plus. For(n)ever is another great effort from them.

Bonus! Check out this funny video they made for a great cover of the theme from Ghostbusters this past Halloween. I think they are using some of the same Ghostbusters toys I played with as a child as props!

#5
Jason Mraz - Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess: Live On Earth - 11/9/09

This should probably be higher on my countdown, but I bought this album fully expecting it to be #1, and when it didn't quite meet my expectations, I was upset. The reason I had such high hopes was that Jason's previous live album, Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom, is probably my #1 favorite album of all time. (I have mentioned a few of my all time favorites in this blog, but I've never actually made a list. That's a blog for another day.) I think the reason it let me down was that Tonight, Not Again sounds like a recording of a whole Mraz concert (most fun concert experience you'll ever have) complete with freestyling, older songs, and lots of audience interaction; whereas Beautiful Mess almost sounds like it's just a live version of Jason's last album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. It doesn't really have the fun flavor that his concerts tend to usually have. Still, when I overlook my expectations, it's a really great album. The band is awesome, and it still sounds better than a studio recording (a feat that a lot of other bands can't manage). The funky new reggae-inspired version of The Remedy is fun (but I still prefer the original version), and this recording of I'm Yours is probably the best one out there. There are a couple of new songs at the very beginning of the disc (which are excellent), and the cover of Lionel Richie's All Night Long is great fun. It's debateably still the best album of the year, but the fact that it didn't quite meet my expectations (and consequently let me down a bit) landed it at #5.

#4
Mat Kearney - City of Black and White - 5/19/09

Remember Mat Kearney's 2006 hit song Nothing Left To Lose? I remember thinking that was a great song, and then listening to the rest of the album and wondering if I was actually listening to the same artist. It was essentially rap album. A terrible rap album. He would start with his usual mellow-pop tones, but then go into some really bad rapping. It's not surprising to me that the only single from the album that got any radio time was the only one on the record with no rapping in it. Not only was I mad at him for making such a horrible album, I was mad at him for tricking me into listening to it. Thankfully, Mat learned from his mistakes and made a terrific follow-up album. Not only does the whole album have all the same good qualities that Nothing Left To Lose (the song) had, this album contains no rapping! None! It's exactly the album I was expecting last time. It's almost as if he is saying to us, "er, sorry about that last album. This one will be a lot better. My bad". Every song is great. Almost in the opposite way of Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess, this album completely exceeded all of my expectations and ended up much higher on the list than I ever would have thought.

#3
Green River Ordinance - Out of My Hands - 2/24/09

If there's anything better than good music, it's good music from a new band. There's something about discovering fresh music that brings joy to my soul. Discovering this album was the direct result of my wife making me watch So You Think You Can Dance with her (ok, she doesn't MAKE me, but I choose to because I am a good husband). They played the song On Your Own every time someone was eliminated from the contest while they showed a montage of their best moments. I thought it was a good song, so I looked it up, figured out who it was, and then listened to the rest of the album. It's fantastic! Every song is great. If you want something new I highly recommend listening to this.

#2
Howie Day - Sound The Alarm - 9/8/09

I was a big fan of Howie Day's last album, Stop All The World Now, and the only thing I don't like about this album is that he made us wait 6 years for it. It's brilliant. I was hooked from the first few seconds of the first track, So Stung. The guy may have a messed up life (alcohol abuse, a few publicized arrests, etc; maybe that's why we had to wait so long) but he's a great musician.

#1
Parachute - Losing Sleep - 5/19/09

My favorite album of 2009 is Parachute's Losing Sleep. I first heard the song Under Control when it was the iTunes Free Single of the Week back in May, and She is Love got a bit of airtime on the radio here too. The whole album is just more awesome fresh new music. They can really rock, but they can also mellow things out. The songs don't all sound the same, but there's not a bad song on it. In fact, there's not even a mediocre song on it. They are all fantastic. It also doesn't hurt that the iTunes deluxe edition has 16 tracks on it, so you get an amazing album AND your money's worth! Just a great, great album.

So there it is, my top 10 albums of 2009. But if that wasn't enough for you, here, in no particular order, are a few more honorable mentions that were good, but didn't quite make the cut:

Vertical Horizon - Burning The Days - 9/22/09
Remember these guys? After disappearing for 6 years, they are back with a new album. It's really good. Sounds a lot like their other two albums from earlier in the decade.

Muse - The Resistance - 9/14/09
Another great album from Muse, but not quite as good as their last one. This one was really close to making the top 10.

Carbon Leaf - Nothing Rhymes With Woman - 5/19/09
A band you probably haven't heard of, but this is their 8th album. I've only heard a few of their other ones, but they're all pretty good. Definitely worth checking out if you've never heard them.

Better Than Ezra - Paper Empire - 5/12/09
Anyone who has known me for a really long time knows that Better Than Ezra was once my favorite band. I still adore a lot of their old stuff, but they've faded a bit over the past few years. But I'd feel bad if I left them out. Paper Empire actually has some incredible songs on it (Absolutely Still, I Just Knew), but it has some really cheesy songs on it too.

So what do you think? Would you add anything to the list, or take anything off? I definitely recommend checking out all of these albums. (Grooveshark would be a good place to do that) Leave a comment and let me know what you think.