![]() Friday, December 22, 2006
The best of the year
'Tis the time of year when every Tom, Dick and Harry -- and every Time, Slate and VH1 -- announces lists of the year's best. CNN's entertainment staff has spun a few CDs and cracked a few bindings as well, and offers its own nominees in music and books. (For movies, stay tuned for CNN.com movie critic Tom Charity's picks next week.) Music
Books
And me? As always, I didn't read nearly as much as I would have liked, but the three books I liked best from this year were Philip Roth's "Everyman," Cormac McCarthy's grim but gripping "The Road" and Neal Gabler's "Walt Disney." (The two best books I read all year were from years past -- Susanna Clarke's incredible 2004 novel "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" and a collection of George Orwell's essays, which are also must reading in these fractious -- and spin-filled -- times.) Musically, I was partial to Bob Dylan's "Modern Times," James Hunter's "People Gonna Talk," The Hold Steady's "Boys and Girls in America" and "St. Elsewhere." The latter is uneven, to be sure, but when it works ("Crazy," "Who Cares") it's top-notch. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite album title of the year: Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass," which Rolling Stone picked as the worst title of the year. At least RS acknowledged it was a very good record. How about you? What were some of your favorites? And of course, when it comes to bests, there's one that matters most: As we head into Christmas weekend, from all of us to all of you, all our best. Have a wonderful holiday.
Hmm... These sorts of lists are always tough and always incomplete. I'll take a shot nonetheless.
Favorite books written in 2006: Everyman by Philip Roth, The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, and How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis Biggest Book Disappointment of 2006: Seeing by Jose Saramago (and I'm a huge fan of his) Favorite albums of 2006: Ray Lamontagne - Till The Sun Turns Black, The Wood Brothers - Ways Not To Lose, Elbow - Leaders of the Free World (brilliant!), John Mayer - Continuum (and I'm not really a fan of his but this one's superb), Tom Petty - Highway Companion (aptly titled), Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor (best rap album in eons), Johnny Cash - American V, Thom Yorke - The Eraser, UB40 - Who You Fightin' For? (excellent return to form), The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers, Twilight Singers - A Stitch In Time, I'll just stop there... Biggest album disappointments of 2006: Jet - Shine On (loved the first one but this one is good, good, then lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, etc.) Live - Songs from Black Mountain (stop trying so hard to make hits guys, it sucks when you do) Tool - 10,000 Days (for whatever reason, this one just doesn't feel like quality Tool) Eagles of Death Metal - Death by Sexy (the first album remade to sound worse - and I like the first one)
Personally I thought the latest self titled album from Pearl Jam was the best album this year. It had the most intensity of any rock album,in my opinion, with songs such as Life Wasted and World Wide Suicide. They also had a very successful tour where they cemented their rols as one of the best touring bands in the last 20years. It was nice to see Pearl Jam jump back into the spotlight this year with this latest album. Hopefully their next one is just as good
Music
Josh Ritter's "The Animal Years" TV on the Radio's "Return to Cookie Mountain" The Roots' "Game Theory" Silversun Pickups' "Carnavas" The Album Leaf's "Into the Blue" Books "Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer," by James L. Swanson Movies "Babel" "The Departed" "Little Miss Sunshine" "An Inconvenient Truth" "Brick" "Thank You for Smoking" "Hard Candy" "Running Scared"
The Streisand tour! Best thing to happen to 2006!
Oh yay! Someone else who liked "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell"! You have excellent taste in books.
I loved Bob Dylan's Modern Times too...
For books, I loved Donald Trump's, " why we want you to be rich"...
I thought The Who's first album since 1982, Endless Wire, was great. Their tour has also been very successful.
The best, most hilarious social commentary is found at author Linda Sharp's blog called Don't Get Me Started. Check it out and you will find yourself addicted!
http://dontgetmestarted-lindasharp.typepad.com/
For Albums - Ray Lamontagne, Snow Patrol, Pete Yorn, Damien Rice, The soundtrack to The Last Kiss, Keane (completely blew me away), The Decemberists, Amos Lee, Alexi Murdoch
Movies - Little Miss Sunshine is really a favorite...such a great movie
For best book: Without a doubt I would say Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge. There's a simple reason really. His book puts everything into perspective, shockingly so. After I read his book, my personal problems seem so small and insignificant compared to what he talked about in his book. The
people, the animals and the places in war torn countries. But especially the people & animals and their suffering in our own country during and after Katrina. Thank you Anderson for opening our eyes and keeping our eyes open. Best CD of the year...actually I thought there were two....and I'm probably going out on a limb here, but Barry Manilow's Songs of the Fifties and Barry Manilow's Songs of the Sixties both which debuted at #1 and #2 respectively. Well done Barry! Here's one for you also: Best Mini-CD The Eagles. The Mini-CD was attached as a special bonus attachment to their popular Live in Melbourne DVD, only available at WalMart. This was their first release in their exclusive deal with Walmart to sell their upcoming, long awaited, years in the making, album. Three songs, one of which is found on the DVD- "No More Cloudy Days"-a Glenn Frey ballad. Two other tracks on this mini-album- "Fast Company"-a Don Henley driven rocker-which incidentally would be good as a backdrop for the movie "Oceans 13" and "Do Something," - a country rocker sung by Timothy B. Schmidt. Best concert: Again, going out on a limb here...but Manilow. His little mini-tour of several cities this year, while he was still recovering from both hip surgeries was amazing. A true showman indeed. Bravo Barry!
my personal favorite album of the year was from Margot and the nuclear so and so's - it's called The Dust and Retreat. There isn't a single bad track or moment of filler on the album, it's pure indie-pop genius. And they are fantastic live as well!!
Dont know how Marion Rogers excellent bio on H.L.Mencken was looked over. "Mencken; An American Iconoclast" sets bar to a new high point in Menckeniana,well-researched,with a rare understanding of just what a complex man and mega-talent the Sage Of Baltimore truly was.
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