Mojo's Best Of 2007 List Finds Gold In In Rainbows
Folks didn't entirely take kindly to Q's Neon Bible-worshipping list, but a lot of the complaints weren't the mag's fault: Keep in mind, folks, some albums have different release dates in the UK. (That said, the list was pretty shit.) Caveat aside, let's look at the top fiddy of another British mag, Mojo, and see what they have say. It's an adventurous list, for sure: We're happy to see Pissed Jeans up there (maybe they can finally quit their jobs), and Voice of the Seven Woods, and Matthew Dear. But, oh, Yoko?
50 Alasdair Roberts - The Amber Gatherers
49 Voice of the Seven Woods - Voice of the Seven Woods
48 Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation
47 Edwyn Collins - Home Again
46 Kevin Ayers - The Unfairground
45 Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
44 Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
43 Interpol - Our Love to Admire
42 Gravenhurst - The Western Lands
41 Amiina - Kurr
40 Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm a Witch
39 Battles - Mirrored
38 The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse
37 Edgar Jones and The Joneses - Gettin' a Little Help
36 Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life
35 Bettye LaVette - The Scene of the Crime
34 Willy Mason - If the Ocean Gets Rough
33 Seasick Steve - Dog House Music
32 Panda Bear - Person Pitch
31 Gruff Rhys - Candylion
30 Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
29 Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
28 The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
27 Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart
26 Pissed Jeans - Hope for Men
25 Joni Mitchell - ShineSo Panda Bear but no Strawberry Jam? Or Liars. And Beirut was blanked. Bet über Condon fan Ron Wood gives 'em hell. We've got your back, Ronnie.
24 Björk - Volta
23 Efterklang - Parades
22 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
21 Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
20 Nick Lowe - At My Age
19 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
18 Grinderman - Grinderman
17 Field Music - Tones of Town
16 Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
15 Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
14 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
13 Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
12 The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
11 Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
10 Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
09 Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
08 PJ Harvey - White Chalk
07 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
06 The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
05 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
04 Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
03 Bruce Springsteen - Magic
02 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
01 Radiohead - In Rainbows
Posted at 11:43 AM in Year-End List
Tags: Radiohead
this is the first list ive seen without boxer.
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Guessing The National aren't very big over there, pretty baffling that that album isn't top 5 on every end of year list. Doesn't even make top 50 here.
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didn't The Hold Steady album come out in 2006?
and where the hell is SUNSET RUBDOWN and ANIMAL COLLECTIVE?
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I'm still confused as to why everyone had a raging hard-on for Patrick Wolf at the beginning of the year, and yet now he's not on any lists.
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I'm a really big Bright Eyes fan but I'm still surprised Cassadaga is getting as much love as its getting on these lists. I thought it was pretty average.
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What's with the Springsteen album showing up very high up on several of these lists? I like the Boss a lot-- but found this to be a little boring and paint-by-numbers Springsteen. Kinda like the last U2 album in some ways.
Just asking...
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No Okkervil River? How can that be possible?
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I don't respond to posts with lists that don't have Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on them.
Wait...d'oh!
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I like it. First mag with the balls to put "In Rainbows" up top.
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Balls? More like gall...
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where's bloc party on these lists
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first list I've seen to have left out Kala. what a crock of shit.
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Anyone get the impression that with a lot of these lists they get to a point where they say "ok, what other records came out this year?" and then just list those records regardless of whether they really enjoyed them or not?
I read some of these lists and they seem like "here's 50 records that came out this year" rather than "these are the 50 BEST records"
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I hope this is the last list that overrates In Rainbows as much as the fans have. Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good album, def top ten-ish. but c'mon.
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I understand that most people didn't like the menomnena album as much as me, but still not even top 50 on any of these lists!!?!?
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This list could be improved by a nice dose of Feist.
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How many actual music fans' dads had to be consulted to make this list? I'm guessing a dozen (Dads, that is, since it looks like you could only get music news from Time magazine and make this list.) 07 was such a great year but you wouldn't know it from reading the British press.
Also, James wins the coveted That Guy award for being the guy on this particular UK-Year-End List Thread who is too fucking dumb to infer that, since Hold Steady is on a 2007 list for a British magazine, their record must have officially come out in 2007 over there. I hope my life never relies on you or any of the other dumbfucks who feel the need to post about this putting 2 and 2 together. In fact, if you have this difficult a time figuring out something so simple, please don't vote either.
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Nice to see Field Music getting some love. Really underrated album for some reason.
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The White Stripes better than Wilco? I find that pretty hard to believe...
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Oops, I think a sub-editor obviously has posted the list wrong. The second half of the list should be the first, and vice-versa. Er, I mean, numbers 1 to 25 should actually be deleted. C'mon, Mojo, I thought you were the last outpost of sanity (and taste) in Blighty...
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good list, except no spoon and bruce in the top 5?
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i don't get the complaints people have with 'in rainbows' being crowned album of the year. first of all, even these dissenters still seem to acknowledge it as a prime release of the year to a certain extent. secondly, no other releases this year had this magnitude of people as anxiously synchronized, waking up at 6am on 10/10 to open that email with the download link. (the repeated comment that littered blogs, 'today feels like christmas morning' comes to mind.)
granted, yes, there was not a traditional leak and we were all surprised at the announcement of the release 10 days prior, but what other release can you remember in your lifetime (mine being a measly 24 years admittedly, but on par i imagine with the generation to which the average stereogum reader belongs) uniting a generation of listeners in a similar fashion?
without going into too great of length to present my defense, i will just sum up it's take-home message in one (long) statement: given the baseline, near-universal acceptance of the album's notable quality, doesn't the impact it had on the music community (bringing to popular eye questions of a record label's role in a release, having to exercise patience to hear an album in today's digital age and hazy 'release dates', play-by-play reporting of webcasts 'on a friday' night, ridiculous number theories) clearly put it above and beyond any other release?
don't get me wrong, i probably listened to spoon and the birdman much more this year, but i'll put their names a few spots behind radiohead on my own personal list when i think in a cumulative manner.
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Q: Whats the only band to have been in the Top 15 of every listed so far posted?
A: The White Stripes
Q: What does that mean?
A: Nothing really....Icky Thump did rock pretty hard though.
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I like that they had the guts to put In Rainbows at number 1. I'd agree with that choice.
The thing that continues to confuse me in these lists, however, is why Person Pitch seems to be lower down on the lists. I can understand if it doesn't make the list at all - that's just a case of overlooking a somewhat obscure album. But I just don't understand how a reviewer who has heard it can place it behind albums like Icky Thump, Sky Blue Sky, Cassadaga, Wincing the Night Away, Neon Bible, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with those albums - some of them are very good - but they're hardly as stunning as Person Pitch.
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Icky Thump blows. I don't understand the fascination with this hilariously average band. I could write that album in five minutes. It's so uninteresting. Same can be said for their past couple of albums. They all sound identical. I honestly can't tell them apart.
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Where the hell is Spoon? And Feist?
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very cool to see gravenhurst get the attention it deserves. and perfect with In Rainbows at number one.
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did hissing fauna not come out in britain this year? i find that hard to believe, but harder to believe that it's not getting any mention in any of these god forsaken end of the year lists...
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Good to see Willy Mason getting some love.
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"Icky Thump blows. I don't understand the fascination with this hilariously average band. I could write that album in five minutes. It's so uninteresting. Same can be said for their past couple of albums. They all sound identical. I honestly can't tell them apart."
If you think get behind me satan sounds anything like icky thump, you're an idiot. and icky thump is great.
I HONESTLY can tell you're a douchebag.
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Wow, Arctic Monkeys in the Top 5, and The National can't even make the top 50. Something is wrong here.
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i'm kind of surprised The Field hasn't made more of a showing on these list. The LP was #1 on metacritic for most of the year (now #3)
Also, whats up with the UK and Kings of Leon (#10), nobody in the US (including me) seems to take them very seriously.
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First, I’d like to support SuperUnison in his reproach of James – not only could he have worked out the release date discrepancy on his own but he also could have simply read the preamble to the list which clearly states that different countries have different release dates.
To innercityblues: I haven’t yet bothered to download the new Radiohead album nor have I even taken the time to really have a listen to any individual tracks. Granted, that’s mostly just laziness and general apathy on my part and I may even still attempt to cop the freebie before next week’s cutoff date. The point is, not everyone gets a raging boner every time Thom Yorke et al deign to grace us with their musical output.
Also, the use of phrases like “uniting a generation of listeners” and “near-universal acceptance of the album’s notable quality” is the kind of thing that tends to overshadow the music and perpetuate the notion of the band and it’s fans as complete wankers.
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JUSTICE didnt make it on the list? thats crazy! they definitely deserve to be in the top five!
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It'd be nice if people here would understand that, as Mojo is a British magazine, and a decidedly rock-oriented one at that, there are bands from the UK who mean more over there than they do here, and vice versa. Best example is Arctic Monkeys, who are still a big deal in England, and haven't really hit over here. On the other hand, a US band like Spoon means next to nothing in England...they've had little if any success there. Whereas the White Stripes, who rate highly, are still a big success in England. And so on...so, please don't feel so badly when these Pitchfork-approved indie bands, like Menomena or Animal Collective, who mean less than nothing in Britain, don't get added to these randomly generated lists. You really don't need to have your tastes validated by perfect strangers.
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I think the guy who somehow can't tell the Stripes albums apart is the same one who referred to them as having Down Syndrome. So ... yep, douchebag.
Also, Grinderman? Are you kidding me? They suck hard.
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How can you rank Person Pitch but then completely neglect Strawberry Jam?
LOL at the lack of Patrick Wolf and Dan Deacon. Fuck both of them, it's about time all the hipsters who love taking pictures of themselves at concerts and parties woke up and and realized both of those artists are retarded.
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Ok kids. First of all, I never said anything about the stripes having Down Syndrome. You have me mixed up with someone else who doesn't drink the Stripes kool-aid.
That being said, yeah GBMS sounds different than Icky Thump. Sort of. It's slower, it has some different instruments, yada yada, but it's still basic, uninspired, uninteresting music masquerading as something original and clever because it is recorded on vintage equipment and created by Jack and Meg.
To be honest, the first few stripes albums are good. Like really good. The thing is, they never got any better. They just continue to put out the same songs. Yeah, some are on piano, some are more country, etc., but ultimately, they are all the same song. I'll give credit where credit is due, but I simply do not understand the praise this band gets. There is such an abundance of better music out there.
Also, since I don't like the Stripes I'm a douchebag. Really? Brilliant. Kudos. You win.
I just know people on this blog have a desire to find and hear great, interesting, inspired new music. Then people continue to like the Stripes regardless of what they release. Their past 3 albums have all been very very uninteresting, and very very similar. They all have about 2 or 3 redeeming songs, and a lot of very homogeneous filler.
I'm clearly in the minority, and I have nothing against the band. I think they are doing it right and am happy for them to be successful. I just don't understand their level of success given their past couple of releases. I have been disappointed in them yet everyone continues to praise them. That's all. Now go ahead and call me some names.
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to SP: i realize that my verbage may have been a bit 'over-the-top' upon re-reading, so i apologize for that. i was in reality trying to make a logical argument (not reactionary), but i guess it may not have come across that way.
what i was trying to convey is that even if you personally did not like a single song on the album (or could care less about its existence), the _amount_ and _breadth_ of activity/discussion it spawned would scale its impact as a strong candidate for a no. 1 ranking. sure it may not be at the top of your personal list, but my original statement was that i didn't understand how other people could not understand and/or complain about its placement there by others.
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None of these lists has had my fave album in them, Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink.
And I've noticed that these lists either have Panda Bear or Animal Collective, but not both.
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Not sure how valid the list is that doesn't have the National near the top and really Great Lake Swimmers "Ongiara" and perhaps even F&M's "Let every light shine" or even Sunset Rubdown should have at least MADE this list... Then again there are a tonne of other great albums on there
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How have i not seen Spirit If... on any of these top 50 lists?
I mean, i wouldn't call it a top 10 or anything. But i'd be satisfied to see it at least #49 somewhere. We can sacrifice Bright Eyes and Yoko Ono. I mean, come on.
And Person Pitch being anything less than #20 is blasphemous.
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*greater
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Nice! Bodies of Water is also in my "Best of '07" .
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Sean Jean:
I won't call you any names if thats what you want. Anyway, I think you're problem is that you subscribe to the same rule many people follow which is that if the new album isn't better than the previous releases, then it sucks. People continue to see them live and praise them because even if their new album isn't as good, they are still fucking fantastic live. The WS are one of those bands where even their new album isn't as good as the older ones, its still better than most of the shit being put out. And don't blame them for their success. If more people pay attention to them right now than a lot of the indie bands mentioned on this site, its because they broke out earlier with bigger hits.
And I don't think people on this site want "interesting, inspired new music" I think they want cool unknown bands no one knows about yet so they can claim they heard them first. Mainstream stuff like The WS just aren't tolerated on this site. Unless they only had one album right now
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To innnercityblues: you seem like a nice kid and I certainly wouldn't want to discourage you from your obvious enthusiasm for music in general and Radiohead in particular.
However, I'm going to have to insist that just because something is discussed a lot does not necessarily make it “good” or “worthy”. See celebutants, High School Musical and the resurgent Osmond clan for (admittedly extreme) examples of such phenomena. I think there are many people who feel that way about Radiohead.
BTW you might be happy to hear (or, maybe you could give a rat’s ass) that I finally got around to downloading In Rainbows last night and have successfully listened to all of track 1 and a full 15 seconds of track 2. Obviously, no verdict as of yet.
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SP you took the words out of my mouth. I used to like Radiohead and appreciated their music, but by now I feel like I could really care less because everyone acts like they invented music or something. People's attitude seems to be that as long as RH does it, its alright or they never compromise their integrity even though they signed to one the biggest record labels ever.
And for the record it doesn't take balls to put RH at #1. It takes balls to realize the new album is really like all the rest. Just with a new title.
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WHAT ABOUT ALBERT HAMMOND JR.?
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to SP: yeah, i realized the weakness in my 'reasoning' post-post. if an album was evaluated on 'hype' then britney should be on the lists. i retract my defense and return to my initial stance that these lists mean shit.
btw, i just realized that i haven't seen eluvium on any of these. that's a shame.
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How does Jess Klein get a 5 star review from Mojo for "City Garden", but not make the Top 50 of the year..
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No Of Montreal? They didn't get a release there?
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> innercityblues
Too right, my friend. Too right.
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I was referreing to this comment:
"these lists mean shit"
Not sure what happened there.
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haha they put YOKO on their list!!!! cute inside joke guys...cuuute, (BA DUM DUM)
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ok we all see it different......but THE NATIONAL 'boxer' = easy quality album of the year & indeed the last 5-10 years......listen to it !
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missing wooden wand--best album of the year!
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