EW's critic ranks Bon Iver, MGMT and Santogold among the year's best. Plus: Her list of the five worst albums of the past 12 months....Leah Greenblatt's Picks.


WORST TOP 5!
5. SHINE THROUGH IT by Terrence Howard

Hustle & Flow? Loved him. Iron Man? Can't get enough. As an actor, Howard is reliably excellent, but musically, he makes Eddie Mur*phy sound like a maestro. Then again, maybe couplets like ''Just make me beauti*ful/Mother nature's running down the seamen [semen? cement?]'' are some kind of far-out dadaist art. In that case, bravo!

4. IDENTIFIED by Vanessa Hudgens

While her 2006 debut had its tween-friendly (and guilty-adult) charms, the High School Musical star's less-than-lightweight vocals can't support the seriously lackluster material here, and choosing perhaps the album's worst song, ''Sneakernight,'' as the lead single didn't exactly leave Ashley Tisdale shaking in her ankle boots.


3. SHWAYZE by Shwayze

Booby-obsessed Malibu rap-rock + stoned Sugar Ray revivalism = oh, shut up.


2. ROCKFERRY by Duffy

While the Welsh song*stress is blessed with a lovely voice, there are no lights on in this (Wine)house. Amy's break*through album felt grubby and honest and true, but Duffy's seems strangely blank; she comes off like a pretty doll propped up by opportunistic industry shills — shills too rushed to craft songs worthy of her vocal talents.



1. DISCIPLINE by Janet Jackson

Dammit, Janet! Once you held a Rhythm Nation rapt. Today, not even Tito would touch this messy pupu platter of tired come-ons, recycled beats, and nonevent choruses. We really do want to ''Rock Witchu,'' but it's kind of hard when you're bust*ing out Flowers in the Attic lines like ''Daddy I want you to take your time (I'm scared)/My heart is beating fast/Shiver as you grab my neck/Baby, blindfold me Daddy.''








BEST TOP 10!

10. MED SUD I EYRUM VID SPILUM ENDALAUST

Over the course of five studio al*bums, these otherworldly Icelanders have perfected the art of conjuring frosty, reverb-drenched sound*scapes. Perhaps that's what makes Meo's opener, ''Gobbledigook,'' such a straight-up stunner: The sun-warmed acoustic frolic instantly sweeps away years of arctic chill, even as subse*quent songs cleave to a more classic Sigur spookiness. It doesn't even matter that the album is sung, as al*ways, in umlaut-drenched Icelandic; it could be Esperanto and lose none of its loveliness.



9. THA CARTER III by Lil Wayne

This Lil rapper sold a whole lot of records in 2008 — and compromised almost none of his seriously out-there sensibility to get there. For every near-normal radio jam (''Got Money,'' ''Mrs. Officer''), the 26-year-old New Orleans native unleashes some dare*deviling Evel Knievel tongue boggles to remind listeners just how singular his talent is.

8. FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO by Bon Iver

If a sad folkie sings in the woods, does it make a sound? At first, only just. But fans and critics came around to Justin Vernon's initially self-released debut, recorded in a re*mote northern Wisconsin cabin over three subzero months (the Iver name is a variation on the French phrase for ''good winter''). Sprung from a series of unfortunate events — ill*ness, a band breakup, and the end of a relationship — Emma offers up the undiluted purging of one man's broken-but-mending heart, and the songs, built on a deceptively simple framework of overdubbed vocals and acoustic guitar, are both tender and raw.

7. ORACULAR SPECTACULAR by MGMT

To the derision of indie purists — and the delight of Urban Outfitters man*agers everywhere — this New York-based duo unleashed a debut album of obscenely catchy hits, hidden under the sneaky guise of poncho-draped prog-rock and squiggly psych-boogie. Admittedly, the band's headband aesthetic can be off-putting at first, but the music is just too much freaking fun to care. Plus, after years of black-Converse conformity, a little peacocking is actually welcome, and we don't just mean the fashion: Dare to download songs like ''Electric Feel,'' ''Kids,'' ''The Youth,'' or ''Time to Pretend'' (or YouTube their atten*dant Technicolor-dreamcoat videos) and disagree.

6. VIVA LA VIDA by Coldplay

Go ahead, surrender. To the swelling strings, the sweeping piano runs, the sheer tsunami of feelings emanating from Chris Martin and his not-so-merry men. While detractors have long dismissed the band as croony Radiohead-come-latelies, this mag*isterial beauty, co-produced by Brian Eno, finally forges a singular identity. Viva is perhaps their greatest achievement yet: a sumptuous, fearlessly grand sonic experiment.

5. NEW AMERYKAH PT. ONE (4TH WORLD WAR) by Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu is a loopy lady; you al*most need a passport to get where she's at musically. But from its first notes, the R&B songbird's third full-length blazes, fueled by Stax-style soul, superbad funk, and her own indefinable brand of mystic-priestess musical voodoo. And though she could sing an IKEA assembly man*ual in her smoked-honey voice and make it memorable, the album is, beneath its swirly-twirly shenani*gans, intensely focused on politics. Even as she falls off in the second half, the Amerykahn splendor of early tracks like ''The Healer'' and ''My People'' lingers—and so does the message.

4. ROBYN by Robyn

An adorable blond pixie who bleach*es her eyebrows white, worships the Wu-Tang Clan, and covers Prince's ''J--- U Off'' in a voice that sounds like a Smurf on poppers? Sweden doesn't make its pop stars quite like we do. Gone is the demure teen who hit the U.S. top 10 in the late '90s with hits like ''Show Me Love''; in her place is an autonomous, thrill*ingly eccentric dance diva capable of both wrenching techno ballads — yes, Virginia, it's possible! — and saucy, whip-smart kiss-offs.

3. SANTOGOLD by Santogold

It's too easy to compare Philadelphia-bred Santi White, a.k.a. Santogold, with Sri Lankan Brit M.I.A. Yes, they're both female artists with a bent for global beats, agit-punk, and underground hip-hop. But the debut from the thirtysomething White — who spent years toiling behind the music-industry scenes — is, song for song, more realized, and more genu*inely musical, than M.I.A.'s Kala. ''L.E.S. Artistes'' is perhaps the best downtown anthem Karen O never wrote, ''You'll Find a Way'' and ''Say Aha'' are straight-up house-party pogo, and the swoony ''Lights Out'' is destined for the basement make*out session after.


2. I AM...SASHA FIERCE by Beyoncé

Any superstar worth her spangles knows that pop music is all about capturing a Big Moment. But after a decade on the world stage, Ms. Knowles has also learned how to plant a seed and let it grow — or in this case, two seeds: the ballad-focused Beyoncé, and her dance-floor-boss-lady alter ego Sasha Fierce. Simultaneous singles ''If I Were a Boy'' and ''Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)'' are undoubtedly album highlights; still, the surprise here is how consistently satisfying the rest of it is — even the less showy tracks blossom on repeated listening.

1. DEAR SCIENCE by TV on the Radio

Five years, three studio albums, and multiple EPs in, it remains nearly impossible to pin down the sound of this joyfully discursive Brooklyn quintet. But Science is, in the best sense, art — the band's swirling eddy of broken-down doo-wop, shivery post-punk, funk, and rock feels like a bridge from the past to a sonic future the rest of us just haven't caught up to yet. And even as the album's moods shift dramatically, from the überfunky ''Dancing Choose'' to the hazy, mournful ''Family Tree,'' the band's commitment to inspired storytell*ing never flags. In the end, when Tunde Adebimpe and co-vocalist Kyp Malone sing of a ''Golden Age''—''the age of mir*acles, the age of sound'' — it sounds less like wishful thinking than a promise.



THOUGHTS??

I will Posted Chris Willman's Picks.

'Identified' & 'Discipline' did not deserve to be on the worst list.

the beyonce crapola's gotta stop!

I disagree with Rockferry in Worst Top 5...

Rockferry is amazing!!!

^Obviously!

@ rockferry being in worst top 5.
deffinitely not deserved.

and their best top 10 is so terrible.

These are Chris Willman's Picks....The Other Critics For EW!

WORST TOP 5!

5. DOLL DOMINATION by Pussycat Dolls

Was there any pop culture franchise whose sudden downfall in 2008 was mourned less? If you're look*ing for the nadir of recorded music this year, it's likely the moment in ''Bottle Pop'' when guest Snoop Dogg — not trusting the Dolls' target audience of 15-year-olds to get all the painfully ob*vious double entendres that have preced*ed — finally blurts, ''Is it true that you get wet?''


4. PRETTY. ODD. by Panic at the Disco

With their well-intentioned but feeble attempt to recast themselves as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, these emo emeriti found out what lonely-heartedness really was, once the record hit store shelves.


3. MAMMA MIA! Soundtrack

A great canon of 20th-century song, reduced to bad SAG karaoke by a cast of not-quite-super troupers. It somehow only made it worse that original ABBA genius Benny Andersson co-produced these cover tunes, sung by the likes of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan: That's like God producing an audiobook read*ing of the Bible by Don Knotts.


2. CHINESE DEMOCRACY by Guns N' Roses

Not the ''worst'' album of the year, but, pound for overworked pound, the most disappointing. Isolate any 10 seconds of music and you might imagine the record's decade-and-a-half making had been worth it...yet none of Axl's listen*able bits and pieces ever add up to a coherent song.


1. ANYWHERE I LAY MY HEAD by Scarlett Johansson

Hold on—TV on the Radio member Dave Sitek was also responsible for some of the year's lamest music, having produced Johansson's vanity project. Whatever the antonym for ''deeply felt'' is, it applies to this figuratively and literally monotonal set of loboto*mized Tom Waits covers.









BEST TOP 10!

10. DEAR SCIENCE by TV on the Radio

Brian Eno co-produced Coldplay's album, but you might guess he'd worked with TVOTR instead. Their third album recalls Talking Heads' Eno-produced Remain in Light, and its impressionist lyrics hint at life during wartime. Singer Tunde Adebimpe decries ''the lazy way they turned your head/Into a rest stop for the dead,'' but by ''Golden Age,'' fatal complacencies have given way to ''the sun spittin' happiness into the hereafter.'' It's geek-rock heaven.



9. DETOURS by Sheryl Crow

In the year's most underrated album by any marquee name, Crow splits the difference between the public apoca*lypse of war-and-peace anthems and the private apocalypse of cancer-and-breakup tunes. The themes get heavy, but Crow's reunion with producer Bill Bottrell finds playfulness in arrange*ments that pay homage to everyone from Plastic Ono Band-era Lennon to ELO's quasi-R&B period.



8. A LITTLE BIT LONGER by Jonas Brothers

Scoff if you must, ye of legal drinking age, but the Jonases' third album is a guilt-free power-pop gem. A first-rate single like ''Pushin' Me Away'' wouldn't be entirely out of place on either a 1960s garage-rock compila*tion or a late-'70s new-wave retro*spective, and ''Shelf'' suggests top-drawer Cheap Trick. Imagine how good these bros might be in three years, when their chief song*writer is old enough to vote.


7. VIVA LA VIDA by Coldplay

Half the things their detractors say are kinda true, including the ill-advisedness of rock bands wearing uniforms, and a pressing need for Chris Martin to take some ludes be*fore his next TV performance. But never mind all that: Viva was the tour de force that finally complemented Coldplay's trademark grandeur with some serious musical eclecticism and delicious dynamic tension. And that's something to jump around about.

6. CALL ME CRAZY by Lee Ann Womack

In country music, sadness is often couched in either sentimentality or sardonicism. But real heartbreak? For that, this year, you had to look to Womack, who released an album that pretty much eschewed anything up*beat or uptempo in favor of a tuneful woefulness worthy of George Jones.

5. THE RENAISSANCE by Q-Tip

Q-Tip's sophomore solo effort feels like a perfect summer album. Never mind that it came out in November; after a frustrating nine-year hiatus since his last CD, you're not going to complain about further peculiarities of timing, are you? ''We Fight/We Love'' parallels fighting in Iraq with lovers squabbling back home, but bursts of topicality didn't stand in the way of this being the most high-spirited hip-hop album of the year.


4. MUDCRUTCH by Mudcrutch

The best Tom Petty record since Full Moon Fever. The singer reconvened his old Florida group after a three-decade layoff, and their country-tinged reunion CD resembles a great, lost Flying Burrito Brothers LP—when it doesn't just sound like a first-rank Heartbreakers project. Hearing Petty belt out ''My love's an ocean — you better not cross it,'' you knew you were getting a statement of purpose as strong as ''I Won't Back Down.''


3. TELL TALE SIGNS: BOOTLEG SERIES NO. 8 by Bob Dylan

On the most obvious level, this set is a loose collection of outtakes and rarities from the last 20 years of Dylan's career. But if you imagine the sprawl was all conceived as being of a piece, you can also approach Tell Tale Signs as a sin*gular and original epic of spirited, croaky Americana.


2. ROBYN by Robyn

Every track from the Wite-Out-haired Swedish vixen combined a brilliant hook with startlingly honest emotion, adding up to the year's one true pop masterpiece. Certainly no other al*bum beat-reliant enough to have been nominated for a Best Electronic/Dance Grammy this year will have you crying under the disco lights.


1. STAY POSITIVE by The Hold Steady

''Classic rock'' and ''indie rock'' usu*ally stick to their respective corners, but the Hold Steady never got that memo. Sans vocals, you might mis*take them for the E Street Band rum*bling with Hüsker Dü, and their fourth album stretches to invoke Bowie, Zep*pelin, even Richie Sambora. The only thing standing between them and an arena full of Bic lighters might be idio*syncratic frontman Craig Finn, who passionately spits out songs about substance abuse, sex, murder, class differences, and growing old grace*lessly — all with the narrative drive and character mystery of great short stories. If you could use a booster shot to stay positive about the state of rock & roll going into 2008, there's none better than this glorious, funny, sad, and altogether rousing album.

I know! WTF?
Especially Identified

This should have been #1 On the Worst Album List

iDENTIFIED WAS A SOLID ALBUM

MGMT

I knew it, pcd's Bottle Pop was about the girl's ***** getting wet.

Of course it was.

LMAO These lists are just so wrong in so many ways

Identified, Rockferry & Discipline are in the worst top 5? What a great taste

Swap Duffy for Beyonce. How dare they put Duffy #2 Worst?!

For someone who doesn't like Beyonce, U have her on the brain 24/7..Its sad & Pathetic

Discipline being the #1 WORST cd of 08. LMFAO.

Now I know someone was drunk when they formulated that list.