40. The Killers - Day & Age
39. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
38. Taylor Swift - Fearless
37. Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
36. ****ed Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
35. Walkmen - You & Me
34 T.I. - Paper Trail
33 Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
32. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
31. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
30. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
29. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology
28. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
27. Metallica - Death Magnetic
26. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
25. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
24. The Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind
23. Sons and Daughters - This Gift
22. Black Milk - Tronic
21. Portishead - Third
20. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
19. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
18. Santogold - Santogold
17. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
16. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
15. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
14. Young Jeezy - The Recession
13. Beck - Modern Guilt
12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
11. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
10. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
09. Al Green - Lay It Down
08. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
07. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
06. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
05. She & Him - Volume One
04. The Roots - Rising Down
03. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
02. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
01. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
"Me and my friends are like the drums on 'Lust For Life'".
And with that line begins the best album of 2008. I got into The Hold Steady fairly late in the game, as I mentioned on my 2006 Year End that I just heard Boys And Girls In America and was blown away. From that mention on I became a huge fan of The Hold Steady, and was awaiting what they had up next.
What they had up next was Stay Positive, a triumph in every way. Stay Positive improves on their previous sound with the group trying new things musically. Lead singer Craig Finn took singing lessons, and he actually sings for some of it! The best song on the album, and one of the very best songs of the year "Lord, I'm Discouraged" is a heart breaking tale, and it's probably Craig Finn's best vocal performance to date.
The highlight of the song is when Finn says "This guy from the north side comes down to visit. His visits, they only take five or six minutes" which then immediately following is this INSANE guitar solo that sounds like Slash in "November Rain" that just destroys. It was an amazing song before that, and once that happens it becomes one of the best of the year.
With Stay Positive The Hold Steady cement their status as the best band in the world. Sure, I love WIlco, The Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, TV On The Radio, and many others on this list, but The Hold Steady top them all. This album could have easily been a victory lap after the success of Boys and Girls In America, but instead it becomes an album that just might even be better. We gotta stay positive.
Best Songs:
01. Lord, I'm Discouraged
02. Constructive Summer
03. Stay Positive
well, that's it! It was a fun time as always, and I apologize for all of the delays this year-end had over the past few weeks. At points I was crazy busy, but I managed to pull it all together in the end.
Once again, a huge thanks to everyone who commented. I really do appreciate them all. Hope to see you guys next year as 09 is shaping up to be even better then 08. See you then!