Here we are… another year over. 2017 has
been a pretty crap year for everyone it seems. Personally, it was pretty
challenging but not working retail made it a bit more bearable. Also, the music
was pretty dang good! As usual I’ll be picking five main ones, three honorable
mentions, and then various and sundry.
TOP PICKS OF 2017
Xandria, Theater of Dimensions – It’s too bad Dianne Van Giersbergen
left/got kicked out. It seemed like they’d really found their groove as Theater is probably the best Xandria album
I’ve heard so far. It pretty much dominated the first part of the year.
Cooper, Alice, Paranormal – Like I said, it seems like a pretty by-the-numbers
Coop disc. It features a couple songs written by the original Alice Cooper
band. But despite not risking much it’s such a blast to listen to with good,
fun songs and lots of energy. Isn’t he like… in his 70’s at this point?
Bent Knee, Land Animal – This pretty much came out of nowhere. I’d never
heard of Bent Knee before but they’ve been around a while. Land Animal is their forth album. It’s eclectic and fierce and all
over the map stylistically. If there was one album that was completely different
from anything else I heard this year it was this one.
Paramore, After Laughter – It seems like any time Paramore comes out with
a new album, it ends up on my year-end list. It’s rare to have a band as
consistent as this. Four albums in a row that I’ve loved. That’s a rare feat
and I’m happy to add Paramore’s dour-yet-bubblegum-but-really-sad-also-it’s-the-eighties
album to the list.
Galactic Cowboys, Long Way Back to the Moon – If Bent Knee had the most
challenging album of the year, Galactic Cowboys had the most comfortable. Not
that there’s anything wrong with that. The boys have come back from a seventeen-year
hiatus with a quality album that’s just as good as the stuff from their heyday.
Not that they actually had a heyday, mind you. This was a fantastic way to cap
off the year and I hope this isn’t a one-off reunion.
HONORABLE
MENTIONS
Ayreon, The
Source
Living Colour, Shade
Sons of Apollo, Psychotic Symphony
FAVORITE ALBUM
FROM 2017 THAT TECHNICALLY WON’T BE OUT UNTIL 2018
Deliverance, The Subversive Kind – I was a backer
for this album because Deliverance is one of my favorite bands of all time.
This particular effort was billed as a return to the band’s thrash roots. Boy
howdee is it ever. I think this is probably the band’s heaviest album to date. This
won’t be out for a bit yet but I’ve been grooving on it since October.
FAVORITE ALBUM
FROM 2016 THAT I DIDN’T GET TO HEAR UNTIL 2017
Lady Gaga, Joanne – I’ve had kind of a spotty
relationship with Lady Gaga. Loved The
Fame and The Fame Monster. Hated Born This Way. Liked ARTPOP okay but I didn’t think it was
anything spectacular. Joanne,
however, is brilliant. Gaga has matured significantly for this album and it
shows. The title track is one of the best songs she’s written, period. Now I
heard some great albums from 2016 in the first part of 2017 (Testament, A Tribe
Called Quest, and Flotsam & Jetsam spring to mind) but Joanne was the one that really stuck with me. Especially since the
more melancholy vibe of the album kind of fit with what I was going through
with my father dying in February.
FAVORITE REISSUE
OF 2017
Fear Not, Fear Not – I haven’t reviewed this
one yet but it’s a pretty easy pick. Fear Not was a commercial Christian hard
rock band that missed the big time by about two years. This debut came out just
as alternative and grunge was altering the music landscape. It’s unfortunate
because this reissue proves just how great this album is. Everything clicks,
from the guitar tone to the production to the songs themselves. The cover art
is also a bit more befitting a rock band as well.
FAVORITE RANDOM
ALBUM I HATED FROM MY YOUTH BUT GREW TO LOVE IN 2017
P.I.D., The Chosen Ones – I liked Back to Back waaaaay back in the day and
I bought The Chosen Ones this year
because I wanted to hear some old school Christian rap that I hadn’t already
heard a million times. I remember that I didn’t like this when I bought it
originally but I couldn’t tell you why. This time, however, I got it. Whatever “it”
is. Of all the old Christian rap I got this year, this one rose to the top of
the heap as one I wanted to listen to again and again. I also really liked No Room 2 Breathe by Dynamic Twins but
this year was the first I’d ever heard it.
ALBUMS I’M LOOKING
FORWARD TO IN 2018
Ty Tabor, Alien Beans
Eraserhead, Eraserhead
And there you have it! What were some of
your favorite albums from this year?
Nice list! I can't argue with you on the Alice Cooper and Galactic Cowboys albums. I didn't hear too many new (2017) albums that rocked my boat but am fully enjoying the debut Sixpence None the Richer album, thanks to you, as well as Chicago II. I also rediscovered Super Furry Animals via their album "Radiator" and wonder why I never dug into their back catalog. One of the most suprisingly enjoyable albums is "The Thunderthief" by Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. It's all over the place with most of the songs being amazingly inventive and some that I skip over. The most disappointing album was the long-awaited "Undestroyed" by Free Salamander Exhibit, formed of 3/5ths of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. I dunno... Carla brought discipline and melodic reinforcement that her former bandmates need.
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