what’s on my mind grapes?

I finally missed a self-imposed blogging deadline, and consequently, the Space Awards will extend into the new year. I wanted to include 15 albums, but I simply couldn’t justify spending the time on many more albums (and after looking at some other year-end lists, I concluded that LCD Soundsystem being “great” underscores how weak the music industry is these days). The most notable fringe candidate was Kelly Clarkson’s My December, which was aurally pleasing and catchy, yet too overproduced and ultimately unremarkable to merit… well, remarks.

2007 Space Awards ~ Albums of The Year: Part I

12. Grindhouse: Planet Terror: I’m surprising myself by including a soundtrack on this list, but it was simply better than any unlisted album I listened to this year. Robert Rodriguez’s compositions are strongly reminiscent of John Carpenter’s work on films like Halloween and Escape From New York, and it’s fair to say that they were essential to perfecting the tone of Rodriguez’s masterpiece homage to bad sci-fi/zombie/exploitation films.
11. Patti Smith – Twelve: When I look at the tracks I really love here, it becomes apparent that Smith didn’t really contribute as much artistically as she could have; I only really enjoyed the covers of songs I already liked, and the fact that her “White Rabbit” didn’t impress may suggest that I only found some of the covers notable because the originals were by male artists (whereas Patti Smith taking the place of Grace Slick is pretty pointless). Still, the album features covers that rival the original versions of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” and Bob Dylan’s “Changing of the Guards.”
10. Neil Young – Chrome Dreams II: I’ll confess that it’s hard to give Chrome Dreams II the same sort of review as the other albums. While tracks like “Dirty Old Man” and “Spirit Road” fit well in my paradigm for good music, half of the album’s running time is comprised of two songs, running 14 and 18 minutes each. “No Hidden Path” and “Ordinary People,” respectively, are enjoyable pieces of music, but their length combined with the sparse lyrics means they’ll never really be “favorites” for me. As much as I love album-oriented artists, I tend to prefer songs that could make good singles, even if they don’t get such attention. I can’t really be a big Pink Floyd fan for this reason, and it keeps Young’s otherwise fine work from moving any higher.
9. The White Stripes – Icky Thump: I wasn’t a big fan of Get Behind Me Satan, but the band rebounded into my favorites with an album that more consistently stuck with the stripped-down rock roots of the band. Where Icky Thump departs from its Led Zeppelin-esque sound, it does so in much more pleasing fashion than the band’s preceding album; “St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)” and “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn” feature bagpipes, which automatically makes them, along with the title track, among my favorite songs.