I just sent the following to some friends.
Figured I'd add it to this thread

I tried to keep this to only 10, but I couldn't. But this was a light year for me, since I usually come up with closer to 20.
A few of the albums (Wilco, Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon) took a long time for me warm up to. And I'm still not convinced that In Rainbows is as great as some of the reviewers would have me believe, but I still like it better than most everything else out there.
These are in no real order, but I do think I would group the first five as my "top 5"

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days 100 Nights
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Mitch Easter - Dynamico
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
The High Strung - Get The Guests
The Electric Soft Parade - No Need to be Downhearted
Patti Smith - Twelve
Kings of Leon - Because Of The Times
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
White Stripes - Icky Thump
(honorable mention) I'm Not There soundtrack

The 10 shows I'm listing are in the order they happened. Try as I might, I couldn't find any Coachella performance that moved me as much as any of these individual shows. I don't think I could name my favorite show, but it would be a toss up between Arcade Fire, Wilco, Stevie Wonder, PJ Harvey and Sharon Jones. The biggest surprise was Alice Cooper. I went for Heaven and Hell, but I thought Alice blew them off the stage. Hell, maybe I would name Alice as my #1, if only for the kick-ass performance of Halo of Flies.

Meat Puppets at Troubadour
Arcade Fire at Berkeley Greek (night 2)
Wilco at Berkeley Greek
Stevie Wonder at Greek
Alice Cooper at Verizon Wireless
PJ Harvey at Orpheum
Regina Spektor at Wiltern
Jens Lekman at Troubadour
The B-52's at Roxy
Sharon Jones at El Rey

I would have added Daft Punk, but as amazing as the show was, it was anti-climactic after their Coachella appearance a few years ago. And Patti Smith at the Roxy was also a contender. But the looseness of the show sort of worked against it, since she was playing a lot of songs the band hadn't much performed live. However, her appearance at the Santa Monica pier later in the summer showed the time on the road really helped strengthen the show.

"The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band"-Imperial Teen
"Yours Truly, Angry Mob"-Kaiser Chiefs
"Favourite Worst Nightmare"-Arctic Monkeys
"Kala"-MIA
"Neon Bible"-Arcade Fire
"Send Away the Tigers"-Manic Street Preachers
"New Magnetic Wonder"-Apples in Stereo
"The Quest"-Maddy Prior
"Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever"-The Cribs
"Digital Dynamite"-The Muggies

from the vaults:
"Duets"-Petula Clark
"Atco Sessions"-Lulu
"Stand in the Fire"-Zevon
"Live at the BBC"-Dusty Springfield
the Brit Box
"I'm Not There"-Dylan from the soundtrack

best track:
"Rehab"-Amy Winehouse
"Piece of Me"-Britney

The best 2007 albums for me would be:

Over the Rhine--The Trumpet Child (A sexy sultry jazz record that makes you think, is fun to listen to, and just might be the best album I've heard all year)

Derek Webb--The Ringing Bell (Another thought-provoking challenging album by him that this time has a classic rock vibe to a lot of its songs with some sounding as if they were lifted straight off of the Beatles' Abbey Road)

Modest Mouse--We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (An insanely addictive album that stays in your head days after hearing it)

Billy Ray Cyrus--Home At Last (A beautiful but rocking loving tribute to family. Even his choice of covers are extremely well-done and wonderful to listen to)

Big & Rich--Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace (A wonderful album that has a good mixture of upbeat fun songs and sweeter more gentler songs that show their saint and sinner mentalities)

Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus (A fun sweet poppy collection of songs that are a worthy companion to her first volume from last year)

Carman--Instrument of Praise (One of the most joyous gospel recordings you'll hear all year. So far I've only heard this album once but I can already tell that it's another interesting but solid collection of music by the always dependable Carman)

Caedmon's Call--Overdressed (May not be my personal favorite album of theirs I've heard but is still quite enjoyable and another solid album by this folk-rock Christian group)

Unfortunately there's one album this year I've tried and tried to get into but every time I put it on it bores me rather quickly and I find myself more and more disappointed in it. In my opinion Relient K.'s Five Score and Seven Years Ago album basically stinks and this was the one album I was looking forward to the most this year. In my opinion everything they did to perfection on their previous album Mmhmm they did the exact opposite on this one. Gone is the frenzied upbeat punk-rock sound that always reminded me of Blink-182 or Green Day. In its place is more of a safe generic pop-rock sound that's not nearly as fun to listen to. Also gone are the gut-wrenching challenging lyrics that spoke to me personally and really gave me something to chew on long after the cd was done. Instead we get some of the blandest least challenging lyrics I've ever heard in my life that are truly forgettable once the cd ends. Really the only song that compares favorably to Mmhmm on this entire cd is the final song Deathbed and even that song initially did nothing for me either. Basically Five Score and Seven Years Ago by Relient K. is by far the biggest disappointment in music I've heard all year. . .

Though in my opinion the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden comes dangerously close to surpassing them. In essence I think the first disc is a winner from start to finish with some of the catchiest songs I've ever heard the Eagles play on it. Unfortunately the vast majority of the second disc is utter crap to me. Maybe I just prefer the lighter happier Eagles that I hear on the first disc than the dark moody Eagles I hear on the second disc, but for me outside of maybe one or two songs the whole second disc sounds like a Don Henley solo album not a complete Eagles album with every song sounding like inferior cousins to vastly superior songs Don Henley has already written. I admit that when I first put on the Long Road Out of Eden I was hooked from the get-go and couldn't believe how great of an album this was. That is until I popped in the second disc and was completely underwhelmed by it all. In short the first disc is simply magnificent, but unless I start to hear things differently on the second disc I'll probably never be a fan of this album completely.

okay got one more - perhaps two - making 10...maybe 11.
C Berry - Johnny B Goode (His Complete 50's Chress Recordings)

does the Traveling Wilbury's count? They were out before but this has a couple of extra tracks.

Though I'm still at work on compiling my favorite overall album list of '07, I do have my best surf instrumental album of '07 list:

1. The Surfites Big Pounder
2. The Insanitizers Dark Surf Collection
3. The Thunderchiefs Dig
4. Chum Downtown Beach
5. The 'Verb Reverberated for Your Pleasure
6. The Plungers The Band That Time Forgot
7. The Sidemen Go Too Far!
8. The Vibrants The Exotic Guitar Sounds Of
9. The Volcanics Girls Girls Girls
10. Pavlov's Woody They Came From Beneath The Surf
11. Retroactive Gamma Rays Activate!
12. I Fantomatici Spaghetti Surf
13. The Isotopes Sounds of the Subatomic World
14. The Reverb Syndicate Sputnik A-Go-Go
15. The Nematoads Five Guns West

I didn't know there was such a big contemporary surf scene.

Ok...time for my first post!
I just discovered the site yesterday after looking around and wondering what ever happened to ICE Magazine.

1...Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads...Any other Mott/Ian fans out there? This was fabulous album and I don't see it on any lists so far.
2...Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3...Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
4...Bruce Springsteen - Magic
5...I hate to say it but Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Hey Bill, welcome aboard! Glad you found us!

Plenty of Mott/Hunter fans in the house! In fact, as it happens, while I was reading your post, "All the Young Dudes" was playing on my boombox here at work (it's on the soundtrack to Juno). How's that for synchronicity!

I'm a HUGE Mott fan. I purchased the US bonus edition & the UK bonus pack for Shrunken Heads. I just haven't really connected with it so far, though.

Geff,
Give a couple of listens it will grow on you.
My favorites on it are the title track, When The World Was Round and Soul of America. Enjoy!
Saw him live again this year ...he is holding up well. He's in better shape and rockin more than a lot of guys half his age.

I'd definitely go if he toured my area. I only got to see Mott once (unfortunately with Ariel Bender) & I saw Ian with Mick Ronson on the Yiu i Orta tour which was excellent. I stood 10 feet from Ronson all night.

I don't think I bought 10 new releases in 2007, but I do like:

John Fogerty - Revival
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Eagles - Long Road out of Eden
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full D.E. (well worth it for the bonus tracks, but the whole thing is compressed to hell)

I am getting totally fed up with bright, compressed cd's. Are there any non audiophile recordings left that aren't getting this treatment?

I've been doing some backups with EAC lately; I can't remember the last time I saw a track that wasn't compressed to at least at 96% of clipping.

I'd like to take back everything negative I said about the Eagles a few days ago because I heard the entire album again yesterday and this time I really enjoyed listening to both discs not just the first one. I don't know why I liked the second disc more this time but apparently I was too quick to judge it initially and I'd like to say now I was wrong. Apparently this is one of those albums that's a grower and after only two listens to it I'm already starting to like it more. Unlike the Relient K. one where I've basically given up hope on ever enjoying that one I can see myself enjoying this one for years to come. I just didn't realize it at first is all.

My favorite albums of 2007 (excluding the surf instrumentals I posted above):


1. Keren Ann -Keren Ann
2. White Stripes -Icky Thump[/i]
3. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles -Diamonds in the Dark
4. Locksley -Don't Make Me Wait
5. The Bongolian -A Psychedelic Trip to Outer Bongolia
6. Lucky Soul -Great Unwanted
7. Devil Doll -The Return of Eve
8. Julie Fowlis -Cuilidh
9. Ryan Adams -Easy Tiger
10. The Red Button -She's About To Cross My Mind
11. The Time Flys -Rebels of Babylon
12. Morning Bride -Lea Valley Delta Blues
13. Candie Payne -I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
14. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings -100 Days 100 Nights
15. Richard Hawley -Lady's Bridge
16. Wilco -Sky Blue Sky
17. The Heavy -Great Vengeance & Furious Fire
18. Square Root of Margaret -Teragram Photeur
19. DJ Hidden -The Later After
20. Mark and the Spies -Mark and the Spies

21. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss -Raising Sand
22. Blanche -Little Amber Bottles
23. Monit Mardie -Clocks
24. Future Conditional -We Don't Just Disappear
25. Richmond Fontaine -Thirteen Cities
26. Iron & Wine The Shepherd's Dog[/i]
27. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists -Living with the Living
28. Rockin' Ryan -The Coverup
29. Sarah Shannon -City Morning Song
30. The Bird and the Bee -The Bird and the Bee

31. Jens Lekman -Night Falls Over Kortedala
32. Mary Weiss -Dangerous Game
33. Zulya & The Children Of The Underground -3 Nights
34. Over The Rhine -The Trumpet Child
35. Lack Of Afro -Press On
36. Findlay Brown -Separated by the Sea
37. Irene -Long Gone Since Last Summer
38. Magnolia Electric Company -Sojourner
39. Cherry Ghost -Thirst For Romance
40. Stereo Total -Paris-Berlin

41. Pinki Martini -Hey Eugene
42. The Stems -Heads Up
43. Husky Rescue -Ghost Is Not Real
44. The Brigadier -View From the Bath
45. Antibalas -Security
46. Dave Gleason's Wasted Days -Just Fall to Pieces
47. Stace England & the Salt Kings -Salt Sex Slaves
48. Sylvie Lewis -Translations
49. The Cynics -Here We Are
50. Battles -Mirrored

51. Bettye LaVette -Scene of the Crime
52. The Peaces -Is Are Was Were
53. Julie Dorion -Woke Myself Up
54. The ACB's -The ACB's
55. Rachel Unthank & the Winterset -The Bairns
56. The Afromotive -Scare Tactics
57. The Quantic Soul Orchestra -Tropidelico
58. Truckstop Honeymoon -Diamonds in the Asphalt
59. Holy Fuck -LP
60. The Lolas -Like The Sun

61. Redlands Palomino Company -Take Me Home
62. Or,The Whale -Light Poles and Pines
63. Bluesbox Bayou Band -Rock a'Bayou
64. Huck Notari -Highland
65. PG Six -Slightly Sorry
66. Tunng -Good Arrows
67. Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter -Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul
68. Chico Mann -Manifest Tone Vol. 1
69. Ken Sharp -Sonic Crayons
70. Kendel Carson -Rearview Mirror Tears
71. The Pillbugs -Buzz For Aldrin
72. Paula Frazer -Now It's Time
73. Indigo Moss -Indigo Moss
74. Kentucky Nightmare -Take Her Favor
75. Zeep -Nina Miranda and Chris Franck Present Zeep

I'm really out of touch with new artists. I've only heard 1 cd on your list of 75, & only even heard of 5 of the artists you mention.

I didn't do much better, only recognize 7.

A judement from the panel please:
Radiohead's: "In Rainbows"

Obviously released in 2007 as a download, the copyright for the physical disc is 2008. As a "Collector of physical meadium forum" which year do we recognize? If we go with 2007, then does the physical 2008 count as a "From the Vault"

I got a promo a couple weeks early, so I vote for 2007.

Is that the equivalent of a movie opening at the end of the year only in LA and NY so it can qualify for the Oscars?

On a related note: It does seem that In Rainbows was ineligible for the 2007 Grammys because the rules don't recognize down-load only material. They're gonna have to change that rule.

I say "2007" if you're counting the download or the "Discbox version" (2 CDs plus vinyl available through the band's website), otherwise it's "2008" for the mainstream physical release.