Top40: The Best of 2009

Top40-Charts presents the 40 best albums of 2009

21. Wilco - Wilco
Wilco's seventh disc, Wilco (the album), took shape quickly in January '09 after the band traveled to Auckland, New Zealand to participate in an Oxfam International benefit project. The band began cutting tracks for the new album, producing it themselves with the help of engineer Jim Scott. The sextet completed the disc at its Chicago studio and performed some of the new material in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; where the Times-Picayune praised the band's 'thrilling, nuanced set.'
Talking to a Rolling Stone reporter, drummer Glenn Kotche calls it 'a great, upbeat song professing our love for our fans.' That said, Tweedy's lyrics remain frank and fascinating; Rolling Stone calls them
'Sly, insightful and often heartbreaking.' As with Sky Blue Sky, most of the tracks are concise in shape; 'Bull Black Nova,' however, features a dramatically building arrangement and thrilling guitar crescendo, more duel than jam.
It's followed by the gentler 'You and I,' a duet between Tweedy and Canadian singer- songwriter Feist, and 'You Never Know,' a gloriously anthemic track that is the album's first single.
The disc culminates with 'Everlasting Everything' a piano-driven ballad with delicate sonic nuances that lyrically celebrates love's endurance.

22. Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King - Dave Matthews Band
The first time we heard songs from "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" was at the May 29 show at Fenway Park. Listening to live versions of songs like "Seven," "Why I Am," "Squirm," and "Time Bomb" immediately had us and our reporters thinking "Whoah... this album is different. This album is going to be GOOOOOD!"
And it is. It's REAL good. We've been listening to the CD for a solid week, and we can say that it is, by far, DMB's best album in over a decade. They haven't played with this level of passion and tenacity since their back-to-back classics "Crash" and "Before These Crowded Streets" from the late 90s.
It's not hard to figure out where the intensity comes from. In 2008, DMB experienced a serious double whammy. First, they nearly broke up due to interpersonal struggles, "toxic" energy, and a lack of leadership (according to Dave). This was followed by the tragic death of founding member and horn-player extraordinaire Leroi Moore.
The result? A massive reboot of purpose and energy. With the help of Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, the Dave Matthews Band has once again found their "A" game. "Big Whiskey" is the sound of a band that is NOT mailing it in... instead, they sound like musicians that are psyched to play together and ready to go for it (to "unleash the tiger," as Carter says in the DVD documentary.)
The bottom line? A great album, a fitting tribute to Leroi, and a huge sigh of relief for DMB fans everywhere, knowing that Dave and the boys did NOT break up but instead are now making some of the best music of their prolific careers. Why I am? It's why they are. We all get to dance with the GrooGrux King!

23. Still - CeCe Winans BeBe Winans
It doesn't quite seem like it, but it certainly has been 15 years since Bebe and Cece Winans have recorded a full project together; the last project being the 1994 release "Relationships." The duo, both now 15 years older (Bebe 47, Cece, 45) have 25 recording years behind them, that is, when you consider their initial release, "Lord Lift Us Up," was presented in 1984.
This long awaited and much anticipated new collection is appropriately entitled, "Still." Though sister, Cece preferred it to be named, "So Happy," she was graciously overrode by her producer/writer/older brother, Bebe, who strongly felt that with the maturity and wisdom now gained by both, an album entitled "Still" would prove to be a much better fit. It appears he was correct.
Bebe and Cece still sound absolutely great together; as great today as they ever have; the two must have been created to sing as a team - their vocals truly compliment each other better than any male/female duet that I can think of.
One song's lyrics in particular, the selection, "Things," captured our attention, since we as a nation are presently engulfed in a financial Recession, initiated by our nation's recession in character; it's a very timely track featuring brother Marvin Winans; oh, how I wish every boardroom on Wall St. would give ear to this track! Other favs include: "Close To You," "Grace," "He Can Handle It," "The Garden," "Never Thought" and the beautifully Bebe penned track, sure to become a wedding day favorite, "I Found Love."
Very simply put, but indeed a fact - after all these years, Bebe & Cece Winans "STILL" have it!

24. La Roux - La Roux
If you want something very fun, electronic, pop with a heavy 1980s vibe, La Roux is for you. What we enjoy most about La Roux and her debut album is that it is unlike anything on the radio today. She is not trying to follow any popular music trends; she clearly knows what genre of music fits her best and this album feels very retro while feeling very futuristic at the same time.
We loved the instrumentals/beats. When we first listened to the album, we thought this was some forgotten 1980s album. The vibe of the album sounds retro but doesn't seem dated at all. It's an odd blend of what made 80s music so fun while somehow keeping its hand and eyes set on the future (perhaps with the use of the computer to alter the voice, giving the album an at times robotic/electronic vibe). The music is carefree and the lyrics are also interesting; nothing entirely deep but at the same time, not frivolous and without a message. I also felt La Roux's vocals stood out on the album. While some of the vocals are processed and run through autotune and computer tweaks, La Roux does sing in a very raw, organic manner on other tracks and is able to really communicate emotion and depth while many artist don't seem to give any thought to what they are singing or how their voice can change the entire tone of the album.
La Roux's debut album does what few are able to do; she leaves a lasting impression and has the listener wanting more by the end. The music is addictive, fun, carefree and La Roux herself has a very unique style and her vocal style and musical preferences definitely give this album a lot of feeling and character.
Listen To These Tracks: 'Cover My Eyes', 'Bulletproof', 'Tigerlily', 'I'm Not Your Toy' and 'Fascination.'

25. Dark Horse - Nickelback
Nickelback's new album brings with it the first major sonic change since signing with EMI and Roadrunner Records (with the possible exception of "The State"), largely due to influential producer "Mutt" Lange coming out of his "rock-music-scene retirement" of 8 years and putting his two-cent's worth (and those are two HUGE pennies) in on the record.
Well known for his uncanny ability to transform a stagnant band or artist into an overnight success, Lange helped save bands like Foreigner and Heart...not to mention what he did for AC/DC and Def Leppard.
While Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger still co-produced on Dark Horse, you knew things would change because with Lange, there is only one right way to do things. Obviously, with the huge success the band has had under Kroeger's leadership and production, especially with 2005's "All The Right Reasons" still going strong after selling millions, this wasn't a "save" situation...just a great opportunity for Kroeger and company to work with a legend.
The result is sort of a "Nickelback meets the 80's" record, and the best way to describe the sound is BIG, FAT and THICK...with little dynamic range...and guitars and drums being priorities.
If you're a fan of 80's hard rock in the vein of AC/DC and Def Leppard, you'll love this album.
"Dark Horse" gets off to a fast start with the incessantly infectious "Something In Your Mouth"...based on a repeated, extremely catchy guitar riff that once in your head, is there to stay. "Gotta Be Somebody" is one of Nickelback's best mid-tempo AC tunes in a while, and "I'd Come For You" is similar, though slower-paced.
Interestingly, "Mutt" Lange's production style doesn't seem to hurt the power ballads...they may have actually benefited from the change.
Overall, a very solid experience. A bit uneven on sound - maybe vacillating too much toward mainstream rock than most folks (even critics) would've liked, but we'll forgive Nickelback for putting in the effort. There's plenty here to celebrate, even for a "Dark Horse".

26. Your Songs - Harry Connick Jr.
We can easily remember our first introduction to Harry Connick, Jr.'s music and that was through the film "When Harry Met Sally" back in 1989. Needless to say, we've been a big fan of Harry since that release, buying every jazz or funk album he had release, catching his live shows and even purchasing his videos on VHS and LD's and needless to say, with each release, we've always enjoyed his music.
With the release of "Your Songs", the album features a collaboration with Harry and well-known record producer Clive Davis. The songs are classics that were chosen by Clive Davis and arranged by Harry.
Favorites of ours on the album include "All the Way" by Frank Sinatra - written by James Van Heusen & Sammy Cahn - features a collaboration with Harry & Branford Marsalis. A beautifully arranged track with a good touch of brass and strings made even more smoother with Harry's vocals.
A cover of the popular song "Smile" which I enjoyed Nat King Cole's version (written by Charlie Chaplin, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons) but Harry manages to bring another dimension to the song courtesy of its featuring a beautiful arrangement and another Nat King Cole favorite of mine is "Mona Lisa (written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans) with its piano accompaniment and beautiful strings in the background and a good touch of brass.
Other covers that are also well done include "Just the Way You Are", a cover of the popular Billy Joel song; Connick's cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" (written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore) and a collaboration with Wynton Marsalis; a cover of the Beatles song "And I Love Her" (written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon); a cover of the popular song "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by the Carpenters (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David); a cover of Consuelo Velsquez's "Besame Mucho"; a cover of Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight"; a cover of "Some Enchanted Evening" sung by Frank Sinatra and Perry Como (written by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers); a beautiful cover of Don McLean's "And I Love You So" (which was sung also by Perry Como) and a cover of "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" sung by Tony Bennett (written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley).
This is an excellent cover album! We have had cover albums from Harry Connick, Jr. before. But this has to be the best one release in his long career of releases thus far. It's one thing to have Harry Connick, Jr.'s beautiful vocals but the arrangement on the album is top notch. Great collaboration once again with Branford and Wynton Marsalis but also with the brass courtesy of Leroy Jones, Roger Ingram, Wayne Bergeron, Warren Lunning and John Fumo. And of course, you have to give it up for Harry's big band and the string orchestra.
Overall, "Your Songs" is another Harry Connick, Jr. album that is definitely recommended!

27. We Shall Not Be Shaken - Matt Redman
Matt Redman may be the premier songwriter in Christian music over the past decade as the writer of worship classics "The Heart of Worship", "Better Is One Day", "Blessed Be Your Name" and "You Never Let Go". He is also part of the Passion conferences and most recently his hit song "Shine" was part of the Passion: God Of This City album.
One of our favorite stories about Matt Redman, a native of England, is that in response to his church having too much focus on music he suggested they take a break from singing which led to his writing "The Heart of Worship". The lyrics "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, it's all about You" sums up Matt's ministry and focus on vertical worship. His sincere singing and songwriting style and biblical inspired lyrics have made me a huge fan of Matt Redman.
"We Shall Not Be Shaken" sticks to the style that fans have come to admire and respect about Matt, starting off with "Through It All", which includes an upbeat melody and a soaring anthem in the chorus, declaring: "Through it all You are strong. As we walk through the shadows still You shine on." The goal of spiritual confidence points to the other key focus on We Shall Not Be Shaken, the centrality of Jesus and the cross. First single "This Is How We Know," co-written with Redman's wife, Beth, seamlessly blends the message of John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16. This is how we know what love is; just one look at Your cross... For You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son. Love amazing, so divine, we will love You in return.
"Through It All", "This Is How We Know", "We Shall Not Be Shaken", "Remembrance" and "My Hope" are our favorite songs on the album. If you like real music then you must get "We Shall Not Be Shaken", which is one of our top albums of 2009 and the best overall album by Matt Redman in our opinion.

28. Love Is The Answer - Barbra Streisand
Taken as a whole, this album is stunning. But the revelation is DISC 2! We have been loving Barbra Streisand for ages. We remember when our parents first introduced us to the sound of her voice as kids. We were enthralled with the sheer beauty of it. There is such an unnerving assuredness to her vocals that you just can't be denied. She will always be one of the most superlative stylists when it comes to lyrical interpretation. She is just so marvelous at it that you just forget about how gifted she is with phrasing and just fall and wrap yourself in the lushness of her voice.
Disc 2 allows that pure lushness in her tone to shine. It doesn't have the swell of the orchestra, it is more paired down and her voice as we all know has aged marvelously. As she has aged, and we have as well, you're not only startled by its clarity but also by its richness of tone. When she sings the opening lines of "Here's to Life: No complaints and no regrets/I Still Believe in Chasing dreams and placing bets," you just know its experience she's drawing from.
The album works so well because as a loyal fan, or a newcomer, there is a pacing that builds up a relationship with the listener. A natural intimacy is achieved with DISC 2. Songs such as "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," and "Make Someone Happy," have an immediacy that can't go unacknowledged. Especially with "Make Someone Happy," the woman can still belt that is well known, but here she reigns it in, giving just enough to draw you in closer and closer but not fudging you on the context of the lyric; a lovely rendition.
A beautiful album from a special, gifted legend!

29. Let Freedom Ring - Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet's 'Let Freedom Ring' is a Born in the U.S.A. for our times. Not that the Californian troubadour and self-described 'hustler' behind this 25th-anniversary update of Bruce Springsteen's ode to the irony of the American Dream deliberately set out to cop the Boss's monumental mojo, but the similarities between the two records are uncanny. Both are concept albums of sorts that manifest patriotism through disenchantment, and both rely heavily on marginalized characters to expose socioeconomic woe.
'I've been saying they're political songs for non-political people,' Prophet explains over the phone from his San Francisco home. 'But what I really mean is that I'm not a particularly political person, but the characters in these songs are all living in a kind of anxious time.'
LFR's title track a nod not to the Liberty Bell but to the NYSE exemplifies that anxiety through retirement-plan decimation. The buoyant, power-pop music deceptively suggests a feel-good anthem, but once the lyrics unfold, a Social Darwinistic tale is told, of Bernie Madoffs leeching off Average Joes 'The hawk cripples the dove,' as Prophet puts it who reduce their victims to blind-drunk poor boys. Elsewhere, 'Barely Exist' continues the Springsteen parallel, with Prophet replacing the Boss's struggling blue-collar worker with a struggling Mexican immigrant. Over a fragile beat and sparse guitar notes, he sums up the day laborer's plight: 'You gotta be strong/But when you got asbestos in your Kool-Aid for breakfast/There's no good way to look alive.'
'I think we go too far out of our way to define ourselves by our borders,' Prophet says. 'Hundreds of people die every year trying to get into this country, just for the opportunity to clean our toilets and change our babies' diapers, and if it's somebody who's just trying to provide for their family, how can you criminalize that? And, really, isn't that the least of our problems right about now?'
The beauty of ?LFR! lies in its raw, no-frills approach. Lightning-rod guitars spark a combustible rhythm section. Songs of radio-friendly length emerge from only a couple of live takes. Down-tempo and uptempo numbers play well in the same sandbox. Witty lyrics with rich imagery it's hard to shake 'By the time her shoes wore out/She was giving blood' from 'What Can a Mother Do' demonstrate a mastery of language, like the rock 'n' roll equivalent of folkie Todd Snider as delivered through Tom Petty's voice were it even more reliant on stoner/surfer cadences. Other gems include 'Sonny Liston's Blues,' a riff on the monstrous former boxing champ's loss to Muhammad Ali as symbolic of good over evil (replete with air-guitar-inspiring passages on a Gretsch that Prophet says was 'strung up heavy').
Of course, every time it would go out, it would be in the middle of a completely magical sort of Marquee Moon moment. And so every take you hear on the record, there's, like, triumph at the end of it.'

30. Wild Young Hearts - Noisettes
With Noisettes, it's always best to expect the unexpected. Two years on from a debut album awash with punk spirit and scorching blues-rock, the London trio return with Wild Young Hearts, a set of sleek pop songs steeped in soul, dizzy on disco and harking back to the days of blues and jazz greats.
From the stomping electro-rock of Saturday Night and galloping funk grooves of forthcoming, first single Don't Upset The Rhythm, to the joyous, jazzy title track, the glorious '60s-tinged soul of Never Forget You and the sultry, shimmering pop of 24 Hours, in Wild Young Hearts, Noisettes have made what is set to be one of 2009's most adventurous albums.
"Some bands stick with the same style forever," says singer Shingai Shoniwa, whose versatile vocals have seen her compared to everyone from Deborah Harry and Kate Bush to Billie Holiday and Diana Ross. "They get together because they share identical musical tastes, then never do anything different. We're a gang, but we're also three divas with different record collections who constantly introduce each other to new sounds, whether it's African music, jazz, Van Morrison or Black Sabbath. For us, making music means keeping our ears open."
Wild Young Hearts is a set of sleek Pop songs steeped in Soul, dizzy on Disco and harking back to the days of Blues and Jazz greats. From the galloping Funk grooves of first single 'Don't Upset The Rhythm', to the joyous, jazzy title track, the stomping Electro-Rock of 'Saturday Night', the glorious '60s-tinged Soul of 'Never Forget You' and the sultry, shimmering pop of '24 Hours', in Wild Young Hearts, Noisettes have made what is set to be one of 2009's most adventurous albums.

The best of the best for 2009 without music frontiers:

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