My recommendations mixed with your collaborations mulitplied by the power of FUCK

Sometimes people say things like "The best albums of 2007 are..." And then they list things that were released in 2007. Same with movies and t.v. shows and high priced hookers. I thought about doing this but the problem is that I rarely buy or listen to newly released things. Instead, I wait for the jury to come in. The jury of time. So here is the list of the favorite albums I procured in the year 2007. These are albums that stood the test of time. In some cases, they didn't. In some cases these were actually released just last year. I'll indicate those cases for those who care about such things.

On 12/28/06, which is technically outside of these parameters but I'll include it anyway because it is my god damned list, I got Sufjan Steven's album Illinois. Since then I've got some more of his music. I like him even though he is a christian (says wikipedia). I mostly like him best because of his very long song titles like "The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself In the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I Have Fought the Big Knives..." That is some title. Many are of lengths similar to this. Also, the song he wrote about John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is right pretty. I also got his album Michigan this last year. I like Illinois better.

In May of 07 I got the album called El Hijo Del Pueblo by Vincente Fernandez. It is pretty much just your run of the mill great Mexican folk type music. Really great. Horns, guitars, big hats, mustaches, the whole deal.

In May I also got Rufus Wainwrights new release from last year called Release The Stars. I have pretty much everything this guy ever made except for the newest new new that was just released before Christmas but I'm going to get that very soon. Everything he does is golden. My favorites on this album are probably Tiergarten, Going to a Town, and Nobody's Off the Hook. (Rufus Wainwright is Off Da Hook)

I very much like Andrew Bird's newish album, which I think was also just released last year. I got it in August. It is called Armchair Apocrypha. I don't like it as much as A Mysterious Production of Eggs but I think I like it more than Weather Systems. And I for sure like it more than that Swing crap he used to do.

In August I also got Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. This rules. I haven't seen that Bob Dylan movie yet. I heard it sucked ass but Christian Bale is in it and I like Bob Dylan. I did watch that documentary that Martin Scorsese did. It was on PBS some time in the last year or two. Bob Dylan was totally hot. He wrote some kind of stupid stuff sometimes that is easy to make fun of. But I like a lot of it. This album is pretty great. Desolation Road is my favorite even though it is more than 11 minutes long.

I also burned a double album of Willie Nelson stuff that is my mom's. Willie Nelson man. Does anyone have a better voice in the world? Anyone? And still, what I'd really like to see is a superduo form with Willie Nelson and Axel Rose. I hope this happens before I die. I hope this happens before Willie Nelson dies or before he makes another movie with fucking Jessica Simpson. This album is called simply, "Willie Nelson Double CD" So I'm not really sure about it. It is a compilation obviously. Everyone should own something by Willie Nelson.

In September I got My Solo Project by Mates of State. I love this band so much. I think everyone should try them out. They are great. They are just an organ, drums and vocals. They are two people and I guess they are married. My favorite album is Team Boo but this is a great album too. Usually what happens though is that I try to listen to it and then I just want to listen to Team Boo. But it doesn't matter. If you only own one album by them I guess it should be Team Boo. But you should get all their albums. They were in a phone commercial or something this last year. I'm not so sure about that. It is sort of not cool.

This doesn't really count either because I got it in December of 06 but I didn't start listening to it until this last year but I really started listening to Liz Phair's album Whitechocolatespaceegg a lot. A lot, a lot. Especially the songs "Girls Room," "Fantasize," and "Uncle Alvarez." I listened to those songs three thousand times each.

That's my list. There are other albums that I already owned that I rediscovered or discovered for the first time like Calexico and John Cale and Bruce Springsteen (Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is, like, totally).

It should go without saying, since this is my blog, that you should rush out and buy everything that Loudon Wainwright ever did before you try any of this other crap. I just bought his latest album, Strange Weirdos. It isn't that great. But it is Loudon Wainwright the Third, so you are better off with his less than great stuff than with 99% of the rest of the crap out there.