Pazz 'n' Jop Poll 2007

[lazarus]

Every year, the Village Voice (New York's weekly independent newspaper) takes a poll of hundreds of critics from large and small publications across the country asking for their best albums and singles of the year. They are asked to spread 100 points among 10 albums (max 30 and min 5 per). The demographic of those polled hopefully prevents anything too popular or too obscure from dominating the charts. It's usually a pretty good consensus. Recent past winners include:

Bob Dylan's last 3 albums
Kanye West's first 2 albums
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
OutKast's last 2 albums
Beck's Odelay
Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville
Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love
Moby's Play

You get the picture.

Anyway, the music journos and critics have spoken. Your winner for the year 2007 is...


LCD Soundsystem -- Sound of Silver

As this was my #2 of the year, I can't complain. My #1, In Rainbows, finished 2nd. The complete Top 10 List:


1 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
2 Radiohead In Rainbows
3 M.I.A. Kala
4 Amy Winehouse Back To Black
5 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
6 Kanye West Graduation
7 Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
8 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand
9 Bruce Springsteen Magic
10 The National Boxer


I have 7 of the 10 on my own list. Take that for what you will. I either have proven good taste, or am a critical conformist.

The main page where you can access the full lists (goes to 200 or so), see individual ballots, read essays by Voice contributors, or read pithy quotes from the voters, is here:

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazzandjop07/

The wikipedia page which contains info about the poll and all the past winners (a very impressive list, certainly moreso than the Grammys) is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazz_&_Jop

 

[corianderstem]

I can't believe I own all 10 of those albums. That must mean I'm FINALLY cool!

 

[LMP]

Never got into the whole M.I.A. or Vampira Winehouse deals, but I do enjoy the rest.

 

[lazarus]

Chauvinist pig.

 

[No spoken words]

I have and enjoy 6 of the 10.

 

[Lancemc]

Sound of Silver is probably my favorite album since Sea Change. Fucking perfection. I was listening to Someone Great earlier today and it nearly had me in tears again.

And "All My Friends" is simply one of the best lyrics I've ever heard.

What a fantastic album. Great pick.

 

[u2popmofo]

I still prefer the debut to Sound of Silver personally.

Not too shabby or surprising of a list.

 

[martha]

I have six of the ten. That makes me happy.

 

[lazarus]

Sound of Silver is probably my favorite album since Sea Change. Fucking perfection. I was listening to Someone Great earlier today and it nearly had me in tears again.

And "All My Friends" is simply one of the best lyrics I've ever heard.

What a fantastic album. Great pick.

Wasn't Neon Bible your #1?

 

[LemonMelon]

1 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
2 Radiohead In Rainbows
3 M.I.A. Kala
4 Amy Winehouse Back To Black
5 Arcade Fire Neon Bible
6 Kanye West Graduation
7 Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
8 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand
9 Bruce Springsteen Magic
10 The National Boxer

Great list.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I agree, in general, with most of that.

 

[If you shout...]

That is a terrifically bad list (though it does have a few gems, notably Kala and In Rainbows). Wow. Insulting.

 

[corianderstem]

What's so horrible and insulting about it?

 

[lazarus]

Probably not obscure enough.

 

[No spoken words]

That is a terrifically bad list (though it does have a few gems, notably Kala and In Rainbows). Wow. Insulting.

 

[U2isthebest]

4, 5, 6, and 9=Amazingness, and the ones I have

 

[No spoken words]

Get #8.

You will not be disappointed.

You might be insulted, however.

 

[If you shout...]

Get #8.

You will not be disappointed.

You might be insulted, however.

For real. I wasn't at all disappointed, as I was expecting something dreadful. Insulted, on the other hand...

 

[If you shout...]

Also, if Graduation and Magic are really two of THE TOP TEN records of the ENTIRE year, then 2007 was apparently one of the worst years in music history. There are literally thousands of records released, every year. Thousands and thousands. I've heard more than a few dozen of them. There is no way that the top ten all coincidentally happen to be by artists you've already (ie, befoe these particular records dropped) heard about until you can hear no more. There is nothing wrong with ubiquity, either, as most of these artists have had pretty good--or are starting to have--pretty good careers. It's a problem because, believe it or not, sometimes looking forward will tell you more about where you're going than looking backward.

It's a sickening list, because it first of all illustrates a towering problem with contemporary popular music criticism (both the obscure and mainstream types, too)--press releases are all that matter, as well as cribbing notes from whoever wrote reviews before you did. It's horrible.

Second of all, there's absolutely no way in hell that either of the two albums in question (not to mention a lot of the rest of the top ten) would even be up for consideration, if they hadn't've been released by The Boss or 'Yeezy. Honestly. Do you think that if Del had released Graduation, anybody would care? They'd care about "Stronger," since it's an awesome song, but that'd be that; it's not an awesome album, but simply a decent one. The same goes for Magic; Ike Reilly Assassination released a similarly styled record which is leagues better and more tuneful than The Boss's, but he's just some dude with no clout, so it's overlooked in order to shore up a nonexistent story about a nonexistent late-career resurgence, on the part of an American icon. We Belong To The Staggering Evening came in at, like, 247, or something. Fucking absurd! I mean, come on...!

 

[u2popmofo]

Dude, it's amalgam of critics's reviews for the Villiage Voice. Any time you mix in multiple people from all walks of life and all genres of music, it all comes down to what was the most popular. And as with any year end list, what's actually the "best" is completely irrelevant.

Did you see the compilation of the favorites from Interference? It was nearly identical. It's meaningless fun. No biggie.