Favorite Albums of 2007

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker. I'm making an end-of-the-year list of my favorite albums of 2007. It may be I'm egotistical and have strong feelings that my musical taste is superior to everyone else's, or it may be that I want to better know what it is I really liked in music this year, and the process of dissecting albums and ordering them by excellence will reveal something to me. Or it may just be that I fell in love with a few records this year and I want everyone to know about it.

I really try not to think my taste is in any way superior. Who is to say one person really has a better grasp on the concept of "good music" anyway? My brother and I had a five-hour conversation about this issue once. We wondered out loud to each other: Who are we to say the lady at McKay's with the cart full of Danielle Steele novels has poor taste in literature? And who are we to say Toby Keith doesn't write and record beautiful, poignant and artful rock 'n' roll? An argument over the coveted "best band in the world" title could last forever. There is no be-all and end-all.... yet. I think Wilco came so close, but, of course, that's just me.

And who am I to name the best albums of 2007? I'm just one guy. And I'm a college student at that - one with not a lot of money. I hardly have the resources to buy and listen to the hundreds of albums that came out this year. I will surely leave off very excellent and important releases because of my poverty or my ignorance or both, but that's okay. This list must be taken with a grain of salt.

That lengthy introduction may have been unnecessary, though, because I just realized why I'm making this list: I fell in love with a few records this year and I want everyone to know about it.

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15. Of Montreal
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
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14. Wilco
Sky Blue Sky
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13. Okkervil River
The Stage Names
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12. The Field
From Here We Go Sublime
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11. Animal Collective
Strawberry Jam
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10. Phosphorescent
Pride
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9. Beirut
The Flying Club Cup
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8. Ryan Adams
Easy Tiger

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7. Spoon
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
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6. LCD Soundsystem
Sound Of Silver
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5. Panda Bear
Person Pitch

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4. Radiohead
In Rainbows

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3. The National
Boxer

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2. the everybodyfields
Nothing Is Okay

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1. Jens Lekman
Night Falls Over Kortedala
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