Final Favorites of 2006 -- The Music
Okay, I know I purchased or was given far more music than I reviewed on this blog in 2006. Hell, Brad alone sent me 30 cds, two of which make the following list. Dave probably sent me almost as many.
richtyrrell sent me four. I don't know how many I bought or was given for my birthday and Christmas. I should have kept a running list someplace. I didn't. So, here's what I remember liking and disliking.
Jellyfish: Fan Club (Boxed Set): I've made no secret of my love for this band. One of the happiest days of this year was Dave providing me with this set of demos, live cuts and alternate takes (and a few previously unreleased songs). It was a limited edition and hard to find, and when he gave it to me I spent a good month listening to nothing but these four discs over and over again.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr: Land of Pure Imagination: Another of the happiest days of this year was when Dave surprised me with this new album from one of the founding members of Jellyfish. As I said in my review earlier this year, this is as close as we're ever likely to get to having a third Jellyfish studio album. Worth every second of listening to it.
Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell: Brad sent me this one. Lanegan's got a voice like cigarettes soaked in whisky (as Brad would say), and Campbell is soulful beyond the ability to describe. It's like a spiritual experience listening to this album -- some tracks bleed and some tracks soar.
Jersey Boys Original Cast Album: If you didn't know you were listening to actors playing the roles, you'd swear you were really listening to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. These guys were on Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve on ABC tonight, and if you missed it, you missed the single best performance of the night. Incredible. I want to see this show onstage while Christian Hoff and the other three original cast members are still in it.
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Revival Cast Album: This is the production from last year directed by John Doyle where the actors are also the band. Patti Lupone playing a tuba is quite the mental image. I caught about half of their performance on the Tony Awards and wish I'd seen more. Michael Cerveris as Sweeney is just amazing, as is Lupone as Mrs. Lovett. And the guy who plays Toby is almost eerie. Rich gave me this.
Casey Stratton: Divide (2 disc edition): Rich gave me this as well. Casey's voice soars as high as ever, and there are tracks on this set that just make me dizzy. My two favorite songs by Casey are still two from his only major-label release (Standing On The Edge, from Sony), but there are tracks here that come close.
Sister Gin: Brad sent me this, and imagine my surprise when the dots finally connected and I realized one of the members was a fellow LJ scribe. James and the gang sing heartfelt folk-pop with some great lyrics and even greater emotion. Seek it out!
Billy Joel: My Lives Boxed Set / 12 Gardens Live: The box set, like the Jellyfish one, is alternate takes, live tracks, demos, including stuff from the bands Billy was in before he went solo. The Live album proves that Billy still has one of the highest energy stage shows going, even if he doesn't do handstands on the piano anymore.
Billy Gilman: This self-titled album is the best album he's ever released. He has finally crossed out of the "whiz kid" category and into adulthood, and the album takes advantage of that. He's still country, but at least now he can sing with a little bit of life experience.
Jonny Lang: Another "whiz kid" who hit adulthood. In his 20s, he's in finer form than ever. He mixes traditional blues and soul and gospel with a voice just raspy enough to sound like he's singing from experience.
Nickel Creek Greatest Hits / Chris Thile & MIke Marshall Duets Live / Toad The Wet Sprocket Retrospective / Toad The Wet Sprocket Live / The Clarks Live: I've always been a sucker for greatest hits sets, and I've become a sucker for Live albums in the past few years. I like all of these equally.
Least Favorite Album of 2006: Jonas Bros. (why did someone send this to me?).
Favorite Audio Book: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things read by the author.
richtyrrell sent me four. I don't know how many I bought or was given for my birthday and Christmas. I should have kept a running list someplace. I didn't. So, here's what I remember liking and disliking.
Jellyfish: Fan Club (Boxed Set): I've made no secret of my love for this band. One of the happiest days of this year was Dave providing me with this set of demos, live cuts and alternate takes (and a few previously unreleased songs). It was a limited edition and hard to find, and when he gave it to me I spent a good month listening to nothing but these four discs over and over again.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr: Land of Pure Imagination: Another of the happiest days of this year was when Dave surprised me with this new album from one of the founding members of Jellyfish. As I said in my review earlier this year, this is as close as we're ever likely to get to having a third Jellyfish studio album. Worth every second of listening to it.
Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell: Brad sent me this one. Lanegan's got a voice like cigarettes soaked in whisky (as Brad would say), and Campbell is soulful beyond the ability to describe. It's like a spiritual experience listening to this album -- some tracks bleed and some tracks soar.
Jersey Boys Original Cast Album: If you didn't know you were listening to actors playing the roles, you'd swear you were really listening to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. These guys were on Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve on ABC tonight, and if you missed it, you missed the single best performance of the night. Incredible. I want to see this show onstage while Christian Hoff and the other three original cast members are still in it.
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Revival Cast Album: This is the production from last year directed by John Doyle where the actors are also the band. Patti Lupone playing a tuba is quite the mental image. I caught about half of their performance on the Tony Awards and wish I'd seen more. Michael Cerveris as Sweeney is just amazing, as is Lupone as Mrs. Lovett. And the guy who plays Toby is almost eerie. Rich gave me this.
Casey Stratton: Divide (2 disc edition): Rich gave me this as well. Casey's voice soars as high as ever, and there are tracks on this set that just make me dizzy. My two favorite songs by Casey are still two from his only major-label release (Standing On The Edge, from Sony), but there are tracks here that come close.
Sister Gin: Brad sent me this, and imagine my surprise when the dots finally connected and I realized one of the members was a fellow LJ scribe. James and the gang sing heartfelt folk-pop with some great lyrics and even greater emotion. Seek it out!
Billy Joel: My Lives Boxed Set / 12 Gardens Live: The box set, like the Jellyfish one, is alternate takes, live tracks, demos, including stuff from the bands Billy was in before he went solo. The Live album proves that Billy still has one of the highest energy stage shows going, even if he doesn't do handstands on the piano anymore.
Billy Gilman: This self-titled album is the best album he's ever released. He has finally crossed out of the "whiz kid" category and into adulthood, and the album takes advantage of that. He's still country, but at least now he can sing with a little bit of life experience.
Jonny Lang: Another "whiz kid" who hit adulthood. In his 20s, he's in finer form than ever. He mixes traditional blues and soul and gospel with a voice just raspy enough to sound like he's singing from experience.
Nickel Creek Greatest Hits / Chris Thile & MIke Marshall Duets Live / Toad The Wet Sprocket Retrospective / Toad The Wet Sprocket Live / The Clarks Live: I've always been a sucker for greatest hits sets, and I've become a sucker for Live albums in the past few years. I like all of these equally.
Least Favorite Album of 2006: Jonas Bros. (why did someone send this to me?).
Favorite Audio Book: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things read by the author.