Artie’s Top 6 Albums of 2006

While it is usually Capt. Matt’s job to do music reviews and we are already a few months into 2007, I thought I would share my reviews on several albums from 2006. So, here is Artie’s Top 6 Albums of 2006 list:

1. The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
This is the first album on a major record label for the band named after an uprising that occurred in imperial Russia in 1825. So, what kind of music do you get from a band with that kind of name? You get indie-pop music with themes including William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, A Japanese fable about a crane that becomes a woman, a love story reminiscent of West Side Story, and a song about a group in Northern Ireland known as the Shankhill Butchers who would abduct Roman Catholics and murder them. While I don’t always enjoy indie-influenced music, I appreciate this album due to the musical diversity (it is nice to know that people can play more instruments that the guitar and drums) and the clever lyrics.
2. Surprise by Paul Simon
After Paul Simon’s last album You’re the One (which, aside from the title track, was largely forgettable) I never expected such an amazing album from the first half of the former Simon and Garfunkel duo. I guess that is why the Album is appropriately titled Surprise. Produced by Brian Eno (or as the album says, provider of the sonic landscape), Surprise features delightful tracks such as “How Can You Live In the Northeast”, ‘Outrageous”, and the beautifully written “Wartime Prayers”.

3. Continuum by John Mayer
I believe that Continuum is the only album on my top 6 list to win a Grammy (or two). Because of the albums popularity, I won’t spend too much time reviewing it. Just be sure to pick up a copy and don’t miss the songs “Vultures” and “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room”. If you get the chance, listen to John Mayer’s complementary EP The Village Sessions.
4. Both Sides of the Gun by Ben Harper
If the tag line for the Academy Award winning film The Departed is “Cops or Criminals. When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”, then it is appropriate that Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals released Both Sides of the Gun with the lyrics “tension/too much to mention/living on both sides of the gun.” This Ben Harper album, like all of Ben Harpers work, is an eclectic mix of ballads, rock, funk, jazz, and pretty much every genre of music around.
5. American V: A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash
Although the album includes a cover of Don Gibson’s “A Legend in My Time,” the posthumously released album American V proves Cash to be a Legend beyond his time. Be sure to catch “Like the 309,” a song about transporting a casket on a train and the last song written by Johnny Cash. As Capt. Matt wrote in his review of this album, “If you don’t love this, you have no soul.”
6. The Greatest by Cat Power
Given Chan Marshall’s reputation, I never expected to like this album, let alone on include it on my top six list. But, Georgia born Chan Marshall made a great album. While I still dislike the name “Cat Power”, the annoying pink album cover, and the confusing title (which makes me think of a greatest hits album), the songs on The Greatest are sultry, ethereal, and enjoyable. Highlights include the title song, which is a mournful ode to a boy’s desire to be a great boxer (Once I wanted to be the greatest/two fists of solid rock/with brains that could explain any feeling). While Marshall’s voice and lyrics are solid, pay special attention to the southern soul (resulting from the Memphis-based musicians involved with the album) and the strings arrangements, both of which give the album life, especially on the song “Lived in bars” (Lived in bars/and danced on tables…).