Top Five Albums of 2010 - Honorable Mentions (part one)

*This is part of a series of posts, please refer to the parent post for context*

HONORABLE MENTIONS –
As I said in the opening post, this year has been an embarrassment of riches for me in the music department. So many good albums, so little time to listen to them! Given the rules/parameters of this task that I self-impose every year, there are several albums I want to give a shout-out to that didn’t make the list. Each of these has been on constant rotation this year, but the album cohesiveness, production, narrative just isn’t as solid as the top five list.

HM#3 – The Weepies – Be My Thrill
I’m a long time Weepies fan (Hideaway probably falling in my top ten albums EVER), so I was saddened that this album was a bit of a let down. It’s over-produced in places and seems to vacillate between emotions in a way that doesn’t quite gel together. The lyrical construction is elementary at best, with few of the poetic turns of phrase I’ve come to love so much about their first three albums. The songs that do jump out have melody and rhythm that carry them, several I tend to skip through when listening. Regardless, in terms of sheer playing time, it’s definitely a favorite of 2010 – and their concert for the album was great (several of the songs were stripped of the production additions, which made it more consistent to what I enjoy about their sound in the first place, but the lyrical simplicity was then even more evident).

Favorite Lyrics:

1. "To never regret means you have to forget and I don't think that I could."
2. "Where we live men are women, women are teenage boys, and everyone wants to look like them, but be like men."
3. "Found a book you gave me when we were first in bloom, when I thought that you might save me from the dark side of the moon."

Favorite Tracks:

1. Hard To Please
2. I Was Made For Sunny Days
3. Add My Effort

 

HM#4 – Sam Tsui – The Covers
For those of you who haven’t yet gotten on board with Sam Tsui, you should. His multi-part cover of Don’t Stop Believin’ made him a viral sensation, which I talked about last year. He’s an amazingly talented vocalist, and his re-imagination of pop music is refreshing. Of course, since this album is a collection of covers, it doesn’t really have the power/narrative/theme that it would if it were original music. Still, it’s worth putting these tracks in your library:

1. Lady Gaga Medley
2. Fireflies
3. Down