#1 – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – Miranda Lambert
The previous nine entries in this hindsight top ten list weren’t surprises. Every one of them was in at least the top five of the year of release, and while a couple of them leap-frogged other albums, they all pretty much landed in the same place.
Funny, then, that my number one entry didn’t even make it on a list the year of its release.
#2 – Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Here’s a case where a band’s later work helps boost my opinion of their debut.
If Vampire Weekend’s self-titled first album was the last good thing they ever did, I would still love it, I’m sure, but the band itself might have been written off as a bunch of college kids who listened to Graceland a lot and got lucky.
#3 – @#%&*! Smilers – Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann’s @#%&*! Smilers topped my 2008 list, and sits in the top three of this one, having not lost a bit of its staying power. Another record did leap frog it, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about that one.
Sometimes an artist releases an album that pulls it all together in a way that none of their previous records could manage. @#%&*! Smilers was that album or Aimee Mann.
#4 – The Life Pursuit – Belle & Sebastian
The most-represented year in this little reconsideration of top ten lists past is 2006, with four albums. And the top-ranked among those four seven years ago remains the top-ranked today.
At the time, I made a case for Belle & Sebastian’s The Life Pursuit as the best album in the band’s catalog. Today I stand by that assessment with even more confidence.
#5 – Modern Times – Bob Dylan
My top five albums from the five-year period 2006-2010 are an amazing bunch. Even more impressive is that all five are actually spread between 2006 and 2008, a wonderful three-year span in hindsight.
Bob Dylan’s Modern Times could have topped this list if I were in a different mood when I finalized it. When you’re dealing with albums this good, whatever you happen to be listening to at the moment has the edge in the rankings.
