Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #7
Another year, another stellar Ron Sexsmith album that goes completely unnoticed by the general public.
What I find interesting is that when I look up reviews of Sexsmith’s work, invariably the critics heap him with praise and bemoan his lack of popularity. But come December, when it’s list-making time, I have yet to see Sexsmith’s Long Player Late Bloomer show up on anybody’s best-of.
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #8
Childish Gambino’s full-length debut, Camp, is the best rap album I’ve heard in years.
Donald Glover is a gifted rapper and an even more gifted lyricist, spitting hilarious, often thought-provoking, rhymes over meaty beats that belie the lack of star power behind the production.
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #9
Miranda Lambert’s Four the Record is my favorite album of 2011, so it might seem weird that its only song on my top ten countdown is sitting at #9.
But I think the album’s overall strength and consistency keeps it from having the sort of standout track that places higher on a list like this. I could have easily chosen the compelling ‘Mama’s Broken Heart,’ the aching ‘Look at Miss Ohio,’ the old-school ‘Same Old You’ or any of a dozen other songs to represent this great record.
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #10
If I had to pick one word to describe singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, it would be ‘endearing.’
She has an endearing personality, as she demonstrated in her adorable stint as a judge on The Sing-Off.
She makes endearing videos, such as the one for today’s SOTD, in which she hides herself until the last few frames and instead depicts gleeful lip-synching by Ben Folds, Adam Levine, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and others.
In yesterday’s post, I described the second half of Paul Simon’s You’re the One as “sleepy” and it’s true that it is more languid and less accessible than the album’s first half.
But sometimes it’s those slow-growers that wind up having the most impact in the long run. Such is the case with a lovely song titled ‘Señorita With a Necklace of Tears.’
