San Diego Music

Top 5 Albums of 2007

By Sean Smith
Posted on Feb 04 2008
Last updated Feb 04 2008

Band Of Horses

“Cease To Begin”

My Number one album of 2007 is Band Of Horses with an album titled Cease To Begin.” Ok, who are these guys and where did they come from. Well ask yourself what city do all great American rock-n-roll bands come from and if your answer was Seattle, then you got this one right also. So why haven’t you maybe heard of these cats before?

Well unless you’re watch evening television programming with your teenage son or daughter tuning into shows like One Tree Hill, the O.C. and Gossip Girl where this band makes frequent appearances then the only other way is maybe, just maybe, you followed the lead singer Ben Bridwell and guitarist Mat Brooke when they were part of a band named Carissa’s Wierd (yes its misspelled on purpose...ask them!) Carissa’s Weird enjoyed some mediocre indie fame in the late 90’s.

Is this band young is that why there on those shows? Well not really it just happens that if you dig contemporary music the best radio is on T.V. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again! It’s almost worth tuning into some of these shows just for the music. You may not believe this but I’m not afraid to admit that I discovered Ryan Adams by watching Dawson’s Creek in collage. It’s not how we discover art, it’s that we discover it, right?

Band Of Horses has gone onto making one of the most enchanting albums of 2007. I’ll never forget the day I walked into the studio and my eye was drawn to an album cover on my desk that contained a very simple but beautiful artwork of a crescent moon reflecting off a body of water. Under the moon it said, “Band Of Horses.” The vision reminded me of my apartment overlooking Tourmaline so I threw it in my bag and thought I would revisit it later that evening where I was to meet my wife for a date on our porch. We opened a bottle of red and my wife and I sat there watching the ocean and listening to this album straight through without saying one word. Afterwards I told her there was always something so magical about sitting down and listening to an album straight through, every word, note, heartbeat, cymbal without saying a thing. Just listening to your own thoughts, breathing, drifting in and out of the choruses in marriage with the album that you’re listening too. My wife Carey admitted to me then that she didn’t think she had ever done that before and that’s when I realized not everyone has shared in such a solace but perhaps not everyone has come across an album that they have felt that injected to. Fortunately for me I’ve had many but I’ll admit that it’s been a while for me even. Cease To Begin reminded me of what it’s like to fall in love at first site. Not since Radiohead’s “The Bends” have I been this captured by an album at first listen. I’ve loved many, bits and pieces, front and back half of albums but all the way through it’s been a while.

Other trivia to note… for the hoopsters out there. They named one of there songs Detlef Schrempf. How friggin sweet is that!

Tracks I can’t get enough of right now:

No One’s Gonna Love You

Marry Song

Ode To LRC

Ben Harper

“Lifeline”

By far my favorite Ben Harper album of all time. Of course it doesn’t hurt when one is coincidentally traveling in the land of the album one week after its release. This makes it a true pleasure to experience lyrical references “like Marie Antoinette said to Louis XVI, man I think we’re going down, our chances are slim and none, and I’m afraid slim just left town” at the same time ones eyes are staring at the Palace of Versailles where once upon a time “an angry mob of women from the Parisian underclass who had been incited by revolutionaries marched on the Palace of Versailles where the royal family lived. During the night, they infiltrated the palace and attempted to kill the Queen, who was associated with a frivolous lifestyle that symbolized much that was despised about the Ancient Regime.”

The story goes like this, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals ended their previous tour “Both Sides Of The Gun,” in Paris, France. The bands live show was at its climax and Ben thought let’s take this chemistry into the studio and record the new album Lifeline in its purest form, by just playing the songs live and hitting the record button.

They took a week to record the album and the end result was a Grammy nom for their song Paris Sunrise #7, and a nod from me for being one of my favorite albums of the year. I’m biased however because I was able to experience this album first hand both audio and visually when I visited France this past September. “In The Colors,” the first single off the album, is a song of Ben singing about the Parisian sunset, “dancing like water with the light,” as I was listening to this song, I found myself sittin’ on the Pont Neuf over the Seine with a bottle of Cote Du Rhone watching both the sun going down and the lovers on the bridge in front of me as they embraced in these same colors Ben was singing about. A moment like that can transcend a song from myth to real life. And that’s when songs truly connect with us. That’s how they become our favorite songs of all time. There is an intersection in empathy between the artist and the listener and they unite into one. That’s what it’s all about, music and the culture of relationships.

In the song “Having Wings” Ben describes “he heard a street singer play a song he knew and it brought me closer to you” and later on that eve I find myself chillin on the steps of Sacré-Coeur listening to some Italian busker singing American songs watching the lights of Paris slowly lit the city. I’ll be the first to admit that my opinion may be just a bit skewed. Every once in a while life just falls into place and your able to encounter things the way they we’re meant to be encountered. I feel confident in saying that if Ben could swing it. He would send every one of his fans to France for a week to listen to this album. Having been fortunate enough to do it, this makes Ben Harper’s “Lifeline” one of my top 5 albums of 2007. But also note if you dig a nice wine, perhaps you like the way a suit feels over a candlelight dinner or appreciate Degas’s fondness for cute little ballerinas, then you might dig this album even if you are not able to travel to France.

Tracks I can’t get enough of right now:

Fight Outta You

Fool For A Lonesome Train

Paris Sunrise #7

Once Movie Soundtrack

It’s the perfect scenario of art enhancing art. The background on this movie is its an Irish Film by John Carney (the bassist for the Irish band The Frames.) He got his charming good friend/lead singer of The Frames Glen Hansard to play the lead role and to probably to do it for free. They shot the movie for only $160,000. Not bad in today’s life and times.

The movie follows Hansard, a thirty-something Irish busker dissecting his pain and dreams of what it’s like to be an artist yet barely making enough to live. So in order to make ends meet Hansard works the family business with his father fixing vacuum cleaners. Doesn’t sound to romantic perhaps but “O” it is. You see Hansard on-screen connects with something inside us all. He connects with the artist, musician, sculptor, painter, poet, writer, carpenter, architect inside us, the person we truly are while we’re stuck in this world just trying to make ends meet working 60 hours a week. It’s definitely one of the greatest rock n roll stories ever told on screen. In return, after you see the movie the music becomes one of the most beautiful albums of the year because it’s this pain and dream that reminds us of who we truly are.

The female lead is played by singer/actress Markéta Irglová who in my mind is the true hero of the film. She inspires Hansard and reminds him that dreams are dreams. You’re never too old, too young, too ugly or not talented enough to follow your dream. Like Bernard Edmonds once said, “to dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.”

Other trivia to note… For those of you familiar with the Irish Flick “The Commitments” one of my personal favs of all time. Turns out Glen Hansard is actually in that film and plays the red headed guitar player. He then went on to form the band The Frames and then now on to this movie role in “Once.” One of the reasons Hansard maybe so good at playing this role is that he truly lived it for a while dropping out of school at the age of 13 and busking around Dublin. For music lovers the film is a must see. Then pick up the soundtrack and if you fall in love. Go out and buy The Frames latest album “The Cost.” Many of the songs used for “Once” are Frames songs included on this album but are an alternative rock version as opposed to the acoustic versions used for the film. If you’re a rocker and need to speed things up every once in a while, “The Cost” is a great album.

Tracks I can’t get enough of right now:

Falling Slowly

When Your Mind’s Made Up

Leave

Into The Mystic (Van Morrison Cover)

Brett Dennen

“So Much More”

Anybody who dedicates their album to truth, justice and daydreams, “had me at hello”. I was introduced Brett Dennen through a friend. It’s one of the most special gifts I think we can share with one another. A song, an artist, a moment in time that left us crying, laughing or thinking, then shared with another saying here, listen to this, it is special to me because. It’s the true reason I decided to begin my professional career in radio because I thought if I could just play one song that would help get another through the day, then I would be making a difference. Having been blessed with amazing friendships throughout my life where music played not just a backdrop to our relationship but a vital role in our connection I knew there were many of us out there that believed in the fate of hearing a song at the right time could change a life forever. It could remind us that we’re not alone, that someone else understands and that love still exists in this world. I like to think that I helped introduce Brett to a number of KPRi listeners by advising the powers that be at the station to play his music, coordinating a private listener concert with Brett and setting up a few Morning Show interviews with my man Madison. However I never lose sight of the one person that introduced Brett to me and I only hope that I was able to honor that moment in return by introducing him to you.

Brett’s album “So Much More” is what I call a Sunday Morning disc. It possesses soft beautiful melodies with introspective and inspiring lyrics. Now I love the dark, melancholy music of the moon just as much as the next person but as I travel this gravel road of life I’ve become fond of the individual who believes in filling this world with love and hope. I had a chance to sit down with Brett in his camper this past year on the “Love Speaks Tour.” When you get a chance to listen to his album my favorite song is “Ain’t No Reason”. In that song is a lyric that goes like this “Old ladies laughing from the fire escape cursing my name.” For some reason these lyrics painted a picture in my mind that I fell in love with and knew I needed to sit down with the person that wrote this song because I could learn something from them. In the interview I learned that Brett was not just a great songwriter but a great person. He likes to laugh and cares about his friends and family. Sounds like the rest of us huh. He’s not one of these “too cool for school artists.” He seems like the kind of guy you would like to go camping with and sit around the campfire and talk about life. Not to mention I’m pretty sure he can play a mean campfire song. In the interview Brett spoke about forgiveness and why forgiveness is such a treasure in this world. He reminded me in that interview that I can be a better person if I just keep trying to be one. Brett’s album will do the same once you get to spend some time with it.

Arcade Fire

“Neon Bible”

I wouldn’t suggest buying this album unless you’ve had a chance to see this band live and by then you’ve already probably bought this album. The band was definitely the most powerful show of 2007 that I had the opportunity to see. It was a Friday night downtown San Diego. My wife Carey and I walked into a sold out show at Spreckels Theater and it was like walking onto the deserted “Lord Of The Flies” island. Indie kids with arms raised pouring their guts out singing along to every word spilling off the stage. Beyond the curtains we’re 10 musicians led by eccentric frontman Win Butler and multi-instrumentalist singer Régine Chassagne. We we’re in awe with Regina at how sexy and what a rocker she was. You couldn’t take your eyes off her. And essentially 7 out of the 10 musicians rotate in and out switching, swapping and stealing each other’s instruments between songs. There’s more talent on this stage in this one band than you see on MTV in 3 months.

My advice is that if you truly love “live” music and love to close your eyes at a concert and just let the music lift you to an ethereal place. Then this band is the greatest band out there right now. The album will translate without seeing the live show however just like a fine scotch you’re going to need to spend some time with it to acquire the taste. Then you’ll find yourself ordering, “Glenfiddich, Glenlivit, any Glen will do” and looking for the album on every jukebox you come across.

Tracks I can’t get enough of:

Keep The Car Running

Black Mirror

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