As Chosen By Me: The Best Albums of 2008

When CD burning was still in its infancy, I used to use Napster, Kazaa, and other questionable music download services to create greatest-hits albums of my favorite bands and singers. I wouldn't put just chart toppers on each CD, though - I'd only burn my favorite tunes, no matter how popular or obscure, and title them with a big black Sharpie: Greatest Hits, As Chosen By Me.

As if  I was going to be confused later, had I written merely 'Warren Zevon' or 'The Clash.' That lack of extraneous description, apparently, would have had me stymied.

But I held on to those early burns, and was reminded of them today while trying to list my 10 Favorite Albums of 2008. I knew some would be mainstream and some would be indie, but all of them would be part of my soundtrack to last year.

For a more objective view, there are several great music round-up lists floating around the Internets. A few of my favorites are WMVY's Top 25, Pazz & Jop at the Village Voice, and Joe's 100 Favorite Albums. That said, here's another list of Best Albums of 2008. As Chosen By Me, of course.

1. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. - Jason Mraz

2. Once, Music from the Motion Picture - Glen Hasard and Marketa Irglova (released in '07, but main track 'Falling Slowly' won the Oscar in 2008 and the album was re-released. Details.)

3. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay

4. The Red Album - Weezer

5. Funhouse - Pink

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

7. Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams - Solange Knowles

8. Fight With Tools - Flobots

9. Rockferry - Duffy

10. @#%&*! Smilers - Aimee Mann

tags: music  2008  albums  lists  

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