The 5 BEST ALBUMS of 2007
5. MIDLAKE -The Trials of Van Occupanther
Though the last two or three tracks lapse toward sameness, this offering is full of tenderness and melancholy. Profoundly listenable.
4. OKKERVIL RIVER - The Stage Names
Head-nodding, foot-tapping, upbeat, and massively self-referential, this is the latest one from the geniuses who brought you Black Sheep Boy. Though not as seductively melodramatic as that previous work, you'll keep coming back to this one.
3. RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows
Pure genius--and the most approachable album from the famously inapproachable Radiohead in a long time. Deceptively simple--and Yorke's gorgeous falsetto is put to extraordinary use. "Nude" is my favorite Radiohead track since "How To Disappear Completely."
2. IRON & WINE - The Shepherd's Dog
I was skeptical at first of Sam Beam's departure from stripped-down folk, but Shepherd's Dog is true in every way to the continuing development of Iron & Wine. A glorious sonic expansion.
1. THE NATIONAL - Boxer
Changed my life.
