There are a hell of alot of lists floating about the moment about what are the best albums of the last decade. We at GP discussed the possibility doing one, but where to start? Base it on album sales, technical merit or what it did for the genre? To truly know what is the best album you would have to have listened to every album released, and then give it at least 5 years to prove it character, an impossible task.
And since my only frame of reference is the albums I have listened to and what I think of them, I’ve decided to do something a bit different to the norm and present what are my personal favorite albums of the last decade and why. Its not a top ten or a definitive list, its not the best selling or the most ground breaking, but what I enjoyed and still hold dear.
First up is Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings of Leon. Here they managed the rare feat of producing a second album even better than their hugely successful first. I borrowed the first album off a mate and kept it for about 6 months. I think he was too nice to ask for it back. When the follow up came out I made sure I got myself a copy and wow, what an album. While all the elements of the first album are there, the songs have a new found sophistication to them, a sign of a band maturing. We of course know the next two albums saw the band try to write songs to fill stadiums and where so far removed from their debut but Aha Shake Heart Break is the perfect balance of both.
Next up is Coldplays ‘Rush of blood to the Head’. ‘Do you know how I know you’re gay?’, a single question that has made it very difficult for people to not get slated for liking Coldplay, but in 2002 they followed up there great debut Parachutes with an album that pushed them into the mainstream. While we all know the likes of Clocks, The Scientist and In My Place, its the second half of the album that I love, with great songs like Green Eyes and Amsterdam. I never actually bought a copy of the album though, my mam got it for Christmas and I pilfered it. Don’t tell her I have it.
Third is Declan O’Roukes ‘Since Kyabram’. May seem like an odd choice but I was lucky enough to share this album with someone special and it means more to me than his singer/songwriter peers Damien Rice’s O or Mundy’s 24 Star Hotel. Romantic and classy, the album has probably the best three first songs of an album I’ve ever heard in ‘No place to hide’, ‘birds of a feather’ and ‘Galileo’. Unfortunately the rest of the album fades after that, but I’ve usually drifted off to sleep by then.
Next is Daft Punks ‘Alive 2007’, I was lucky enough to see them at both Marley Park and Oxegen and I have to say both occasions are two of my favorite memories of the decade, and this album lets me relive the whole thing. The french duo really are two of the best at their craft and the quality of the mix is superb. When the album hits one more time/Aerodynamic I get those goose bumps all over again.
At the Drive In’s ‘Relationship of Command’ would make my top 5 albums of all time. It wasn’t until about 3rd year in secondary school until I started to explore different music genres, until then I played it fairly safe with punk-pop and chart indie, plus the odd more obscure indie album here and there (Mercury Rev anyone?), but then I was introduced to The Pixies and the whole game was blown wide open. Picked this album up in Soundcellar on Nassau St after not being able to find it anywhere else in Dublin and honestly one of the best purchases I ever made. I was everything I was looking for in an album, unrelenting, melodic and full of energy, the problem was the band broke up the year before. It was heartbreaking to find out.
The Postal Service’s ‘Give Up’ is an album I stumbled upon by accident. I’ve never been into Death Cab for Cutie at all, so its strange to love this album so much when its Death Cab – Guitars + Electronica, but what an album. First time I heard District Sleeps tonight was on a Hot Press sampler I had gotten off a mate and I mistakenly believed Postal Service were some Irish band I’ve never heard of. How wrong was I, I got the album and I was a fixture in my CD player for a long, long time.
Another album that lived in my CD player is Bloc Party ‘Silent Alarm’. Compared to my mates, I was very late in getting into Bloc Party, I blame not reading NME, but that was around the time when every other issue was about Pete Doherty. In fairness I still don’t buy NME but I reckon Silent Alarm is as inventive and ambitious first album around that made the Bloc Party stand out from their peers. Mike Tong’s drumming on this album is just unreal, and the quality of songs right through the album is top notch, so much so I always end up listening to it start to finish.
The Frames’s ‘For the Birds’ is for me the perfect soundtrack to walk around Dublin City on a Saturday morning just after it rained. I say that because, well, I did and it fit perfectly. Like most people I always liked The Frames, but after seeing them Witnness 2002 hold their own against the likes of Greenday and the Foo Fighters, this impressionable 15 year old became one of those people who believed Glen Hansard was some kind of prophet. I grew out of that when Fake came out and everyone else started to like The Frames even though their songs where nowhere near as good as previous albums. How pretentious was I? I also liked Arcade Fire before you and liked Phantom FM before they went Legit. Some things make you look back and cringe, they really do.
Of course there are plenty of other great album I’ve listened to over the past decade, but the above are those that I’ve picked out as extra special to me. I’d like to throw out some honourable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut, that at one point in the last decade where my favorite albums, Arcade Fire’s Funerals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever to Tell, The Strokes This is it, Sujan Stevens Come feel the Illinois, Placebo’s Black Market Music, The Nationals Boxer, Muse’s Origin Of Symmetry, Mic Christopher’s Skylarkin, Josh Ritter’s Golden Age Of Radio and Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed America and to albums that are less than five years old that might sneak from my current favorites to my all time favorites Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, The XX S/T, The Animal Collective’sMerriweather Post Pavilion, Friendly Fires S/T, Passion Pit’s Manners and Fleet Foxes S/T
I know there are many great albums that I have not even mentioned, but i’ve tried to be as truthful as I can in this. For instance I was never really into Radiohead, an while I know Kid A is a top 5 album of the decade contender, I never listened to it. Same goes for The Flaming Lips and The White Stripes (post white blood cells).
Its very interesting to look back at what you listened to and how your tastes have changed or matured over the last ten years, and how certain albums can transcend being just music to become milestones in our lives. Here’s hoping when I’m looking back at 2010 – 2020 I don’t think “What was I up to listening to all that electro shite?”.
Words by Kev Meagher