Was 2009 the best year for music in the decade? In a word, yes.
Veteran acts like U2 and Bruce Springsteen kicked off the early part of the year with albums that rank among their best ever, while two of the biggest-selling artists of the ‘Aughts’ made sure hip-hop had its say in the decade’s final year.
But surprisingly, as more and more fans make compact discs a thing of the past, I found myself drawn to that soon-to-be-extinct thing known as the record store.
With labels shifting away from sending us journos actual hard copies of new releases in favour of password-protected download sites, I became a weekly visitor to the new-release section of my local HMV.
Some of the discs on this list were even purchased there.
So even though I’ve been in love with my iPod since I got one for Christmas in 2004, and have been fanatically collecting music online since the late-‘90s, as the ‘Aughts’ came to a close, I found myself pining for the record store relic.
When it comes to music, I might like the ease and accessibility of the iPod, but in 2009 I realized how nothing beats that kid-on-Christmas-morning feeling of ripping open the cellophane, thumbing through 12-pages of glossy liner notes and hearing the whir of my seven-year-old CD player.
If by 2020 the CD is a thing of the past, then let’s say this was the last great year in which to buy them.
Here are my top 10 CDs of 2009.
10. The Dead Weather | Horehound (Third Man Records)
While the White Stripes continued to take an extended break, Jack White kept himself busy by forming yet another new band. Stepping aside to let the Kills’ Alison Mosshart grab lead vocals, White returned to the instrument of his youth, pounding the drums for 60 minutes of sexy blues-rock and fierce guitar fizz.
9. Lilly Allen | It’s Not Me, It’s You (Capitol/EMI)
Even though her 2007 debut, Alright, Still, sold heaps of records, the sassy Londoner was somewhat overshadowed by her tabloid-grabbing contemporary, Amy Winehouse. Well, while ‘Wino’ continues to make headlines for her offstage antics, Allen returned with another fine set of saucy mean-girl hooks. I also liked how she readily admits she wants to wear “f---loads of diamonds.” I definitely hope she sticks around another 10 years.
8. Muse | The Resistance (Warner)
On paper, tacking on a three-part symphony at the end of a bombastic set of rock songs doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. But one listen to the trio’s swirling, opera-esque new set of tunes proves they are worthy successors to U2 (for whom they opened in the fall). By pushing the envelope and stretching their comfort zone, they open themselves up to a whole new audience. Heck, even Glenn Beck got onboard.
Not counting a greatest-hits set and a 2006 hip-hop compilation, it had been seven years since audiences have listened to Em’s venomous rhymes. Newly sober, the Detroit rapper returned with a confessional disc that traded barbs at his ex-wife Kim for confessions about his own faults. The disc touches on his struggles with drug overdoses, addiction and a hospital visit that Em admits was ‘baloney.’
6. Norah Jones | The Fall (Capitol/EMI)
I never underestimate the importance of great background music. Just like movies need credible supporting actors (think Ken Jeong from this summer’s The Hangover), date night requires a go-to disc that can set the mood. Norah Jones has always fit the bill for me, and though her slightly-rocking fourth disc hints at what she might sound like should she ditch her easy-listening roots for good, The Fall still succeeds at making you want to curl up with that special someone with Norah singing you softly to sleep.
5. Dave Matthews Band | Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King (Sony)
OK, big disclaimer here: I’m a huge DMB nut. I’ve seen them 15 times and dragged my wife to Vegas in May for the two-show performance at the MGM Grand. That caveat aside, I think Big Whiskey is an album that non-fans can appreciate. Completed following the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore, the unfairness of life hangs over this record (‘Doesn't everyone deserve to have the good life?/But it don't always work out,’ Matthews sings on groovy “Spaceman”). But taking a cue from New Orleans (where the album was recorded), DMB’s heavier-sounding seventh studio album celebrates the ties that bind.
4. Them Crooked Vultures | Them Crooked Vultures (Universal)
Maybe you’ve had your fill of supergroups (by my count there were three in ’09), but seeing as this one has Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones tapping two of classic-rock’s best students, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), you’d better listen up. More accessible than Homme’s Queen’s and more brawny than Grohl’s Foos, Them Crooked Vultures spices up Zep-style riffs with Jones’ Doors-y keyboard solos (“Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and "Scumbag Blues”). Will it last? I hope so.
3. Metric | Fantasies (Metric Music International)
This is perhaps the most seductive CD of the year. I’ve been impressed with the quartet’s live shows, but punchy tracks like the New Order-esque “Gimmie Sympathy” are exactly the type of songs that’ll make you say, “Wait a sec. Who was that?”
2. U2 | No Line on the Horizon (Interscope)
Following their seesaw ‘90s electro-experiment “Pop,” the boys from Dublin bounced back this decade with a trio of albums that each topped the other. And that’s a good thing considering the foursome launched the year’s biggest tour. Heard underneath the behemoth ‘Claw,’ as their stage was dubbed, the high-note anthem “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight” got a juicy dance injection, while the Edge’s soaring riff on “Magnificent” amply backs up Bono’s declaration that they were born to sing for us. Hopefully their best is still to come.
1. Jay-Z | The Blueprint 3 (Roc Nation)
After declaring he was done with rap on 2003’s “The Black Album,” Jay-Z had critical hiccups with “Kingdom Come” (2006) and his soundtrack foray, “American Gangster” (2007). But with beats from Kanye West, Pharrell and Swizz Beatz, and a game-changing cameo from Alicia Keys on the catchy “Empire State of Mind,” Jay-Z’s braggy lyrics were able to live up to his earlier promise. And even though U2 scores big for conceiving the year’s most inventive live show, Hova scored bigger by staging the year’s most entertaining concert.
Honourable mentions: Bruce Springsteen, “Working on a Dream”; John Mayer, “Battle Studies”; Bob Dylan, “Together Through Life”; The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You”; Wilco, “Wilco (The Album)”; Pearl Jam, “Backspacer”
