One year later what do you consider the best albums of 2006? A full year seems right for digesting music. There are a lot of albums I had high last year that I don't listen to at all now. I'm going to wait on mine, but I just wanted to post this while I was thinking about it.
1 (1) The Rifles - No Love Lost
2 (3) Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
3 (6) The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4 (-) Peter Bjorn And John - Writer's Block
5 (2) Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
6 (9) Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
7 (-) The Knife - Silent Shout
8 (-) Razorlight - Razorlight
9 (4) Beck - The Information
10 (-) The Kooks - Inside In Inside Out
Bubbling under: Lily Allen, Built To Spill, Loose Fur
Between brackets, the position in January 2007. Lily Allen (5), Rosanne Cash (7), TV On The Radio (8) and Damien Rice (10) have lost some of my interest ...
1) Let's Get Out of This Country- Camera Obscura
2) the Life Pursuit- Belle and Sebastian
3) Someone to Drive You Home- the Long Blondes
4) We Are the Pipettes- the Pipettes
5) Alright, Still- Lily Allen
6) Ballad of the Broken Seas - Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
7) Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
8) Standing in the Way of Control- the Gossip
9) Through the Window Pane- the Guillemots
10)Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not -Artic Monkeys
11) The Crane Wife -the Decemberists
12) Trials of Van Occupanther- Midlake
13) Cansei de Ser Sexy- CSS
14) the Greatest- Cat Power
15) Avatar- Comets on Fire
1. BELLE & SEBASTIAN: The Life Pursuit
2. MOJAVE 3: Puzzles Like You
3. CAT POWER: The Greatest
4. VARIOUS ARTISTS: I'm Your Man. A Leonard Cohen Tribute
5. THE ESSEX GREEN: Cannibal Sea
6. JOAN AS A POLICE WOMAN: Real Life
7. CANDI STATON: His Hands
8. THE HIDDEN CAMERAS: Awoo
9. CAMERA OBSCURA: Let's Get Out of This Country
10. BEIRUT: Gulag Orkestar
11. RAY DAVIES: Other People's Lives
12. JOHNNY CASH: American Recordings V
13. YO LA TENGO: I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
14. EUROS CHILDS: Chops
15. DESTROYER: Destroyer's Rubies
1) Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Conscience
2) Bob Dylan - Modern Times
3) TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
4) Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
5) Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
6) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
7) Joanna Newsom - Ys
8) Ali Farka Toure - Savane
9) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
10) Razorlight - Razorlight
1. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
2. Joanna Newsom - Ys
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
4. The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
5. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
6. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
7. The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out
8. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
9. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
11. The Fratellis - Costello Music
12. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
13. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
14. The Killers - Sam's Town
15. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
ha ha, I've been waiting for someone other than me to start this thread, so I didn't have to admit to only catching up with last year's music this year. Fortunately I've caught up with a lot of 2006 releases, thanks to my local library, which usually is as late as I am in collecting modern music.
1. The Knife - Silent Shout
2. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
3. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
4. Islands - Return to the Sea
5. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
6. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
7. Califone - Roots and Crowns
8. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
9. Fujiya and Miyagi - Transparent Things
10. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Just as aside - The top 2 on this list have made it to my top 100 albums of all time. Anything from last year that has cracked your ultimate list?
Yep, my #1 from 2006 (Rifles) is in my favorite 100.
Just the number 1, Dylan is just outside of my top 100.
I never came across any articles about the Rifles. What are they like? What area of the world are they from?
The Rifles are from London, UK. Britpop I would say. Formed in 2004, No Love Lost is their debut album.
The music is not groundbreaking or experimental, so it might not be interesting for you, Jonah. But on this album, every song is just great and I like to listen to it over and over again. I had the same experience with the La's back in '90.
The Rifles' homepage has moved to here:
http://www.myspace.com/therifles
There you really should try to listen to "she's got standards" or "one night stand", just lovely songs.
The Jam and The Who are mentioned as influences / similar music.
I'm curious about Alexi Murdoch. Neo, can you tell us a little about that (style, where from, etc.)?
He's from London as well, self-published an EP with four songs among which the brilliant single "Orange Sky" in 2002 and created a full album (including "Orange Sky) called "Time Without Conscience" in 2006. It's sort of indie rock album with some folk, with several songs that have featured in popular series such as Prison Break and The OC.
Orange Sky is in my top 200, but the rest of the album is just consistently excellent.
Here's the AMG review: http://wm01.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:8b851v06zzha
I don't know why I keep naming it Time Without Conscience.. it's "Time Without Consequence".
Many thanks, Neo! 
Listening to him as we write ...
I'll give The Rifles a try tomorrow, bedtime now. :)
1. World Waits- Jeremy Enigk
2. Jay Reatard- Blood Visions
3. Alright Still- Lily Allen
4. Fishscale- Ghostface
5. Girl Talk- Night Ripper
6. Everything All the Time- Band of Horses
7. Headlights- Kill Them With Kindness
8. Jeffrey Foucault- Ghost Repeater
9. The Black Parade- My Chemical Romance
10. King- T.I.
11. Jarvis- Jarvis Cocker
12. Let's Get Out of This Country- Camera Obscura
13. Boys and Girls in America- Hold Steady
14. Amy Winehouse- Back To Black
15. Live a Little- Pernice Brothers
16. Futuresex/Lovesounds- Justin Timberlake
17. Destroyer- Destroyers Rubies
18. It's a Feedelity Affair- Lindstrom
19. Between the Devil and Middle C- Mark Mallman
20. Tower of Love- Jim Noir
21. Modern Gameplay- Sprites
22. Food and Liquor- Lupe Fiasco
23. The Avalanche- Sufjan Stevens
24. DFA Remixes: Chapter 1- DFA
25. Silent Shout- The Knife
My feelings now: My feelings at the end of last year.
1. The Knife - Silent Shout : 5
2. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain : 2
3. Joanna Newsom - Ys : 1
4. Destroyer - Rubies : 4
5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times : 3
6. Decemberists - The Crane Wife : 7
7. Asobe Seksu - Citrus : 12
8. Herbert - Scale : 6
9. Yo La Tengo - (Long awesome title) : 13
10. The Thermals - The Blood, The Body, The Machine : 9
The top 3 are the only ones I still frequently listen to.
I just listened to some of The Rifles on their myspace DrDre, and I have to say.. it's pretty good!