So, Henrik, is this the last update to the 2007 albums list prior to the site update later this year? Is this pretty much what you expect the order of the rankings to be when the 2007 albums are incorporated into the database?

Based on the pattern over the last couple of years, the breakdown of where the top albums of 2007 will end up in the AM top 3000 might be as follows:

Top 500: #1-6 (Neoptolemos does the dance of joy)
501-1000: #7-17
1001-2000: #18-39
2001-3000: #40-52 (this covers every 2007 album with at least 25 points, according to the spreadsheet)

Keep in mind that Henrik's spreadsheet is at the moment solely based on year-end polls; when the albums are entered into the database other factors come into play, such as Metacritic score, Allmusic rating, Christgau Consumer Guide grades (now on music.msn.com), etc. There are also a few 2007 albums included in the recent Guardian 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die list (LCD, M.I.A., Amy Winehouse, Good Bad & Queen, Tinariwen, Bloc Party).

If no more EOY lists turn up, this will be the last update. But when the 2007 albums will be included in the all-time list (as said earlier, there will not be an update before end of summer) the order of the 2007 albums will probably be a bit different, partly due to the reasons you mentioned Harold, but also since the calculating method in the all-time list (where albums are compared pair by pair, and lists are being weighted) is different compared to the spreadsheet (just a simple sum of points).

Arcade Fire jump to #1! Awesome!

/me does the dance of joy!

Too bad LCD didn't manage to keep its #1 spot. I'd say it's more deserving than Arcade Fire or Radiohead.

Neon Bible is a decent album, but immensely overrated and nowhere near deserving of #1.

I don't understand it's critical popularity at all. The album is so homogeneous especially compared to Funeral, and sometimes sounds like a Springsteen ripoff.

This is why the Arcade Fire are so great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjxef8AfVQg

Me, I don't understand all these Springsteen comparisons
A gutless Springsteen
A cold-wave Springsteen
They lack the r&b influence that the Boss always had

Neon Bible is a good album, but it pales in comparsion to funeral; so for it to be the highest ranked album for 2007 which all in all i would conaider to have been very strong is slightly dissapointing.

I think the only real reason for the Springsteen comparisons is that parts of "Keep The Car Running" sound like "On The Dark Side" by Springsteen clone John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band from the soundtrack to the 1983 motion picture Eddie and The Cruisers. That and the fact that the Boss has appeared on stage with the band are about the only reasons I see for the words Springsteen and Arcade Fire to appear in the same sentence.

yeah, I agree with you Neil, but it's not the first time I hear these comparisons. "Le Monde" the main French newspaper said that too.

I just saw the Youtube extract of the Boss' concert with AF, they sing "Keep the car running" and yes, there's a similarity, I mean Bruce could have sang this song.
But the inflences are different I think, and the singer's voice is rather similar to Neil Young

It has that sort of "trying to escape a small town" feel. On Funeral they lamented childhood. Now they're mourning teenagers.