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Very surprised to see Kanye slipping down the list, Deerhunter leapfrogging Janelle and Gorillaz languishing in 15th.
But for a year to potentially have Caribou and Ariel Pink in the top ten, that's a terrific show for the world of weird, and one I very much approve of 
Kanye will catch up on the decade end lists; too bad that's 9 years from now. 
I can't believe that such a leaden album like The Suburbs is such a frontrunner in this.
Three soul/rap albums in the top 10 is a very good score for a usually indie-biaised general list.
I liked the Suburbs, but I also feel like it's a pretty weak choice for album of the year. Maybe the weakest album of the year ever besides Arctic Monkeys in 2006.
I liked the Suburbs, but I also feel like it's a pretty weak choice for album of the year. Maybe the weakest album of the year ever besides Arctic Monkeys in 2006.
Can completely see how The Suburbs would leave some people underwhelmed, but when the results for the AMF 2010 album poll comes out next month, I suspect you'll find that most people on this forum would disagree with you. But hey, it's difference of opinion that makes this trivial list-making thing so much fun!
Leaden to you.
Completely agree. There is nothing about it that says AOTY material to me, especially in such a strong year. Like Neon Bible, I think it will eventually drop with time.
Not to say they would have had him high -- I mean, by god Paul Weller put an album out this year! -- but I think he would have appeared.
Leaden to you.
Yep, didn't find it leaden at all. In fact, it's the first time since 2003 that the critics and I are in agreement on No. 1.
At best, I find the album overall to be musically and lyrically boring. At worst, it is damn irritating. 
There are only 3 songs I like on the album without reservation:
"Empty Room"
"Half Light I"
"Sprawl II"
Even then, I don't think any of these would make my top 10 Arcade Fire songs. So, in my book, The Suburbs features the least amount of worthy material to put on an album, yet they fill it with 13 more tracks, a few of which have moments that I may almost enjoy, but it ends up feeling completely bloated.
I really wanted to like the album. I even sat through the whole thing 4 times hoping it would grow on me. Instead, I actually ended up disliking it more, with patronizing lyrics like "Let's go downtown and hang with the modern kids" and the infamous kids in art school drinking his blood bit really grating on my last nerve. I haven't listened to Funeral or Neon Bible since, as I fear that the sour taste The Suburbs left in my mouth may infiltrate their earlier work.
"Empty Room"
"Half Light I"
"Sprawl II"
Sounds like a vote for a Regine solo album!
"Empty Room"
"Half Light I"
"Sprawl II"
Sounds like a vote for a Regine solo album!
Could be!
"In the Backseat" is my favorite from Funeral after all.
Weird, unlike Jonathon, Harold and Nick, I didn't feel that The Suburbs was much of a transformation from Neon Bible, which wasn't much of a transformation from Funeral. When I first heard Funeral, the thing that immediately stood out was it's HUGENESS. It was the most epic sounding debut indie rock album I'd ever heard. Even back then, before they were famous, they were playing loud with 8+ people on stage and Win Butler was going for the sweeping statement. To me they were always bombastic, musically and thematically. As Nick pointed out, The Suburbs is plenty personal, Butler singing about the life he grew up in. They just go as big as they can go with it. But the same could be said for Funeral, which was prompted by a friend's passing but turned into this epic statement about Love and Death and Disillusionment. When I heard Neon Bible, I was like "yep, sounds like something the band behind Funeral would come up with." And I thought the exact same thing with The Suburbs. So I don't see Arcade Fire "turning into" something dangerous. It's always been in their lifeblood, and anyway they do it well. Bono is getting up there in years, we can do with someone taking up his mantle, right? 
(And to be honest, Bono is also a clunky songwriter, has always been.) I wouldn't mind an epic sounding but artistically sound arena band for our generation, and AC have been living up to it SINCE their debut, rather than just beginning to get to that point. Really the only thing The Suburbs did differently was sound more musically colorful, and I liked that aspect.
But anyway, I'm not going to change anybody's mind about it, so this will probably be my last defense of The Suburbs in these forums.
maybe in time it'll climb up
I was just thinking about that; granted it's happened in a lot of years.
It makes you appreciate the fact that #700 of all time or whatever is still a highly acclaimed album.
I know what Ddiamond is saying. Plenty of great albums are left out of the top 3000 only because their respective years or decades were so strong. And, of course, as AM continues being updated year after year, more and more deserving albums will be left out. It's something I wonder for all of these kinds of sites (well, there aren't many; AM, theyshootpictures, jazz 100): should they eventually increase the size of their main list somewhere down the line, say in 10 or 15 years? This may be wishful thinking in several ways, I know. 1) Will the sites even be running that long? 2) Increased number means increased workload, and that would be a lot to ask for the founders who already do so much. Instead, I will do my part to seek out and remember all the lesser known gems each year.
Thanks Harold!
P.S. If there's one thing I can side with The Suburbs skeptics about, it's the spreadsheet score. I'm surprised at how far up The Suburbs is from the rest of the top 10. Not only is it the only album at over 300, it's the only one with 300 from every region. C'mon, it was great but so were many albums this year. It's kinda like the movie The Social Network. I loved it, but now I'm getting tired at how it's sweeping all the lists and awards. It wasn't THAT much better than everything else.
I totally liked the movie paradox you've made. Black Swan, Winter's Bone and Blue Valentine are some of the movies that deserved some of those awards that Social Network has been sweeping. I still need to watch the King's Speech though and The Kids Are Alright too. I guess i'm more in love than ever with Emma Stone, super hot at the Golden Globes and terrific in Easy A. She's a promise that deserved more attention and stole a great, fresh, accessible little film, kinda like what Sleigh Bells did this year (and deserved more too).
The pity is that there's no chance of Kanye overtaking Arcade Fire as well...
Yeezy reupholstered my spreadsheet!
Yeezy was head and shoulders above for me this year.
The pity is that there's no chance of Kanye overtaking Arcade Fire as well...
Yeezy reupholstered my spreadsheet!
Yeezy was head and shoulders above for me this year.
I wouldn't feel too much pity for Yeezy. After all, he did sweep the "big" ones in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Spin, as well as take down the Pazz and Jop - the biggest poll of all with its largest ever margain of victory. And I suspect he'll have a pretty decisive win here at AMF as well.