There Was Something So Pleasant About That Phase

Happy New Year! Before we move on to 2007, let's look back on the past year. Here are country feedback's top picks of 2006 (he forgot how to post on here because it's been so long - we gotta change that!):

These are in no particular order. An asterisk means I really, really liked it. So, my top 10 albums for 2006 are...

- *Cat Power, "The Greatest"
- *Band of Horses, "Everything All The Time"
- Peter Bjorn and John, "Writer's Block"
- *Cold War Kids, "Robbers and Cowards"
- Tokyo Police Club, "A Lesson in Crime"
- *Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, "Rabbit Fur Coat"
- Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
- Tapes 'n Tapes, "The Loon"
- Jennifer O'Connor, "Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars"

Honorable Mention:
- Belle and Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit"
- Alexi Murdoch, "Time Without Consequence" (a close #11)
- Yo La Tengo, "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" (a few good songs, yes, but really this makes it on album title alone)
- The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife"
- TV on the Radio, "Return to Cookie Mountain"
- Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"

Best reissue of 2006 - or EVER, for that matter:
- R.E.M., "And I Feel Fine...:The Best of the IRS Years 1982-1987" (I'm a completist with them so this is tough to say, but really, if a person only buys one R.E.M. album it has to be this one)

Album that will show up on EVERY other top 10 list but
really only had 2 good songs in my opinion:
- Gnarls Barkley, "St. Elsewhere"

Best single of 2006:
- "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley