Saturday, December 30, 2017

illustrationISM's TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2017

Here's my Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2017, 
(consider...these are what I enjoyed listening
to this year. These have nothing to do with
top radio ratings, Rolling Stone, MOJO, or
Eugene Weekly influences.

(drum roll) Number 10... .      .

10. Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends
      NEW WORLDS
PLUS, earlier in the year i read The Zen of Bill Murray,
was was a 'revealing hoot'.

9. Jessi Colter - The Psalms


8. Johnny Lang - Signs


7. Robert Randolph & The Family Band -
GOT SOUL


6. Terry Scott Taylor - Bedroom Demos


5. The Songs of Mark Heard -
Treasure of the Broken Land
It's nice to know that Buddy Miller was able 
to stir up latent admiration from a 
group of musicians to once again
let us remember how much MH was/is gold.

4. Bruce Cockburn -
Bone on Bone
Now that he's living in San Fran, it's interesting to 
see his prose about America and hear his
guitar that cuts through, from branch to branch
with the ambient sounds.

3. The Waterboys -
Out of All This Blue

2. Peter Garrett
A Version of Now
This was a  v e r y  late entry into my
favorites for this year, would you believe...
only YESterday?! 
I missed the Oils last summer when they were in pdx 
last summer (rhymes with bummer).
I drove home, last night,
playing it 4X! 
Full Blast! 
On a Great stereo!
I got my Oils fix!


1. U2
Songs of Experience
Was it worth the wait? mmm, yea.
It needs less keyboard, probably no keyboard
sounds. It needs just guitar, bass, vox and drums.
Bono needs to kick a little higher with his lyrics.
The songs do crescend with the lyrics and music
complimenting near the end. My favorite song 
was, ironically, in the extra tracks, Book Of Your Heart.
They sounded like they were finished with the synth 
seasonings and just played without trying to. 
Does it sound like this is my favorite album of 2017?


many of these albums!!