This from my former colleague, the inimitable "No Depression" contributer Paul Cantin, who scrawls his best-of list on his facebook account:
"Not that you asked, not that I care; it's the Myface, I can do what I want."
MOVIES 2007
1. No Country for Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Zodiac
4. The Diving Bell and the Buttterfly
5. Superbad
6. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
7. The Darjeeling Limited
8. Ratatouille
9. Juno
10. Once
11. No End In Sight
12. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
13. Margot At The Wedding
14. I’m Not There
15. 2 Days In Paris
16. Eastern Promises
17. Hot Fuzz
18. Grindhouse: Death Proof
19. A Mighty Heart
20. Sunshine
(very honorable mention - Brand Upon The Brain, Rescue Dawn)
Best DVDs (in not much of an order)
1. Blade Runner (Collector's Edition)2. Ace In The Hole (Criterion Edition)
3. Two Lane Blacktop (Criterion Edition)
4. Killer of Sheep
5. The Jazz Singer
6. Breathless (Criterion Edition)
7. Warner Bros. Film Noir Vol. 4
8. Overlord (Criterion Edition)
9. The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky
10. 49th Parallel (Criterion Edition)
11. The Milky Way (Criterion Edition)
12. La Haine (Criterion Edition)
13. The Early Films of Samuel Fuller (Criterion Eclipse set)
14. Monsters and Madmen (Criterion set)
15. Rio Bravo
Best albums
1.THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN - The Good, The Bad and The Queen (Parlophone)
A collision of sensibilities – The Clash, African beats, Blur, vanishing London, music hall, ska, Danger Mouse’s avant-hip-hop. Their Live In Soho online-only EP was sublime, too.
2.NEIL YOUNG - Live At Massey Hall (Reprise)
Made for an unfortunate juxtaposition with the mostly-coasting Chrome Dreams II. If it’s never been officially issued, does that make a 36-year-old recording a new release?
3. NICOLE ATKINS - Neptune City
Saw her open for Jesse Malin at the Bowery Ballroom in March and was impressed, but it couldn't possibly have prepared me for this album. If the Shangri-Las got into a gunfight in the Brill Building with Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, and the latter-day Smiths rehearsing in the next room, it might sound something like this.
4.ALISON KRAUSS AND ROBERT PLANT - Raising Sand (Rounder)
Could have been a train wreck, but it’s not thanks to the generosity of the artists to each other.
5.ARETHA FRANKLIN – Oh Me Oh My: Live in Philly, 1972 (RhinoHandmade)
If it’s officially unreleased for 35 years, does that make it a new release?
6.JIM BRYSON - Where the Bungalows Roam (Outside Music)
Best-kept secret in Canadian music gets better. One day he’ll be recognized as one of the finest songwriters of his day.
7.LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - Sound of Silver (EMI)
They’ve gone from mordant hipsters to poignant generational spokesmen in remarkably short order.
8.RADIOHEAD – In Rainbows (independent)
A very decent record, but more important symbolically as a pay-what-you-want direct-to-fans download than it is artistically in this band’s development. You have to admire the cajones.
9.J.DILLA – Ruff Draft (Stones Throw)
For anyone who thinks there isn’t an avant-garde in hip-hop, listen to this collection of rare and unreleased tracks by the late Dilla Dawg. On “Wild” he flips a home recording of a kid singing Slade into a hip-displacing jam. On hearing “Nothing Like This,” it’s your brain that does the flipping.
10.MARAH - You Can’t Take It With You EP (YepRoc)
While awaiting 2008’s Angels of Destruction, this place-holder vinyl-only EP contains one of the best songs of their career – “If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry.” A lullaby for adults.
11.IVY MAIRI – Well You (Latentrecordings.com)
A precociously talented 17-year-old (at the time of the recording) given sympathetic support and production by Cowboy Junkie Mike Timmins. Lightning in a bottle.
12.SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS – 100 days, 100 nights (Dap-Tone)
Finally getting some overdue love. Brand-new old school funk, soul and R&B. If you wonder where Amy Winehouse gets it from, wonder no more.
13.AMY WINEHOUSE - Back To Black (Republic)
See above. Her offstage antics eclipsed her artistic achievement, but that could not shade the isolated pleasure of this record’s brighter moments.
14.THE SADIES - New Seasons (Yep Roc)
Well The Sadies went to Spain … and I kinda like the music.
15.JUSTICE – † (Ed Banger)
Bombastic bass, chunky beats and a deft ear for a pop hook make these remixmasters hitmakers in their own right.
16.ST. VINCENT – Marry Me (Beggars Banquet)
The Polyphonic Spree guitarist emerges as an often startlingly original solo act. Watch this space.
17.COWBOY JUNKIES – At The End of Paths Taken
In a year when the bigger news was the celebration of the 20th anniversary of their epochal The Trinity Session, the band also tossed off one of their most adventurous records in years.
18.BESNARD LAKES – The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horses (Jagjaguwar)
19.THE MIX UP – Beastie Boys (Capitol)
30.BATTLES – Mirrored (Warp)
Top reissues, 2007
ARTHUR ALEXANDER – Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter (Hacktone)
ARETHA FRANKLIN - Rare and Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul (Rhino)
PINK FLOYD - Piper At The Gates of Dawn (Capitol)
LEONARD COHEN – Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs From A Room, Songs of Love And Hate (Sony Legacy)
VASHTI BUNYAN - Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind: Singles And Demos 1964 To 1967 (DiCristina)
JOY DIVISION – Unknown Pleasures and Closer (Factory)
JUDEE SILL – Live In London (BBC Recordings 72-73) (Water)
ESG – South Bronx Story 2 (Soul Jazz)
AMNESTY – Free Your Mind: The 700 West Sessions (Now Again)
EUGENE BLACKNELL – We Can’t Take Life For Granted (Ubiquity)
Paul's treatment of Canada's pop/thrash darling, "Alanis Morisette: A Biography" is available on Amazon.com
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