Barring any surprises - and there may be a few - Eyewear would like to begin the listmania that usually begins in a month or so - and suggest a plausible provisional top ten list for popular music recordings in 2007. Looking back over my list for 2006, I realise I rarely listen to some of them anymore - music's charms can be fickle - but this is what is still in my ears now. You'll note that Arcade Fire are lower than might be expected - their album, while astonishing and innovative in places, was also over-hyped and grandiose, and put in its place by the far loftier-yet-serene experimentalism of In Rainbows, by far the most impressive album of the year.I have also left off the Arctic Monkeys second album, which hovers somewhere in 12-20th spot. An early favourite for best of the year, it somehow faded in interest as the year wore on. Winehouse's retro album retains its power to shock with how the new can be so uncannily borrowed from the past, and yet be fresh. It is noteworthy how many of the albums were influenced by political events in America and The Middle East, and, however subtly, expressed concern with the world's current political ills - 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, especially - 2, 3, 4 and 10 rather reflecting the more-or-less apolitical sounds of an earlier era or time (whether the 60s or 70s) - which, ironically, were also very politcal moments. But, as I have suggested in my reviews, The Shins and Interpol are, in their ways, obliquely relating to current events. The strength of this list, and the longer one it draws from, argues that the 00s will be considered a good musical decade for popular music - even if no one dominant style has emerged - unlike the 90s with, say, Grunge, the 80s with Rap and Alternative, and the 70s with Disco and Punk.
10. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse. [not previosuly reviewed at Eyewear].
11. New Moon - Elliott Smith. [not previously reviewed at Eyewear].
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