Best of 2008: Vintage Vinyl News

Not that I would put my opinion up with some of the sites we've quoted over the last month, but I thought I'd throw one more voice into the best albums of 2008 frenzy.

As the site is dedicated to the artists who have been recording for at least 25 years, here are my picks for the best albums of 2008 by veteran artists:

1. One Kind Favor - B.B. King - Not only is it his best album in thirty years, it may be the best studio album of his career. It also raises the question of whether T-Bone Burnett will ever be able to create a bad album.
2. Lay It Down - Al Green - Easily Green's best album in decades. It takes his classic 70's sound and gives it just enough tweaking to be relevant in today's market.
   
3. Meet Glen Campbell - Glen Campbell - Who knew that Campbell could take the music of artists like the Foo Fighters, Green Day and the Replacements and not make it sound gimmicky? A great, classic sound added to some great modern songwriting.
   
4. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - David Byrne & Brian Eno - Byrne has been one of the great artists of quirky, eclectic music for three decades, but he's at his best when he teams up with Eno.
   
5. Tribute to Bobby - Mick Hucknall - This is probably the unknown gem of the year. Hucknall's tribute to blues singer Bobby Blue Bland is not only a wonderful introduction to Bland's music, but also proves just how soulful Hucknall can sing. It was always showcased in his years leading Simply Red, but this album has taken it to a whole new level.
   
6. Coal - Kathy Mattea - Mattea has always been more than just a country singer. She proves it on this album with a collection of songs, from traditional to new, on the subject of mining. Her long term career may very well be as one of the leaders of Americana.
7. Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond - This is the introspective Diamond that recorded for Uni/MCA in the early- to mid-70's. There's no cute, no glitz and no big orchestras. Just great songwriting and performing.
8. 24 Hours - Tom Jones - When Jones was at his soulful best over his 45-year career, he made the music that the new British soul artists have tried to emulate. It took the breakout of those new artists on the charts to bring Jones back to the studio to record one of his best albums in many, many years.
   
9. Live - Phoebe Snow - It probably isn't fair to include a live album where an artist is performing their classic music with releases of new material, but it's been so long since we've heard Snow's fantastic, soulful voice that it seems like we are hearing something new and revelatory. Here's hoping she goes back in the studio for a new set this year.
   
10. Encanto - Sergio Mendes - This is Mendes' second go around for mixing his Brazilian rhythms with a bit of hip-hop. While not quite as good as 2006's Timeless, it's still an album that you will find hard to stay sitting while it's on.

Best reissues/compilations of 2008:

1. Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia - 4-CDs of the music produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff for artists like the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Dusty Springfield, the Spinners, the Stylistics and many more.
   
2. The Soul of Rock and Roll - Roy Orbison - A full career retrospective of the man with one of the most amazing voices of the rock era. It's the first time his music from Sun, Monument and Mercury Records has been assembled in one package with plenty of previously unreleased material.
3. The Unreleased Recordings - Hank Williams - After being tucked away for over fifty years, these recordings of a local morning radio show that Williams hosted in the early-5o's resurfaced and gave us new versions of his classic songs and a bevy of tunes that were never previously recorded by the singer.
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival/Bayou Country/Green River/Willie & the Poor Boys/Cosmo's Factory/Pendulum - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Five great and one pretty good (Pendulum) album from the kings of swamp-rock not only proved how far ahead of the curve they were when it came to "Americana", but also provided us with many unreleased tracks to add to their body of work.
5. At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash - One of the best albums of the country genre was always just a small piece of Cash's overall performance. This box set finally presents both of the full Folsom Prison shows along with all of the supporting acts like Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers.
   

Obviously, there have also been thousands of albums put out this year by modern artists. Here are a few that really impressed me this year, not only because they are great music, but also because they have a sound that would have fit 30, 40 or even 50 years ago.

1. Rockferry - Duffy - Overall, the best album of 2008. Irish singer Duffy has the sound of a young Lulu (ala Shout) and the songs and arrangements that hearken back to the very best British female soul of the 60's.
   
2. Just a Little Lovin' - Shelby Lynn - A superb album of Dusty Springfield songs. Don't think this is a tribute album because it's not. It's a great artist taking the songs that Springfield made famous and giving them a whole new spin. I Only Want to Be With You, done as a mid-tempo jazz piece, may not sound like a good idea but it's a revelation.
3. The Hard Way - James Hunter - The album may be a little bit TOO much like my album of the year from 2006 (Hunter's People Gonna Talk), but why mess with a great thing? Hunter channels the sound of everyone from Sam Cooke to Jackie Wilson to James Brown and the result is always superb music.
4. Volume 1 - She & Him - The teaming of M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel could have just been another Hollywood vanity project, but it was nothing of the sorts. Deschanel has a lovely voice and a taste for a lot of older music styles that range from country to 60's girl groups with stops along the way for some old-style pop.
5. Jim - Jamie Lidell - Yes, another British neo-soul artist, but this time a male in a field overrun by females. Lidell, a bit of a techno-geek, may be the least likely artist to break out in the field, but this album is an amazing tribute to soul in all flavors, from Motown to funk.