Oddly, we've had quite a different response this year to our annual Best Albums of 200x Readers' Picks. Normally, we were able to narrow a few choices down to a few resounding selections. Not this year. We do have a few definite top selections but not by any high count at all. Instead, the top selections were put at the top because I received a few emails that listed them. Otherwise there are a mass of single selections. This year, we're not using any added commentary. If a selection does not have entry numbers in parantheses next to it (which indicates the popularity of the choice), the the selections have no ranking at all but are just placed as I read them.

I'm not surprised that Coldplay snagged the number one spot but I AM surprised at how few chose it as opposed to a listing of favourites of the year. However, seemingly the expected ones have placed fairly well. If this list is anything this year, it is merely a listing of albums that readers have favoured. It now becomes a list to run down and see if anything strikes your interest. As before, the main purpose of this list is to introduce new music to you. music that you might have otherwise missed or overlooked.

This year, we're going to list on this front page rather than making a separate page for the list. Of course, it will be well notated in our archives page so it will be easily retrieved. So, without any further noise (I tend to make quite a bit of it), we present to you the Best Albums of 2008. We'll not bog this post down with any reviews but we'll be back on Wednesday with a few for you.

The Best Albums of 2008 - Readers' Poll

1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (27)
2. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (23)
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows (17)
4. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (13)
5. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (11)
6. Metallica - Death Magnetic (11)
7. AC/DC - Black Ice (10)
8. Duffy - Rockferry (6)
9. David Byrne/Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (5)
10. Guns 'n' Roses - Chinese Democracy (5)
11. Motley Crue - Saints of Los Angeles (5)
12. Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws (5)
13. Black Crowes - Warpaint (5)
14. Rush - Snakes & Arrows (4)
15. Journey - Revelations (4)
16. John Mellencamp - Life, Death. Love & Freedom (3)
17. Asia - Phoenix (3)
18. The Sword - Gods of the Earth (3)
19. Black Mountain - In the Future (3)
20. Elvis Costello - Momofuku (3)
21. Neil Young - Sugar Mountain:Live at Canterbury Hoiuse 1968 (3)
22. Starcastle - Song of Times (3)
23. Judas Priest - Nostradamus (3)
24. Whitesnake - Good to be Bad (3)
25. Beck - Modern Guilt (3)
26. Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch (3)
27. Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I Have Feelings Too (2)
28. Def Leppard - Songs From the Sparkle Lounge (2)
29. Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion (2)
30. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely (2)
31. Ben Folds - Way to Normal (2)
32. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazurus, Dig!!! (2)
33. Al Stewart - Sparks of Ancient Light (2)
34. Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers (2)
35. David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk (2)
36. Extreme - Saudades de Rock (2)
37. Queen with Paul Rodgers - Cosmo Rocks (2)
38. Van der Graaf Generator - Trisector (2)
39. The Fireman - Electric Arguments (2)
40. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark (2)
41. Glen Campbell - Meet Glen Campbell (2)
42. Emmylou Harris - All I Intended to Be
43. Beaujolais - Love at Thirty
44. Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
45. Cocoanut Grove - Madeleine Street
46. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
47. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
48. Marching Band - Spark Large
49. Mark Olsen & Gary Louris - Ready for the Flood
50. Peter Moore - One Ride
51. Sofia Taluik - Jonestown
52. Thomas Function - Celebration
53. Calexico - Carried to Dust
54. Blind Melon - For My Friends
55. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
56. Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha
57. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
58. The Submarines - Honeysuckle Weeks
59. Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - Turbo
60. Nikka Costa - Pebble to a Pearl
61. Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin'
62. Allison Moorer - Mockingbird
63. Susan Tedeschi - Back to the River
64. Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart
65. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
66. Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets
67. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
68. Labelle - Back to Now
69. Jack Bruce/Robin Trower - Seven Moons
70. Nazareth - The Newz
71. Billy Sherwood - At the Speed of Life
72. Phil Manzanera - Firebird VII
73. T-Bone Burnett - Tooth of the Crime
74. Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere - Nudge It Up a Notch
75. BB King - One Kind Favor
76. Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
77. Van Morrison - Keep It Simple
78. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Re-mastered and Expanded Reissue)
79. Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting (Remaster)
80. Seven Mary Three - day&nightdriving
81. Live - Live at the Paradiso
82. Dave Matthews Band - Live at Mile high Music Fest
83. Sister Hazel - Before the Amplifiers
84. George Carlin - It's Bad For Ya!
85. Disturbed - Indestructible
86. Blue Man Group - How to be a Megastar
87. Ken Block - Drift
88. Candlebox - Into the Sun
89. Dokken - Lightning Strikes Again
90. Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8
91. Rose Hill Drive - Moon is the New Earth
92. Joe Jackson - Rain
93. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
94. Steve Winwood - Nine Lives
95. Everlast - Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford
96. Thao - We brave Bee Stings and All
97. Scott Weiland - Happy in Galoshes
98. Filter - Anthems for the Damned
99. Todd Rundgren - Arena
100. Katy Perry - One of the Boys
101. Jason Mraz - We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
102. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop, Drop and Roll!
103. Smashing Pumpkins - American Gothic
104. They Might be Giants - Here Come the 123s
105. Was (Not Was) - Boo!
106. The B-52s - Funplex
107. Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie
108. Abel Ganz - Shooting Albatross
109. Beardfish - Sleeping in Traffic Part II
110. Believe - Yesterday is a Friend
111. Melanie Doane - A Thousand Nights
112. Jade Warrior - Now
113. Keef Hartley Band - Halfbreed
114. Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul
115. No-Man - Schoolyard Ghosts
116. Panic Room - Visionary Position
117. Carole King - Tapestry (Expanded and Remastered)
118. Trapeze - Medusa
119. REM - Murmur (Expanded and Remastered)
120. Thieve's Kitchen - The Water Road
121. Simon Says - Tardigrade
122. Matthew Parmenter - Horror Express
123. Dead Can Dance - Aion (SACD Remastered)
124. Genesis - 1970-1975 (Box Remasters)
125. Opeth - Watershed
126. Weezer - Red Album (Remaster)
127. The Cure - 4:13 Dream
128. The Presidents of the United States - These Are the Good People
129. Killers - Day and Age
130. The Wildhearts - Stop Us If You Heard This One Before
131. Ginger - Market Harbour
132. Janet Jackson - Discipline
133. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
134. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
135. T-Pain - Thr33 Ringz
136. Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times
137. Phil Perry - Ready for Love
138. Billy Joel - The Stranger (Expanded and Remastered)
139. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
140. Janelle Monea - Metropolis (The Chase Suite)
141. She and Him - Volume One
142. Bauhaus - Go Away White
143. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball
144. Shearwater - Rook
145. Melvins - Nude With Boots
146. Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider
147. Buck Stone Cherry - Folklore and Superstition
148. Motorhead - Motorizer
149. Bang! - Thunder
150. Paul Westerberg - 49:00
151. Brant Bjork - Punk Rock Guilt
152. Endless Boogie - Focus Level
153. Gaslight Anthem - '59 Sound
154. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
155. Jackson Browne - Time the Conqueror
156. Nebula - Heavy Psych
157. Eagles of Death metal - Heart On
158. Saturnalia - Gutter Twins
159. Spinnerette - Ghetto Love EP
160. Kings of Leon - Only by Night
161. Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls, and Marches (Reissue)
162. Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool (Reissue)
163. Greg Dulli - Live at The Triple Door
164. Clutch - Full Fathom Five
165. Spiritualized - Songs in A & E
166. Marillion - Happiness is the Road
167. Ani DiFranco - Red Letter Year
168. Seal - Soul
169. Grateful Dead - Winterland '73
170. Grateful Dead - Rocks the Cradle of Civilization
171. Alanis Morrisette - Flavours of Entanglement
172. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
173. Gary Louris - Vagabonds
174. Randy Newman - Angels and Harps
175. Aimee Mann - Smilers
176. Jordan Zevon - Insides Out

For the long promised Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! list (#37), I will be posting a letter each post until exhausted (there were only 17 21 25 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 emails).  Some were only a few titles, some only one.  But there were more than a few that were massive and a few extended, well-detailed lists.  I’ll post them as I received them.  For today's post, it's a short list with commentary.

Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love
There is a lot to say about this record and none of it can be said without hyperbole. Kate Bush's career served as the spring board for a generation of highly acclaimed female musician who rose to prominence in the 90's.  The Hounds of Love (and it's related b-sides) is the best example of what Kate Bush was all about.  It is not her best album but it the record that best represents her.  Side one is chocked full of her most "pop" songs to date and side two is collectively known as "The Ninth Wave" which is much like Dark Side of the Moon or side two of Abbey Road in that it is a collected suite of songs of varying styles and tempos that are all connected.

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds & Faith
This is bleak stuff but in a good way.  These two records are still the best expressions feelings futility and ennui that I have heard. Each album has a song or two that has been elivated to "greatest hits" status but they aren't why I recomend these albums.  On the Seventeen Seconds, A Forest is the gem and on Faith the title track sums it all up.  Back in the mid 80s these two records were combined by Sire Records in the US on one CD as Happily Ever After.  Warning:  Prolonged exposure to the Cure's Happily Ever After will probably result in a long bout of clinical deparession or possibly even suicide. 

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Pyschocandy
The descritpion of the Jesus and Mary Chain's sound on this album is best put in the words form the liner notes "chainsaws in a wind tunnel".  Even though heavy on distorted guitar this record never comes across as anything remotely close to Metal or Punk.  The combination of distortion, psychedelic mood and surf guitar melodies was truly unique when this came out and you can hear the infulence in all the "shoegazer" bands of the late 80's and early 90's.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Speaking of "shoegazer"...Loveless is the benchmark of the genre.  It sounds alot like noise but there are great melodies and pop hooks in there that make this a great record.  This record takes the ol' Phil Spectre "Wall of Sound" idea to new extremes and is totally original in it's execution.  Reportedly this album took most of a year to record and bankrupted Creation records and broke up the the band (and personal relationship of Kevin Shields and Belinda Buthcer.  That is one extreme committment to your art.

Love and Rockets - Express  
Former members of pioneering Goth band Bauhaus go psychedelic and cover a soul classic to boot.  Their cover of Ball of Confusion on the US release of Express was a huge hit in clubs catering to the college radio crowds in the mid 80's.   Side one goes from from a soft saxaphone intro into a hard driving punk mood and then puts you into a song that compares transcendental meditation to a journey by train (complete with the sounds of a chugging locomotive which become the opening guitar riff).  The song All in My Mind is on here twice, once as an up-beat accoustic based ditty and again dramatically slowed down with a substituted minor chord to provide exactly the opposite feeling.  I know this has been done before (Think the Beatles' Revolution) but it is used to great dramatic effect on Express.

The Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
I never knew the history of the recording sessions for this album until I got the Trinity Revisited cd/dvd earleir this year but now that I know how this record came about it make me appreciate the original that much more.  This is a great collection of original songs so insprired choices for cover songs all performed pretty much the same way but to great affect.  Margo Timmins has a voice perfect for singing just above a whisper and it works perfectly on the songs on this album.  Also, after Oliver Stone used the Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane in his movie Natural Born Killers I can never quite see Woody Harelson and Juliette Lewis in the same way again.

I could go on and on adding albums to this list but I'll leave it at this.  

We're going to keep the Best Album of ALL Time up for a long while as we continually update it. But I'll say this: The Beatles took the lead with not only The White Album but also the fact that they have been selected with two albums. Like The Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! run, which does not show signs of stopping (I'm still getting emails, which I have no problem with and encourage - Send Them In), I'm hoping that this new thing stays strong. Send in your selection (one only, please) for the album that is the ruler of all.

If you have missed the last As The Disc Spins (updated), check it out here.

To access the previous site and catch up, click here.

The immensely important Doug Sahm will get a Various Artists tribute album on March 24 called Keep Your Soul.  This 14-track album will feature tribute covers from Dave Alvin, Charlie Sexton, Shawn Sahm, Los Lobos, and more and will be released by Vanguard Records.

The Indigo Girls will take the indie path by releasing their own new album on their own label (IG Records) called Poseidon and The Bitter Bug.  There will also be a 2CD Deluxe Edition with Full Band Studio Sessions and The Acoustic Sessions.  All will be released on March 24.

Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles follows up her debut release (Diamonds in the Dark – 2007) with a new album called The Stars Are Out.  It is planned for release on March 24 by Sugar Hill Records.

The new album by Pet Shop Boys will be released on March 24 by Astralwerks Records.  It is called Yes, and will be issued as a CD and a Limited Edition 2CD set.

Pete Doherty, front-man for The Libertines and Babyshambles, will release a solo effort called Grace/Wastelands.  It is currently scheduled for March 24 by Astralwerks Records and will also see issue as a Limited Edition CD/DVD.  The Limited Edition CD/DVD will contain a 16-page booklet, with the DVD filled with 40-minutes of interviews and studio footage.  Where’s the LP, folks?

Ivy League Records will release the comeback album, Melodia by The Vines on March 24.

Candlelight Records will reissue classic albums on March 24 including Amon Duul (Die Losung), Gong (a 22-song collection called The History and The Mystery of The Planet Gong), and Hawkwind (w/ Lemmy Kilmister) (The Text of Festival – Hawkwind Live 1970-2).

Columbia Records will release a Live Leonard Cohen album along with a companion DVD called Live in London.  This separately available set will be issued on March 31.  C’mon Leonard, show up in LA so I can go and see you for myself.  I will be soooo there.

Rhino Records will reissue two Chicago classics, Chicago Transit Authority, and Chicago II (MSRP - $34.98, these are big albums), scheduling the releases for April 21.

Reprise Records will reissue Oasis titles (Don’t Believe the Truth, Stop the Clocks (2CD), Heathen Chemistry, Definitely Maybe, Familiar to Millions, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, The Masterplan, Be Here Now) on March 11.

The Derek Trucks Band has released a fine album, Already Free. Well known for his many participations, Derek Trucks has a ton of cred in this music. Mark Squirek provides an in-depth review of the new album.

Normally, I don’t get all giddy and excited about a single album, but this self-titled debut release by the interestingly named The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has got my music interest greatly piqued.  I’m having a tendency to pair this with some great albums that originated from NYC bands in the past, particularly the raucous and energetic Rock of the late ‘70s.  And this album just does it all over again for me.  It makes me remember why I love Rock n Roll in the first place.  Yes, I’m that excited about this album AND this band.  I can’t wait to see them live!