Pazz and Jop 2008

The annual Pazz and Jop poll in the Village Voice has been out for a couple of weeks now, but I haven't had much time to write about it.

No huge surprise in the results - when both Rolling Stone and Spin chose TV on the Radio's "Dear Science" as their top album of the year, that was a good sign that its critical support was wide and deep. I'm still not convinced the album is that good, but there are definitely a few songs on it that are first-rate.

I may have missed something, but these are the albums I own that make an appearance on this year's list:

1. "Dear Science," TV on the Radio. See above comment.

2. "Vampire Weekend." I had this one at #4 in my Top Ten. The Voice also has an essay about the polarized reaction to the band, and the record.

4. "Fleet Foxes." I had this one pegged at #2.

8. "For Emma, Forever Ago," Bon Iver. I admit that I need to spend more time with this one, but right now I'm still not hearing what has this one ranked so high. I hear fragments of songs rather than fully realized songs, and while a melody grabs me now and then, the overall atmosphere is neither dynamic nor interesting enough to sustain the feeling.

20. "Tell Tale Signs," Bob Dylan. My #1 pick.

21. "Viva La Vida," Coldplay. I had this one in my Honorable Mention section.

25. "Accelerate," R.E.M. My #5 pick. Definitely the highest they've been in the Voice poll for quite some time.

36. "Real Animal," Alejandro Escovedo. Another Honorable Mention of mine. I still think a couple of the ballads are lousy, and that pulled it out of the Top Ten for me.

41. "Modern Guilt," Beck. A pretty low standing for Beck in Pazz and Jop. Honorable Mention for me.

42. "Furr," Blitzen Trapper. Still need to listen to this one some more, but 42 sounds about right.

52. "Little Honey," Lucinda Williams. I thought this one would be higher; Honorable Mention for me.

65. "Asking for Flowers," Kathleen Edwards. Too low. I had this one at #8.

72. "Consolers of the Lonely," The Raconteurs. I thought this was a lot better than their debut, and it finished a lot lower in the poll. Go figure.

76. "Lust Lust Lust," The Raveonettes. I pegged it as an Honorable Mention.

79. "Momofuku," Elvis Costello and the Imposters. #6 for me.

95. "Acid Tongue," Jenny Lewis. Really surprised this one finished so low. I had it at #7.

Others: Shelby Lynne's "Just a Little Lovin'" (103), Mudcrutch (112), Ryan Adams' "Cardinology" (126), Cat Power's "Jukebox" (149), The Baseball Project's "Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails" (161), Madonna's "Hard Candy" (251), John Mellencamp's "Life Death Love and Freedom" (300), Van Morrison's "Keep It Simple" (530), Jackson Browne's "Time the Conqueror" (549), Counting Crows' "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings" (657), Moby's "Last Night" (859), and Sheryl Crow's "Detours" (905).

28 this year, which I would guess is a little higher than last year's poll. Needless to say, far gone are the days when I would have already owned more than 30 out of the poll's top 40.