Albums 60 thru 51

60. Ben Harper – “Lifeline” Is the album in which he should’ve hit it big with because it has everything a rock record needs: a couple of upbeat songs like “In The Colors”. I don’t know why some bands make it big and others not. This guy has it and its a shame everyone doesn’t know of him or that he gets labeled as a “jam band”.

Key Tracks – “In The Colors”, “Fight Out Of You” and “Lifeline”





59. Gnarls Barkley – “St. Elsewhere” As a fan The Goodie Mob, I always wanted to know if Cee-Lo Green would ever do anything as amazing as their first album, “Soul Food”. Well he did it as one half of Gnarls Barkley by writing the best song of the decade. “Crazy” is one of those songs you can hear on alt-rock, R&B and pop radio stations. Seeing them live was so cool in Boston. The whole band was dressed as Tennis Preps and when I saw them in Baltimore they where dressed in Roman attire.

Key Track – “Crazy”, “Gone Daddy Gone” and “Just A Thought”


58. Beck – “Sea Change” I wonder if Beck named this “Sea Change” because the sound on this album was such an abrupt change from his upbeat sound you would find on every other album of his. This album is quite depressing, but still a great one. The sound is so deep you can’t tell what instruments are being used. You feel like it is just him and his guitar.

Key Track – “The Golden Age”, “Lost Cause” and “Paper Tiger”





57. Talib Kweli – “Quality” When I first got this album I was in Ohio and and whenever I was driving I was listening to this album. This was when I started to take further notice of Kanye West. Kanye produced a couple of tracks on this album that were my favorite. In “Get By” he sample the jazz singer Nina Samone. This track is one of Kanye’s productions and Kweli’s best songs. There is a group of the best producers on this album like the late J-Dilla and the legendary west coast producer DJ Quik.

Key Tracks – “Get By”, “Put It In The Air” and “The Proud”



56. The Postal Service – “Give Up” What an incredible album. The electronic sound is mixed with lyrics written by one of the best of this generation: Ben Gibbard. Just listen to “The Distric Sleeps Alone Tonight”. The sound is original and organic.


Key Tracks – “The Distric Sleeps Alone Tonight”, “Such Great Hights” and “We Will Become Silhouettes”





55. Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks – “Real Emotional Trash” Stephen Malkmus was the lead singer of the early ’90 alt-rock band Pavement. His new band is quite good as well. This album is reminiscing to Pavement. The album really picks up half way through at “Out Of Reach”

Key Tracks – “We Can’t Help You”, “Baltimore” and “Out Of Reach”






54. John Legend – “Get Lifted” This is one of four or five real R&B albums on the list and I think I might favor this one because Kanye West produced it. “Used To Love U” really magnifies Legend’s vocals, but “Ordinary People” magnifies his writing and piano playing.

Key Tracks – “Ordinary People”, “Used To Love U” and “Number One”








53. Wale – “The Mix Tape About Nothing”/”Back To The Feature” These two albums are hip-hop hustling at it finest. Wale did his thing to get a record deal. It’s too bad that these two mixed tapes are better than his studio album that just came out. He has a couple of different songs where he samples indie artists like Peter, Bjorn and John and Duffy. The one that sticks out the most is Yaem Naim’s “New Soul”. (Which you will remember from the iPod commercials.) His lyrics are also on point. I look forward to seeing him blow up in 2010.

Key Tracks – “New Soul”, “The Bmore Club Slam”, “The Cliché ft. Lil’ Wayne”(get it “The Cliché” because Lil’ Wayne is feature on everything), “Pot of Gold”, “Nothing To Worry About”, and “Um Ricka”

52. Gorillaz – “Gorillaz” This album takes me back to the summer going into my senior year of high school before I met Marie. The sound was different from what was around at the time. Its half english rock half underground hip-hop. “Clint Eastwood” is a very catchy song we all know and Del the Funky Homosapian made it enjoyable and not just a goofy hook.

Key Track – “Clint Eastwood”, “Tomorrow Comes Today” and “5/4”




51. Amy Winehouse – “Back To Black” We all know the story about her personal life, but if you put that aside this album was pretty much perfect for a white soul singer. This is a fun album from front to back. (That is a very uncommon for me to say in this genre of music.) Was it me or did a lot of “Back To Black” sound like a Phil Spector production?

Key Tracks – “You Know That I’m No Good”, “Rehab” and “Tears Dry On Their Own”