Best Album of 2006

[Pachinko]

What was the best album of 2006?

Personally, there weren't many. However, there were a few that I did/do enjoy:
Nelly Furtado - Loose- this album was definately different from her last two albums. Besides the album's annoying hit, "Promiscuous", there were quite a few songs that could be called amazing. Like "Say It Right".
Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics- I love this woman and her voice. She is one of the only popular performers today with an actual voice. Her new album is awesome, mainly because of its influences. "Candyman" is just too awesome.
Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape- Yeeah, I know. For Gwen, this album is definately not her best, but out of all the current pop album releases, I'm floored at its brilliance. Quite a few tracks amaze me. "Early Winter", "The Sweet Escape", and "Wonderful Life" all sound like they could be No Doubt songs; hopefully that's how No Doubt will sound once they get back together. However, best song will go to "Don't Get It Twisted".

I think that I'm forgetting something... Hmmm. >__>

[Kei]

Muse - Black Holes and Revelations. One of the best, if not the best, albums by Muse. From track 1 to track 11 (12 counting the pre-ordered album track), there is not a single song on this album that sounds the same as the last. Each title brings something a little more unique to the table, only to be graced by the opera-esque singing of Bellamy's voice. I can't reccomend this album enough to people. If nothing else, the video for "Knights of Cydonia" is reason enough to buy the album.

[animanic_critic]

Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics- I love this woman and her voice. She is one of the only popular performers today with an actual voice. Her new album is awesome, mainly because of its influences. "Candyman" is just too awesome.
As much as I hate her Marilyn-Monroe image and former hairstyle fiasco, I can't deny her powerful voice ever since her first single "Reflections". She simply brought the house down with her vocal prowess in her current hit song "Hurt" . If only she make more music like so more often... <.<


I think that I'm forgetting something... Hmmm. >__>
Yes you did, indeed.

Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds - Yeah, I hate his guts and occasionally-childish behavior too. Not as illustrious as his last album 'Justified', but I can this one go pretty far.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Stadium Arcadium - Again, not as good as their 'Scarlet Tissue' album, but you can't go on talking about honorable albums for 2006 without mentioning this one. Anthony Kiedis and Flea still got it after all these crazy years.

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade - Their music is played on the airwaves so much that it's nauseating, but they may well be the pop-rock band of the year. I can see this album emulate their last one 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'.

[Manga_Creator]

I think the best album is the Beatles-Love I know there dead but I never get tired of them.

Andy

XxX

[Pachinko]

I think the best album is the Beatles-Love I know there dead but I never get tired of them.
Ummm... we are currently in 2006, dear.

As much as I hate her Marilyn-Monroe image and former hairstyle fiasco, I can't deny her powerful voice ever since her first single "Reflections". She simply brought the house down with her vocal prowess in her current hit song "Hurt" . If only she make more music like so more often... <.<
I guess my love for Marilyn and the 20's/30's style is why I like the new phase.

I remember a few others I forgot:
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope- though Regina is moving into a more poppy/electronic sound, I love her story-like lyrics and her voice is still killer. If you were to buy a song online, I'd recommend "Fidelity", "On The Radio", and "Field Below".
P!nk - I'm Not Dead- this woman has some serious, talent. Even though her last album "Try This" was a bust, the newer album is definately something to pick up. Most of the songs are autobiographical or have that feeling. I love her voice and these new songs delight to a T.

[Natsuke Takeda]

Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor

Although it never reached the top, it was a great album.

[Ninja Realist]

Wincing the Night Away-The Shins

[Tremolo]

I actually compiled a Top 20 Albums of 2006 list which'll be on my LiveJournal at some point in January, so you guys should consider yourself lucky for this exclusive showing of said list.

01. Ed Harcourt - The Beautiful Lie
02. Guillemots - Through The Windowpane
03. The Dresden Dolls - Yes Virginia
04. MUCC - gokusai
05. Howling Bells - Howling Bells
06. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
07. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
08. The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home
09. The Killers - Sam's Town
10. Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark
11. The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home
12. AFI - Decemberunderground
13. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
14. Nerina Pallot - Fires
15. Thea Gilmore - Harpo's Ghost
16. Merry - PEEP SHOW
17. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
18. Plastic Tree - Chandelier
19. The Sleepy Jackson - Personality
20. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

Yeah. Weep.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Stadium Arcadium - Again, not as good as their 'Scarlet Tissue' album...

You mean Californication, of which the song 'Scar Tissue' is on, rite?

I think the best album is the Beatles-Love I know there dead but I never get tired of them.

It's just a glorified Best Of collection with some tinkering. And only half of them are dead.

[animanic_critic]

You mean Californication, of which the song 'Scar Tissue' is on, rite?

Oops, I knew something didn't feel right... :S

Yeah, that's the one. Thanks for the correction!

[Luggles]

Favourite album of 2006 would be Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist.

I still need to check out Cursives - Happy Hollow and Enslaved’s - Ruun, but I think I’d still put Deftones on top. As for disappointing albums of 2006, Alexisonfire’s - Crisis comes to mind for me, it was just a really poor effort from one of my favourite bands, and The Mars Volta’s - Amputechture too, they sorta bugged me with their Francis The Mute album and have been drifting further and furthering into obscurity since then.

2006 wasn't that great of a year for music to me, 2005 was way better :/

[Perfect_Cheezit]

I have a top 10. I consider it a good year for music. I'm not going to comment on all of these but...

1. Gulag Orkestrar - Beirut

Best of the year! Have a listen, you won't regret it.

Others...

2. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
3. Return to the Sea - Islands
4. Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio
5. I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass - Yo La Tango
6. Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
7. Things Go Better With RJ and Al - Blueprint and RJD2
8. Out of the Angeles - Amusement Parks on Fire
9. Game Theory - The Roots
10. Blood Mountain - Mastodon

[UZ_white]

STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD - Weird Al
Come on, you can't not like this CD. "White and Nerdy" alone makes it awesome.

[Dirty Harry]

03. The Dresden Dolls - Yes Virginia
04. MUCC - gokusai
05. Howling Bells - Howling Bells


FANBOY ALERT.

As much as I'd like to put MUCC's newest album on any sort of best album list, I refuse to force myself to like its boring and samey sound.

Instead, I'll go ahead and mention MUCC's 6 album, which was also released this year, and isn't nearly as tired.

EDIT: Hell, even Cover Parade was better than gokusai.

[Tremolo]

FANBOY ALERT.

As much as I'd like to put MUCC's newest album on any sort of best album list, I refuse to force myself to like its boring and samey sound.

Instead, I'll go ahead and mention MUCC's 6 album, which was also released this year, and isn't nearly as tired.

EDIT: Hell, even Cover Parade was better than gokusai.

Having listened to it constantly to and from work, it's really really grown on me. There are two real duff tracks, but I really dig the rest. There are however two things that really hurt it: 1) MUCC released too many singles prior to it and 2) it doesn't really hang together as a consistent whole like kuchiki no tou, houyoku and, hell, even 6 do. But some of the songs are fantastic, particularly '25toki no yuuutsu'. It's not ever going to ever be my favourite MUCC album, but it's a good set of songs.

[Lupin the 3rd]

Inhuman Rampage by Dragonforce :)

[Pachinko]

STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD - Weird Al
Come on, you can't not like this CD. "White and Nerdy" alone makes it awesome.
I'm quite fond of "Pancreas".

[Ninja Realist]

A few others who deserve mention:

Joanna Newsom - Ys

And

Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

[EMY23-23]

Inhuman Rampage by Dragonforce :)

Hahaha. Not quite as good as their first two, but still pretty good. Despite how utterly rediculous they are I still enjoy their music a lot. They also put on an amazing live show.


Another album worth mentioning is Tool's 10,000 Days. Despite some harsh critcisms from reviewers as well as some their own "old school" fans, the album was still absolutely amazing. Too bad it also had to follow their best album Lateralus.

[Relentless]

Doctors Advocate - The Game

Better than his first album and he don't even have Dre on any of the songs anymore.

[Freya]

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade - Their music is played on the airwaves so much that it's nauseating, but they may well be the pop-rock band of the year. I can see this album emulate their last one 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'.

A-fricking-men.

But I have to say I don't hear much of it played on the radio (except Welcome to The Black Parade) and I personally like it SO much more than Three Cheers...I actually didn't like that album at all so when their new one came out I didn't want to listen to it and once I did I was hooked. New MCR > Old MCR

Although my favorite was Young Machetes by The Blood Brothers!!!! YAYAYAY!

sorry for the caps but I love them SO much.

It was a little different than they're previous albums (all of which I believe I own >.> ) yet it had great similarities. It was more upbeat and the screeching amounts was about the same (Johnny Whitney I poked you in the belly button!) the guitar and stuff is different but so wonderful.

[LakiDash]

The only really good thing to come out...

TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Trip-Hop, Alternative/indie, jazz fusion and even a bit of acapella. These guys can do it all. And they do it all fantastically. I Was a Lover and Wolf Like Me are absoultely wonderful, and the hauntingly beautiful Provinces with David Bowie doing back up vocals is a major plus.

Kudos to the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Stadium Arcadium as well. That too was a pretty damn good album. But being a double, it had a lot of filler.

[Rence]

Muse - Black Holes and Revelations. One of the best, if not the best, albums by Muse. From track 1 to track 11 (12 counting the pre-ordered album track), there is not a single song on this album that sounds the same as the last.

This was definitely one of the best. Muse is an amazing band and deserve all the credit they get, and this album was just a continuation of the greatness they have produced in the past. I personally still like Origin of Symmetry best, but that's just me.


Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds - Yeah, I hate his guts and occasionally-childish behavior too. Not as illustrious as his last album 'Justified', but I can this one go pretty far.


This was undoubtedly the best pop album of the year. It was catchy and fun beyond all reason, and I managed to love it despite my loathing of Justin himself. He nailed everything that's right about pop music.


Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope- though Regina is moving into a more poppy/electronic sound, I love her story-like lyrics and her voice is still killer. If you were to buy a song online, I'd recommend "Fidelity", "On The Radio", and "Field Below".


This album is great. Top 3 albums of the year contention, no doubt. A lot less crazy in the way it sounds than her previous stuff, but still contains the totally nuts lyrics like those off of 11:11. The singles were catchy, and the rest of the album was rock solid. I've listened to it quite a bit, and it's good to see her getting some success.

Wincing the Night Away-The Shins

See, I love The Shins; I really do. But my problem with this album is it's exactly the same as any other Shins album. Still really solid and good music, but I might as well go listen to Chutes too Narrow. It's all the same.

Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

I'll definitely give you Fishscale though. 2nd best Hip-Hop album of the year. Right next to my own pick for the album of the year, which is...

Hip-Hop is Dead by Nas. This album is completely amazing. The lyrics are smart, quick, and relevant. The title track is as catchy as you can ask a song to be, while still being clever and making a strong point. "Black Republican" featuring Jay-Z has one of the best beats I've ever heard in hip-hop; it's completely epic, and has just the sound a song that has Jay-Z and Nas should have. "Can't Forget About You" with the Nat King Cole sample is fantastic. It was just more solid than any album that came out in '06, and I'll give it my pick for 2006 Album of the Year.