Updated: Best Albums of 2010

BAM!  Bet you were expecting a Best of 2011 list, yeah?  Well I don't got time for that (YET)!  No...this is where I acknowledge all the great stuff I missed in 2010.  'Cause it doesn't get any more rock n roll than to talk about shit that's over a year old.  Write that down in your How to Be Rock N Roll notebooks.

Anyway, the last time I wrote this list, I spent quite a while talking about how there isn't enough time in one year to listen to all the potentially great releases and put them in a "Best of" list.  So I waited a few months into 2011 and called it my Favorite (as opposed to the Best) Albums of 2010.  Yes, I am a HUMBLED and RESERVED gentleman who wears suits.  What do suits have to do with anything?  I don't know.  But Josh Ritter wears them, and I was staring at the picture above, and I think I'd like to wear suits once in a while.

So!  While I think the first part is still true (there just isn't enough time...), I've somewhat gotten over the "Best of" thing.  GTI has evolved into a well-oiled machine of music-discussing machinery-ness.  Hence the title change above.  And with an extra several months, I felt it appropriate to revisit, revise, and expand my previous list to something I think better captures the year.

The highest-ranking additions to this list are Josh Ritter's So Runs the World Away, the Walken's Lisbon, Strand of Oaks' Pope Killdragon, and Broken Social Scene's Forgiveness Rock Record.  All are fantastic, and I apologize to the artists for neglecting them back when I first wrote this list.  Well, I don't really apologize, but it seemed like the right thing to say in that sentence.  Yeah.  Other major shakeups include the big jumps made by Spoon and Joe Pug.  Both artists were a big part of my 2010, and I stupidly ranked them too low in the first version of this list.  A bunch of the fun/catchy albums of 2010, which I had originally ranked quite highly, haven't had as much staying power as I expected.  I still think they're great albums, but the general pattern here is that the "serious" stuff moved closer to the top (or bottom, in this case).

So here goes.  The Best Albums of 2010, Take Two:

35. Rocky Votolato - True Devotion
Highlights: "Sparklers" and "Red River."

34. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
Highlights: "Hair Song" and "Old Fangs."

33. Vampire Weekend - Contra
Highlights: "Cousins," "Holiday," and "Giving Up the Gun."

32. Glen Phillips - Tornillo
Highlights: "Better Off Here" and "Let it Pass."

31. Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs - God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise
Highlights: "Beg Steal or Borrow" and "Old Before Your Time."

30. Joe Purdy - This American
Highlights: "Ride Off on a Cloud" and "Highways."

29. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
Highlights: "Where'd All the Time Go?" and "Later."

28. eels - End Times
Highlights: "A Line in the Dirt," "Mansions of Los Feliz," and "Gone Man."

27. Secret Knives - Affection
Highlights: "Wicker Park" and "The Northwest States."

26. We Are Scientists - Barbara
Highlights: "Nice Guys," "I Don't Bite," and "Central AC."

25. The New Pornographers - Together
Highlights: "The Crash Years" and "My Shepherd."

24. Jason Collett - Pony Tricks
Highlights: "Bitter Beauty," "Pulling the Sun Down," and "Feral Republic."

23. Warpaint - The Fool
Highlights: "Composure," "Shadows," and "Baby."

22. Owen Pallett - Heartland
Highlights: "Lewis Takes Action," "Midnight Directives," and "Tryst With Mephistopheles."

12. Menomena - Mines
Highlights: "Queen Black Acid," "TAOS," and "Dirty Cartoons."

21. Mimicking Birds - Mimicking Birds [self-titled]
Highlights: "Burning Stars" and "Cabin Fever."

19. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Highlights: "Wide Eyes" and "Cubism Dream."

18. The Black Keys - Brothers
Highlights: "Tighten Up" and "Everlasting Light."

17. Gold Motel - Summer House
Highlights: "Safe in L.A." and "Summer House."

16. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
Highlights: "American Slang," "Orphans," "The Diamond Church Street Choir," and "The Boxer."

15. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Highlights: "Troubles Will Be Gone," "Love is All," and "The Drying of the Lawns."

14. Wolf Parade - Expo 86
Highlights: "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)," "Yulia," and "Little Golden Age"

13. Guster - Easy Wonderful
Highlights: "Hercules," "This Could All Be Yours," "Do You Love Me," and "Do What You Want."

12. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues
Highlights: "Harlem River Blues," "One More Night in Brooklyn," "Ain't Waitin'," and "Rogers Park."

11. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Highlights: "Swim Until You Can't See Land," "Nothing Like You," and "FootShooter."

10. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Highlights: "Art House Director," "World Sick," and "Sweetest Kill."

9. Strand of Oaks - Pope Killdragon
Highlights: "Bonfire," "Kill Dragon," "Daniel's Blues," and "Sterling."

8. The Walkmen - Lisbon
Highlights: "Juveniles," "Blue as Your Blood," and "Torch Song."

7. The National - High Violet
Highlights: "Bloodbuzz Ohio," "Conversation 16," "Sorrow," and "Terrible Love."

6. Ra Ra Riot - The Orchard
Highlights: "The Orchard," "Boy," "You and I Know," "Shadowcasting," and "Too Dramatic."

5. Joe Pug - Messenger
Highlights: "Bury Me Far From My Uniform," "Unsophisticated Heart," and "Speak Plainly, Diana."

4. Spoon - Transference
Highlights: "I Saw the Light," "Written in Reverse" and "Got Nuffin."

3. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV
Highlights: "Breakdown into the Resolve," "Star Wars," "The Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well," "P.S."

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Highlights: "Deep Blue," "The Suburbs," and "Ready to Start."

1. Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away
Highlights: "Change of Time," "Another New World," "The Curse," "Southern Pacifica," and "Orbital."