The Best CDs of 2007
The Top Ten - Sheer unpredictability is one of music's great joys. Only two of the CDs listed below are ones that I might have guessed had potential to contend, four were by artists heard for the first time this year, and the other four exceeded all expectations with their 2007 releases. Check these out if you will, and happy listening. 1. Joan Osborne - Pretty Little Stranger (Vanguard) Listen to "Who Divided" Joan Osborne ventured outside the comfort zone of her normal repertoire to make a "country album" and selected a half dozen really great songs to cover, not necessarily anyone's traditional idea of country. What drove this record to the top this year was the amazingly great songwriting by Joan on the six originals that fit so well with the covers, that it's not always easy to tell which is which. All of the songs feature superb production by Steve Buckingham and the resulting record is one that just gets better and better the more you listen to ...