The Best Albums of 2007

This page last updated on December 21, 2007.

John Metzger's Top Albums of 2007

1) Robert Plant / Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

2) Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime

3) Son Volt - The Search

4) Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

5) Lucinda Williams - West

6) Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather

7) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

8) Josh Rouse - Country Mouse, City House

9) Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

10) Joni Mitchell - Shine

11) Patti Scialfa - Play It As It Lays

12) Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

13) Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters

14) Lyle Lovett - It's Not Big It's Large

15) Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark

16) Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land

17) Bruce Hornsby/Christian McBride/Jack DeJohnette - Camp Meeting

18) Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

19) Peter Rowan & Tony Rice - Quartet

20) Gill Landry - The Ballad of Lawless Soirez

For more information, please also see John Metzger's Annotated List

Douglas Heselgrave's Top Albums of 2007

1) Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective - Watina

2) Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

3) Marcel Khalife - Taqasim

4) Teddy Thompson - Upfront and Down Low

5) Lucinda Williams - West

6) Habib Koite & Bamada - Afriki

7) Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters

8) John Prine - Standard Songs for Average People

9) Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

10) Dobet Gnahore - Na Afriki

For more information, please also see Douglas Heselgrave's Annotated List

Best Boxed Sets (3 or More CDs/DVDs)

David Bowie - David Bowie

Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner Sessions

Paul McCartney - The McCartney Years

Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons - Jersey Beat: The Music of Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons

Various Artists - Summer of Love: The Hits of 1967

For more information, please also see our Annotated List of 2007's Best Boxed Sets, Live Albums, and Music DVDs

Most Memorable Songs

1) Lucinda Williams - Are You Alright?

2) Patti Scialfa - Play It As It Lays

3) Robert Plant / Alison Krauss - Killing the Blues

4) Radiohead - House of Cards

5) Lyle Lovett - South Texas Girl

6) Wilco - What Light

7) Trey Anastasio - The 5th Round / The Horseshoe Curve

8) John Fogerty - I Can't Take It No More

9) John Mellencamp - Rural Route

10) Amy Winehouse - Rehab

For more information, please also see our Annotated List of 2007's Most Memorable Songs

Best Reissues

1) The Doors - Strange Days

2) Sly & the Family Stone - Stand! / There's a Riot Goin' On

3) Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

4) Miles Davis - Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet / Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

5) Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen

6) Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colors

7) Al Green - The Definitive Greatest Hits

8) The Doors - L.A. Woman

9) Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room / Songs of Love and Hate

10) Thelonious Monk - Plays Duke Ellington

11) Lee Scratch Perry - The Upsetter Collection: A Lee Perry Jukebox

12) Various Artists - Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller

13) Van Morrison - The Best of Van Morrison, Volume 3

14) The Doors - The Doors / self-titled

15) Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

Best Live Albums / DVDs

1) Jimi Hendrix - Live at Monterey

2) Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall: January 19, 1971

3) Warren Zevon - Stand in the Fire

4) Thelonious Monk - Live at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival

5) Grateful Dead - Live at the Cow Palace: New Year's Eve 1976

6) Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy - Cornell 1964

7) Jefferson Airplane - Sweeping Up the Spotlight: Live at the Fillmore East

8) Miles Davis - Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival

9) Louis Armstrong - Live at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival

10) Nirvana - Unplugged in New York

Best Holiday Outings / Reissues / Compilations

Over the Rhine - Snow Angels

Mindy Smith - My Holiday

3 Fox Drive & Friends - Christmas Grass, Volume 3

Various Artists - A Holly Jolly Kids Christmas

Best Documentaries / Films

The Beatles - Help!

Tim Buckley - My Fleeting House

Dixie Chicks - Shut Up & Sing

Bob Dylan - The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1965

Ahmet Ertegun - Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built

Various Artists - Chasin' Gus' Ghost

The Who - Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who / Six Quick Ones

Notable Enhanced Audio Releases

With the advent of DVD-Audio, SACD, and DualDisc technology, music
making — both past and present — has taken on a whole new dimension.
Classic efforts are being re-mixed and newer outings are being recorded
from an entirely different perspective. These are some of the most notable
reissues and releases of 2007.

Genesis - A Trick of the Tail

Genesis - Wind & Wuthering

Music for Children

Del McCoury Band - Little Mo' McCoury

Books

Clay Eals - Steve Goodman: Facing the Music

Steve Martin - Born Standing Up

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - The Wheel of Darkness

Chris Salewicz - Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer

Michael Streissguth - Johnny Cash: The Biography 

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