(Sunday, December 17)

Top 25 Albums of 2006 - Part 1 (of 4) : The Disappointments

Welcome to part 1 of 4 of my Top 25 Albums of 2006 Series of posts. As I have done with years past (2004, 2005) I have compiled my top 25 albums of the year into one massive list. The only difference is that this year I have actually created 4 posts in relation to this year music. I am going to try to post a new part each day, and on the 4th day it will include the whole list. The other 3 parts of the list are actually 3 mini lists that I started keeping track of this year.

Part 1 - The Disappointments
Part 2 - The Overrated
Part 3 - The Honorable Mentions
Part 4 - The Top 25 Albums of 2006


I hope you enjoy the posts, I always enjoy writing them and reading the discussion that they bring. So feel free to comment away esp if you disagree with me, I love hearing people's thoughts on music. All 4 lists come from a Albums released in Dec 2005 though Dec 2006. A lot of times when I get a new album it takes me a decent amount of full listens to figure out how I feel about it, I pick up on average 2 albums a week so it takes a little while for me to really get into an album. If you look at my Last.Fm stats you can see I have listened to at least the first 10 seconds of almost 15,000 songs this year, and I would say it is a fair bet that probably about 20-30% of those 15k were people on this list. So each album did get a decent amount of listens. Last.fm also doesn't count the stuff I listen to on my ipod in the car, so that number is a decent amount higher.

So without further ado:


Part 1 - The Disappointments

This mini list are some of the albums that have come out this year, that in my opinion were major letdowns for me. Each of these albums I was excited about and could not wait to listen to and all of them just really were kinda disappointing to me. Music is by far one of the most subjective things in the world, so I am sure other people's opinions differ, but each of the CDs below probably only lasted about 1 to 2 days on my ipod and were banished to the backup drive for a cold cold cold day which there is nothing else to listen too

Idlewild - Outkast

First off, I have not seen this movie, so I am only going by the soundtrack. After speakerboxx/the love below I didn't think that anything Outkast would touch would be bad. This this rolled out. I think I understand the merging of hiphop from different time periods and making it someone what timeless, but this soundtrack just was really a bummer. I think the only song I really thought might make it to my daily playlist (randomized) might be Peaches (highlight of the album for me), but I think not it even it could save it from being a disappointment. Outkast is one of those groups who has the balls to try new things though, so it will in no way hinder my purchase of either of their next solo or group albums. But I would be lying if I said this wasn't a let down.

Sams Town - The Killers

I couldn't put Hot Fuss down when I first got it. It was literally one of those albums where I heard a bunch of good thing about and bought off a whim from itunes. It was not a let down. Even though every station and their mother played them almost every 30 mins on the dot, I still loved the CD. Then I heard the first single from this album 'When You Were Young' I would say it was catchy, not anything that I would really have said was standout, but definitely not bad. Then I heard the rest of the album, and to be fair it was a good choice for the single, because the rest of the album blew.

Keys to the World - Richard Ashcroft

I had never met a Richard Ashcroft CD I didn't like. Until this one :( Seriously, Ashcroft is one of the most under appreciated song writers of our time (I even put Alone With Everybody on my most underrated albums of all time list) This cd just sat wrong with me from the beginning for some reason. Music is Power sounds kinda cheesy. I think the msg is sincere, but the way it comes across is lame. Break the night with Color is certainly the highlight on the CD, but that isn't saying much. Like Outkast above, it doesn't diminish my view of him as an artist, but this is definitely his Zooropa.