Thursday, December 27, 2012

Year In Review 2012 - Top Ten Albums - Part 3 (5-1)

Another great year is finishing up for Rock The Body Electric and we wouldn't be a proper music blog if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so without further verbiage RtBE Presents it's third part of the Best of 2012 Top Ten Albums (5-1):
In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album either on the site or somewhere else we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, just click on the name and title and you can read it.  RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on the their Top 20 so expect some overlap. Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but full releases you can slap on and listen to the all the way through.

2012 was an great year, this top 5 is rock solid (as is all the ones we have mentioned so far) and worth plunking down the cheese to own the full length releases from all of these artists, some you will def know and maybe 1 or 2 you haven't heard of yet.

Without further hubbub click the read more link down there to see #5-#1 of the Top Ten Albums of 2012:
#5 Delta Spirit- Delta Spirit
Buy The Album Here!
Easily the biggest mover and shaker on this list and the album that grew on me the most as the year progressed. While we were big fans of the bands first disk, we also gave them the biggest let down for their second.  Now their third, self-titled rebirth disk provides real hope for the future as it works wonders from start to finish.  The soundscape's are gorgeous, the album is cinematic but still very pop focused.  The band seems to have pulled it together swimmingly and here's hoping the evolution continues.
   
#4 Archie Powell & The Exports- Great Ideas In Action
Buy The Album Here!
Maybe the least known band on the list, but that isn't for lack of talent or production, Great Ideas In Action is a hell of an album.  The smart pub-rock-pop style is infectious with organ swells, great guitars and winning lyrics from Archie.  Tracks like "Crazy Pills" "Metronome" and "All The Same" are awesome.  Def the new band I am most excited to keep tabs on going forward, In the original review I wrote: "Fans of upbeat, intelligent, rock and roll can’t let Great Ideas In Action pass them bye" and I still believe it.

#3 Dr John- Locked Down
Buy The Album Here!
Last year an older troubadour rediscovered his game and made it to the top of our list. Dr John nearly repeated the feat.  What a great, classic, gem Locked Down is.  In the future when people are digging through Dr John's career this late day classic will rank up with the best work he has ever done. You could feel the energy with songs like "Big Shot", "Ice Age" and the title track just percolating off the disk. Massive credit to producer Dan Auerbach who got the most out of Mac for this one. Swampy but accessible, Locked Down is a complete work from a master artist who hadn't created one in quite a while.  Huzzah!

#2 Japandroids- Celebration Rock
Buy The Album Here!
Locked Down is an amazing album, it was going to take something special to top it and Celebration Rock is just that...something special. This is party rock and roll for the 18 year old maniac in us all. Brian King and David Prowse have produced a disk of songs that just start the head bopping and the voice yelling "Oh Yeah" over and over again and don't stop until the last song ends.  It is hard to feel bad listening to these songs.  It is an album that will live on because rock and roll is a young mans game and even when you are old you can sense that youth burning inside the best of it.  Keep on burning bright fellows, celebrate all night long.  Just peep out RtBE's single of the year with "The House That Heaven Built" below and try not to feel good...can't be done.

#1 Jack White- Blunderbuss
Buy The Album Here!
Well if the last 2 albums could be albums of the year in any other year, this one must be a monster...and it is.  The first strictly solo album from the biggest and best rock star of the generation; Jack White's Blunderbuss is RtBE's clear cut album of 2012. It has it all, amazing lyrics ("Love Interruption", "Hypocritical Kiss") unique, devastating playing ("Freedom at 21", "Weep Themselves To Sleep") flat out ass kicking ("Sixteen Saltines", "I'm Shakin") rock and roll.  White has never been closer to Dylan then he was here and he blew the bard out of the water this year when you compare releases.  White's freedom from self imposed restraint is a god send and his manic work schedule is to be admired.  This disk flows from start to finish in the original review I took off a half of star for the last song which I didn't think summed up the album appropriately, safe to say I was wrong, this disk is an all-time gem.
"Freedom at 21"

"Sixteen Saltine's"

"Trash Tongue Talker" Live

"I'm Shakin"

"Love Interruption"

There you have it, to recap:

Rock the Body Electric's Best Albums of 2012:

#1 Jack White- Blunderbuss
#2 Japandroids- Celebration Rock
#3 Dr John- Locked Down
#4 Archie Powell & the Exports- Great Ideas In Action
#5 Delta Spirit-Delta Spirit
#6 Screaming Females- Ugly
#7 Dinosaur Jr.- I Bet On Sky
#8 Lee Ranaldo- Between The Times And The Tides
#9 Carolina Chocolate Drops- Leaving Eden
#10 High On Fire- De Vermis Mysteriis

What a great year for music, all of these are worth your time and attention especially the top 3 which are world class and will live on always.  It's a great time to be a music fan, so let us know what you think, we miss some?  Got it just right?  Let us know in the comments, and as always thanks for reading, come back next year!               

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