tisdag 28 Dec 2010, 8:20
The year 2010 was also full of new albums and many of them caught my attention. This year I was listening mainly to singles only and not to the whole albums. I listened to albums only when singles impressed me that much and I listened also to albums from artist I knew to see how the things are going to them. So let's look which cd's I have choosen:
Bubbling under top 10
Here belongs albums, which I liked, but they didn't made the top 10, I only liked a single or a few songs. ( in alphabetic order )
Armin van Buuren - Mirage
I must say that the new Armin's cd disappointed me a bit. It's nice to listen, but the hits are missing this time, compared to his last album Imagine. Very good are Mirage and Full Focus.
B.o.B. - The Adventures of Bobby Ray
B.o.B. is the artist who made my most favourite song of the year - Airplanes with Hayley Williams. The other singles Nothin' On You and Magic were also great.
HIM - SWRMXS
This is such an interesting album. HIM released their first remix album and I was looking forward to it pretty much, because I love mixing music genres ( rock + house/trance ). Without any doubt the best song on the album is Tiësto's remix of Love The Hardest Way, but every other remix is also worth to listen.
Ke$ha - Animal
I wasn't listened to this album so much, but the singles from it were good. Her new EP Cannibal will be in the list.
Lady GaGa - The Remix
Remix album of hits by Lady GaGa, there is plenty of good songs.
Lifehouse - Smoke & Mirrors
I know this band thanks to the series Smallville. I recommend the songs Halfway Gone and All In after all.
Pendulum - Immersion
Thanks to this band I have known a new music genre - Drum and Bass. I love the tracks Witchcraft and The Island (Pt. 1).
Super8 & Tab - Empire
An enjoyable trance album full of uplifting tracks. I reccomend to you Black is The New Yellow, Mercy and Irufushi.
Swedish House Mafia - Until One
This is rather a selection of house songs from producers from Swedish House Mafia than a standard album.
Tarja - What Lies Beneath
The new Tarja is a little bit heavier and operatic than My Winter Storm, but the hits are not missing.
Timbaland - Timbaland Presents Shock Value 2
I mentioned this album last year, and it's certainly not bad. You surely know the hits from it.
10. 3OH!3 - Streets of Gold
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The album from 3OH!3 was a nice surprise for me. Initally, I wanted Armin's new cd to get the 10. place, but I hah more fun listening to this one. The first single My First Kiss featuring Ke$ha was allright, but nothing more in my opinion, but it was no surprise for me that they chose this one. Then I have heard Double Vision and randomly I played on youtube Touchin' On My which got me totally. So I decided to listen to the whole album and I must say it is full of good dance tracks. By the end of the album there are also some downtempo and romantic songs ( surprisingly :D ).
Highlights: Touchin' On My, Double Vision, Deja Vu, I'm Not The One
9. Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns
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I always liked Linkin Park, but they were never among my favourite artists. They have good songs though. This album was received not so good among fans. Some people likes it, and some people don't. Many fans of the old Linkin Park hate it because of the musical evolution of the band. There is more electronic, less guitars, more downtempo songs and intros. The album also doesn't contain any radio-friendly hits. I like the most the theme of the album - about atomic burst. Maybe I overrated this album, but it's because I love the current single Waiting For The End so much, which actually sounds like waiting for the end - the end of the song is pretty awesome. Notice also the cover of the single The Catalyst.
Highlights: Waiting For The End, The Catalyst, Iridescent, Wisdom, Justice, And Love
8. Taylor Swift - Speak Now
Taylor Swift broke a record with this album, she sold incredible 1.047.000 copies in the first week in the US. I think this album is just like fans expected. I like the most the up-tempo songs, but there are also plenty of nice down-tempo songs. It's worth to say that the album contains 14 songs + 3 songs on the deluxe edition, which could be the album songs too. The first single Mine doesn't sound ground-breaking, but the other songs on the album are very balanced. A bit above are the songs Better Than Revenge - in the discussions I saw comparing it to Paramore, The Story of Us - very dancey and catchy and Haunted which sounds like a song from some metal band.
Highlights: Back to December, The Story of Us, Better Than Revenge, Haunted, Superman ( from deluxe edition )
7. Selena Gomez & the Scene - A Year Without Rain
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Selena Gomez and her band The Scene had great success with the single Naturally from their last album Kiss & Tell. This song was a bit different from the other songs on the album, because it was a dance song while the others were rock songs. So this time, they decided to make more dance songs. This album is very nice to listen from the first song and first single Round & Round to the last one Live Like There's No Tomorrow which is the title song for the new movie with Selena - Ramona and Beezus. This song, and Ghost of You are the only slower songs on the album. Besides the singles, I think that Off The Chain has a big pottential, I like it the most from the album.
Highlights: Off The Chain, Round & Round, Ghost of You, A Year Without Rain
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Ke$ha did it just like Lady Gaga did last year. She released a new EP and sell it as a new album and also in conjuction with her mega successfull debut album Animal. This system has an advantage, that people usually don't buy an EP with only 8 songs, they rather buy the whole conjucted album. Lady Gaga did it very well and her album The Fame ( Monster ) is the biggest selling album of this year in the world even if it was released a year before. But the new album from Ke$ha is not as successful yet. The songs on it are good, though. The first single We R Who We R totally got me and it's one of my most favourite songs of 2010. Besides dance numbers there is on the album also a slower song - The Harold Song with very beautiful lyrics.
Highlights: We R Who We R, The Harold Song, Blow
5. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Teenage Dream is album full of hits. Maybe non of them will be as big as unforgettable I Kissed a Girl, but the truth is, that California Gurls ( feat. Snoop Dog ) is the biggest selling single of 2010. The other singles - Teenage Dream and Firework were ( and still are ) similarly successful. All three got it to the top of Billboard Hot 100. And in my opinion, there are at least 2 more potential singles on the album which could repeat that success. All songs can't be hits, and the only weakness of this album is that the songs on this album are unbalanced, some of the songs are weaker. Songs are from the genre dance/electronic, but they have also rock influences and there are some ballads too.
Highlights: Firework, California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dog), Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), Peacock
4. Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed
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Miley Cyrus wants to proove us, that she isn't the girl from Hannah Montana anymore, and she can go her own way. After a bit childish album Breakout with music similar to what she do with Hannah Montana, there we have an electronic dance album with a bit adult lyrics. The first single of the same name as the album - Can't Be Tamed made us thought, that the album will be completely different comparing to her previous stuff and that she is completely different person now. This is not completely true, because on this cd we can find also songs similar to her old stuff like Two More Lonely People or Scars. I like the most the first song in this album - Liberty Walk which have great lyrics about liberty and independence and Miley is even rapping here and the result is in my opinion very good. The weaker parts are in my opinion downtempo songs in the middle of the album.
Highlights: Liberty Walk, Who Owns My Heart, Permanent December, My Heart Beats For Love
3. Tiësto - Kaleidoscope Remixed
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Tiësto is the only artist which made it to last years and also to this years list. Even if I voted for the DJ Mag as the first place for Armin van Buuren, Tiësto is my favourite DJ these days. His remixes, if he remixes The Killers, HIM, Amy Macdonald or Editors are always perfect and high quality. The same is when he remixes his own songs. This album contains besides Tiësto remixes, also remixes by Ferry Corsten, Avicii ( Tim Berg, First State or Phillip D.. The remix of last named DJ of the song Who Wants To Be Alone is my most favourite and I like it much better than the original song, very great is the piano part in chorus. Remixes are usually in the trance genre, but there are also house remixes.
Highlights: Who Wants To Be Alone (Phillip D remix), I Will Be Here (Tiësto remix), Feel It In My Bones (First State remix), Kaleidoscope (Ferry Corsten remix), Escape Me (Avicii Remix)
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The band Hurts is my biggest surprise of the year. First time I heard their hit single Wonderful Life during the holiday in Scotland, when I was listening through my mobile phono to BBC Radio 1's chart. It was such a weak quality, so I thought of it, that it is just some regular song with weak chorus. But when I heard it later in a higher quality, I liked it more and more with each listen. In the beginning I thought that the name: "Wonderful Life" is meant ironical because the music was so melancholic. But then I read the lyrics to the song and I realised that the song is about man who wanted to jump down off the bridge and the woman who came to him and they fall in love to each other on the first sight. This story totally got me and since then, this song is one of my favourites of the year. I still remember the lyrics: "Don't let go. Never give up, it's such a wonderful life." and I gave it to my facebook profile. It's truly true. The rest of the album is very similar, mostly sad melancholic songs, but there are also happier lyrics. Most of the songs are down-tempo, but there are also up-tempo songs like Sunday or Better Than Love. Happiness is really one of the albums which can be heard from the beginning to the end.
Highlights: Wonderful Life, Stay, Sunday, Better Than Love, Devotion, The Water
1. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing
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My favourite album of 2010 is the new one from Amy MacDonald, and I think that it's well deserved. It's really very hard to find a weak song on this cd and I have listened to it many times for example during rapsberry picking in Scotland ( Amy comes from Scotland ). Maybe there isn't a hit just like This Is The Life, but it's worth to listen any way. I like up-tempo songs better, so I quickly fell in love with the first single Don't Tell Me That It's Over. It's a very rhytmic song with guitars and piano and it has a nice video too. The next single was dancey Spark with nice lyrics. There are also slower songs on this album, for example the current Germany single Your Time Will Come, which starts very slowly and gentle, but later it pretty kicks off. Amy is amazing and I'm already looking forward to her next album.
Highlights: Don't Tell Me That It's Over, Spark, Next Big Thing, Your Time Will Come, Give It All Up