My Best Albums So Far In 2006
Andrew posted yesterday on the five albums that he's glad he got this year and asked for others. So, I thought about it and came up with three. Because I have only bought three new releases this year.

First is the awesome album of the year as far as I'm concerned- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen. There is so much energy in this album it could light a city for a week or more. It is exciting and shows the inner strength of such music. It transcends generations and allows Springsteen to show off a great deal of musicianship- his and his band's.

Second, is the almost equally awesome American V: A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash. The last recordings of The Man in Black produced by Rick Rubin in another remarkable collection of covers and originals. That Cash is nearing death is not lost in the recording. But neither is his inner strength. The energy in this album is the stored energy of age and wisdom that transcends life and death.

And third, great but not as awesome as the others, is Modern Times by Bob Dylan. It debuted at #1 and deserves to. But the 21st Century, 65-year-old Dylan doesn't come crashing in on you like the mid-20th Century Dylan. There is a lounge singer sound to it that takes Dylan's lyrics and makes them part of the music. Unlike Springsteen and Cash this album takes several listenings for its strength to sink in. But it's worth the listening.