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Music Archives: Most Recent | Highest Rated | Alphabetical | Highest Rated 2006

Kevin Forest Moreau's Top 10 Albums of 2006

1. Muse: Black Holes and Revelations (Warner Bros.)
The British progressive-rock trio channels its trademark musical excess into a set of smart, vibrant and memorable songs.
  
2. Tom Waits: Orphans (Anti-)
Waits' three-disc career overview/closet-cleaning project is by turns startling, engrossing, unwieldy and laugh-out-loud funny -- not unlike the artist himself.
3. My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade (Reprise)
With a sprawling, wildly ambitious concept album, My Chemical Romance graduates to the head of the class and drags an ill-defined genre into adulthood.
  
4. Drive-By Truckers: A Blessing and A Curse (New West)
This gritty, self-assured Athens outfit ever-so-slightly expands its sonic road map, shaking off the misguided, too-easy "Southern Rock storytellers" label for good.
5. Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3: Olé! Tarantula (Yep Roc)
After an interesting folk-y detour, Hitchcock returns to and refines the signature psychedelic pop of his heyday, with the help of some talented and like-minded collaborators.
  
6. The Twilight Singers: Powder Burns (One Little Indian)
Another arresting mix of obsessions and indulgences from Greg Dulli that, like a drug high, soars in the early going, offering some of his best, most atmospheric work to date.
7. The Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way (Columbia)
A little bit country, a little bit California soft-rock, Taking the Long Way addresses the Dixie Chicks' detractors head-on while also moving forward with some breezy, quietly affecting pop.
  
8. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti-)
At times aloof and a little too abstract, the atmospheric Fox Confessor ultimately reaffirms the power of Case's achingly gorgeous voice, fiery intelligence and confident charisma.
9. Eric Church: Sinners Like Me (EMI)
This Nashville newcomer's debut reveals a crackerjack songwriter who celebrates the simple pleasures and contemplates murder, heritage and pregnancy with tight, consistently listenable results.
  
10. Matthew Ryan: From A Late Night High Rise (00:02:59)
The nocturnal and intermittently distant keyboard-driven vibe of this especially ruminative album is occasionally distracting but ultimately perfectly complements Ryan's melancholy subject matter.
 
Notable near misses:
 
Top 10 Songs of 2002
 
  1. "Starlight," Muse (Black Holes and Revelations)
  2. "Before She Does," Eric Church (Sinners Like Me)
  3. "Olé! Tarantula," Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 (Olé! Tarantula)
  4. "Every Mile A Memory," Dierks Bentley (Long Trip Alone)
  5. "Hands Open," Snow Patrol (Eyes Open)
  6. "Daylight," Drive-By Truckers (A Blessing and A Curse)
  7. "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks (Taking the Long Way)
  8. "Babybird," Matthew Ryan (From A Late Night High Rise)
  9. "The Saints Are Coming," U2 and Green Day (U218)
  10. "Dead!," My Chemical Romance (The Black Parade)

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