As 2011 draws to a close, music magazines, stores, bloggers and websites will release their choices for the best albums of the year. Paste Magazine, Q, Uncut and Rough Trade all compiled their picks for the top albums, while Jim Derogatis has chosen the worst albums.
With the exception of Derogatis’s ‘biggest turkeys’ all of the number one choices reoccur on every list. Paste Magazine placed Bon Iver’s Bon Iver as their numero uno. Q chose Florence & The Machine’s Ceremonials. UnCut crowned PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake as their best album. Rough Trade selected Josh T. Pearson’s Last of the Country Gentlemen. Other popular selections were Feist’s Metals, My Morning Jacket’s Circuital and The Decemberists’ The King is Dead. Washed Out, Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile, Metronomy and Radiohead were also heavy hitters.
Chicago’s Jim Derogatis worst includes albums that appeared on other Best-Of lists like: Drake’s Take Care, St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy, Bon Iver, PJ Harvey, Adele and Bjork. Derogatis declares Lou Reed & Metallica’s Lulu to be the worst of them all.
You can check out the full list for Uncut here, Q’s top 50 here, Paste’s best albums here and Rough Trade’s Top 100 here. Derogatis’ “Biggest Turkeys” can be found here. The top 10 for each list is below.
What do you say ‘Stachers do you agree with the best, or worst, albums of 2011? Any glaring omissions?
Uncut Best of 2011
10 The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
09 Bon Iver – Bon Iver
08 Wild Beasts – Smother
07 Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
06 The Horrors – Skying
05 Josh T. Pearson – Last Of The Country Gentlemen
04 White Denim – D
03 Metronomy – The English Riviera
02 Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
01 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Q’s Best of 2011
10 Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
09 WU LYF – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
08 St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
07 Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
06 Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne
05 Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
04 Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
03 Adele – 21
02 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
01 Florence & The Machine – Ceremonials
Paste Best of 2011
10 The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
09 M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
08 Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
07 Wilco – The Whole Love
06 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s A Corporate World
05 Middle Brother – Middle Brother
04 tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
03 My Morning Jacket – Circuital
02 Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
01 Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Rough Trade’s Best of 2011
01 Josh T. Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen
02 Nicolas Jaar – Space is Only Noise
03 Kurt Vile – Smoke ring for my Halo
04 Gillian Welch – The Harrow and the Harvest
05 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
06 Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
07 Zomby – Dedication
08 John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
09 The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
10 White Hills – H-p1
