2008: In Review — index:
January 2: See the results of our annual year-end critics’ poll
December 31: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, The Hare’s Corner (by Peter Blackstock)
December 30: Como Now: The Voices Of Panola Co., Misissippi (by Grant Alden)
December 29: Ersi Arvizu, Friend For Life (by John Morthland)
December 28: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Sunday At Devil Dirt (by Jon M. Gilbertson)
December 27: Replacements, Pleased To Meet Me (expanded reissue) (by Russell Hall)
December 26: Calexico, Carried To Dust (by Linda Ray)
December 25: Merry Christmas! (we’ll be back at it on the 26th)
December 24: John Pizzarelli, With A Song In My Heart (by Rich Kienzle)
December 23: Vetiver, Thing Of The Past (by Paul Bonanos)
December 22: Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song (by Jewly Hight)
December 21: Various Artists, Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story (by Eli Messinger)
December 20: Raphael Saadiq, Sure Hope You Mean It (by Roy Kasten)
December 19: Hayes Carll, Trouble In Mind (by Allison Stewart)
December 18: Nappy Roots, The Humdinger (by David Cantwell)
December 17: Marah, Angels Of Destruction! (by Paul Cantin)
December 16: Charlie Haden Family & Friends, Rambling Boy (by Joe Nick Patoski)
December 15: Okkervil River, The Stand Ins (by Mike Usinger)
December 14: Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags, All The Great Aviators Agree (by Rick Cornell)
December 13: Jason Collett, Here’s To Being Here (by Lloyd Sachs)
December 12: Tift Merritt, Another Country (by Erik Flannigan)
December 11: Paul Westerberg, 49:00 (by Jesse Fox Mayshark)
December 10: Ani DiFranco, Red Letter Year (by Britt Robson)
December 9: Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (by Don McLeese)
December 8: Cat Power, Jukebox (by Kurt B. Reighley)
December 7: Linda Perhacs, Parallelograms (by Edd Hurt)
December 6: Sacred Shakers, self-titled (by John Marks)
December 5: Gary Louris, Vagabonds (by Mark Guarino)
December 4: K.D. Lang, Watershed (by Steve Pick)
December 3: B.B. King, One Kind Favor (by John Milward)
December 2: Randy Newman, Harps And Angels (by David Menconi)
December 1: Old 97’s, Blame It On Gravity (by Barry Mazor)
It’s that time of year again – no, not the holidays, but the time of year when the music industry (what’s left of it?) more or less shuts down in terms of new releases, with very little fresh stuff on the shelves until after the new year. Which makes it an ideal time for our stable of writers at NoDepression.com to take some glances back into the year that was, record-wise.
Thus, for the full month of December, we’ll be publishing a review every day (except Christmas; even the blogosphere needs a day off) of an album that came out sometime in 2008, and that at least one of our writers believes deserves to be noticed, to be highlighted, to not be forgotten amidst the thousands of albums that have paraded across the calendar since January 1.
These 30 records won’t necessarily be the year’s best – after this “revue of reviews” runs its course, we’ll post our annual critics’ poll on Friday, January 2 – but rather, it’s a way for us to survey a variety of worthy releases. That will include some significant albums that came out earlier in the year; a handful of high-profile releases that may have arrived during the window between when we shuttered our print-publication in the spring and when we began publishing daily reviews to NoDepression.com this fall; and also some “sleeper” picks that our writers would like to bring out from under the radar. In large part, it’s whatever records our 30 chosen correspondents felt compelled to tell you about, given the opportunity to pick one record to bring into your view at year-end.
You may wish to bookmark this page, as we’ll continue to use it throughout the month as a quick-reference running-index of what’s been included in the year-end series.
Meantime, happy holiday shopping…and remember the music.
