I'm guessnig that many have yet to find any albums recorded over the last ten years that are worth discussing. Personally, I thnk that it's safe to say that there are few albums that will grab ahold of your interest for an extended period of time. But that's not to say that they simply aren't there. They are. But it sure does take some work, the good old-fashioned, searchin' kind of work. I have my favorites from this period and a few of you do as well. Here's the short list of albums that have caught someone's serious attention. Not surprisingly, Porcupine Tree has the most attention. Several emails actually listed In Absentia as a new favorite.

• Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (4): If you haven't tried Porcupine Tree out, I have to ask what you're waiting for. Yes, they are that good.
• New Music that has moved me: 

  Right now I am in a heavy Rush mode. I think it is the desire for some heavy metal with meaningful lyrics and Rush is delivering. Their last 2 albums are at the top of my list right now & I am so looking forward to their new release in the coming months. 

  1.       Rush: Snakes & Arrows:  I listened to Snakes & Arrows when it first was released and right from the start the music & lyrics to Far Cry & We Hold On immediately resonated with me. Then awhile later they released the record in 5.1 so I snapped that up & now 2 years later I am heavy into it again. Faithless & The Larger Bowl all speak of universal questions that we all ponder from time to time and the instrumentals are smoking! 

  2.       Alan Parsons: A Valid Path:I love music that bounces around in my head. Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd. Since Floyd really hasn't’t done anything new that was substantial in my opinion since the Wall, I am delighted to say Alan Parsons has not let me down. As a matter a fact his last record has some of his best bouncing about my head instrumentals he has EVER done AND David Gilmour guests on Return to Tunguska. So I get my Floyd fix at the same time. Great stuff. I keep coming back to it. 

  3.       Neil Young: Dreaming Man (Harvest Moon in its entirety live) it is actually better than the studio version.  I own everything Neil Young has ever recorded. Sometimes you have to wait awhile for it but in the end he will toss out a album that I return to over & over again. It had been a long time & then he released Dreaming Man. If the version of Such a Woman on this record does not bring you to tears nothing will. 

  4.       The Eagles: Long Road Out of Eden (the DC mix): I love the Eagles the last LP was bloated and I think I may have emailed you about this when you discussed Rock N Roll and the merits of the 45 minute LP. I paired The Long Road Out of Eden to 10 songs, almost 50 min. But edited down, I think it is as strong as Hotel California the only missing element that would of put it over the top & made a “Pure” Eagles record: Randy Messiner. Give it a listen sometime in this order I would love to know what YOU think: 

• 1.       How Long
  2.       Busy Being Fabulous
  3.       Somebody
  4.       Waiting in the Weeds
  5.       Your are not Alone
  6.       Fast Company
  7.       Frail Grasp of the Big Picture|
  8.       Center of the Universe
  9.       Business as Usual
  10.    No More Walks in the Woods
  11.    Long Road Out of Eden 

  That is the way I prefer to think of The Long Road Out of Eden and I get “Waiting in the Weeds” popping into my head when I least expect it. 

  And Last but not least:  

  5.       Donald Fagan: Morph the Cat: I love Steely Dan & the last two records they put out were great but they were missing something, that rock N roll edge that only a screaming electric guitar can give you. There are no memorable “Electric” guitar solos on those 2 records. But that lead on Morph the Cat, that is more Steely Danish that ANYTHING on those other 2 CDs. 

  So those are 5 albums that Mean a lot to me today. I dig them as much as many records from my Youth depending on my mood, be it rocking heavy, trippy head space stuff, a little country or a little Jazzy & Funky, the common denominator being they are all artists from that Golden Age of Rock & Roll 68-79. They were doing it then & they are still doing it now. 

  Love the site, keep up the good work. 

• I'd like to throw my 2 cents in in regards to albums from the past 10 years that have pretty much consumed me: albums that I would listen to over and over again.  One such album is "One All" by  Neil Finn which was released in 2001.

  As you may know, Neil Finn is the front man for the popular 80's band Crowded House.  He also spent some time in Split Enz during the 70's and 80's before their disbanding.  I was never what you would call a huge fan of either of those bands but I knew a few of their songs and wouldn't turn the radio dial if I heard them.  In fact, when I would hear a song like Crowded House's 'Don't Dream It's Over', I would feel a certain pang of nostalgia.  That song was definitely a song that could transport me (in my mind) to a moment in time.

  Over the years, I knew Crowded House released a few more albums, but none of them were of any real interest to me, though I did purchase one of their albums in the mid-90's called 'Together Alone' for one song: 'Locked Out'.  But beyond that song, I couldn't really find anything else in the album to make me want to listen to it continuously.   I suppose I just wasn't in that place with my musical tastes in those times.

  Fast forward a few years to 2000 and I met the girl who would eventually become my wife.  She was a pretty big Crowded House fan, but didn't really have all of their stuff.  Since 'Together Alone' had been collecting dust on my shelf for a few years, I decided I would give her the disc.  She started listening to the album which began a large Crowded House phase for her.  During this time, she started purchasing other Crowded-House-related material including the album 'One All'.  She must have played this album back to front over and over again and I heard a few songs on their that appealed to me, but nothing major.  A few months later, she had heard that Neil was coming to town on tour for this album and asked if we could go.  We did go to the show and I think it was because of this that I became hooked.  He's such a showman and the songs really translated well live.

  During the weeks after the show, I listened to the album as obsessively as my future wife had.  For the first time, I was really HEARING the music and really taking in all of the clever and moving lyrics.  One song on the album that really struck me is a song called "Lullaby Requiem" which Neil wrote in honor of his mother who had recently passed away.  It got me thinking about my family and how we had not so much grown apart but had grown to take for granted that we would always be there.  It made me realize that there will be a day when one or more of my family members won't be around or that even I might not be around for them.  It's amazing that a song like this could make me appreciate the moments I have right now with the people that mean the most to me.  I still shed a tear every time I hear this song.

  The album also contains some notable collaborations with other artists like Sheryl Crow, who sings on a few of the songs as well as Lisa Germano who plays a very haunting violin on a song or 2 on the album, a feat she replicated on a song for Patty Griffin's 'Impossible Dream' album (another album from the past 10 years that I became obsessed with, but that would be another long story).

  In any case, I don't listen to this album as much as I used to but I often think about the songs and when I do, I put the disc into my player and lose myself again.  In fact, this album is currently in my car's CD player.

  I'd recommend that anyone who is even a casual Crowded House/Split Enz fan pick this album up as well as it's predecessor from 1998, 'Try Whistling This'.  They are different from the Crowdies stuff, but well worth your time.  Sorry this message was so long, but I figured it was appropriate considering the topic.

  Thanks for reading and keep up the great work with your site!

• I’m 40, and I listen to new indie music through internet radio, BBC6, The Strombo Show (Sunday nights on CBC radio 2).  Through this I get to hear a lot of new music that comes and goes, but a few things have really stuck with me:

  1.       Built by the Sea – 2006 – self title debut album.  Band from San Fran, the lead singer is Lia Rose, and this album is magical.  I come back to this all the time.  I would give this band money to help them do another full length LP.
  2.       Dig Lazarus Dig – 2008- Nick Cave and Bad Seeds – genius, the first album they did after the Grinderman side project, but the added grit and energy is amazing.
  3.       Seldom Seen Kid – 2008 – Elbow –  Heard one single, then that was it, I was hooked on them.
  4.       Nine Inch Nails – 2007 – Year Zero – Best NIN album ever in my mind, he nailed it by finally having lyrics on a level equal to the music.
  5.       Radiohead – anything they’ve written? Yes, but In Rainbows is a masterpiece, and maybe their best (until the new album next year maybe).

  There are some others that time will tell more over time (Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club  - B.R.M.C., REM - Accelerate). 

  For me, this is exciting times for finding new music with the internet and self published/indie published bands becoming so easy to access. 

  Good column today, thanks for the chance for giving you my thoughts.

• Kevin Gilbert - Shaming of the True ... freaking brilliant!

• This for me is a tall order - there are many albums over the past 10 years that I feel are "keepers" and I enjoy them very much.  Though, as you might guess, most of them are in the "prog" vein, I cannot really say if in another 10 years they will be part of my "history" like  Houses of the Holy or  Jethro Tull's Benefit or Genesis'  Selling England by the Pound or  The Who's Next.  But one album, I think, is already there.  It is  Porcupine Tree's  In Absentia from 2002. Eight years on, and this still is a "go to" album for me.  I have thought many times about why that is, and I think I have come to some conclusions.  First, the dynamics within the songs - the quiet that breaks into ferocious eruptions; the catchy choruses that appear when you don't expect them.  Then the constant styles - from strumming folk-like melodies to metalish attacks to good old hard rock to excursions into Pink Floyd territory, it never leads to boredom or tuning out - your attention is held through the changes and textures.  And I guess thirdly it would be the wonderful playing while keeping everything organic, a live feel that brings you in.  And then finally I have to comment also on the  sound quality - it seems many of the greatest discs have that one thing in common - care about what it sounds like to the listener.  
  Anyway, In Absentia (Porcupine Tree) is one of those albums that I would put alongside any of the greatest in rock history so far for me.

  Thanks for another great question to ponder

• 2 Albums immediately come to mind:

  Kaiser Chiefs' 2005 release "Employment"
  The whole album is good, but the songs "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" plus "I Predict a Riot" have really stuck in my head.

  Shooter Jenning's 2006 release "Electric Rodeo"
  Again, the whole album works, but my personal fav's are "Gone to Carolina" and "Little White Lines".

  Both of these we discoverd on David Letterman (living in South Florida, the radio is no place to find new bands).  Untill we discovered Pandora, we'd TiVo Dave's show and just fast forward to check out his musical guest. Sad in a way, but it worked.

  Can't wait to see what your other readers offer that I haven't heard yet!

•  I've got one album from the last 10 years that became very meaningful to me for some strange reason.  I say strange because it dosen't happen that much anymore.  But it happened !!!   I'm 53 and grew up when rock ruled the roost. Almost everybody back then put out fantastic albums, that created new forms of rock and it was an exciting time for music.  When the 1980's came along, I felt that the music was getting cheap and dull and boring to say the least, compared to the sixties and seventies that is, same goes for the 1990's.  anyways, one day I got to listen to Shania Twain's " UP " cd for the first time, and for some reason it blew my mind once again just like the days of old !   Everytime I hear the song  " I'm jealous "  I go into a dream !!!  just like it did for me back in 1965 when I first heard " Turn! Turn! Turn!  and used to ask all the high school kids what is that instrument that makes that jingle jangle sound.  i get that same feeling from '' UP " .  I don't know if it's something deep in the sub concious, but it effects me once again, and I like it !!!   The only thing that bugs me about that CD is that it's to long, and that ruins the essence of the music to me. I think you know where I'm coming from.
• Mary Fahl - The Other Side of Time - perfect song to song. I've been waiting all of these year's for her next. She has since recorded a song by song version of Dark Side of the Moon, unreleased, and has a new albm expected later. I'm also adding all three of the albums by Heartless Bastards.

And now, my favorite email on the subject:

You have finally hit the topic that has forced me to write to a web site, which I have never done before. With very few exceptions, most people that I know stopped listening to new music after college and the music that they picked up on, almost always contemporary to that specific period, becomes their canon from which they will rarely stray from for the rest of their lives. Essentially, it becomes a temporal, musical prison that most people never leave, and from what I can tell, never care to leave.  
 
I was always listening to the music of the day as a child, and in high school and college branched out from pop even more with punk, new wave, etc and found many albums that were important to me.  However, after college, for whatever reason, I seemed to do the opposite of what most did - instead of finalizing my collection, I tore down the walls both in terms of time and genre.  Jazz, funk, ragtime, electronic, blues, krautrock, country, folk, gospel, ambient, classical, Indian, gypsy, Peruvian, Brazilian, from the 1920's to today, nothing is off limits.  I am constantly buying new CD's (yes - for liner notes and art!) from different periods and styles.  That doesn't mean I like everthing I listen to, but I have found music I never imagined existed or imagined I would love.  
 
In your post you are asking people to recommend albums they loved from the past ten years.  Most people over 35 I know will probably have a tough time doing this.  However, at age 46, I can't do it because I could not stay in the time period and the list would would take too long for me to type.  All I can say is that, at least here in the suburbs of NJ, I feel like an anomoly because I have not gone on to autopilot and let the media chart my interests, or even worse, created a musical mausoleum for myself; without the walls and ceiling, even if they stopped making music today (which I hope will never happen!), I know there will be something new to discover as long as I have the guts (and money) to try something different.

These are a few of what I have received. If you have any that you'd like to still contribute, by all means, tell me about your selection(s)..

Douglas Bice has turned in a review of Hey La Hey by Michael McDermott.

I want to alert TAP readers to the fact that I have finally put together a FaceBook fan page that you can access and join by clicking on the badge below.  What this offers is the exact same thing as my Twitter feeds provide and that is first buzz on upcoming releases and free offered downloads, many announcements  that beat our main post, sometimes by days.  We also provide a Google BUZZ page that expands on most of the Twitter/FB feeds. On Buzz, you can even hear the music stream if a stream is offered.  There are still things that I'm working on in the FB page, like calender notes as well as links to great sites like The Second Disc.  I invite you to join us at our FB page and bookmark it.  Visit it daily and you'll be rewarded with much news and info.  Of course, you'll still want to come to the main MusicTAP page for our noisy commentaries.  Remember, with our Twitter feeds, you can elect to receive the news bursts as text on your mobile phone keeping you effortlessly up to date with stuff.  Lots of choices.  Find one, or two, that fits.

MusicTAP

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Atlantic Records starts this post ot with the insertion of a vinyl LP version re-release of Swiss Movement (1969) by Les McCann and Eddie Harris.

Mercury Records will release The Show Must Go by Hedley as CD and DD on October 12.

Fantasy Records have The Definitive Dave Brubeck on Fantasy, Concord Jazz, and Telarc, scheduling November 23 as release date.

Hollywood Records plan the release of the new Allstar Weekend album, titled not yet determined, on October 19.

Reprise Records will release an LP version of Asylum by Disturbed on October 5.

Roadrunner Records plan the DVD release of (sic)nesses featuring Slipknot and streeting on September 28.

Nonesuch Records will release the collaboration of Ben Folds and Nick Hornby called Lonely Avenue. The new album will be issued on CD, a Deluxe Set, and 180g LP, September 28.

Reprise Records plan the release of 6: Commitment by Seal on September 28.

Le Noise by Neil Young will be released on September 28, also by Reprise Records.

Reprise Records plan to release the new Eric Clapton album, simply titled Clapton, on September 28.

Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Electric Light Orchestra Live: The Early Years on August 24. Here's a cut'n'paste from the press release along with the chapter-listing from the DVD set, which covers three concerts:

"A triple concert trip down memory lane, Electric Live Orchestra Live: The Early Years amasses excerpts from three 70s’ performances. Filmed in 1973, the first concert is from the UK’s Brunel University; the second is a six-track culmination from German TV’s Rockpalast in 1974. Finally, ELO tears through 12 songs at the Fusion concert from the New Victoria Theatre in London, as part of the “Face the Music” tour. As a bonus, fans are treated to a vintage band interview from Rockpalast."

Track Listing:
Brunel University 1973
1.)   King of the Universe
2.)  Ma-Ma-Ma Belle
3.)  In The Hall Of The Mountain King
4.)  Great Balls of Fire
 
Germany 1974-Rockpalast
1.)   Daybreaker
2.)  Showdown
3.)  Orange Blossom Special
4.)  Ma-Ma-Ma Belle
5.)  In The Hall Of The Mountain King
6.)  Great Balls of Fire
 
London 1976-Fusion
1.)   Poker
2.)  Nightrider
3.)  Showdown
4.)  Eldorado Overture
5.)  Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
6.)  Poor Boy (The Greenwood)
7.)  Illusions in G Major
8.)  Strange Magic
9.)  10538 Overture
10.) Do Ya
11.) Evil Woman
12.) Ma-Ma-Ma Belle
 
Bonus feature – Rockpalast Interview

Ryko will release a 4-disc 2CD/2DVD Box set called The Essential Collection for noted satirist, Bill Hicks on September 14.

Sony/Legacy and American Recordings will release a Limited Edition 11LP Box of Slayer albums released by American Recordings. The set is called The Vinyl Conflict and is planned for release on October 12.

I'm going to concentrate on the release notes section on something that's very exciting not only to me but to many of you as well. the subject of SACDs. Recently, Universal Japan (bless their hearts) has begun a campaign of releasing albums in the respected format of SACD that included Who's Next, Aja, Destroyer, Paranoid, and Blind Faith amongst a few more of the world's great Rock treasures. While Who's Next, Aja, etc will release on August 25, there is now a new batch of albums that are to be released on SHM-SACD via Universal Japan: Read them and get excited:

On October 27, you can expect the Limited Edition SHM-SACD releases of:

• Symphony Number 9 (Beethoven) - Seiji Ozawa (Saito Kinen Orchestra)
• Violin Concertos (JS Bach) - Hilary Hahn
• Le Sacre Du Printemps (Stravinsky) - Esa-Pekka Salonen
• Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section - Art Pepper
• Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins
• Waltz For Debby - Bill Evans
• In the Land of Grey and Pink - Caravan
• Argus - Wishbone Ash
• Outlandos d'Amour - Police
• Smokin' - Humble Pie
• John Mayall and Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
• Wheels of Fire - Cream
• Asia - Asia
• Long Live Rock 'n' Roll - Rainbow
• Gaucho - Steely Dan
• Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones
• SA-CD SHM Sampler

I fully expect these SACD releases to continue. I'm completely convinced that a few of these DSD mixes were completed some years back when SACD were treated as a respected part of Universal's catalogue reissues but had been shelved when Universal - and other labels - gave up on the emerging format. Some of these titles have already seen release as SACDs some years back but have sold out of the existing While DVD-Audio can be mourned as a viable format that you could purchase, SACD seems to be resilient, holding on for life as it were.

I'm very anxious to see what new titles Universal Japan will come out with next in the SHM-SACD format. Pricey, yes...Priceless, hell yeah!

Get yours at CD Japan...or Amazon if you prefer (but it's more costly than CD Japan).