Top Songs of 2006.

UPDATE: Links for the top 20 now posted.

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone out there! 2006 was a great year for power pop, and I'll ring it out with my final year-end list: the top songs of 2006. Even if many of these weren't the purest, most ambitious expressions of songcraft out there, they were tracks I enjoyed the most. Favorite songs ebb and flow throughout the year, so I'm not going to rank them in order; instead, I'll list my 20 favorite in alphabetical order and list quite a few honorable mentions thereafter. And yes, my eligibility requirements are a lot more lax than on the top 100 album list, so that explains the Pop Is Art track.

Absolute Powerpop's Favorite Songs of 2006:

"All Dressed Up"-The Yayhoos (listen)
"All My Rivals"-Chris Brown (mp3)
"Always Almost"-Mark McAdam (mp3)
"Asking Annie Out"-Willie Nile (listen)
"Blue Sky"-Supraluxe (listen)
"Chatterbox"-David Mead (sample)
"Comin' Around"-Bob Evans (listen)
"Did You See Her Dance"-Rob Laufer (listen, but use IE, not Firefox)
"Don't Let It Go"-L.E.O. (listen)
"Friend"-Bob Evans (listen)
"Help Me Suzanne"-Rhett Miller (sample)
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"-Scissor Sisters (sample)
"Inches and Falling"-The Format (sample)
"Louisville"-The Damnwells (listen)
"Love Sweet Love"-Supraluxe (listen)
"River to Ocean"-Phil Ayoub (listen)
"Smile!"-Pop Is Art (listen)
"Something to Hide"-Tommi Zender (mp3)
"The Way It Goes"-Paper Airplane Pilots (mp3)
"We're #1"-The World Record (listen)

Honorable Mentions (in artist alpha order):
"Sunflower", "For Dear Life", "Spotlight"-Andrew LeDrew
"Crank It Out"-Ari Shine
"Something Must Be Wrong"-Arthur Yoria
"Sadness & Whiskey"-Bob Evans
"By The Window"-Bryan Estepa
"Heart Don't Say"-Buva
"Done So Secretly"-Champagne Francis
"O Claire"-Cheap Trick
"Slave No More"-Chris LeDrew
"Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall"-Chris Murphy
"Good Morning Radio"-Codaphonic
"The Royal Standard"-Corin Ashley
"Myopic Day"-Craig Bartock
"I am a Leaver"-The Damnwells
"Cricket Scores"-Dave Stoops
"Hard to Remember"-David Mead
"Satellites"-David William
"Vespa Girl"-David Wolfenberger
"Somebody Leave The Lights On"-Don DiLego
"Feel for You"-Doug Powell
"Feet on the Ground"-Edmund's Crown
"Shattered (You Left Me)"-Exploding Hearts
"Kettle's On", "Fill My Little World"-The Feeling
"I'm Actual", "Time Bomb"-The Format
"Curded Wheys"-Fresh Mowed Lawn
"She's an Elevator"-Galore
"The Coast Is Clear"-Gary Henson
"So I'm Writing"-Geoff Smith & The Tonewheels
"Bric-a-Brac"-Grapeland
"Kissy Kissy (New York City)"-Greg Hoy
"Already All Ready"-Grey Does Matter
"One Man Wrecking Machine"-Guster
"Talking to Lisa"-Hotel Lights
"You Remind Me of the Sun", "Southaways"-Jeff Larson
"Angelita"-Jon Auer
"It Looks Like Love"-Josh Rouse
"This Is What We Are"-The Junior League
"On The Wind"-Kenny Roby
"Goodbye Innocence"-L.E.O.
"Eye Eye", "Me and Barbara Stanwyck"-The Lolas
"Two in a Million"-The Mains
"I'm Okay"-The Mellowmen
"Rat's Alley"-The Mendoza Line
"She Arrives"-Mike Elgert
"The Man In My Head"-Monkeeman
"Hard Luck", "Darkening Sky"-The Nines
"Bright Idea", "Downtown"-Orson
"Somerville", "Grudge F*** (2006)"-The Pernice Brothers
"I'm In Love (with Arthur Dove)", "You Blanks"-Portastatic
"V-Day", "Beauty Will Save The World"-Red Guitar
"My Valentine"-Rhett Miller
"Could It Be That Bad"-Rick Oliver
"On and On"-Ryan Calhoun
"A Good Day"-Ryan Coughlan
"Peter Shilton", "Chocolate"-The Sails
"Parachute"-Sean Lennon
"Acrobat Ache"-Shane Nicholson
"Lindbergh"-Skytone
"Fading Into Obscurity"-Sloan
"No Love 4 The Loser"-Spyderbaby
"You Were Looking"-Status Green
"Boyfriend"-Supraluxe
"Sara Jean"-The Sw!ms
"Lonely City", "Always Dragging Me Down"-Third Floor Story
"Never Knows Your Name"-Tide
"Tietze Park", "Four Pictures"-Travis Hopper
"Jr's Bag of Tricks"-Warren Zanes
"Roam"-The Yayhoos
"Tonight"-Yesen Damen

Top EPs of 2006.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and/or Hanukkah, and I appreciate all the feedback and readership associated with the top 100 list.

As promised, here are the top 10 EPs of 2006. While nothing here listed quite approached the perfection of my top 2005 EP, David Mead's Wherever You Are, there are still some excellent releases here, and all are worth a listen.

1. Kit Ashton-Blindsided
2. Hotel Lights-Goodnightgoodmorning
3. Russell Crawford-Hearing All That's Heard
4. The Comfies-Close to Me
5. Ari Shine-Age/Occupation
6. Codaphonic-Good Morning Radio
7. Mitch Linker-America
8. Frankel-Chatterbox
9. The Vandalays-Happy Ever After
10. The Doll Test-Gasoline & Banks

Coming very soon: My favorite tracks of 2006, and right around the first of the year, my early line on the best of 2007 from discs just released in the last couple weeks of December and some early 2007 advances.

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 of 2006.

UPDATE: Now fully annotated.

Here it is - hyped for weeks, finally here just in time to print out and hang on the Christmas tree. Or something like that. First, a few housekeeping notes. For the most part, I was true to the year of release. However, I made some arbitrary rules about a few 2005 releases. For reasons explained earlier, Andrew LeDrew's Ladies Lookout is on this list because its original fall 2005 release was limited to a select few in Canada. On the other hand, I am not ranking Pop Is Art's Epiphany (even though I did before) or Millicent Friendly's Downtime, even though they're both popping up on a lot of 2006 lists despite a 2005 release date. Also Roger Joseph Manning Jr's The Land of Pure Imagination is actually a re-release of 2005's Solid State Warrior with a slightly different track listing, so that's out too. (For those curious, all three would have probably placed in the 30s).

I also have deferred some "2006" releases to 2007, most notably the new Ed James, which I have but haven't listened to yet and just came out in the last week or two; the new Cloud Eleven (which I don't have yet - hint, hint Ray Thank you Ray); and Buva's All That Humming, which I did feature a few weeks ago - although it's available from CD Baby at the moment, it has a nominal 2007 release date and the artist himself seemed somewhat surprised it was already up for sale.

Also, EPs are not included (there will be a separate post in the next few days), nor are reissues, compilations, soundtracks, etc. Finally, there were a couple of fine releases that quality-wise are as good as many if not most of the top 100, but which were relegated to "honorable mention": Doug Powell's Four Seasons and Michael Carpenter's SOOP #2. The former because it was a type of b-sides/rarities comp, and the latter because it was a disc of covers. Again, both were fine discs, but I didn't feel right ranking them among the new discs of original material.

So with all of my quirky criteria out of the way, here's the list:

1. Bob Evans-Suburban Songbook
2. Supraluxe-Supraluxe
3. Andrew LeDrew-Ladies Lookout
4. LEO-Alpacas Orgling
5. The Format-Dog Problems
6. The Goldbergs-Hooks, Lines & Sinkers
7. Rhett Miller-The Believer
8. Chris Brown-Now That You're Fed
9. Copperdown-Something True
10. David William-One Way Ticket
11. Gregg Swann-Everybody's Got to Be Somewhere
12. The World Record-Guitars Forever
13. Geoff Smith & The Tonewheels-S/T
14. Cheap Trick-Rockford
15. The Damnwells-Air Stereo
16. Jeff Larson-Swimming In The Make Believe
17. Lolas-Doctor Apache
18. Edmund's Crown-Regrets of a Company Man
19. Monkeeman-Monkeeman
20. Fresh Mowed Lawn-Fresh Mowed Lawn
21. Red Guitar-Beauty Will Save The World
22. The Hazey Janes-Hotel Radio
23. The Nines-Calling Distance Stations
24. Travis Hopper-All The Lights In The City Tonight
25. Justin Levinson-1175 Boylston
26. Third Floor Story-Songs From The City
27. Phil Ayoub-Schoolbus Window Paper Heart
28. Bryan Estepa-All The Bells and Whistles
29. Orson-Bright Idea
30. The Junior League-Catchy
31. The Champagne Francis-I Start to Daydream
32. The Rewinds-The Rewinds
33. Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear
34. Warren Zanes-People That I'm Wrong For
35. Willie Nile-Streets of New York
36. The Vestals-Songs About Girls...and Other Mysteries
37. The Mains-The Higher You Get
38. Chris Murphy-Elbow Room
39. Waterloo-Out of the Woods
40. David Mead-Tangerine
41. The Fags-Light Em Up
42. Magneto-Resistance Is Futile
43. Shane Nicholson-Faith and Science
44. The Slides-The View From Here
45. The Mellowmen-Tomorrow's Sound Today
46. The Green & Yellow TV-Sinister Barrier
47. Pernice Brothers-Live a Little
48. Chris LeDrew-Stronger Man
49. The Skies of America-Shine
50. Silver Sun-Dad's Weird Dream
51. The Yayhoos-Put The Hammer Down
52. Fran King-Beautification
53. Scissor Sisters-Ta Dah
54. Rob Laufer-The Iron Age
55. Daniel Wylie-The High Cost of Happiness
56. The Feeling-Twelve Stops and Home
57. The Minus 5-The Gun Album
58. Barnacle Bill-Towards The Pebbled Shore
59. Mike Elgert-Days Gone By
60. Dave Stephens-Stories For Copper
61. Evan Hillhouse-S/T
62. Portastatic-Be Still Please
63. Grapeland-Reality Show
64. The Sails-S/T
65. Starter-Through The Morning Sky
66. Ben Kweller-S/T
67. Sean Lennon-Friendly Fire
68. The Winnerys-Daily Urban Times
69. Partly Dave-Own Up
70. Central Services-S/T
71. Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink
72. Linus of Hollywood-Triangle
73. Brian Fennell (Barcelona)-Safety Songs
74. The Virtues-Where Were You
75. Feel-Steps to Reach a Human
76. Brindley Bros-Filled With Fire
77. Greg Hoy-Tastemakers & Heartbreakers
78. Chris Staig-Davenport
79. Jon Auer-Songs From The Year of Our Demise
80. Paper Airplane Pilots-Western Automatic Music
81. Skytone-Echoes In All Directions
82. Kevin Lee-Flip The Switch
83. Jay Bennett-The Magnificent Defeat
84. Tide-S/T
85. Mark McAdam-Cavalcade
86. Albert Hammond Jr-Yours to Keep
87. The AV Club-S/T
88. Anders Parker-S/T
89. Tommy Keene-Crashing The Ether
90. Patty Hurst Shifter-Too Crowded on the Losing End
91. Tim O'Reagan-S/T
92. Corin Ashley-Songs From The Brill Bedroom
93. Don DiLego-Photographs of 1971
94. Carey Ott-Lucid Dream
95. Archer Avenue-We Watched The Headlights
96. The Foster-Walker Complex-S/T
97. Blue Cartoon-September Songs
98. Saul Zonana-Love Over Money
99. Minibar-Desert After Rain
100. The Luxury Liners-Nonetheless

Honorable Mention:

Sloan-Never Hear The End of It
Paul Schneider-Escape Velocity
The Ladies & Gentlemen-S/T
Galore-Amplifier
Tommi Zender-Will Work For Harmony
Gin Blossoms-Major Lodge Victory
The Speeds-Sing It Loud
Doug Powell-Four Seasons
Michael Carpenter-SOOP #2
Yesen Damen-The Never-Beginning Story
Mike Barnett-Nowhere Tennessee
Tom Taylor-Dear Diary

UPDATE: The iron law of making lists like these is that almost immediately you remember that you left something off. Right now, there are two discs (watch this space for more) which I omitted that either deserved to be in the 80-100 range or at least honorable mention:

Nigel Clark-21st Century Man
My So-Called Friend-S/T

In honor of these omissions, here's a clip (sorry, couldn't find a full-length mp3) of "Omission" by Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes from their fine 2005 release, Sweet On The Vine:

Omission (clip)

Absolute Powerpop Readers' Top 10 of 2006.

First of all, thanks to all of you who have expressed their condolences over the passing of my father. It was great to hear from all of you, and we're all doing as well as could be under the circumstances.

Now, on to the reader poll. I received about a dozen lists, and those that didn't order them I gave 5.5 points to each disc listed (which is 10+9+8 etc divided by 10). Here's the tally (first place votes in parentheses):

1. LEO, Alpacas Orgling 39.5 (1)
2. The Format, Dog Problems 38
3. Bob Evans, Suburban Songbook 18 (1)
4. Roger Joseph Manning Jr., The Land of Pure Imagination 17 (1)
5. Johan, Thx John 15
6. The Skies of America, Shine 12.5
7. Ben Kweller, S/T 11 (1)
8. The Oohs, Llamalamp 10 (1)
tie Cheap Trick, Rockford 10 (1)
tie The Weepies, Say I Am You 10 (1)

A pretty clear cut top two, even given the relative small sample size. The Format appeared on the most ballots, but amazingly didn't get a single #1 vote. Both will be in my top 10, and the top 100 list is still on (probably to be posted next week). In the interim, I will likely post my favorite 20 songs of the year, although I won't be ranking them within the list.