“Guardian” Writers Encase Their Ears In Silver

LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver–which, based on my rough estimation of the number of times we’ve had to use the album cover illustration over the past few weeks, seems to be running away with this year’s top-albums lists, at least in the UK–topped the Guardian critics’ poll, with its now-familiar listmates Radiohead, the Hold Steady, M.I.A., and the Klaxons rounding out the top five. Full list after the jump.

THE GOOD: Because the Guardian‘s list reprinted lines–and star ratings–from each ranking album’s original review, we can all see that either the music writers have changed their stance on the Klaxons or the Guardian‘s fired the person who gave Myths Of The Near Future one star, saying that “Indie chancers trying to pass this ropey stuff off as a dance revival is insulting and pointless.” But maybe I appreciate this because Myths grew on me over the course of 2007, too. THE BAD: Feist’s The Reminder at No. 10. Britney Spears’ Blackout at No. 17. Hey, if you’re going to have the year’s most talked-about dance-pop album on your list, why not get really ballsy and put it ahead of the snoozy dinner-party music? THE WHAAA? “Like a hunk of blue cheese, Tennessee’s Kings of Leon seem to be getting better with age.” Really, Guardian? Really?

1 LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver 2 Radiohead, In Rainbows 3 The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America 4 MIA, Kala 5 Klaxons, Myths of the Near Future 6 Kings of Leon, Because of the Times 7 Grinderman 8 Battles, Mirrored 9 PJ Harvey, White Chalk 10 Feist, The Reminder 11 Arctic Monkeys, Favourite Worst Nightmare 12 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 13 The Felice Brothers, Tonight at the Arizona 14 Arcade Fire, Neon Bible 15 Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends 16 The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Good, the Bad & the Queen 17 Britney Spears, Blackout 18 Bruce Springsteen, Magic 19 Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter 20 El-P, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead

2007’s best albums [Guardian; HT Matos]