Vote

Nils Lofgren: Breakaway Angel. Great recording, too.

Greenday: American Idiot. It just feels good.

The three-disc Elvis Presley reissue DVD of the '68 Comeback Special. The full versions of the two "sit-down" sets are worth the price alone. Great music, great fun!

Come to think of it I don't think I bought any music this year. Didn't download any either (legally or otherwise). Odd.

My favorite disc this year is Diana Krall's The Girl in the Other Room, which conveys such a mixture of events that have altered her life and these are so well reflected in the songs and music of this disc. I love this diversity of music and the personal feelings that I think she has tried to share with her listeners. It also happens to be a very well-recorded disc.

Wilco's A Ghost is Born

Yo, Solo

Shouldn't you wait a few months before asking this?

was a slow year for me for new music. mostly picked up older things i missed the first time around.

jaime callum "twentysomething"

Madeleine Peyroux; Careless Love. After seeing her perform live, the album transports me even more than it did the first time I heard it. Old and new at the same time—wonderful.

Wilco: A Ghost is Born

Los Lonely Boys

Bach's The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues on Sony SACD is a must-hear for each and every reader of Stereophile. If you don't experience piloerections when you listen to this marvelous work, you've probably been cold for a few years.

Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around. Maybe his best album.

How Sweet The Sound by Chanticleer.

Mercury re-release of Vienna on LP (Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern).

SMiLE

Impossible Dream by Patty Griffin. Patience by George Michael. Waiting for Want Two by Rufus Wainwright to be released in November.

J.S.Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier Buch I by Till Fellner (piano) on ECM NEW SERIES.

The Turkish music on Songs of Surrender at latifbolat.com is not as New Sewagey as the cover art will lead you to believe. You can get a older sample there, although those of you who yearn for 14th Century or so Turkish Sufi music already know who you are. Since this entry is kind of cheating, I will also risk mentioning Patti Smith's Trampin'.

The Thorns

Iggy and the Stooges: Raw Power. Nothing has ever come closer to getting actual flesh and blood onto the recording tape.

Rokia Traor

Rock: Mars Volta: Deloused in the Comatorium—Radiohead meets the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Astonishing tormented genius.
Classical: Rochberg Violin Concerto (Naxos). Peter Sheppard Skaerved, Christoper Lyndon-Gee - The severe cuts inflicted by Isaac Stern in the 1970s are restored, revealing a whole world of vast beauty.

Black Eyed Peas: Elephunk. What an incredible mix of all that I love about music.

Doc Watson at Folk City (recorded in 1961; released in 2004).

Based on the music, I vote for Paula Jeanine

Big Phat Band: XXL (DVD-Audio)

Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section SACD! Wow!