Revisiting My Top Five Albums for 2005

Inspired by a post at gorilla vs. bear, I thought I too would look at how I feel about my top five albums from last year fared in my opinion after having a chance to listen to them all year. Here’s how my original top five looked last year:

1. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
2. The National – Alligator
3. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
4. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
5. British Sea Power – Open Season

I still listen to these albums somewhat regularly, so I didn’t fare too poorly in what I picked. However, there were some albums that I didn’t rate so highly that have only improved with age, which says something about their staying power. If I were ranking 2005 right now, the top five would look like this (orginal rankings in parenthesis):

1. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise (9)
   
2. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary (4)
   
3. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (3)
   
4. The National – Alligator (2)
   
5. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene (17)

Bloc Party would still make my top ten list, but I’m sure British Sea Power would fall a bit farther down (though I still really like the album). As for Broken Social Scene, here’s what I said last December:

[This album] has really grown on me though. I suspect that if I were compiling this list sometime next month, it would crack the top 10.

Or top five! Overall, I didn’t do too poorly in my estimating skills. Three of the original top five are still there, while the other two new additions were at least in my top 20. I’m not sure why Sufjan Stevens didn’t make the top five the first time around. Maybe I was just a little burned out on him from the incessant chatter about the album on the music blogs. Illinoise, however, has more than held up for me. I probably listen to it more often now than I did last December.

I’m not sure I have a top 20 list in me this year for a couple of reasons. First, and most importantly, 2006 hasn’t been the year 2005 was for music—at least not for music I’ve been listening too (and I’m sure I’ve missed my fair share). Second, that took a lot of work and since I’m going to be settling into a new loft and a new job this December, my focus will be elsewhere.

I probably won’t be able to help myself and will do a top 10 though. And what do you think the chances are that The Hold Steady will be in the top five for consecutive years [Ed. Note: That’s pretty apparent you big fanboy].

NP: “Making Friends and Acquaintances” – Cursive