I'm about a month late in posting this, but it has been a busy holiday season/year/week/etc.

So, better late than never, here is my list of the top 20 CDs of 2008. It might seem that one need be a white guy over the age of 40 to make this list, but that's ridiculous. That guy in Bon Iver isn't even 30 yet (let alone those kids in Vampire Weekend) and Alejandro Escovedo isn't white. So there.

1. Bob Dylan – Tell-Tale Signs (Columbia)

Best-of lists typically have separate categories for re-issues and compilations, but what about compilations of songs that haven’t been previously released? In the case of a collection as strong as Tell-Tale Signs, you say rules be damned and stick it at the top of your best CDs of the year list. As good as Dylan’s last three albums have been – and they have been awfully good – this is better. Mainly composed of songs that either weren’t included on those albums or versions that were left in the vault in favor of others, it is a surprisingly cohesive batch of tunes. If anything, it shows that Dylan isn’t his own best editor; several of the songs here are in versions far superior to the originally released takes. And even when that isn’t the case, such as “Mississippi” from Love and Theft, Dylan and his band still perform such radically different arrangements that, save for a similar melody and lyrics, it’s like a different song.

2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)

It was hard coming up with a No. 2 pick for this year’s list, because there were few stellar standouts and a lot of great albums that seemed on par with each other. That said, Fleet Foxes rises to the top simply because its album transcends a lot of things to remain a fresh, vital listen. On first listen, Fleet Foxes sounded like the work of a My Morning Jacket cover band performing Shins songs as interpreted by Band of Horses. The soaring choruses, the reverb, the acoustic instruments… it all seemed as if it had been done before. But listening again (and again, and again), it became clear that there was much more here than pastiche or homage. The songs are solid, the massed choruses heavenly and the whole thing bears the hallmark of a great album: As soon as it’s done, you want to hear it again.

3. Randy Newman – Harps and Angels

I have joked that inclusion on this list requires two things: being white and being at least 40 years old. That’s not quite true, but inclusions like Randy Newman certainly give that impression. I came to Newman late – just this year, in fact. I’d always been somewhat familiar with his work, but he was an old guy writing songs that were too clever by half. What did I care? A solo live show followed by some quality time spent with his catalog convinced me I cared a lot. No, this isn’t an undisputed classic like 12 Songs or Sail Away, but it’s full of Newman’s witty, clever and catchy songs, and that merits a spot on any best-of list.

4. Nick Cave – Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!

This was a year of surprises. Artists I had given up on or ignored suddenly issued albums that were so good they forced me to listen. Nick Cave is the first, best example. I have friends who are huge fans, but I’ve never done more than dabble. Perhaps it was a matter of working out a few things with his Grinderman side project last year, but Cave roars out of the gate here with an album that, unlike past efforts, kept me hooked from top to bottom. Cave’s leering swagger of a voice is at full power here, and his band locks into a groove that doesn’t let up until the final track plays.

5. Matthew Ryan – Vs. the Silver State (00:02:59)

Matthew Ryan is the kind of artist for whom terms like “criminally ignored” are coined. Ryan came onto the scene in the late 1990s as a sort of proto-Springsteen, an angry young man with energy to burn and the voice of a man twice his age. Over time his profile lowered and his sound shifted dynamics. Volume was replaced by intensity, and his songs took on an emotional depth. Still, it was frustrating to know he had a great rock album in him that wasn’t being let out. Vs. the Silver State unleashes the beast, and finds him marrying the lyrical and emotional heft of his later work to the aural firepower of his debut. The result is a fantastic album that should have put him back on people’s radar.

6. David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything that Happens Will Happen Today (Todo Mundo)

Another surprise. When former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and that band’s producer (and top-notch solo artist) Brian Eno first collaborated, it was on an avant garde world music-inspired collection. Here, they instead create something closer to Eno’s more recent solo work, with icy synths and jittery melodies over which Byrne sings his own lyrics. He humanizes Eno’s music in a way its creator never could, while Eno’s intricately crafted songs eschew the cutesiness that sometimes mars Byrne’s solo work. It’s an inspired pairing.

7. Stephen Malkmus – Real Emotional Trash (Matador)

With his latest album, the former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus seems to have fully embraced his role as a guitar hero. Six of the 10 songs here top five minutes, with the title track clocking in at 10 minutes. But there is no noodling here; these are tightly arranged songs. Some credit goes to new drummer Janet Weiss, the pulse behind the late lamented Sleater-Kinney. Fans with blindered tastes who prefer early Pavement would be hard-pressed to detect Malkmus’ presence here beyond his ever-laconic vocals. But for those who kept up all along, it feels like exactly where he has been headed since Pavement’s final album. As such, it’s no stretch to call it his best solo work, the one that best aligns intent and execution.

8. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar)

This disc was originally conceived as the second part of a two-disc release with last year’s The Stage Names. Despite that, it stands on its own. Things fell into place for this Austin, Texas, band with its 2005 album, Black Sheep Boy, and its winning streak continues here. Leader Will Sheff writes ramshackle tunes that feel perpetually ready to fall apart, but he keeps them together through the sheer force of his considerable personality. With elements of rock, folk, indie and turn of the (last) century balladeering, the band concocts music that is fun yet filling.

9. Alejandro Escovedo – Real Animal (Back Porch)

It is said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. Alejandro Escovedo clearly takes that to heart. Over the course of a long career in music, the artist time and again has looked back on his own life and mined it for some of the most poignant, gut-wrenching music being made. On Real Animal, he looks at the music itself, offering a concept album of sorts about his own career. From stints with early punks the Nuns to the cowpunk of Rank and File and the stolen promise of the True Believers, a band he led with his brother, Javier, he touches on all of his near-misses at fame. Produced by kindred spirit Chuck Prophet, the disc crackles with energy and shows that no matter how inspiring those past moments were, Escovedo is more than able to equal them today.

10. Baseball Project – Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails (Yep Roc)

Here’s the wildcard, a disc that shouldn’t work near as well as it does. A member of R.E.M. (Peter Buck) plays second fiddle to a couple of journeymen musicians known only to a hardcore few fans, performing songs written exclusively about the game of baseball? Well, thanks to the fanboy eye for detail employed by songwriters Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey, it works. The lyrics read like an oddball history of the sweet science, but non-fans who enjoy a good rock ’n’ roll rave up will find must as much to like. This is gritty, catchy and fun, and, pardon the pun, that adds up to a home run any day.

11. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)

12. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down In The Light (Drag City)

13. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (Vagrant)

14. Sun Kil Moon – April (Caldo Verde)

15. The Broken West – Now or Heaven (Merge)

16. Damien Jurado – Caught in the Trees (Sub Pop)

17. R.E.M. – Accelerate (Warner Bros.)

18. TV on the Radio – Dear Science (Touch and Go)

19. Vampire Weekend – s/t (XL)

20. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Capitol)

Labels: criticism, music