Compiling any list of the ‘greatest’ or ‘best’ is always an unrewarding and essentially academic exercise. For one thing, despite the intentions and best efforts of the person doing the compiling (that’s me! Hello!), the result is necessarily subjective and reflects the author’s opinions only. There is literally no such thing as the ‘definitive’ list.
Some will concur with certain choices, others will disagree vehemently, still more will be relatively satisfied with the lineup but will ask how on earth the moron of a writer neglected to include album A as it was CLEARLY superior to album B and frankly if he can’t see that then the ill-informed imbecile has no business pursuing a career in music journalism. The nature of this makes the list a perfect example of the maxim that you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but not all of the people all the time.
Nonetheless, it is worth trying to strive for objectivity even if it is ultimately unobtainable. With that in mind, certain criteria have been applied that must be met by all of the albums here.
Firstly, they must have consistency; it is no good choosing an album that has one or two blindingly brilliant songs amongst a whole raft of mediocrity (Little Boots, I’m looking at you), or a record that is top heavy, losing it’s way after the first few tracks (take a bow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), or indeed one that is 90% excellent but let down by irksome filler (Oh Placebo. You were so close).
Secondly, there has to be cohesiveness; the songs have to be assembled in such a way that conveys a clarity of purpose and intention on the part of the artist, rather than just lashed together in a disjointed and clumsy manner that detracts from the overall enjoyment (a nod to Kasabian there).
Finally, and most obviously, is the quality; plenty of albums are technically proficient but lack any original creative spark (Green Day, what the fuck happened to you?) – whereas what we are searching for are those that took risks that paid off, put together music that genuinely stood out from everything around them, and at their best defied comparison.
So, with that in mind, here are our – well, my – choices of the best and brightest records from 2009:
College fund burning a hole in your pocket? If you would rather spend your money on music than themed stationary this year, here's a round-up of the albums we're loving this week.
