Year in Review: Five albums that should have rocked but flopped instead

2007 saw the return of some tried and true musical veterans as well as the sophomore shots from overblogged emergent acts whose 2K5 footprints were bound to lead somewhere great. But 2007, a year saturated with what feels like more major releases than any previous year in recent history, saw many surefire records flop. Here, I profile my Top 5 Biggest Disappointments, and I have a hunch that if you mosey on over to fellow Viner Eric Atienza's column, you may find him talking about five 2007 albums that left him feeling high and dry, as well.

5. Bloc Party — A Weekend in the City

Bloc Party's 2005 debut Silent Alarm was all raw, emotional energy. It effortlessly transitioned back and forth between radio-ready power pop and darker slow-burners, the end result being one that year's most listenable indie rock records. The followup, A Weekend in the City is not a failure by any means, but like many of the albums on this list, it failed to meet the weighty expectations I had for it. Whereas lead singer Kele Okereke's urgent vocal performance sounded natural on Silent Alarm, it feels forced and cliched at times on A Weekend in the City (see the album's melodramatic opener "Song for Clay.") Weekend does offer up one of the band's best recorded tracks, "Uniform," and the first half of the album is good enough to merit repeated listens. But the final six tracks, starting with the monotonous "On," are ultimately forgettable. Bloc Party can do better.

4. Wilco — Sky Blue Sky

Wilco has established through its impressive catalog that spans nearly 13 years that it can produce stellar songs by letting the seeds of discomfort germinate. Without fail, the opening tracks of each the past four Wilco albums have served as the band's calling card for signaling stylistic change. On 1996's Being There, the band drove its folky alt-country image into the ground with roaring monster of an opener "Misunderstood." 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot opener "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" saw Wilco pushing the limits experimental folk, while "At Least That's What You Said," the lead track on 2004's A Ghost is Born, marked a shift into previously uncharted musical territory (classic rock) for Wilco. In each of these instances, these lead tracks, to a large extent, have defined the tone of the albums they begin. Needless to say, my disappointment with Wilco's sixth studio LP, Sky Blue Sky, set in almost immediately after hearing the sleepy and uninspiring opener "Either Way." While Sky Blue Sky does boast some solid tracks ("Impossible Germany," "Side With the Seeds"), and, like a lot of Wilco's catalogue, is more enjoyable in a live setting, it ultimately failed to live up to the high expectations I had a for a band that has been doggedly exploring the limits of different musical genres over the years. It's still a Wilco record. It's still memorable. It's just sort of a snooze.

3. Kanye West — Graduation

Kanye West's third and final record of his collegiately inclined trilogy is easily the worst of the three. Despite again demonstrating his knack for for skillful hip hop production, it's West's lyrical subject matter that makes this record little more than a mechanism for pushing the limits of your car's speaker system. How is it possible that the same man who on 2005's masterful Late Registration recorded songs that addressed the blood diamond trade in Africa ("Diamond's From Sierra Leone") and the ways in which the hip hop industry mirrors the spirit of the illegal drug market ("Crack Music") suddenly seemed to lose the political edge that made his music so affecting in the first place? In the latter song, West rapped "Crack raised the murder rate in D.C. and Maryland/We invested in that/It's like we got Merrill Lynched/And we've been hanging from the same tree ever since...," a powerful extended metaphor the likes of which he does not even begin to approach on Graduation. Instead, we get polished, pristine pop (see "Stronger," "Champion," and "Good Life") completely devoid of purpose. Whereas his past two albums saw West taking shots at legitimate targets, be they political, social or personal, here it's like he's swinging in mid air for no apparent reason, a bizarre approach perhaps best documented on the needlessly confrontational "Can't Tell Me Nothing." This lack of anything interesting to say makes Graduation little more than a showcase for West's excellent production, but I miss the entire package.

2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! — Some Loud Thunder

After their thrilling self-titled debut in 2005, after the heroic stories of labeling and mailing out copies of that album from their loft, after the endorsement by David Bowie... After all that was this: Some Loud Thunder, the sophomore effort from CYHSY!, and an album devoid of the manic energy that propelled their debut. Gone are the infectious basslines, pop-infused hooks and Modest Mousey hammer-ons. Some Loud Thundercan be seen undoubtedly as a casualty Internet's increasing role in influencing public taste. We were sucked into the hype in 2005 over CYHSY!, and I guess it's not their fault if we expected a little too much.

1. Voxtrot - Voxtrot

How could Voxtrot tease us like this? They release three superb EPs which lead us to believe they are working up a masterpiece LP in the studio. We liked the fast pace and the catchy crooning on Raised By Wolves and Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives. We liked how lead singer Ramesh Srivastava's histrionics sort of reminded us of Smiths-era Morrisey. Voxtrot's early EPs meant that their long-awaited self-titled debut would be well-worth the wait. Except it wasn't. Whereas their previous work mixed intelligent balladry with quicker, biting pop songs, Voxtrot's 2007 effort was devoid of that appealing edginess. Whereas Srivastava's prior work saw him intelligently exploring human nature, relationships, and life and death, here he is merely revisiting the well of standard lovesong tropes. The forty-nine total minutes of music — spanning three EPs — Voxtrot had put to tape before heading into the studio to record their debut are so consistently good it's surprising that this year's effort even comes from the same band. Fortunately, the album's closer, the excellent "Blood Red Blood," which harkens back to the musical stylings that made Voxtrot attractive to begin with, leave listeners with hope for better things to come. But for now, Voxtrot's debut stands as 2007's biggest letdown.

© ScooterDMan 2007 for ListenIn. Some rights reserved.

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